If you’re just starting to play the guitar, then guitar scales are an essential tool that will drastically improve your understanding of music and guitar theory.
Think of guitar chords as the bricks you use to build your house, and guitar scales as the cement that holds everything together.
Learning guitar scales comes with countless benefits, such as:
- Developing strong fingers for playing.
- Training your ear to play what you hear.
- Improvising and jamming freely.
- Enhancing your finger technique.
- And making it easier to learn new songs.
Convinced yet? Then let’s dive deeper.
What Are Guitar Scales?
Guitar scales are an arrangement of notes that sound good or harmonious together.
The notes are organized in order of pitch, from high to low or low to high, and can be played in ascending or descending order.
To understand guitar scales for beginners, it’s important to first comprehend the two core elements: notes and intervals.
The distance between any two notes is called an interval, measured in frets on the guitar.
There are two common types of intervals:
- Semitone. Also known as a half step, this is a distance of one fret.
- Tone. Also known as a whole step, this is a distance of two frets.
If you’re fretting the 4th fret of the D string and you move to 6th fret, you’ve just played a note, moved up a tone, and played another note.
Sounds complicated, right? Well don’t worry, that’s all of the theory you’re going to need to know for now.
Now that we’ve gotten that out the way, let’s have a closer look at some different types of guitar scales.
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Yes, I Want the FREE Download!Essential Guitar Scales for Beginners
One of the most frequent questions I get asked by beginner guitar players is “what are the most essential guitar scales for beginners?”
The answer to this can be subjective as there are many different types of guitar scales. But in my experience, the following three scales are a useful starting point that cover a lot of ground for a beginner guitarist.
Major and Minor Scales
The major and minor scales are the most important scales for beginners to learn.
The major scale is responsible for creating light and happy melodies and consists of a repeating pattern of seven notes at certain intervals of tones and semitones.
The minor scale evokes a slightly sad mood and contains seven notes as well. The main difference between the two is the third degree of the scale. The minor scale has a flattened third, while the major scale has a major third.
Major scales are a type of diatonic scale, which means that they have a two tone pattern between notes – whole step/half step.
Each major scale is connected to a major key. Take the C Major scale for example, which is connected to the key of C.
I usually recommend playing the scale ascending and then directly after descending, as shown below:
C – D – E – F – G – A – B – C – B – A – G – F – E – D – C
The C Major is a particularly good guitar scale for beginners. This is largely due to the fact that it has no accidentals (sharps or flats), and, as a result, is relatively straightforward to play and remember.
Pentatonic Scales
Another crucial scale to learn is the pentatonic scale. As the name suggests, it has five notes and is incredibly versatile.
There are two types of pentatonic scales: major and minor. They have the same intervals, but the root note differs.
The great thing about pentatonic scales is that they’re really easy to learn and once you learn its shape, you can apply it to any key you like.
Let’s take a look at the pentatonic scales for G major and G minor as an example.
G Major Pentatonic Scale
Here’s a quick refresher on the G major scale. It includes the notes:
- G
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F# (F sharp)
These notes in the G scale can be numbered as follows:
- G = 1st note
- A = 2nd note
- B = 3rd note
- C = 4th note
- D = 5th note
- E = 6th note
- F# = 7th note
For all major pentatonic scales in any key, you need the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 6th notes, and you omit the 4th and 7th notes. So, to play the pentatonic G major scale, play the following notes extracted from the G scale:
- G – 1st note
- A – 2nd note
- B – 3rd note
- D – 5th note
- E – 6th note
G Minor Pentatonic Scale
Now let’s take a look at the G minor scale. It includes the notes:
- G
- A
- Bb (B flat)
- C
- D
- Eb (E flat)
- F
These notes can be numbered as follows:
- G = 1st note
- A = 2nd note
- Bb = 3rd note
- C = 4th note
- D = 5th note
- Eb = 6th note
- F = 7th note
For all minor pentatonic scales in any key, you just need to play the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 7th notes, and omit the 2nd and 6th notes. So to play the pentatonic G minor scale, play the following notes extracted from the G minor scale:
- G = 1st note
- Bb = 3rd note (flattened)
- C = 4th note
- D = 5th note
- Eb = 7th note (flattened)
You’ll notice quite a difference in tone between the two different pentatonic scales. The same applies here as it does with the major and minor scales – the major pentatonic scale sounds more positive while the minor pentatonic scale sounds more negative.
Blues Scale
And finally, the blues scale. This is another great scale to try out when learning guitar scales.
It’s a six note scale that’s not too dissimilar to the minor scale – it just has an extra note.
That extra note is the flattened 5th, which is known for its bluesy sound. It’s been dubbed “the blues note.”
Like the pentatonic scales, the blues scale can be played in major or minor – let’s take a look at both.
G Major Blues Scale
So using the same method as the pentatonic scales, let’s start with the major blues scale.
Taking the G scale and its corresponding numbers, here are the notes for the G blues scale:
- G = 1st note (root)
- A = 2nd note
- Bb = 3rd note (flattened 3rd)
- B = 3rd note
- D = 5th note
- E = 6th note
G Minor Blues Scale
Again, taking the G scale and its corresponding numbers as outlined above, here are the notes for the G minor blues scale:
- G = 1st note
- Bb = 3rd note (flattened 3rd)
- C = 4th note
- Db = 5th note (flattened 5th)
- D = 5th note
- F = 7th note
Both blues scales sound…bluesy, right? And that’s what makes it so popular.
A popular song that uses the blues scale is “Sunshine of Your Love” by Cream. Listen to the main riff and you’ll hear it straight away!
How to Practice Guitar Scales
Now that we have the three essential guitar scales for beginners covered, let’s get down to practice.
While this might be a lot to take in initially, after a bit of practice it will soon become second nature.
Exercise 1: Ascending & Descending
As mentioned previously, repeatedly playing scales in ascending and descending order is often a great way to train your fingers to move up and down the fretboard quickly and with ease.
Simply play the scale from start to finish, then reverse it. If you have a metronome, do this exercise in time and slowly increase the speed as you get better. This is a fantastic way for learning scales while also increasing your dexterity.
Exercise 2: Four Notes
Start on the first note of the scale and play four notes. Then start on the second note and play four notes. Continue this up the scale and then back down.
Exercise 3: Jamming
There’s no better way to let loose with a scale than to try improvising with it. I always recommend playing a backing track and improvising scales in the same key.
Once you’ve gone through the first two exercises a few times, know where the notes of a scale are and built up confidence, you’ll find it easier to start experimenting a bit more.
What’s Next After Guitar Scales?
Now that you know a few essential scales, you’re probably hungry to learn some more guitar tips and techniques.
If that’s the case then check out my guitar workshop – Tony’s Acoustic Challenge.
I developed it with the goal of getting you excited to practice every day. It helps you avoid common mistakes in your guitar journey, and offers tons of helpful practice tips for guitar players at any level.
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