Guitar Scales and Modes The Complete Performance Guide. I think youll agree that learning guitar scales is essential for any modern musician. Learning scales and applying them to soloing situations greatly improves your ability to improvise on guitar. Because theyre important tools, you may have started to learn how to play scales already. You may even have applied scales to your guitar solos. D F A C. 1 b3 5 b7 D minor 7. Dm7 or D7 or Dmin7 3 E G B D. E minor 7. Em7 or E7 or Emin7 4 F A C E 1 3 5. CLICK HERE for free MP3 Praise Music and Chord Chart Downloads I might not be a religious man myself but I know good music when I hear it, and this is very goodBut, if youre like many guitarists, youve struggled at some point to memorize scales on guitar. This doesnt have to be the case, as you dont have to struggle to learn guitar scales. In this lesson, youll learn how to take one fingering, Lydian, and alter one note at a time play 2. This system greatly reduces the time it takes to learn scales and modes on the fretboard. As well, it builds on previous knowledge with each mode, preventing wasted time in the practice room. No matter what experience level youre currently at in your playing. From complete beginner to advanced guitarists. Organizing guitar scales into an easy to understand system produces huge results in your playing. This lesson shows you the steps needed to master guitar scales, understand how theyre used, and give examples of scales and modes in action. All of the scales in this lesson are are either parent scales or modes derived from parent scales. Complete Guitar Chord Chart Pdf' title='Complete Guitar Chord Chart Pdf' />To explore non mode based scales, check out these lessons. Note I talk about jazz in this lesson, because Im a jazz guitarist. BUT these modes and exercises can be used by guitarists of any genre to open your fretboard and become a better soloist. Download Your FREE 8. Page PDFJoin 4. 0,0. Book. 1. 00 privacy. Your email will never be shared. Table of Contents. New Soccer Star 4. Click on any link to jump directly to that topic in this guitar scales and modes guide. Introduction. Major Modes. Melodic Minor Modes. Harmonic Minor Modes. Harmonic Major Modes. How to Use This Guitar Scales Guide. The material in this guide is presented in a specific order so that you use previous material to build the next set of modes. You begin by learning Lydian, then alter one note at a time to learn all seven major modes. Then, you alter one note at a time to create every mode of melodic minor, harmonic minor, and harmonic major. Each scale is presented in order of most common, major, to least common, harmonic major. This isnt to say that you shouldnt study harmonic major modes. Its just that you want to get the most common modes under your fingers first. You dont have to work these modes in the order given, especially for intermediate or advanced guitarists. But, for beginners, its best to start from the top. Lastly, theres a lifetime of study here, so theres no rush to learn every mode right away. Go slow, take the time to understand each mode, learn it on the guitar, and apply it to soloing exercises until youve internalized that mode to the point that you wont forget it. From there, move on to the next mode. As well, if you forget a mode, return to that mode and review it in your studies. Experience Levels. As theres a lot of information in this guide, its recommended that you set reasonable practice goals for your experience level. To help you decide where to begin, heres a breakdown of the lessons below. Beginner. For players just starting to explore guitar scales, its best to proceed with the following approach. Start with major modes, in order, and work down from there. Learn each mode in the given key. Learn two fingerings for each mode, one from the 6th and one from the 5th string. Solo over the backing tracks with both fingerings. Apply the practice patterns if comfortable. Intermediate. Players with 1 year or more of experience can approach the guide with the following goals. Review any modes youve studied previously. Learn modes you havent studied. Learn all modes in 1. Learn all four fingerings for each mode. Learn the patterns for each mode. Learn the lick for each mode. Solo with the mode, pattern, and lick. Lesson Organization. After a short introduction and summary of each parent scale, the seven modes in that system are explored in detail. For each mode, there are five sections. Fingerings and Application. In this section, you learn how to solo with each mode, and background information for that mode. This section as a brief intro to the mode, and then its unpacked in the sections that follow. Interval Formula. Here, youll learn how to build each mode by altering one note from a previous mode youve learned in this guide. Fingerings. In this section, you learn four fingerings for each mode. Theres a backing track so you can practice soloing without having to leave the page. Practice Patterns. Here, you learn one pattern for each mode to increase memory and build your chops at the same time. You can also take a pattern from one mode and apply it to other modes in your studies. Guitar Licks The last section provides a sample lick over a common progression. Each lick is presented with notation, TAB, and audio to make it easier to learn. Further Reading. To learn more about how to organize an effective guitar practice routine, please check out these lessons. What is a Parent Scale Before you learn these scales, you need to understand exactly what a parent scale is. Heres a definition of a parent scale to help you understand this term. A parent scale is a seven note device that produces one mode for each of those seven notes. An example of a parent scale is the major scale, which produces seven modes, one from each note in that scale. This means that if you play the major scale from the root to root, its the major scale. But, if you play that scale from any of the other 6 notes, you produce 6 unique scales, which are called modes. For example, if you play a C major scale from C to C, its the first mode of the parent major scale, Ionian. But, if you play the C major scale from D to D, you get D Dorian, the second mode of the major scale. C Major C D E F G A B CD Dorian D E F G A B C DAs you can see, these two modes have the same notes, but sound different, because they contain a different interval structure. If modes are a bit shaky for you right now, dont worry, youll learn more about them in the next section. The four most common parent scales are Major Scale. Melodic Minor Scale. Harmonic Minor Scale. Harmonic Major Scale. In this guide, youll study those four parent scale systems and the seven modes built from each parent scale. What is a Mode Now its time to learn more about what a mode is and how it differs from a parent scale. Heres a short definition of a mode thatll get this theory under your belt. Modes are built by playing parent scales from each note they have the same notes as the parent scale, but use different intervals. As you read in the parent scale section, if you play the C major scale from the notes D to D, you produce Dorian. Though Dorian contains the same notes as C major, they have distinct sounds when played on the guitar. As you can see, the major scale and Dorian mode have different intervals Major R 2 3 4 5 6 7. Dorian R 2 b. 3 4 5 6 b. Because of this, the major scale and Dorian are applied to different chords in a soloing situation, major over maj. Dorian over m. 7. Heres a quick guide to remember how modes differ from scales Parent scales and modes share the same notes, but are used to solo over different chords. This may still be a bit fuzzy, especially if youre new to learning guitar scales and modes. Not to worry, as you study the lessons below, this theory will become clear.