Scales

[Deepcut]

Apologies if this has been asked countless times, but anyway — I've been playing guitar for about 3 months now, self taught. I've been making nice progress, but here's where I get lost.

As an example, refer to this G minor pentatonic scale.
In position one, the scale starts on a G, right? So it goes, G - A#/Bb - C - D - F and then repeats itself.
But in position two, it starts on A#/Bb — the second note in the scale — and yet G is still the root note. How?!

Again, refer to another scale — C major scale.
The first pattern starts by playing the open E string! Do I start on the open E or the C on the A string? This is something that is really confusing me, so any help would definitely be appreciated.

Edit: As an afterthought, do I always start and end a scale pattern on the root note?

[Hotspur]

Just FYI, it the G minor pentatonic, it's a Bb, not an A#.

On to your more serious question:

A scale is a collection of notes. You frequently play them in a variety of orders. (Somebody will soon post here talking about modes. Ignore them for now!)

When you learn shapes like that, you are learning different positions in which you can play the notes of C major. Yes, if somebody said, "play the c major scale" you would play it from C to C, but when you're playing, in practice, you don't do that. Instead, you pick the notes from the scale you want to use. Therefore, it's convenient to be able to find those notes all over the neck.

[mcoliver77]

This:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/063...ls_o01_s00_i01

Boring at first but just stay with it and do the excercises.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by Deepcut

Apologies if this has been asked countless times, but anyway — I've been playing guitar for about 3 months now, self taught. I've been making nice progress, but here's where I get lost.

As an example, refer to this G minor pentatonic scale.
In position one, the scale starts on a G, right? So it goes, G - A#/Bb - C - D - F and then repeats itself.
But in position two, it starts on A#/Bb — the second note in the scale — and yet G is still the root note. How?!

Again, refer to another scale — C major scale.
The first pattern starts by playing the open E string! Do I start on the open E or the C on the A string? This is something that is really confusing me, so any help would definitely be appreciated.

Edit: As an afterthought, do I always start and end a scale pattern on the root note?

Hi DeepCut...

First of all, Hello and Welcome to the Forum. This is a discussion forum with thousands of members, so questions are repeated all the time, and not offensive ever. It's not a guitar-wikipedia, so we try to answer questions and not just post links.

Not sure of your question, but when playing scales for practice, it's good to start and end with the root while you are in the learning phase of becoming familiar with them. Then as exercises or actual songs push you in other directions, there can be benefit to starting the scale on different notes from the root.

[Deepcut]

Originally Posted by ljguitar

Hi DeepCut...

First of all, Hello and Welcome to the Forum. This is a discussion forum with thousands of members, so questions are repeated all the time, and not offensive ever. It's not a guitar-wikipedia, so we try to answer questions and not just post links.

Not sure of your question, but when playing scales for practice, it's good to start and end with the root while you are in the learning phase of becoming familiar with them. Then as exercises or actual songs push you in other directions, there can be benefit to starting the scale on different notes from the root.

Thanks for the welcome

What I was trying to say is when playing a scale, some boxes start on the root note (like in this example, G minor pentatonic), then the next box will start on the next note in that scale.

So in the first box, you play, G - Bb - C - D - F - G
In the next box, you play Bb - C - D - F - G - Bb
Next box: C - D - F - G - Bb - C

So, if I'm practising box 2, for example. Do I start on the G, or the Bb?

Originally Posted by Hotspur

Just FYI, it the G minor pentatonic, it's a Bb, not an A#.

On to your more serious question:

A scale is a collection of notes. You frequently play them in a variety of orders. (Somebody will soon post here talking about modes. Ignore them for now!)

When you learn shapes like that, you are learning different positions in which you can play the notes of C major. Yes, if somebody said, "play the c major scale" you would play it from C to C, but when you're playing, in practice, you don't do that. Instead, you pick the notes from the scale you want to use. Therefore, it's convenient to be able to find those notes all over the neck.

Thank you very much. I have a feeling that your post has answered my question, but I just want to be 100% sure. Cheers!

[Scorgie]

Originally Posted by Deepcut

Thanks for the welcome

What I was trying to say is when playing a scale, some boxes start on the root note (like in this example, G minor pentatonic), then the next box will start on the next note in that scale.

So in the first box, you play, G - Bb - C - D - F - G
In the next box, you play Bb - C - D - F - G - Bb
Next box: C - D - F - G - Bb - C

So, if I'm practising box 2, for example. Do I start on the G, or the Bb?


Thank you very much. I have a feeling that your post has answered my question, but I just want to be 100% sure. Cheers!

You would start on the Bb. I've been playing for 6 months now also self taught and in my experience I would recommend that you learn the actual notes in the scale and where they are on the fretboard instead of just box shapes. Of course learning the basic shapes is a good way to start but the majority of people only learn to play box shapes and then when they try to improvise end up playing the shapes they learned instead of creating something. Keep up the good work though, being self taught is a really challenging but rewarding way to learn and understanding scales in 3 months is no small achievement.

[Latif]

My take is that although you need to know all the notes in the scale you're better off using all the available notes in a particular position so starting on Bb on the low E string for that position will give you a bigger understanding of the whole fretboard.
Good luck on your musical journey!

Latif

[Kerbie]

Deepcut,

If I understand your question... essentially, you are correct. A pentatonic is a five-note scale; the minor pentatonic has a flatted 3rd and 7th... and omits the 2nd and the 6th from its natural minor scale. So, the G minor pentatonic is G, Bb, C, D and F (1, b3, 4, 5, b7). There are five notes and 5 positions. The first position begins on the 1st note (the root), the second position on the 2nd note of the minor pentatonic (Bb), the 3rd position on the 3rd note of the scale (C), etc. Same for the 4th and 5th notes. Usually when you play scales, you begin and end on the root, so you can think of the positions as providing some "extras" on the bottom and top.

Occasionally, you might see the positions numbered differently, but I usually see it the way I described above. Hope that's helpful.