Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Beginner Guitar Scales Lesson Made Simple (3)

The Major Pentatonic Scale

Here's the good news: now that you know the minor pentatonic scale, you also know the major pentatonic scale. It's the same pattern. The difference is the chord or key that the scale is played over. Let's look at our E minor pentatonic again:


E ----------------------------------0--3---3--0-----------------------------------

B ---------------------------0--3----------------3--0-----------------------------

G --------------------0--2-----------------------------2--0----------------------

D -------------0--2-------------------------------------------2--0---------------

A -------0--2-------------------------------------------------------2--0----------

E --0---3-----------------------------------------------------------------3--0----

When it's played over an E chord, it's E minor. When it's played over a G major chord, it's G major pentatonic, and it has an entirely different sound. Try playing a G major chord a few times and then running through this pattern, starting on the low G instead of E. You'll hear a brighter, happier sound than if you play the scale after playing an E minor chord. As you learn and experiment more, you'll find that even simple guitar scales can sound entirely different depending on the chords you play them over. So, even though this lesson focuses on guitar scales for beginners, you're learning extremely powerful tools that you'll use every time you pick up guitar.

So, how can the same exact notes be two different scales? The answer lies in chord theory. G major and E minor are what are known as relative chords, meaning that they share two common tones. G major is G, B, D, and E minor is E, G, B. In fact, the G major scale and the E minor scale also use the exact same notes, which we'll get to shortly. For now, just remember that relative chords on a guitar are separated by three frets. If you're playing a major chord, move down three frets to find the relative minor. Even though you might think these are simple guitar scales, that doesn't mean they aren't powerful and capable of being used to create great music! Experiment and practice, practice, practice.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/music-articles/beginner-guitar-scales-lesson-made-simple-1130261.html