The single most important guitar scale to know is....

Asking for opinions.

---

Edited by LeftTheLoops9-18 on Juillet 03 2018 16:14

Feeling one!!!

Ive been studying your playing, mister.

I am or still feel like a beginner today. I think with the Pentatonic and the major scale gives you the fastest learning success. It gets harder with the rhythm. Either you sound like me or you can just do it and have more options! ;):D

---

I suppose Pentatonic E would be the first one, and then build from there

Minor pentatonic scale. Also known as Blues Improvising.
Works great with 1,4,5 Blues, Rock and many others (note) there are extensions to this so you can run up the neck.

---

GBD attached the following image:

---

Edited by GBD on Juillet 04 2018 06:33

I think this is so helpful to understand power of pentatonic scale

[youtube]ne6tB2KiZuk[/youtube]

---

i am going with the pentatonic minor scale as well.

pent=5 tonic=notes ; so there are only 5 notes as opposed to 7 like in most "normal" scales. Less to remember, and the "least likely to succeed" notes are eliminated... (i is lazy).

To be further lazy, to play a major scale i just move the "box shape" down the the guitar (lower) 3 frets (3 semitones, or a step-and-a-half), but still favor the root note (A in the example)

This can be done with any of the "boxes"

Sometimes i play a riff in the minor position, memorize the fingering while playing it, then drop to the major position and play the same riff, but it is now in a major.

If you are unfamiliar with improvising, it can be helpful to start and/or end on the "root" note. (Sometimes i play only the root note..!)

BTW
of course the "boxes" can be moved around the guitar neck to accommodate any key...
[img]https://wloops2.r.worldssl.net/galleries/52525/files/1568f7d6c87786ff5fdf761bb9383ab3.png[/img]

ultimately there are more right than wrong notes...
all the positions of both maj and min overlayed looks like this:
[img]https://wloops2.r.worldssl.net/galleries/52525/files/c4f052360f12ad28341d2bbf181e3d14.png[/img]
Pentatonic minor is blue. PMajor is green.. This example is shown in E, but can be shifted to any key. My favorite part is the chromatic components (f#, G, G#, A) At this point there are more right notes than "wrong" ones. Angus Young is a genius at moving between Maj and min- the solo from The Jack is an obvious example.

---

Edited by BuzzBomber on Juillet 05 2018 06:51

---

My kid's jazz band instructor gives this awesome improvisation advice:

An octave is made up of 12 semi(half)-tones, played chromatically. (Each fret is a half step)
A "normal" scale has 7 notes in it.

so- ANY note you play is more than 50% likely to be part of a scale, in the key of the music. (58.3333333%to be exact!)
if a note sounds sour, try moving a semi-tone (one fret)either direction and see what happens, you are almost assured of hitting the scale...

seriously! try it

---

Edited by BuzzBomber on Juillet 05 2018 06:54

---

There is no right or wrong answer but the info and tips you guys are sharing is priceless. I agree with the E minor pentatonic although even major pentatonic is just a few notes difference.

At 13 when I first took up guitar , I learned just the first and second position A blues scale and played Led Zeppelin IV Black Dog. That was my first scale. The Dorian was my second scale.

IM back practicing scales again and read an article on Santana and his useage of the dorian to solo. By practice i mean focusing on the transitions between the commen 5 positions so I train myself to think of the scales as one big 12 fret long scale instead of 5 different areas on the neck.

These insights and videos you guys are sharing are great for beginners! Keep them coming! Thank you!

---

Edited by LeftTheLoops9-18 on Juillet 06 2018 16:49

(To get sort of philosophical) What I believe is that It's not wrong or right notes, it's more like common and uncommon. Conventional and Unconventional. One of my favorite examples is Csus - A/F (V-I) where the I chord is an AMaj (A7) over FMaj which gives which the scale is a F-G-A-B-C#-D-E. Like F Lydian + a dash of brightness out of the box sort of complete un-completeness which gives it a neat sound. I personally like it.

---

Edited by ArkRockStudio on Juillet 06 2018 18:50

Yeah, I agree- not right or wrong, but rather tension and resolution. Tension caused by moving away from the root and resolution by moving back towards the root

---

The thing about the minor pentatonic is that it shares the most notes with the most chords in a progression, regardless of the chord's "flavors" (maj-min-7dim-etc) within the progression.

The other modes and scales have "specialized" notes which must be "matched" by being introduced in the progression, OR typically written specifically into the melody, OR left out- likely yielding, you guessed it- something resembling a pentatonic scale...

BTW the scales are just guides, heuristics, a way to guess better and work together. Melodies and tunes are where it's at, man! From a single repeated note to Flight Of The Bumble Bee, those scales just suggested a grouping that would "work"

- a handful of words in alphabetical order does not a sentence make.

---

The thing about the minor pentatonic is that it shares the most notes with the most chords in a progression, regardless of the chord's "flavors" (maj-min-7dim-etc) within the progression.

The other modes and scales have "specialized" notes which must be "matched" by being introduced in the progression, OR typically written specifically into the melody, OR left out- likely yielding, you guessed it- something resembling a pentatonic scale...

BTW the scales are just guides, heuristics, a way to guess better and work together. Melodies and tunes are where it's at, man! From a single repeated note to Flight Of The Bumble Bee, those scales jONLY suggested a grouping that would "work"

- a handful of words in alphabetical order does not a sentence make.

---

Edited by BuzzBomber on Juillet 07 2018 05:04

---

There is a whole science to that stuff.
Early on I would practice the 8 note do re mi scale, up and down, slow to fast as possible.
I never studied what constitutes a pentatonic scale, dorian scale etc, etc.
The short opinion for me is I need to know the root note and build from there.

I’m a studying guitar improvisation by myself. The most important for me it was memorize one or two shapes for the major scale and minor scale (and chromatic scale). All the other scales or modes are small variants from these ones (you will memorize them as time goes by). On the other hand, you must know that all basic chords are built with the root, the 3rd maj or 3rd minor, and 5th and, optionally, you can add 7th or other notes (for example 9th, 11th , 13th etc…) to sophisticate (for tension or voicing purposes) your sound.
As I understand the improvisation I can say that all notes are valid options to play over a chord progression. However, it’s mandatory try to rest your phrasing on the root, or 3rd, or 5th or 7th note of the chord that is playing at that moment. It’s not easy to do that sometimes, but if you try to follow this rule on a simple and slow progression you will see that you improve phrasing and it will sound nicely.
Hope you can understand my English written.

hey guys, try... playing diminished chords... ( eg; xx2323 then xx5656 then xx8989 then xx11 12 11 12.....etc) they repeat every 4 frets and you're playing in four keys at once! (chances of wrong note diminished again :):) )then play then as arpeggiated scales...... Spanish.... right?
great fun when combined with a normal pentatonic major or minor.
.....just a thought. :D

---

hey there now we're talking' play a simple blues progression in 9ths or 13ths and you got kinda instant jazz / funk... combine it with a stop n chop rhythm and its defiantly funk! simple, dirty fun :)

---

...oops giving away too many secrets of how lazy I am...:)

---