Scale confusion

[Loraine]

Barbara, I think you’re confusing yourself by trying to lump all scales into a pentatonic shape. The pentatonic scales are one of many.

The pentatonic scales are determined by the note and where in the scale you’re playing that note determines major or minor for instance, a C major pentatonic will start on the C note, whereas the C minor pentatonic will start on the A note.

The major pentatonic scale contains the first, second, third, fifth, and sixth notes of the major scale, while the minor pentatonic scale contains the first, third, fourth, fifth, and seventh notes of the natural minor scale.

Starting point
The major and minor pentatonic scales contain the same notes, but they start from different points.

Relative scales
The major and minor pentatonic scales are complimentary to each other, similar to how C Major and A Minor are relative scales.

The Pentatonic scales all have the same shape.

But we do not learn the Pentatonic scales at TAC in every week’s lesson. Tony often will do a scale horizontally or vertically, but they are not to be confused with the pentatonic shape.

There are a lot of different types of scales that can be played on a guitar outside of the pentatonic scales, including:
Major scales
There are 12 major scales to learn, including C, G, D, A, E, B, F#, and C#.

Minor scales
There are three types of minor scales: natural, harmonic, and melodic. The most common is the natural minor scale.

Other scales
Other scales include Lydian mode, Dorian mode, chromatic, whole tone, and blues scales.

Music modes
The names of the music modes are Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, and Locrian.

The five major scale shapes form the basis for most other scales in western music.

[albert_d]

Wow @Loraine…. There you go talkin’ Theory to Decent Folk! I love it. And such a good job. But @BarabaraM don’t be intimidated. The fog will clear and it will be so much easier to play and recall knowing the structure instead of trying to memorize it. Theory and Fretboard Wizard have made playing so much easier and transportable.

[BarbaraM]

Thanks for your detailed reply, and I should save it for later reference! But, no, I was only talking about the pentatonic scales; I know the other major, minor, mixolydian etc scales are a whole ‘nother ball of wax. One pattern at a time is enough for my old brain!

So, what you are saying the Cmajor pentatonic is related to the Am pentatonic (since it is the 6th of the key of C…?), so that is why the notes are the same? So, for example the major pentatonic in the key of G would have the same notes as the Em pentatonic? That’s where my confusion comes in. If I start the major C pent. with my pinky on the root note on the low E (8th fret), which is the first note played? the 5th fret (A)? And the minor C pent.? Starts with index on root and goes up?

I don’t remember this from FW, so I better take it again; I only understood about 20% of it the first time.

[BarbaraM]

OK, I think I’ve got it. I tried it out on a couple of different keys, and I think my brain is having a lightbulb moment.

[FrancisR]

Wow @Loraine…. thanks! I am going to save your reply! Most of that went right over my head. I just joined this past December. I went through the 30 days to play, 5 Day Challenge, and did 6 additional chords and have now gone through two weeks of Daily Challenges. To be honest I have had a guitar for over 40 years but never got into it like I have now to really try and learn how to play and understand the things you talked about. Now that I am retired I want to learn those things. I also signed up for Fret Wizard but have not gotten into it yet. Will I learn and better understand scales etc. there? Thanks again for the lesson!

tonypolecastro.com

Page not found – Tony's Acoustic Challenge

Page not found – Tony's Acoustic Challenge

[Loraine]

Hey @FrancisR Welcome to the TAC family. Sounds like you’re off to a great start. With regard to scales, you’ll learn the open scales C, D, E, F, A, G, B major and minor scales and the notes that make up each scale, what notes make up the fretboard, the shapes (CAGED), and the natural intervals between notes, which notes in a scale are major, minor, diminished. You’ll learn which notes of a scale typically make up 90% of all songs, you learn ear training to find the first note of a song, and then you can typically find the rest of the not based on the formula of what notes typically make up a song.

So you will learn the basic structure of open scales however that’s just touching upon the beginning of what you can learn about scales in the different types of skills that I mentioned interesting when you start looking at the Modes.

[FrancisR]

Thanks! Much appreciated! Onward!