The title really sums it all up but I'll try expand it slightly. Lets say I'm learning guitar and would like to improve my guitar work. Which of the scales should I learn first and why?
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This is a tough one. 'Silver Light', 'DRL', and 'yossarian' all have great answers. Major for theory vs Pentatonic for quick jamming. Both great starting points. I think DRL had lots of great information but some drifted into modes etc. That weren't all that focussed on the actual question of a persons first scale (but it was a great answer). Overall I think yossarian touched nicely on which you would choose depending on what you wanted to achieve (or the angle you wanted to approach) in improving your skill on guitar (guitar work). Which is why I'm giving him the correct answer. – Jan 25 '11 at 09:46
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1Identifying the "first" scale you should learn is irrelevant. You should learn ALL of them. It doesn't take much time at all. – Jul 22 '12 at 04:13
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It really depends what type of music you want to do; and how deeply you want to understand the mechanics of music itself.
If you just want to get straight into jamming a tune; learn the pentatonic scale, its about the easiest scale to learn and very versatile; something like 70% of the licks in all popular since the mid 60's is pentatonic based, and even before that most blues was pentatonic based (with an added note between the third and the forth intervals)
Here is Pentatonic scale in A
$6.5 $6.8 $5.5 $5.7 $4.5 $4.7 $3.5 $3.7 $2.5 $2.8 $1.5 $1.8
Its a good idea to learn this up and down; learn it well slowly before you start to speed up. A wise man once told me that if you never practice to play things slowly first you never learn how to play slowly. Practice it in different keys; its a good idea to find backing tracks to jam over, be musical.
Here is Blues scale in A (with the added note)
$6.5 $6.8 $5.5 $5.6 $5.7 $4.5 $4.7 $3.5 $3.7 $3.8 $2.5 $2.8 $1.5 $1.8
Note the added chromatic interval this where that classic blues sound comes from; its a good idea to try sliding into this note, or bending into it rather than playing it straight all the time; be expressive with it its the blues.
If you want to take this further you could bleed over into the natural minor as the mood takes you, since it differs from the pentatonic by only two notes.
A Minor scale
$6.5 $6.7 $6.8 $5.5 $5.7 $5.8 $4.5 $4.7 $3.4 $3.5 $3.7 $2.5 $2.6 $2.8 $1.5
These scales are all pretty interchangeable in the key of A minor; however learning the minor scale particularly give you a whole new range of options.
A minor contains all of the notes of the Key of C Major, and so is rooted in C major, starting from its 6 interval (Aeolian Mode). This being the case, if you play A minor from its 3rd interval you are playing C Major. Because of this you have access to all of the other modes of the C Major Scale.
B Locrian - C Ionian(Major) - D Dorian - E Phrygian - F Lydian and G Mixolydian
If you start the A minor scale from each of the notes above, and carry on through an octave, you are playing the corresponding mode above. Each of these modes sounds good at certain times (over certain chords (their own)); each mode contains 'deviant'(from the major scale) intervals, which when embellished over the right chords really bring out the sound of the mode.
So technically by 'really' leaning A minor you have learned a whole branch of music theory, actually using this stuff really opens up your playing.
The stuff that I have just mentioned is the essential 'in the box' stuff. Things can get a lot more interesting if you start swapping modes in and out of your root key, from A minor to A Dorian for instance. A Dorian is rooted in G Major/E Minor, so you have the whole set of modes again from a different key signature, but you can remain rooted in the key of A.
Im not going any further since i'm already Waaay past the scope of the answer, so in summary:
Pentatonic/blues is a good first scale to learn if you just want to get playing.
Then if you want to take your knowledge further, the minor scale is only two extra notes, and it gives you access to all of the above and a whole world more.
Bella
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Your first scale is a minor pentatonic. Although it is often referred to as just pentatonic, the third is flat so it's minor. The major pentatonic is not used as much, but sounds quite different (Stir It Up for instance). – yossarian Jan 21 '11 at 14:37
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The major pentatonic is simply a different position of the same same scale. – Bella Jan 21 '11 at 19:22
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I'm not sure what that means. The two scales have different notes in them. That makes them not the same. Do you meant that C minor and A maj pentatonic have the same notes? That is certainly true, but they're not the same scale when you put them in the same key. – yossarian Jan 21 '11 at 20:18
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What I mean is the major Pentatonic shape can be found in one of the 5 positions(similar to modes) of the Pentatonic scale on the neck, it is used very often, as a mode of the Minor pentatonic, in rock/popular music. – Bella Jan 21 '11 at 20:41
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Right, I gotcha. I think it would be clearer if you said A Minor Pentatonic, since you do call it out as the key of A. If you had said it was the C Pentatonic, I'd have suggested you call it the C Major Pentatonic, since that is a more complete description of the scale. When teaching someone A minor, you might tell them that it's the same notes as C major, but you wouldn't tell them it's also a major scale and leave it ambiguous as to whether the key was A or not. But it's not a huge deal as the minor pentatonic scale is often referred to as just pentatonic. – yossarian Jan 21 '11 at 21:57
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Pentatonic merely means 'five noted'. This can't point to major or minor specifically.If anything, the Am / Cmaj. pent. will be called C pentatonic, as all music is referenced to the major scale notes : e.g. "the minor scale has a flat third. " Never heard "the major scale has a sharpened third " !!! So, maj. and min. pents DO have the same notes,BUT the key centre / home notes are different. The pent. scales are easiest to learn on guitar and provide mostly 'good' notes to solo with, giving either a country(maj.)or blues(min.)feel to your solo – Tim Mar 20 '13 at 10:00
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I would suggest a major scale. Although, pentanotic and blues scales are easier, because they have less notes and easier shapes, the major scale will give you a great starting point, because all other scales are, in one way or another, modifications of a major scale.
Here's the formula:
root note + 1 tone + 1 tone + 1/2 tones + 1 tone + 1 tone + 1 tone + 1/2 tones
Here is C major scale on 5th string:
$5 3 5 7 8 10 12 14 15
And the same scale in one position:
$5 3 5 $4 2 3 5 $3 2 4 5
Good luck in your playing!
Silver Light
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2Major scale is not a good scale to learn if you want to get jamming straight away; minor scale is much better for that and easier shapes are a matter of opinion, try playing the pentatonic in all five positions for instance. – Bella Jan 21 '11 at 09:39
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2@DRL quite possible, I'm just judging from my own experience. It was the first scale I've learned, and it helped me very much, when I learned the next ones, including pentatonic. – Silver Light Jan 21 '11 at 10:20
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Well you right in that the major scale is the root of all music; but there are many ways to approach the learning of it, since its all linked. Going in via the minor scale teaches, everything that the major scale teaches you, your just going about it from a minor perspective. – Bella Jan 21 '11 at 10:38
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There are a couple of mistakes in your first tab. The 6th fret on the A string is an Eb, which is not in the C-Major scale. Instead it should be the 7th fret, which is an E-natural. Also, the 13th fret on the A-string is Bb, which also isn't in the C-Major scale; this should be the 14th fret, which is B-natural. Finally, you should include the final C, located at the 15th fret. – Alex Basson Jan 21 '11 at 14:00
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1@DRL, Major scale is better to learn if you're interested in theory. Minor pentatonic if you just want to get playing. – yossarian Jan 21 '11 at 14:35
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@Yossarian, you clearly haven't read/understood my answer correctly; there is more than one way of approaching theory learning. – Bella Jan 21 '11 at 19:21
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@DRL, I did understand your answer. You have a rather convoluted way of getting to the major scale. Any music theory course is based entirely off the major scale. Minor is referred to as relative to a major scale or having a flat 3rd and 7th that's the 3rd or 7th from a major scale. The same way that chords are refered to as having notes flat or sharp compared to the major scale. Everything starts with the major scale, not the relative minor. I know that all these things are highly interconnected, and you can make the leap from minor to major, but for theory major makes the most sense to start – yossarian Jan 21 '11 at 20:21
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It depends what want to learn; my way of getting to major scale is no more or less convoluted than learning the major scale itself; 'any music course is based entirely of the major scale' is a very black and white statement, i'm sure you have attended all of these courses. Of course learning the major scale is the most important aspect of music, and yes im very aware of the relationship between music and the major scale whether you **must** use the major scale as the **only** angle to learn music theory is a different story altogether, and totally a matter of opinion/preference. – Bella Jan 21 '11 at 20:49
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@Yossarian And again you have missed my point; this as you can see, my answer offers a natural progression from pentatonic/blues in to modal playing and theory. Could you approach from major? yes, do you need to be able to approach from minor? yes. Can minor teach you anything about major? yes. – Bella Jan 21 '11 at 20:56
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@DRL, All I said was that if you wanted to start from a jamming sense, then do what DRL said. If you want to start with music theory, do what Silver Light said. I learned how to play the way that you explained it. That's cool. It's how I teach people to play too. But, if someone came to me and said, "I want to learn Jazz and music theory", I'd start with the major scale. That's all I'm saying and why I added my own answer. – yossarian Jan 21 '11 at 21:53
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"major scale is the root of all music". Pentatonic-scale based music has existed a lot longer and has been found in primitive tribes and ancient Chinese and Japanese music. The major scale was an outgrowth of Gregorian chant from Europe and its strength in theory is because western music is based on it. I think it's safer to say that pentatonic is more of a root. – Jan 22 '11 at 05:39
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@Tin Man; I meant from the perspective of the mechanics of western music; not historically; music as a language has existed in various forms since the dawn of man; and in that time it has been developed and advanced, what we have currently is the result of that process, pentatonic is certainly part of that and it may have been early on the timeline; but its not the root... mechanically. – Bella Jan 22 '11 at 06:33
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Major is the best general answer to a general question. If he asked about a specific task or style, equivocating might be practical. But he didn't. Major scale. 7 out of 8 music teachers agree with me. – Mar 11 '11 at 03:52
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Silver Light and DRL both give excellent answers outlining scales to start out with, but I think they've missed the important aspect to choosing between the two, what type of music do you play, how do you learn, what do you want to learn?
If you a rock / blues player that wants to get jamming with some friends as quickly as possible, then start with your minor pentatonic scale (often referred to as just pentatonic). It's very accessible and is used by a lot of the guitar greats of the 60s-70s. You can play it over an awful lot of music.
If you are a jazz player, start with your major scale. It's as useful for jazz as the pentatonic is for blues. And more importantly leads us to my last point:
If you want to learn music theory, start with your major scale. All music theory is based off your major scale. Absolutely all of it. If that's what you're interested in, learn it as soon as possible. Certain types of playing will absolutely need this knowledge (see Jazz and to a lesser extent Classical).
Here is your C Major Scale
$6 8 10 $5 7 8 10 $4 7 9 10 $3 7 9 10 $2 8 10 $1 7 8 10
Here is your C Minor Pentatonic Scale
$6 8 11 $5 8 10 $4 8 10 $3 8 10 $2 8 11 $1 8 11
Note that your first note in each scale is the root note of the scale. Low E, 8th fret is a C, so the scale is a C scale. If you were to move everything down one fret, then you would have a B scale. One more fret, and it's Bb / A#, etc. This is one of the big advantages of learning scales and chords on the guitar, once you know one, you know them all.
yossarian
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1", but I think they've missed the important aspect to choosing between the two," - Again did you actually read my answer? – Bella Jan 21 '11 at 19:25
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1@DRL, see my answer above. I disagree with you approach for learning theory. While you can certainly learn theory after the fact from knowing your minor scales, I don't think it's the best way to approach it if you want to start with theory. The major scale makes way more sense for that approach. – yossarian Jan 21 '11 at 20:23
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"After the fact"? I have explained in clearly how they are related and how by learning minor, you can learn all the modes of the major scale; i _left out_ a lot related to minor scale theory which can only really be learned via the minor scale. – Bella Jan 21 '11 at 20:30
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In addition; you have stated above "what type of music do you play, how do you learn, what do you want to learn"; and offered an either/or answer; if you properly _read_ my answer you will see it makes the clear link between jamming with the pentatonic scale and theory, progressing through into the minor scale which is not very different and so is a _natural_ progresssion. – Bella Jan 21 '11 at 20:36
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@DRL, I presented an either or because the question asked what to learn first. You can't learn two different things first. As I've said, I don't have anything against your approach, and it was the one that I learned and what I usually teach. But I think that it's not perfect for everyone. I'm not sure why you are getting so worked up about me having a different answer than you. – yossarian Jan 21 '11 at 21:59
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Im not getting worked up, and your answer is valid, i'm just stating that either method is not necessarily better or worse that the other, and that you can learn just as much about theory going in via the minor scale as you can via any other method. – Bella Jan 21 '11 at 22:02
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Haha. Ok. You can certainly end up in the same place either way. But if you have clear goals in mind, then there's a better place to start. If someone said, "I wanna jam with a blues band" then the major scale wouldn't be the best starting point. If they want to learn how to do chord composition and voicings, then the pentatonic scale won't give the basis they need. Of course, if they want to become a well rounded player, they need to know it all eventually. – yossarian Jan 21 '11 at 22:05
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If you want to rock right now, then the E minor pentatonic is a great place to start. It's really easy to play, sounds awesome and it's used in a bunch of tunes like Rumble, Shakin' All Over, Back in Black and many, many more. Here's the pattern:
That being said, it's not a great place to start if you want to understand what you are doing. Although it won't hurt to learn it first either.
To really understand how music in the Western world works, you should start with the Major scale because it's the starting point for music theory. It's the starting point for music theory because of the strong tension and resolution of the tritone in the V chord that is derived from the Major scale, but that's a topic for another time.
It's also important to remember that you're not only learning patterns, but what these different scales sound like. Learning to recognize these sounds is arguably as important if not more important than learning patterns. Remember, you make music with your ears, not with your eyes.
A one octave C Major scale in open position is pretty easy to play and to understand.
If you're familiar with reading scale diagrams already, you can start by playing it and listening carefully to it's sound. It sounds pretty light and happy.
If you want to understand what's going on with Major scales, it's actually quite simple.
First, the musical alphabet. A B C D E F G
The notes in a C Major scale are C D E F G A B C. There are no sharps or flats. The notes that are not sharp or flat are called natural notes. The natural notes are all the white keys on a piano.
You see how the C Major scale Starts on C (hence the name C Major) and ends on a C? This is pretty important and why it's called C.
So the next question that needs to be answered is why is the scale type "Major" and not something else. Because of the spacing between the notes.
There are two distances you need to be aware of on the guitar fretboard, tone and semitone. A tone (T) is the distance of two frets and a semitone (S) is the distance of one (the adjacent fret).
The distances between the notes in a C Major scale are T T S T T T S. So, the distances between the notes are what give the scale it's sound, not the notes.
Try starting on a C note anywhere on any string, then on that same string moving up toward the body, play T T S T T T S. You will get a Major scale. It's obviously a bit awkward to play all on one string, but it will help you understand what is happening.
A lot of people will ask why any of this matters. It depends how far you want proceed with your development as a musician and how serious you are. If you just want to strum a few chords, it's probably not important. If you want be a good Jazz player, you'll need to learn this stuff. And why not? It's not that hard!
Myles
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The seventh mode of melodic minor. Also there are plenty of symmetric scales out there, meaning the number of modes (starting points) doesn't necessarily go up to seven.
Rene Marcelo
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1Please justify this ! The 7th mode of melodic minor could start on 2 different notes ! Take Amin. ascending the 7th note is G#; descending, it's G natural.How confusing is that for a beginner ? What's a symmetric scale ? – Tim Mar 20 '13 at 10:24
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The C major scale in the first position would be an easy scale to learn first.
I remember when I was 10 or 11 and I'd already learned to play all the first position chords. Then "La Bamba" came out (redone by Los Lobos) and of course I had to figure out that solo... which is the C Major scale played all in the first position.
The good thing about figuring this out is that the scale already has a context - C/F/G, and it has a melody you can hum/sing and a distinct rhythm! Perfect for a beginner!
Don't worry about knowing the scale and the notes - go by the sound of the notes and being able to play with the record/cd/mp3. Use the open strings! Once you can manoeuvre your fingers around the open position - you can then begin to study what you've just learned ;-)
Vlad - geetarCOACH.com
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1Are you advocating learning the C Major scale first? Your answer is a little rambly and unclear. – Oct 18 '11 at 22:17
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Matthew, you're right - I wrote this in a hurry. But yes, the C major scale in the first position would be an easy scale to learn first. Learning it in context of a song also makes it easier for beginners to digest. – Vlad - geetarCOACH.com Oct 18 '11 at 22:50