I know for a fact that virtually everyone has wanted to learn how to play guitar at one time or another. I think reason is that it is a very cool instrument.
One thing that is different today is that guitars a re much more affordable then they were when I was starting to learn how to play guitar. When I started you couldnt buy a guitar for less than $200 and even at that price the quality of the instrument was very low which made it hard to play.
Learning how to play guitar in todays internet age has never been easier or more affordable. The addition of video games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band has struck up a ton of interest in many people, because of the fact theyre playing along side guitar icons gives them the itch to learn how to play a real guitar.
How to play guitar scales isn’t for novice guitar players. This would be for individuals who are already familiar with how to play the guitar, even if you only know the fundamentals, and would like to advance even more on your musical path. If you’re not familiar with the various guitar parts, then maybe you had better begin with the basics prior to trying to learn the guitar scales.
If you insist on starting off learning scales start with the pentatonic scale.
The pentatonic scale contains 5 notes where the major scale contains 7. Having to learn a scale with 2 less notes makes it much easier for the beginner. The reason being is that the pattern is 2 notes per string rather than 3 notes per string for the major scale. When you are learning how to play guitar anything you can do to make it easier makes a huge difference.
When learning the first pattern of the pentatonic scale you are actually learning 2 scales the Major and the Minor scale. Why? The same pattern is used for both it all depends on which finger you use to start the scale. If you start the pattern using your index finger the scale will resolve to minor, if you start the pattern with your pinky finger the scale will resolve Major. We sometimes tell our students to think of it as happy finger sad finger.
I would love to cover everything there is about the pentatonic scale but that would be a huge article. Till next time,
Tony D.
