An article on learning guitar scales
January 12, 2011When you start learning the guitar, one of the first things you will learn is to understand and play the chords. Chords are absolutely essential for playing the guitar, in fact, chord are the base. There are two kinds of chords- major and minor. After you have learned the chords, the next step is to move on to learning scales which are, simply put, combinations of chords.
Some of you might be looking for a correct definition of scales. I will give you the answer. A scale consists of various chords which are in harmony with the other chords of the set, when played. There are various types of scales. Some of them are sharp scale, flat scale, major scale, minor scale, pentatonic scale, chromatic scale etc. To play the guitar proficiently one must need to know these scales.
Let us assume that you need to learn how to play an unknown song or a music piece which you heard. Once you get the knack of scales, it will be a cakewalk for you. Once you get to know more on scales and become good at it, you will be able to play any song you want. Once you get the basics, everything else is easy.
Rhythm, melody and harmony are the three basic things or elements in music. It is the combination of these three that produces good music. If you want to be a good guitarist and have all these three elements perfectly reflected through your guitar, you need to know about the scales. This knowledge can enhance your musical sense and adaptability very much further. This fact is often forgotten or ignored by many new-generation, aspiring guitarists. One can’t go much further in guitar without the knowledge of scales.
It is time for some instructions in learning the scales. Make sure that the guitar which you use is properly tuned and all the strings are in place. These things are said under the assumption that you know something at least about guitars. Tuning can be done in many ways- using a finely tuned music instrument like an electronic keyboard or even from various websites which gives the options for correct tuning of your instrument.
Rather then learning all the chords and notes mechanically and playing them with their names in mind, an easy technique is to remember the relationship between the notes and chords. You should be able to figure out yourselves, what comes next.
Scales are made up or composed using an array of chords. World-wide, it is the chord C Major which is taken as the base or standard in determining the scales. It is also called the zero sharp, or zero flat scale. Sharp scales, in their correct musical order, after C Major are- G Major, D Major, E Major, A Major, B Major, F sharp (sharp noted by the symbol ‘#’) Major and C# Major. Flat scales, from C Major are F Major, B flat (flat noted by the symbol ‘b’) Major, Eb Major, A b Major, D b Major, G b Major and C b Major.
You can learn to play the guitar with the help of various resources available on the net. Click here to learn guitar scales
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