Music Theory basics explained for Guitar

I originally wrote this for another forum, but since I liked the site I decided to post it here, too.

When I started learning, I was interesting in song creation and improv jamming with other musicians. I didn't find the activity of learning other people's songs to be very attractive (at the time). I stand with the "teach a man how to fish" school of education; therefore this information is taken directly from my self-taught experience. I am not a formally trained musician and your music teacher might disagree with every single thing I tell you. I don't know.

With that, let's begin. We will start with backbone of Western music - the major scale. There are seven notes in the major scale, spaced at whole - whole - half- whole - whole - whole - half steps. If we were using a symmetrically-tuned guitar (standard tuning is not symmetric), the pattern would look like the image below. The notes marked in red are the root notes. The notes with red dots correspond to the root note of the scale, from which the scale derives its name. Therefore, if you wanted to play C major, just line up the red notes with the Cs of the fretboard. I personally started with F. Anyway, this graphic is oriented vertically, meaning the top of the picture is towards the head of the instrument.



Note that there are seven columns, each corresponding to the seven notes of the major scale. If we were to continue the pattern in both directions, it would look like this. What patterns show up three times? Which ones show up twice? What order are they in?



Note the repeating pattern: three "split", two with the notes on "top", two with the notes on "bottom", then repeat. Since standard guitar tuning is asymmetric, the pattern becomes like this.



So, on a guitar, these are the notes you press. Note that you have to slide your hand up one fret when reaching the high B and E strings. This picture illustrates F major, which I practice for exercise.

Other sources list guitar scales in patterns where you do not have to change position to play - that is, move your hand up or down the neck. However, I practice this pattern because it is very easy to practice the whole scale all the way up the neck once you have memorized the pattern in the first diagram above. Why?

Because the highest string and the lowest string on the guitar are both E. Therefore, the notes you play last on the high E are shifted directly up to the low E, at which point the pattern continues.



"This is called 'Mode 2', called the Dorian." - I might just be gifted. Let's all ignore my flubs, shall we?

Play this scale with an up-down-up-down picking technique (if you use a plectrum/pick). Use one finger per fret, and when you play the split pattern, I was told by a knowledgable friend to use the middle finger to play the middle note and the pinky to play the bottom one. Practice repeating the scale pattern above all the way up the neck ("up" as in pitch). If you recreate the first mode once you reach the thirteenth fret, you have played correctly. I practice scales until I reach the first mode again. Once you have acquired the scale, start playing it backwards, back down the neck.

The notes of the scale are numbered 1-7, and the modes are labeled I - VII. The names of the modes of the Major scale are Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, and Locrian (these names can also refer to scales). The Aelian scale is the same as the Natural Minor scale, but that's another story for another day.

Next time, I'd like to talk about how to derive chords from the Major scale.

Here's a common way to visualize the major scale. As we can see, each numbered box corresponds to a step on the scale. The second 1 on the chart corresponds to the octave, at which point the scale repeats itself.



From the scale, we can derive chords. A simple net search will yield a treasure trove of chords for you to ponder over, but here's a simple example.



Chords usually aren't all that much by themselves, are they? We can derive chords from every step in the scale to create chord progressions. Here's what the chords of the major scale look like.

So, when we hear musicians talk about VI-I progressions and the like, this is what they're talking about. How can we visualize this on the guitar? Let's take a look at the representation we used previously. From the scale we can derive a fingering pattern that will let us play the whole scale without moving our hand up or down the neck, like so.



Start playing with your middle finger on the eigth fret, and viola: C Major scale. Once your muscle memory digests that particular fingering pattern, you can use it to practice the arpeggios from the chord progression.



Once you feel you have the major scale down (hint: you never will, you only make it further down the spiral) look up some other scales on the net and have fun with them.

TK, all I can say is...wow. This will take some time to digest. Thanks for the post and welcome to the forum.

Thanks! This information took me about two and a half years of self-study to gather (I started bass 2.5 years ago, guitar 1.5 years ago...no other musical background). I hope it can be of some use.

I realize that scales can be intimidating to some learners, but it's really quite simple when you can visualize how the scale appears on the fretboard. If I add any more to this explanation, I think I will put in a list of scale charts, and perhaps some of my favorite exercises.

yeah, I hated the thought of learning scales until the guitarist in my band drew me a chart similar to what you've put up. That was when I was a bass player, and it totally revolutionised the way I was playing bass, adding in harmonising notes, 7th notes, a lot more stepping notes between chords.

But I still just wanted to strum! So I picked up a few guitars instead. But this is good - when I finally get my tele, I'll keep it at home and learn some scales from this post.

So I add my thanks!