Scale question

[CapenCyber]

I was wondering if you guys could explain something to me. I keep seeing diagrams showing different scale shapes on a fretboard eg:http://www.all-guitar-chords.com/guitar_scales.php?qqq=FULL&scch=E&scchnam=Harmonic+Minor&get2=Get

My questions are:
Can one shape mean that scale wherever you play it on the neck? eg: the scale for C 2 frets up = D scale?

If you were playing in one "mode" (not sure if that is the correct word) could you just stick to the notes relating to that mode for them to fit?


Thanks
P.S. My first post, Hi everyone. Cool to see Chris giving out advice here, awesome player. I must watch the video of Chris and Jeff Loomis shredding on youtube 10 times a day. It makes my want to play and cry in equal measure.

 

[r_young112]

for your first question, yes, there are the 2 different octave slants in which you can play a scale, so yes, the c major scale, moved 2 frets up would be D major

keep in mind though, there are half steps that naturally occur between E and F and B and C

so to go from B major to C major you only have to move up a fret

i dont really get your second question

 

[CapenCyber]

Thanks for answering. Though the answer raises another question; since there are multiple shapes for each scale and you can move that scale up and down the neck does that mean that one scale canhave multiple shapes for exactly the same scale? (ie: a major scale of the same not starting at the same point but with different shapes?)

I may just be confused somewhere, but I'd like to clear it up.


The second part of my original post referred to how people can "know" which notes will go with the on es they are playong on the fly.

 

[r_young112]

yes you can have scales that run through multiple shapes, different octaves, etc

for instance this:
D-------------4-5-7-
A------4-5-7-------
E--5-7---------------

is the same as this:

G--------------1-2---
D----------2-4-------
A----2-4-5-----------
E--5-----------------

and i see why i didnt get what you were talking about, i think you're talking about key signatures? there are things called modes, so it threw me off

if so, its all based on the scales and the naturally occuring half steps

like i said before halfsteps naturally occure between E and F, and B and C

and for a major scale the halfsteps are between the 3rd and 4th, and the 7th and 1st(or 8th, i call them a first because its an octave above, and is the same tone as the first note)

so it would look like this:

1 2 3^4 5 6 7^1

C is the natural major scale, so when you see something in C major it will have nothing, no flats or sharps in its key signature, which is located before the first measure

It matches up like this:


1 2 3^4 5 6 7^1
C D E^F G A B^C

notice the e and half, and b and c halfsteps match up

but however what if we did this, lets take D major for example, which has two sharps, and try to match it up

so:

1 2 3^4 5 6 7^1
D E^F G A B^C D

they dont match, so you have to raise, or sharp some notes
so it becomes:

1 2 3 ^4 5 6 7 ^1
D E F# G A B C# D

thats a short summary of keys, google the circle of fifths, memorizing the circle of fifths can definitely help

however the stuff ive mentioned is really only for reading music, so if you just wanna play guitar, and not read music, you really dont have to know it, but it'd be nice

so to answer your question, you know what notes to use by what key you're in

a quick way, and a good exercise to figure it out, is say you're in A minor

run through all the octave shapes, and get familiar, here's what you'd get if you took an octave and ran it up and down a fourth, keep in mind the interval between G and B is different then the rest of the strings

E-------5---------
B-----5----------
G---4---2--------
D-4---2-------------
A---2------------
E-2--------------

Then there's the other slant to, and you can connect the octave shapes like this:

E-5---------------
B----10--10----------
G----------------
D-7--7--------------
A--------12-------
E-5---------------

thats just an idea of the different things you can run through to get familiar with octave shapes, theres a lot to it once you dig deep

if you want more info pm or something, im sure i can dig out some good sites/articles for you