Tutorial: Breaking down Guitar scales and modes

[pikachu69]

lesson 5 coming soon....

I will be talking about the relative minor scale in lesson 5. This series of lessons is almost at an end, maybe another 2 or 3 lessons will be needed to discuss everything I wanted to share and by then scales and modes should be a lot easier to understand providing all the lessons were well read and practiced.
Cheers for your patience.

 

[Swaffy101]

Great thread! Can't wait for lesson 5.

 

[InAbsentia_]

Is Lesson 5 ready yet? Can't wait. These lessons are amazing!

 

[pikachu69]

Hey.
Sorry for how long part 5 has taken. I have been over run with work and have not had 5 min spare for the last few months or so. I just finished mixing/mastering a full album last night so I should have more time on my hands this week so I will get it done asap I promise. Once again sorry for the delay.
Cheers.

 

[pikachu69]

Hey guys,

For those that are following these little lessons here is lesson 5 as promised:
(better late than never eh)

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10584477/Guitar Theory Thread Lesson 5.pdf

Hope you enjoy it and learn something from it. Please let me know if you spot any errors or if something just plain doesn't make sense and I will re explain if I can.

Cheers.

 

[chrisjmp]

Awesome! Thanks for doing this man, these lessons are much appreciated!

 

[pikachu69]

Hello to the few following my lessons.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10584477/Guitar Theory Thread Lesson 6.pdf

This will be the last lesson in the series about scales and modes.
This lesson deals with modes, what they are and a couple of different ways I have found to use them.

I hope you have learned something along the way. I am sorry it took a while to get these lessons done but this year turned out to be far busier than I thought, but hey better late than never I guess.

As always feel free to post a comment about my lessons, good bad or otherwise or any questions relating to this subject and I will do my best to get back to you asap.

Cheers,

Nigel.

 

[pikachu69]

I have created a master PDF file containing all of the lessons in this series.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10584477/Guitar Theory Thread Lesson final compilation.pdf

It turned out to be a huge 44 pages long, but it is well worth a read if you feel you struggle with scales and modes.

If anyone has managed to read the whole thing and would care to leave a review for others before they download it that would be great! I would love to know your thoughts on my hard work.

Cheers guys,


Nigel.

 

[Plankis]

Well done! I read it and thought it went through all the important topics in a clear way.

 

[Fama]

I really should get the time to go through all of these... Thanks man

 

[findingthesound]

Thank you for sharing your knowledge!

 

[Adenosine]

thanks for taking the time to write these mate, will definitely be giving them a good read

 

[pikachu69]

bump

Thank you to all that have downloaded my lessons. I hope you feel like you have learned something from reading them. Reviews are always welcome. Its the complainers of the world that keep progress in motion after all.

 

[The-Zeronaut]

bump

Thank you to all that have downloaded my lessons. I hope you feel like you have learned something from reading them. Reviews are always welcome. Its the complainers of the world that keep progress in motion after all.

Thank you very much for the lessons
For the last 2 years i haven´t been able to play guitar much because of work and studies and lately i´ve been wanting to learn "theory stuff" to know "where the hell can i play a solo" in a particular key
and just reading this has helped me A LOT
i need to start practicing NOW >.<

Thanks a lot!!

Are you planning on doing more lessons?

 

[pikachu69]

^^^

Great! I am glad it has been helpful to you.

I did plan on doing a lesson or 3 about chords too...
Is there any other topic that I should cover in future lessons?

 

[blackbull]

This is amazing! I've kind of wanted to learn theory for a few years and I've googled for beginner tutorials dozens of times.. It never got me anywhere though because I didn't understand shit. But somehow you made it make sense right away. Thanks!!

 

[pikachu69]

Great! I am glad people are finding this useful. There are so many ways to describe the same thing, sometimes you just need to find the wording that best suits your learning style. I have been teaching guitar for 16 years or so now and I have found this method works for MOST people.

 

[blackbull]

I'm wondering about something. Since flats and sharps depend on which way you're going on the fretboard, what do you call a note if you just pick one at random?

 

[egan.]

I'm wondering about something. Since flats and sharps depend on which way you're going on the fretboard, what do you call a note if you just pick one at random?

They don't depend on that at all. It totally depends on what key you're in.

 

[colton]

Since flats and sharps depend on which way you're going on the fretboard, what do you call a note if you just pick one at random?

That's not exactly true. Accidentals (sharps, flats, natural) are just that - an indication whether to raise or lower a pitch. What you call any note you play at random is up to you and how you're thinking about it. Any note in our system can be spelled enharmonically (sounds the same but is written differently) in three different ways, except for G#/Ab, which only has two. So if you play any random note, for example let's say you pick the open low E on your guitar, you could call it E, D double sharp, or Fb. If you play the 3rd fret on the third string you could call it A#, Bb, or Cbb. Context determines what you would call said given note if you were analyzing or composing a piece of music, but in general composers write what is easiest to read for the performer. This is where a good understanding of voice leading is applicable and can also lend a hand in enharmonic reinterpretation, where one chord or note may be reinterpreted in a different key.