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The 5 Natural Minor Scale Positions You Must Know

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The natural minor scale can be played in 5 different positions just like the major scale, the pentatonic scale and all the other scales.

These 5 positions are all one and the same natural minor scale but played in different shapes and areas on the fretboard to give you the freedom to play the scale all over the neck and improvise without restrictions.

The natural minor scale (also known as Aeolian mode) is derived from the major scale. So if you already know how to play the 5 positions / shapes of the major scale you will automatically know how to play the positions of the natural minor scale. The only difference is where the root note is located and the name of each position.

If you don’t know how to play the first position of the natural minor scale yet or haven’t even heard of it before then check out this post first: Exploring the natural minor scale

The natural minor scale can be used to play over songs in a minor key and can be perfectly combined with the pentatonic / blues scale (which can also be used for the minor key). Using both scales gives you a bigger and more varied palette to draw from.

The diagrams below give you a nice overview of how the fingers are placed and move over the neck for each position.

Play each position starting from the lowest root note (the red note) then play all the way up (ascending) to the last note on the high E-string, then play all the way down (descending) to the first note on the low E-string and then play up again to the first root note you’ll hit upon.

The tablature shows you how to play each position ascending and descending.

Tips:

– Practice with a pick using alternate picking technique (down, up, down, up, etc.)
– Make sure each note sounds clean and clear .
– Practice slowly first and when you feel comfortable gradually build up speed.
– Memorize all the root notes of each position.
– Make sure you can play each position thoroughly before moving on to the next.
– Take your time to get it all down. It takes a while. Enjoy the path before reaching your destination.

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The 5 Major Pentatonic Scale Shapes – Positions

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The major pentatonic scale is mostly used in country, folk country rock, blues and jazz.

It creates a more happy and uplifting sound.

The shapes of the major pentatonic scale are exactly the same as those of the minor pentatonic scale, except the root note is located else where.

Looking at it from the major scale, if you leave out the 4th and the 7th note of the major scale you’ll also end up with the major pentatonic.

The 5 shapes shown below are all the same scale (G major pentatonic scale) just played in different positions, so you can learn the scale all over the neck. That’s the whole purpose, eventually you want to have the freedom to be able to improvise around the entire fretboard.

SHAPE NAMES
Each shape has it’s own shape-name C, A, G, E and D, derived from the C-A-G-E-D system. Note: The name of the shapes have nothing to do with the key of the scale. The names refer to the chord shape (made up of the red and green dots) that is surrounded by the scale shape.

If you want to know more about the CAGED system check out: What is The CAGED System? (The Keys to The Fretboard)

ROOT NOTES
In the scale diagrams below the red dots indicate the root notes and the green dots indicate the remainder chord tones.

The root note of each shape determines the name of the scale. In the examples below all the scale shapes are in the key of G, so all the root notes are G notes.Continue Reading

Combining Pentatonics to Play Mixolydian

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Today I introduce to you George Ramsay, Co-founder and Guitar Teacher at Bold Music Lessons. George sheds light on combining pentatonics to play mixolydian.

A great example of how get the most out of your pentatonic scales. Learn and reap the benefits!

HERE’S GEORGE

You can’t really talk about soloing on the guitar without understanding pentatonic scales. Normal, or “full” major or minor scales have seven different notes, while pentatonic scales have only 5 notes (hence “pent”).

Klaus has written extensively on this as well as the CAGED system, so I’ll let you read through some of his postings for more info on playing these scales.

Today we will look at creating the Mixolydian scale by combining some major pentatonic with its parallel minor pentatonic.

Mixolydian is used extensively when improvising over the 12 bar blues, other I-IV-V chord progressions, and more generally chord progressions featuring dominant seventh chords.

What the heck is Mixolydian?

Mixolydian is a mode, and modes are really just types of scales, much like major and minor (in fact, major is called the Ionian mode and minor is called Aeolian). Perhaps the simplest way to understand modes is to look at a major scale. Let’s look at C major, where our notes are C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C.

Playing a major scale (in this case C major) but not starting or ending on C, creates our different modes. For example, the second mode, called Dorian (in this case D Dorian) would look like this: D-E-F-G-A-B-C. Similarly, the fifth mode, called Mixolydian, would have G-A-B-C-D-E-F as its notes. Notice that each of these modes consist of the same seven notes! We are just starting and ending in different places. These are modes.Continue Reading

The 5 Major Scale CAGED Shapes – Positions

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If you know how to play the major scale in one position and you’re ready to learn to play it all over the fretboard then this lesson is the next step.

If you haven’t played the major scale before you might wanna check out this post first: How to Play The Major Scale Guitar Guide for Beginners and Intermediate.

The major scale is the mother of all scales and your reference point for all other scales. That’s why it’s so important to master all of these five scale shapes.

The five C-A-G-E-D scale shapes (C shape, A shape, G shape, E shape and D shape) surround the entire fretboard. The “shapes” are sometimes also referred to as “positions”. In this post we use the G major scale as an example. So all five scale shapes (see below) are G major scale.

You can apply these scale shapes to all 12 keys by simply moving the shapes up or down the fretboard. For example: If you move the five shapes up a whole step (2 frets) then all the shapes are in the key of A, so you have five A major scale shapes.

The five scale shapes are derived from the CAGED system. If you’re not sure what the CAGED system is all about check out: What is The CAGED System? (The Keys to The Fretboard)

Each scale shape is related to a chord shape and surrounds that chord shape so you can easily identify the name of each scale shape. In each diagram below you can see the scale shape and the chord shape (made up of the red and green dots) that is surrounded by the scale shape.

PLAYING THE SCALE SHAPES / POSITIONS

If you look at the diagrams, play each scale shape starting from the lowest root note (the red note) then play all the way up (ascending) to the last note on the high E-string, then play all the way down (descending) to the first note on the low E-string and then play up again to the first root note you’ll hit upon. The tablature shows you how to play each scale shape ascending and descending.

Tips

– Practice the scale shapes with a pick using alternate picking technique (down, up, down, up, etc.)
– Practice slowly first and make sure each note sounds clean and clear.
– Try to visualize the chord shape in each scale shape.
– Make sure you can play each scale shape thoroughly before moving on to the next.
– Be patient and persistent, it takes some time to get them all under your belt.
– Repetition and regular practice is the key to success!

Have fun!

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