May 15, 2019 by Klaus Crow
Photo by Michael Mooney
The first scale I learned as a teenager was the minor pentatonic scale. That was a good starting point for me cause I was really into rock music and metal.
I only learned the first and classic position that most guitar players know, but l did learn it thoroughly though.
I also figured some blues boxes like the “Albert King box” and the “B.B King box”. (they are not official names).
They are just little pieces of postion 2 and 3 of the blues scale. I learned how to connect the minor pentatonic scale and some of these blues boxes together and tried to improvise over these scales in every possible way I could. (by creating licks, applying sequences, learning solos to gain input, building a vocabulary to understand soloing and improvisation, etc.)
Much later on I learned to use the other 4 postions of the pentatonic / blues scale. Then I moved onto the major scale and it’s modes, harmonic minor, melodic minor etc. But not all those scales are important or necessary for every guitar player.
So the big question is: What is the most important scale for you to learn?
Well that all depends on which style you are playing.
If I would really have to name the two most important in general I would say:
1 – Major diatonic scale
2 – Pentatonic / Blues scale
You can use the pentatonic scale for just about every style you can think of and the major diatonic scale is the building block from where it all happens. All your scales, chords and chord progressions are derived from the major scale. It’s where you will build your knowledge of theory, which will also improve your improvising skills.
As I just said, your most important scale is depending on what style you are playing.
So let’s take a look at what scales are appropriate for different styles of music.
Metal: Minor pentatonic.
Rock: Minor pentatonic / blues scale.
Country pop rock:(e.g. Eagles, Lynyrd skynyrd, etc.): Major diatonic scale and major pentatonic scale.
Blues: Blues scale.
Country: Major pentatonic / blues scale.
Easy listening: Major diatonic scale and major pentatonic scale.
Christian music: Major diatonic scale and major pentatonic scale.
Jazz: Major diatonic scale and the modes, major and minor pentatonic / blues scales, harmonic minor, melodic minor, whole tone scale, chromatic scale.
The more you learn about scales the more fascinating guitar playing becomes, but take it slowly and take it step by step and learn each scale thoroughly before moving onto the next one.
You want to become a guitar player who can improvise and solo over these scales and not a guitar player who can play a lot of scales but doesn’t know how to apply them. You want to make music with those scales.
Learn as much about a particular scale as you can.
Have a great one!
Just because you know umpteen billion scales, it doesn’t mean you have to use them all in a solo. ~ Kirk Hammett
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Thank you, you’re very kind!
Klaus Crow
Thanks for the post. I appreciate your sharing your progression of learning guitar.
In the future, can you post something explaining what exactly you mean by “applying sequences” and “building a vocabulary to understand soloing and improvisation”?
That’s the point I’m struggling with now. I can play some licks, but putting the licks together and giving my solo a larger scale structure (beyond 4 bars) are what I’m struggling with.
Thanks. Enjoying every post.
Klaus!
I’ve been following your website for a month now and I’m still going through the archives for great little nugggets of information! Thanks to you I’m up at 5 every morning, and get 3 hours in before work!
I do have one question though I’ve learnt the minor pentatonic scale inside out, all 5 patterns and connected all of them together. However I’m teaching myself the major scale atm, to add some colour to my solos and improv. Big fan of the chili peppers, and it’s something I’ve always encouraged in my band. Do you know how the major and minor pentatonic scales fit together and any exercises that would help me achieve this.
Keeps up the damn good work.
Alex
im so very happy to find this awesome website !! it helps me more !! bravooo … i like it !!
Hello Klaus,
I’m am kind of confused when it comes to keys. When somebody says a song is in the key of say, C minor, does that mean that every note used in that song is in the scale of C minor?
Many thanks
Hi Klaus,
I’m a 50 year old retiree learning to play the guitar.I’m thankful for your 16 legendary fingerpicking patterns which I’m most keen to learn. Would you be kind enough to tell me what is major diatonic scale and major pentatonic scale?
Many thanks from a confused beginner.
Paul Ng
for eric, if you’re in the key of C minor then the notes are its relative major key shown in the circle of fifths (see google images)…for example, key of C (relative A minor key) would have notes cdefgabc (c major) and a minor (abcdefga no sharps/no flats)..likewise the chords would be the same I IV V is major in a major key and II III VI notes of scale are minor chords in a major key (these chords would be the same in the relative minor key ,but the “rule of I IV V,etc would be different because the rule works only for major keys
Great site.
I just cant seem to locate a complete diagram of the five Minor Pentatonics all connected together in both tab form and fingering on Guitar; Covering the entire Guitar Fret board verticle and horizontal.