| If you are learning to play guitar and are starting to | | | | five notes instead of seven like the major and minor |
| get into playing leads, solos, and improvising, then it is | | | | scale has. The one thing that you need to make sure |
| very important to understand what guitar scales to | | | | of is that you are starting the scale on the same |
| practice and when to use them. Before we go | | | | root note as the key signature (i.e. if your song is in |
| shredding away playing crazy guitar solos, we need | | | | A Minor, then you need to start the minor pentatonic |
| to take a look at what type of chords are being | | | | scale on an A). |
| used in our song or chord progression to help us | | | | Should I use a Major or Minor Pentatonic Scale? |
| decide what scales on guitar will work the best. | | | | The safest bet here is to always stick with the Minor |
| The basic idea of how chords and scales go together | | | | Pentatonic Scale. Most rock songs and chord |
| is this: If a chord is only made up of a couple notes | | | | progressions are in minor key signatures so the minor |
| (such as a power chord) then you will want to play a | | | | pentatonic scale will always work great. You can |
| pentatonic scale over it because this scale only has | | | | always use the major pentatonic scale too, you just |
| five notes in it. If a chord is made up of three or | | | | have to make sure to play it in the relative major |
| more notes (such as a major or minor chord), full | | | | key (we will talk more about this concept in future |
| major and minor scales will work better because they | | | | articles). |
| are made up of seven notes and have more notes in | | | | When should I use full Major and Minor scales? |
| common with the chord. One of the great things | | | | I am a big fan of Major and Minor scales because |
| about soloing and using scales in rock music is that | | | | they give you the opportunity to really shred and |
| once you have found yourkey signature and | | | | they give you the ability to create very fluid lines. |
| corresponding scale, you don't need to worry about | | | | Using them in rock music is a littletrickier than using |
| changing it if you don't want to. The one scale will | | | | minor pentatonic scales though. The best time to use |
| work great for the whole song. When playing over | | | | these scales is when your song uses major and minor |
| more complex styles of music, such as jazz, one | | | | chords instead of power chords. The cool thing about |
| guitar scale won't work for the entire song. You need | | | | these types of chord progressions is that you can still |
| to change scales as the chords change. | | | | use a Minor Pentatonic Scale if you want to keep it |
| The most popular type of chord in Rock music is by | | | | simple or you can integrate both scales and create |
| far the Power Chord. If your looking for basic guitar | | | | some really cool and unique licks. |
| chords then look no further. Power Chords are the | | | | For a great lesson on how to practice guitar scales, |
| simplest chords for guitar because they only contain | | | | visit the Members Section on the Rock Guitar Power |
| two notes, the root and the fifth. When your playing | | | | website. There is a bunch of backing tracks there, in |
| guitar scales over a chord you want the two to have | | | | different keys and styles, to help you practice your |
| as many notes in common as possible. Since a power | | | | lead playing, create your own solos, and work on |
| chord only has two notes in it, a pentatonic scale | | | | your improvising skills. Be sure to check out the |
| (the king of all rock guitar scales) is always a great | | | | examples to get an idea of how to work with these |
| choice to use. This is because it is made up of only | | | | tracks. |