Scales Made Easy

So you know your basic chords? D, G, E, A, B, F? And you can play them cleanly and switch between them to sound half way decent. So now, you want to advance your skills and solos. Well before you can solo, you must practice scales. Every great guitarist practiced, still practices, and will practice scales.

What Is A Scale?
Well a scale is basiclly playing a bunch of notes from low to high or high to low in a good sounding order. There are a lot of notes out there, so scales teach us to play them in the right order. If you think about it, in the first 15 frets, there are about 96 different notes you can play (16x6 strings +1 for open). So lets look at how scales are tabed.

E|-O-|---|---|-O-|
B|-O-|---|---|-O-|
G|-O-|---|-O-|---|
D|-O-|---|-O-|---|
A|-O-|---|-O-|---|
E|-O-|---|---|-O-|

What the hell does that mean? Well its quite simple. First you must realize that this is different from regular guitar tabs.

First, like regular tabs, each string is labeled. But instead of numbers to tell you what fret to play, the frets are already drawn out. So:

 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |  -(frets 1-4 labeled)
E|-O-|---|---|-O-|
B|-O-|---|---|-O-|
G|-O-|---|-O-|---|
D|-O-|---|-O-|---|
A|-O-|---|-O-|---|
E|-O-|---|---|-O-|

The row of the 1 is fret 1, the row of the 2 is fret 2 and so on. Scale tabs can also be slid down the fret board, so the 1 could actually be the 5th fret, then the 2 would be the 6th fret and so on. This is why we don't label the fret numbers, because it could start and end anywhere.

So how do you play this? Well first lets look at the same scale in regular tab form starting on the 5th fret:

E|-5--8--------------------------------
B|-------5--8--------------------------
G|-------------5--7--------------------
D|-------------------5--7--------------
A|-------------------------5--7--------
E|-------------------------------5--8--

Another look at it in scale tab form:

E|-5-|---|---|-8-|
B|-5-|---|---|-8-|
G|-5-|---|-7-|---|
D|-5-|---|-7-|---|
A|-5-|---|-7-|---|
E|-5-|---|---|-8-|

But remember, the scale is slideable. So this is also true:

E|-3--6--------------------------------
B|-------3--6--------------------------
G|-------------3--5--------------------
D|-------------------3--5--------------
A|-------------------------3--5--------
E|-------------------------------3--6--

There are many more places to start.

Here is a diagram of the order the notes are played in:

E|-1-|---|---|-2-|
B|-3-|---|---|-4-|
G|-5-|---|-6-|---|
D|-7-|---|-8-|---|
A|-9-|---|-10|---|
E|-11|---|---|-12|

You can also play it backwards to go from low to high:

E|-12|---|---|-11|
B|-10|---|---|-9-|
G|-8-|---|-7-|---|
D|-6-|---|-5-|---|
A|-4-|---|-3-|---|
E|-2-|---|---|-1-|

In tab form starting on the 5th fret:

E|-------------------------------8--5--
B|-------------------------8--5--------
G|-------------------7--5--------------
D|-------------7--5--------------------
A|-------7--5--------------------------
E|-8--5--------------------------------

You'll notice when your playing this basic scale that your fingers just walk up and down the fret board in a back and forth motion. And not only will you start to memmorize it, but you will also be able to play it faster and faster. I hope this helps with starting and reading scales. I hope to post more scales to practice and go through other things later on.

Comments

[guitarista_rg]

Thanks, good article

[West]

nice job, thanks

[Flyckten]

What scale is that ?

[tdub]

flyckten....it's the minor penatonic.

[Alt_Metal_Luvr]

errr, for us scale noobs, what scale should i start on?

[Severed714]

Thnx, you make it sound really easy, and it is explained very well.

[Alt_Metal_Luvr]

thanx, but somma these scales say "R = Root Note"
what the heck is the root note? Open? I thought they were moveable.... confused...

[StreakingGopher]

thanks man

[StreakingGopher]

this isnt my sn some how i keep gettin put in this website with this sn i dont know how but im learning to play the guitar and if someone can help me to get my own sn id highly apprfectaie it

[burtdawgg]

why are most of those scales inverted seconds? you're confusing us.

[jetman_james]

the scale is right but should be played in ascending and descending order like this:

e[--------------
--5-8-|-8-5--------------
--]
B[-------------5-8--
--|----8-5-------------]


G[----------5-7-------|-
------7-5----------]
D[-
------5-7----------|-----
-----7-5-------]
A[----5
-7-------------|---------
----7-5----]
E[-5-8-----
-----------|-------------
---8-5-]

[jetman_james]

sorry, i dont know why the site did that to my tab but you can highlight and copy and paste the tab on notepad or microsoft word in order to see it properly. also, look for my lesson on using modes and scales easily when soloing- coming in a day or two.

[sa-surfer]

Thanx, helps alot.... keep jammin

[troutBoy]

nice article those scales always sound great when you're soloing

[SBC_lead]

ummm, its full of mistakes, but its a good article...

only if the scales were written correctly when backwords

for example:
you put...
E|---------------
----------------8--5--
B
|------------------------
-8--5--------
G|--------
-----------7--5----------
----
D|-------------7--5
--------------------
A|-
------7--5---------------
-----------
E|-8--5-----
-------------------------
--
and it should be...
E|-8--5-----------
---------------------
B|
------8--5---------------
------------
G|---------
--7--5-------------------
---
D|----------------7-
-5-----------------
A|--
-------------------7--5--
----------
E|-----------
---------------8--5------
-

or maybe its just me?

[RememberMyName]

yeah, but great article. Explained it good for the kiddies. I knew the stuff, but anyway...

[Dalgaard]

ok bu hawnet made molder scale

[PrincessFF86]

thanks!

[cashee24]

when u put E|-12|---|---|-11|
B|-10
|---|---|-9-|
G|-8-|---|
-7-|---|
D|-6-|---|-5-|-
--|
A|-4-|---|-3-|---|

E|-2-|---|---|-1-|
that shit just confused me man.

[abigape]

Thanks for explainin those scales. I didnt konw what the hell it was all about

[bc2skaterpunk]

thanks it sort of helped, i think i'll just learn the basic other stuff

[the droz]

good guide

[medhed]

i dig its helped me alot

[IOnceWasAFaggot]

Great article.This should get me started on learning some scales during the summer.

[stpd1]

awesome lesson but i think C should be under your list of basic chords, but that's irrelivant (i think i spelled that wrong)

[The^Unforgiven]

Dude, a great lesson! Finaly some scale stuff wich is explained so simple that even I understand some of it! Great!

[themetalmessiah]

we need lots of scales....THOUSANDS....gi
ve more man..i NEED

[purerock]

for the person that asked about root note, the root note of a scale determines the key of which the scale will be. as it is a slidable scale, the root note will change depending on what frets you play the scale at.in this particular scale, the root not is the first note in the scale (assuming you start from the 6th string and work your way to the higher notes) so it will basically be the lowest note in the scale. so if you start the scale on the 5th fret, you'll be playing an Am pentatonic, the 3rd would be Gm and so forth.

[purerock]

and just to clarify, the location of the root note in the scale is different for every different scale you learn.

[i_am_rocker]

EXCELLENT LESSON!!!! it's very basic, but it's very practic.

[*Arch Dandy*]

Great Scales Man
We need more of your kind here

great article 100%

[quinny1089]

u did make mistakes in tabbing out the order of how the scale was plyed.

[fatbassist]

dumb basics!? well not EVERYONE who comes on here for a LESSON is gonna be advanced are they? for god's sake, u think u can do better...bloody well do it! look this is for everyone who thinks theyre *so damn perfect guitarists* u take time out of ur lives 2 help others then!! christ...

[choop]

thanks!

[lmnop]

thanxs i was lost but now i no whts goin on thanxs alot dude

[God withus]

thanks. i didnt really know how to read the scales, but i get an idea now.

[grungy94.1]

thanks man ive been playim 4 a while now but im tryin 2 lern lead & this is helpin me a lot thanx dude

[azn_guitarist]

u turn me on... nice article!

[Rixxy]

thanks, that shit helped me alot.

[fender_ragell]

why do u use the blues only

[satrianigr]

It's a basic lesson but it really helped me!!

[strumntheguitar]

It would've been better if you had named which scale this was. There's many more than just the minor pentatonic, and everyone learning from this needs to realize that

[UnicornRulez]

Shot for the lesson, I really needed it!!!

[Foz]

Thanx man. Now I can finally understand the scale poster thats hangin' on my wall.

[ChurchPunk]

Excellent article! That helped alot. 5.

[Guitarist9]

I thought he was gonna post major scales. *disapointed*

[SSVskater85]

good stuff. i like.

[zaccy]

cool!

[C3_Rocka]

language!!! Newbies should start on the E major, biatch.

[Shilo Zaba]

man... i understood the article, and thats all good. but i still suck at reading that shit. i do chords an shit really well.. (cuz it's all i've been doing for years), but i cant read tabs

[Shilo Zaba]

anyone know a good place to learn how to read tabs? it would help alot.. it's prime time i learned anyway. im real good at chords but its only cuz i've been doin em years

[zeusplayer44]

uhh...dude you wrote um like....backwards....not the whole thing..just....on each string.....kinda annoying

[phantom_lord700]

great lesson, now I can finally understand all my books I have on guitar playing!
Great Job!

[espen]

great

[escapemaster15]

oh god.. i think im a b**Ch.. i really cant get it!!

[PhishBone]

i finally understood wtf is scales about NICE! thx a lotta man

[Dead bullet]

YES FINALLY,JUST WHAT I FREAKIN NEEDED!!!..

[Led_Zeppelin_37]

Great article! Exactly what I was looking for!

[yekcim]

wat the hell are u takking about!!!..

[gape]

hey you ***s, if you don't understand what the man tryed to say with that 12,11,10,9,...,1, you're just dumb. and for the 8-5,7-5,7-5,... it was explained, so don't get bitch about writing it in oposite order... just play it how you like it! same notes...

[AC16]

Aww. Shit i thought i sorta understood all this at last but then i read all this shit and now im donfused *** it im going to see if i can some guitar books on Ebay

[neil_cesa2005]

man dis s great!!!! gud job!!!

[livestrong]

great artcile, i can finally kinda read scales

[livestrong]

great lesson, i can finally kinda understand scales :P

[john_t_09]

what kid of scale is it

[superjonti]

thanks mate a free lesson cant be bad !

[kickershins]

greAY HELP AND EASY TO FOLLOW-THANKS A BUNCH MAN

[palmofskulls]

i understood the first bit but then when you went to the 3 6 scale and then shown it on the diagram as different from what the previous one was i got confused. please make this more clear for the future as im sure others are like me. thanks

[aedballs]

nice job, easy to play, well explained.

[aedballs]

Nice job, easy to play and well explained

[Witch-king]

great, the was really easy to foller. cheers.

[noobistic]

thxs it was good

[arcadeassasin]

its cool knowing the scale thingy now but what are the chords on the fret board i.e what chord is high e 8th fret for example?

[arcadeassasin]

trying to learn cat stevens wild world where does C Major scale start?

[spitfire7390]

i can already play every scale. i can play the solo for crazy train. the right way. so i am better than all you guys are.

[AvengedUNEARTH]

damm i am a pretty experienced player and i thot i had scales down well..but shit this makes alotta sense and helped me even more..thanks man

[Jman813]

thanks it helped alot

[STERIOGRAM134]

basic minor pentatonic box form....godd for begginners nice article... wish i had it when i started playing....

[everyday]

great article
wish i found it months ago

[absoluteguitar]

i thought this lesson was "scales made easy", not "the minor pentonic scale kinda explained".

Something on the other scales would be useful.

[fingersofflame]

sorta useful, but i coulda figured that out using my grandpa's old book of scales that he gave me last week... 6 stars...

[bleedblack]

good explenation, i didnt learn much cuz what u have put i know already, but this is good for people to to scales

[bleedblack]

to learn scales*

[Emtoo]

Dude, best lesson ever. This made me learn about soloing alot and I just finished playing my first solo ever that doesn't sound like crap. Thanks alot.

[greenday_rock]

WOW, ive had so much trouble trying to understand the way thew scales are set out! and now i understand THANKS!!

[Ramones Nutter]

Goes some way towards understanding what the hell Page was doing when he made up the 'Stairway' solo - should make it a bit easier. Aren't there different types of scale though?

[pasj]

Well, this article just made my day. I had no clue what scales was and i want to learn solos, and this helped alot! thanks

[sing4am]

This is good, but like most lessons on this site where the hell are tabs from actual songs to practice? For any noob guitarists looking for a solo based purely on the first scale, look up Beverly Hills by Weezer (I know, I know) it gives you a good idea of how the scale works.

[tex mexx]

thanks,big help

[rrb6699]

i actually can picture it in my head... good explanation. these are exercises that will help you play songs. so i understand that and now need some examples. but this was a good explanation. i found out I can read the scales in tab form pretty easily. but maybe this is too basic to assume that on the more complex stuff. I'll have to look. At the same time. Regular music notation is pretty similar isnt it? once you know EGBDF and FACE I would think that chords and notes that are scales should be presented with the tab stuff so you can learn both ways. i'm not sure why the regular notation was made the way it was 'invented' unless it is mostly for piano? not sure. anyone can clear it up for me?

[Punk God]

Im a noob guitarrist, this helped me a lot, thanks!

[Punk God]

[The Novice]

Had to read it a couple of times but now i get it, thanks for the help!

[fender_rules728]

i have i dea of what it is now.. er.. still a little confused but i'll just have to read more on scales

[XSweeperX]

Nice man well explained =P

[Bleeding_me]

this article is the best i have seen for beginers!! Very good man!

[kelix]

thanks didn't think i'd ever understand scales but I kinda get it now

[matt \,,/]

???im confused.....i understand what you mean by playing the notes in a certain order so they sound good, its jst that every lesson about scales i go onto its always got a different bunch of notes in the same part of the neck..jst dont know what one to practice an i end up mixing them up....

[i am the kid]

nice 1 thanks a lot

[grmreaper]

answering to matt\,,/: if i were to learn any scales they would be the blues and pentanic scales. these are used in most rock and metal songs

[potato1]

this is for *****s

[Kandizzle]

This is great. I was wondering how to read scales for a bit and this helped a lot.

[orz]

it was good u know , didnt get the second part

[severedspirit]

Really good tutorial must try it when I get back from work

[romayne15]

OKAY

[bama]

so this is the fingering for each pentatonic scale key? the other lesson has 3 or 4 other fingerings for each key.
i'm confused. and what key is this scale in anyway. I assume this is one part of the C major pentatonic scale since you start with C but not real sure. arent you limiting yourself to just two octaves per key? please explain

[guitardude1039]

potato1 wrote:

this is for *****s

ur an idiot.

[Cooper1983]

Awesome Awesome Awesome.

I finally get it now. Excellent!

[M&M5192]

you think u guys would figure out by the third time not to write scales in the comments cuz they get messed up>.>
and the whole 15th fret, 96 notes = wrong, some notes are repeated, for instance open A is 5 on the A string, the amount of notes is actually from open A to like from 4, cuz from then on, all those notes are repeated..meaning they arent different.

[M&M5192]

5 on the E string*

[M&M5192]

and open E to fret 4*

[discoman]

Good job, easy to read.

[grapeflavor]

Thanks alot. This really helped me. But im not sure if you're right or the other people who say you have it backwards, but both ways sound great.

[gigosai]

I was just wondering if there's any sections here at ultimate-guitar that cover chinese and/or japanese scales, pentatonics and etc.

[gibsonlover200]

u r a freakin genius i this is the only lesson that expalains at all. u were pretty clear.

[d_lord1]

ok, what the f**k? is it me or are you showing the scales backwards?

[*SoreFingers*]

Reading this article pulled me out of my rut that i was stuck in. Your a champ

[countrylover30]

I dont have a clue what the nubers are suppose to stand for or mean?

[GILMOUR_ANI]

thanx a lot!!!!gr8 help indeed!

[word92]

finaly the scales are making sence

[Fire Hawk]

well im a dumbass and i understood that. except for the last part, it kinda confused me. my music teacher at school wont help me with scales on my guitar so i have to learn myself, and we had to do a solo with improvising and i got an -A so im happy, thanx a bunch

[Xiaden]

thnsk for the hlp

[Josher.K]

I love you, Not really but this was amazing. I never understood scales written with the circles, i was always like wtf, but now it's so easy! Thanks for pointing out wtf is going on in these things. I'm gonna go work on my theory and see if I can write some songs.

[Ghelthon]

Thanks! Your explanation is very great!

[toomin91]

hey thanx i really needed that!

[slash&angus]

Finally i understand these things now i can study these others scales

[gywo copta]

Dude, you actually helped me understand this stuff. Thanks a lot.

[purplehaze30]

So to write a solo, can you just randomly mix up what you play in this scale or is it more complicated?

good lesson btw

[B345T]

Isn't the order of notes ascending to descending and vice versa totally mixed up?

[Kilador]

thanks, clear explanation

[Little Angus]

GREAT thanks good job mate

[EXishere]

Ah, finally makes sense, Thanks alot!

[UltimateNirvana]

dude you just taught me something i always found so confusing. it really is SCALES MADE EASY!!!!!

[oh_charlie_boy]

Man thanks learnt heaps. BUT on the 6th diagram arent the order u play them in the other way round?

[nijwmwary]

its great for a biginner like me... thanks!

[nijwmwary]

its great 4 a bigenner like me!! thanks

[toomin91]

Bad ass dude...thnx for that...this has really helped me in the way i play my fast riffs

[asya]

that helped alot! thanx!

[Silverstein X]

this helps alot dude.

[6-string-yay]

E|-O-|---|---|-O-|
B|-O-|---|---|-O-|
G|-O-|---|-O-|---|
D|-O-|---|-O-|---|
A|-O-|---|-O-|---|
E|-O-|---|---|-O-|


AHHHHH what is this! ive seen it every where but i have no idea what it is

[ChrisSousa]

Thanks for the help, great article.

[Prankster1990]

Thank god you made this article, now i understand it finally

[gothic_saint]

good article but u only preserved a minor pentatonic a major too could be of use !but wat the heck it was good anyway good work !!

[benomino324]

thank man, the first article that explains this stuff!
u rule for helping scale noobcakes!