Lesson 4: The Minor Scale - Part 4 of the Trilogy :)

[jem7vwh]

Lesson 4: The Minor Scale
Prerequesite: Lesson 2

The Minor Scale
____________

As we've discussed in lesson 2, scales are derived based on a pattern and a root note. *The Minor Scale works just the way Major Scales do. *Remember, to create the major scale- we used C, and create C, D, E, F, G, A, B.

To create a minor scale, we use our root note to begin.

The 2nd note is 2 half steps from the root. *

The 3rd note is 1 half step from the 2nd. *(note: this is different from the major scale where there were 2 half steps from the 2nd. *Thus we get the terms a minor third or a major third)

The 4th note is 2 half steps from the 3rd

The 5th note is 2 half steps from the 4th

The 6th note is 1 half step from the 5th

The 7th note is 2 half steps from the 6th

The 8th note is 2 half steps from the 7th, and it's just the root note again.

So the A Minor scale is: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, A

And just like the major scale, this pattern works for every key *

Class dismissed! *

[ashlock]

Lesson 5, tell everyone to go buy Fretboard logic and read all the fundamental courses by Gunharth Randolph at www.guitar4u.com (in the Library section) and you don't have to spend your time giving free lessons and you can play your guitar more. :biggrin:

[jem7vwh]

LOL. *Guitar is my life, I don't mind. *All I've done today was play guitar, and spend half an hour typing up lessons. *The benefit here is that I've read tons of books. *Here we can teach each other. *Plus, I've always believed you learn most when you teach that subject.

[Gabe Nickelson]

I think the point of these lessons is so we don't have to pay for them or go elsewhere to find them. *He wants to share what he's learned and I think that's just too cool! *I need all the lessons I can get... trust me. *Sharing this information is beneficial to us all (well, at least me). *If they don't benefit you ashlock that's cool. *You have the choice to bypass/ignore these posts.

I want to thank Jem7VWH for posting this stuff. *Hopefully, you'll keep on it!

Gabe

[ashlock]

Whoah, calm down there. *See that little smiley face? *That means I'm joking, silly.

[jem7vwh]

sure enough. *To let you know, the lessons I have planned are
* Minor Triads
* Modes
* Soloing over progressions
* Basic sight reading

please request what you need

[kirk]

I want to know how to play like Eddie. *

I am eagerly anticipating the solo lesson......

[jem7vwh]

Actually Kirk, that's my speciality. *The one thing I do best is solo. *My composing and singing skills are nothing to listen to, but I finished learning most of the Van Halen catalog when I was 15 and moved on to Vai. *Just wait till you see the tapping lesson I'll put up. *To give you an example, my current warm up piece is "Big Trouble"-Now that's fun to play

[jemsite]

[jim777]

Lesson 4

[superhairycamel]

so, i am trying to learn how to write out a minor scale. i have read the lesson but i want to learn a slightly different way. my brothers friend explained this to me : you start with a root or toni, then there is minor 2nd but i dont know the rest, i think i might have made a mistake, could someone please clarify this for me?
I have been looking at the sight with all of the scales written out, the read like this, Minor scale: 1, 2, b3, 4, 5, 6, 7, so how do i play this? are the numbers just the tones and then the flat or sharp turns them to semitones?

[sepsis311]

I didn't understand any of this until i learned the mode positions. Then i followed the lessons while watching my fingers on the fretboards. You see how everything fits into place. I'm 21, i've been playing since i was 12, and i am just now understanding this.

[lyconxero]

Originally Posted by jem7vwh

sure enough. *To let you know, the lessons I have planned are
* Minor Triads
* Modes
* Soloing over progressions
* Basic sight reading

please request what you need

I wouldn't mind a lesson on sweep arpeggios...

[superhairycamel]

Is anyone going to answer my question?

[Project2501]

Originally Posted by superhairycamel

so, i am trying to learn how to write out a minor scale. i have read the lesson but i want to learn a slightly different way. my brothers friend explained this to me : you start with a root or toni, then there is minor 2nd but i dont know the rest, i think i might have made a mistake, could someone please clarify this for me?
I have been looking at the sight with all of the scales written out, the read like this, Minor scale: 1, 2, b3, 4, 5, 6, 7, so how do i play this? are the numbers just the tones and then the flat or sharp turns them to semitones?

Yeh, the minor scale is 1, 2, flat 3, 4, 5, flat 6, flat 7, (octave).
So, take C major. C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C.
In C minor, we would flat the E, A, and B. Thus we have:
C minor: C, D, E flat, F, G, A flat, B flat, C.

I don't know when jem7vwh is going to cover this, or if at all, but there are other variations of the minor scale where, for example, you would raise the seventh.

Now, going back to your minor second question. That's a different mode. What you'd have is something like this: C, D flat, E (natural), F, G, A flat, B (natural), C. That's called a Double Harmonic scale. But I don't want to steal jem7vwh's lessons, so I'm not going into anything more.