Blues Scales.....

[The Reverend 48]

I know a lot of you are familiar with this but...If you fancy having a go at a bit of lead guitar and are not familiar with the notes you need...I found this a handy little guide as a start ...
I printed it then laminated it and used a wipe off marker to hi light stuff....
BTW the black notes are root notes
remember its not the number of notes you play its the feeling in them
Have Fun

[Wiley]

LOL It makes no sense to me whatever.  And I can read music. LOL  I can even play some of the scales. LOL Guess I am a lost cause.

[dragonshade]

Just look at the top line Wiley... that is the scale in all positions in the key of A. (You'll see the "A" at the left corner). All the other lines are the same thing... just moved up the fretboard to the next note.

This is good to post 48, I wanted to see the Blues scale in all postions, but had just found the first. So funny how it is just a Penatonic Minor with a few added notes. I can see the "cages" easily since I know Pent. minor, but would be better if showed the cages one at time (I had looked for one like that, but no luck).

[dragonshade]

Hey guys... check this out....

http://scaleref.com/

[The Reverend 48]

Just look at the top line Wiley... that is the scale in all positions in the key of A. (You'll see the "A" at the left corner). All the other lines are the same thing... just moved up the fretboard to the next note.

This is good to post 48, I wanted to see the Blues scale in all postions, but had just found the first. So funny how it is just a Penatonic Minor with a few added notes. I can see the "cages" easily since I know Pent. minor, but would be better if showed the cages one at time (I had looked for one like that, but no luck).

Here you go

[Geir]

Hey guys... check this out....

http://scaleref.com/

hmm nice one ... lots of scales I've only heard rumors about

G.

[Bluesberry]

Ok now you have the five positions of the Minor Pentatonic or blues scale (same thing) (as in 48's attachment above), the trick is to remember where these are on the fretboard for whatever key you are playing in.  In E the first shape is at the first fret, in G the first shape starts on the third fret, etc based on where the root note is .  The way that I locked all these positions into my head was to combine the five shapes of the pentatonic with the five chord shapes in the "caged" system.  See link for explanation of "caged" system if you haven't already seen it (for me this was one of biggest keys to unlocking the fretboard).  http://www.cagedguitarsystem.net/ 
So you can play a "C" chord in five positions up the neck.  Each of these "Caged" shapes gets a pentatonic position, and it always stays the same.  E-shape is Pent#1, D shape is Pent#2, C shape is Pent#3, A shape is Pent #4 and finally G shape is Pent#5.  This relationship holds for all keys. 

How do you use this:  First get to know all five pent positions and can play in them without too much trouble.  Second learn this caged system, and play any chord in any of the five shapes anywhere on the neck. This really opens up the possibilities for playing chords, all these chord shapes are moveable chords.  Now for the good part, if you are playing in the key of E and you want to solo further up the neck, you find the chord shape for E further up the neck (eg the A shape for E chord is at the 7th fret), just to remind yourself play the E chord on the 7th fret, now you can play the minot pent scale there in the 4th position.  Instant memory aide, all you have to do is find the chord shape and the pent position is right there.  It takes some time to get this locked into your brain but after a short while you can find any pent position on the neck very quickly without fumbling around too muck for whatever key you are playing in.  This was a system that has worked very well for me.  The big revelation for me was to connect the 5 positions of the pentatonic scale with the 5 chord shapes of the "Caged" system.  The internet is such a wealth of information, its all there, all this stuff is a finger type away.  There are lots of different ways folks have used to memorize the pentatonic positions are on the neck, this one works very well for me.  I don't get lost now when I am traveling up and down the neck looking for pentatonic  positions to play, I use chord shapes as my anchor points. 

[Tony]

Hey guys... check this out....

http://scaleref.com/

Thanks that that. It's a good reference page.  Like Geir said, some of these were rumours to me.  And the others I hadn't even heard of.

Scales intrigue me at times.  I just don't know why some things sound right and some don't.  It must be getting late here if the big questions are coming out to play.  But when I look at this enormous set of scales it makes me think that maybe everything sounds right - is there a combination of notes that aren't covered here?

[Greeny]

Having 'tried' to do a late addition to the blues festival yesterday, I have a feeling I should lock myself away with all this info for a while! 

Thanks for posting everyone - I need all the tips and knowledge I can get!

[3guitarsEddy]

Hey Bluesberry

I have read all of this in the book Chords and Scales by David Mead and it just blows your mind. However, it is good reading and you can learn an awful lot from what your saying.  I would also recommend this book to any interested in learning scales. For example you actually learn how chords are made up of odd notes like 6th's 13th and augments something which I never knew. Good to have you back Tim.

Regards

Eddy