Introduction

Frazers Scale, Mode and Arpeggio

Reference has been designed to help
shed light on some of the different
scales used in music; how they are
built, fingered and relate to eachother. It was also made with technical
practice in mind (improving left and right
hand dexterity) and to help better visualize the guitars fretboard.
Three mother scales are broken
down into their constituent modes.
The three mother scales are the
MAJOR scale, the HARMONIC MINOR
scale and the MELODIC MINOR scale.
Each scale has 7 modes. Six fingerings
are given for each of these 21 modes
(scales). Along with these 21 scales
(modes) a number of other scales are
broken down, with various numbers
of fingerings given for each. These
other scales are the PENTATONIC
scale, the 2 DIMINISHED scales, the
WHOLE TONE scale and the CHROMATIC scale. Arpeggios have been
included with each fingering (except for
the PENTATONIC and CHROMATIC scales).
This amounts to over 200 scale and
arpeggio fingerings.
These are by no means all of the
known scales, nor all of the possible
fingerings for each scale or Arpeggio, but theyre plenty to get started
with.

Theory
A lot of people get a confused look on
their face when the modes are mentioned. They are not that hard to
understand once you see how they are
derived, and how the modal system
works. Here is a brief explanation of
how the modes are derived. Well use
the key of C major because it has no
sharps or flats and therefore none
of the modes derived from it will have
sharps or flats (note-wize they will not,
interval-wize they may).
The C Major Scale is made up of the 7
notes:

CDEFGAB

Page 1

This is our starting point for building

all of the modes of the C Major scale.
And here they are, youll quickly see
how they are derived.

C Major (C Ionian)
CDEFGAB
D Dorian
DEFGABC
E Phrygian
EFGABCD
F Lydian
FGABCDE
G Mixolydian
GABCDEF
A Aeolian
ABCDEFG
B Locrian
BCDEFGA
As you can clearly see, the D Dorian
mode is made up of all of the same
notes as the C Major scale starting on
D. And E Phrygian is all of the same
notes as the C Major Scale, starting
on E, etc... The modes for all of the
other keys Major scales are built the
same way.
Ive used this same system and built all
of the mode fingerings for The:
Major Scale
Harmonic Minor Scale
Melodic Minor Scale
The 2 DIMINISHED scales, WHOLE TONE
scale and the CHROMATIC scale are
not built in a way that allows Modes to
be built from them, but I have included
a number of different fingerings and
arpeggios for each of them because
they are important scales.

string and moving to the higher strings

like this:

Theory
For each fingering of each mode I
have included a fingering for that
modes arpeggio, based on that particular fingering.
An arpeggio is essentially the notes
of a scale, skipping every other
note. So instead of a scale that has
intervals, 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 an arpeggio has
intervals 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 (the 9, 11 and 13th notes
are the 2, 4 and 6 notes from the scale, stacked on

6
5
3

4
2
1

Each mode is labeled with a name and

its intervals.

top of the 1, 3, 5 and 7).These

notes that
chords.

are the same

used to build

are

IONIAN (mode name)

1234567 (intervals)

If you look closely you will see

common chord shapes in the arpeggio fingerings.

How To
Here is a typical Scale block ,
labeled with explanation.

I have made up names for the more

exotic modes of the HARMONIC
MINOR and MELODIC MINOR scales. I
have used the same names used for
the Major scales modes so that you
can see how they relate to their
mother scales and to the standard
Major scale modes. For example:

3)

Harmonic Dorian

E
B
2)

G
D
A

1)
4)

1) Each fingering is numbered 1 through

6 (or less with the scales at the end).
2) This grid represents the fingerboard
of a guitar, with the horizontal lines representing the strings, and the vertical
lines representing frets. The lowest
sounding string on the guitar is the
lowest line in the grid.
3) a
denotes a scale tone (1 2 3 4 5 6 7).
Scale tones are played starting at the
lowest string and moving to the higher
strings like this:
14

13

12

11

15

10

4
1

4) A
around a scale tone marks it as
an arpeggio tone (1 3 5 7 9 11 13). Arpeggio
tones are played starting at the lowest

Page 2

The more commonly used names for

this mode of the Harmonic Minor are
SPANISH PHRYGIAN or ROMANIAN
MODE, but you could also call it
DORIAN #4. Call it whatever you like.
Below is a chart showing how I
choose to organize all of the modes
from the 3 mother scales (MAJOR,
HARMONIC MINOR and the MELODIC
MINOR).
Major
IONIAN
DORIAN
PHRYGIAN
LYDIAN
MIXOLYDIAN
AEOLIAN
LOCRIAN

Harmonic Min.

Melodic Min.

HARM MAJOR
HARM DORIAN
HARM PHRYGIAN
HARM LYDIAN
HARM MIXOLYDIAN
HARM MINOR
HARM LOCRIAN

MELO MAJOR
MELO DORIAN
MELO PHRYGIAN
MELO LYDIAN
MELO MIXOLYDIAN
MELO MINOR
MELO LOCRIAN

Some of these names dont make

much sense but they are only for
reference, so that you can see how
they relate to the Major Modes. For
a lesson, as youre going through
the modes of the Harmonic Minor
and Melodic Minor scales, think up
at least one other name for each
mode. For instance, what Ive called
the Harmonic Major mode could be
called major#5.

Fingerings

Practice Tips

For each of the 7 modes of the 3

mother scales there are 6 fingerings
mapped out. They are numbered 1
through 6, here is a breakdown of
each fingering and why it is different.

1) Always practice with a metronome.

1) The root note is on the bottom string,

second note is on the next string. Typically
this fingering is started with the pinky
finger.
2) The root note is on the bottom string, the
second note is on the bottom string. This
fingering is typically started with the second
finger.
3) The root, second and third notes are on
the bottom string. This fingering is typically
started with the first finger.
4) The root note and second note are on the
second lowest string(the A string). It is
similar to fingering 2, and is typically started
with the second finger.
5) This fingering is based on a 4 note per
string idea and is typically started with the
first finger.
6) This fingering is based on a 3 note per
string idea. It is very similar to fingering 3 and
is typically started with the first finger.

The fingerings are grouped two ways,

1) which string the second note of the
scale is on, 2) how many notes per
string there are. They were designed
that way so that during improvisation
no matter what position on the neck
you are at, you have notes from the
scale under your fingers.
The starting fingers given above are
just suggestions, and sometimes a
fingering may be ideally started with a
different finger than is stated above.
Most of the arpeggio fingerings are
best started with the same finger you
have chosen to start the scale fingering with.
Except for the PENTATONIC fingerings, all of the scale fingerings move
from root to root (A to A for example).
The ARPEGGIO fingerings however,
depending on the number of octaves,
may end on the root or end on the
7th.

Page 3

2) Start by playing through the scales

and arpeggios up then down slowly
and gradually increase the speed as
you are able to play them cleanly.
3) play through the scales and arpeggios using both triplet and quadruplet subdivisions (groups of 3 and 4),
once you have those down try some
harder subdivisions i.e.: quintuplets
and septuplets (groups of 5 and 7).
4) Try breaking up the scales into
different sequences, for example:

1324354657

or, using triplets try

1 2 3 2 3 4 3 4 5 4 5 6 5 6 7 etc..
or, using quadruplets try

1 2 3 4 2 3 4 5 3 4 5 6 4 5 6 7 etc..
Try playing through the arpeggio
fingerings using similar techniques.
5) Play through the fingerings using
different picking patterns. Use all
down strokes, use all up strokes, use
alternate picking, use hammer-ons and
pull-offs and try all hammer-ons
(imagine hammering onto the string
similar to playing a piano, this is sometimes called a ghost hammer-on).
6) Try playing the scales and arpeggios up one mode, then down the next,
up the next, down the next. For example,
play up the fingering 1 of C IONIAN,
then move up a position and play down
the number 1 fingering of D DORIAN,
up the 1st fingering of E PHRYGIAN
and down the F LYDIAN ... etc.
7) Find a device to play a drone note to
play the scales over. If you have a synthesizer set it to drone on a lower
keyed note and play through each
mode in that key i.e.: C IONIAN, C DORIAN,
C PHRYGIAN etc.. This will help you
hear how the scale sounds. I use
www.metrononomeonline.com and it has an
A440 setting, or play to a recording of
yourself playing through a simple
chord
progression.
Learn
these
scales and arpeggios in all keys.

123#4567

LYDIAN - 4TH MODE

1b2b345b6b7

PHRYGIAN - 3RD MODE

12b3456b7

DORIAN - 2ND MODE

1234567

IONIAN - 1ST MODE

MODES of the MAJOR scale

3
4

5
6

3
4

5
6

5
4

Frazers Scale, Mode and Arpeggio Reference - Page 4

1#23#4567

HARMONIC LYDIAN - 6TH MODE

1b2345b6b7

HARMONIC PHRYGIAN - 5TH MODE

12b3#456b7

HARMONIC DORIAN - 4TH MODE

1234#567

HARMONIC MAJOR - 3R MODE

MODES of the HARMONIC MINOR scale

3
4

5
6

3
4

5
6

5
4

Frazers Scale, Mode and Arpeggio Reference - Page 6

12b34b5b6b7

MELODIC LYDIAN - 6TH MODE

12345b6b7

MELODIC PHRYGIAN - 5TH MODE

123#456b7

MELODIC DORIAN - 4TH MODE

123#4#567

MELODIC MAJOR - 3R MODE

MODES of the MELODIC MINOR scale

3
4

5
6

3
4

5
6

5
4

Frazers Scale, Mode and Arpeggio Reference - Page 8

CHROMATIC

Other Scales

Frazers Scale, Mode and Arpeggio Reference - Page 11