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ScalesandArpeggiosforGuitar
ByMikeGeorgia

Tokeepthingssimpleapproachitlikethis.
1. Everythingisrelative
2. Theoctaveisdividedintoonly12totalnotes
3. Thecorrespondingshapesareabouttwooctaveslong
4. Usethisasareference.Takeitlittlebylittle.
5. Learnsolosandimproviseoverchordprogressionstohelp
youseeandusethepatterns.Everythingwilleventually
sinkin.

Memorizethe12intervalswithintheoctave:
Root, minor 2nd, major 2nd, minor 3rd, major 3rd, perfect 4th, tritone, perfect 5th,
minor 6th, major 6th, minor 7th, major 7th, Octave

And/Or

Root,b2nd,2nd,b3rd,3rd,p4th,#4/b5,p5th,b6th,6th,b7th,7th,Octave

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Layout

Acrossstringsthenoteseithermoveforwarduptheneck,

orbackacrossthestrings.

Whenmovingfromstringgrouptostringgroupkeepinmind:
1.SincetheBstringistunedonefretdifferentfromtheotherstrings.Thenotes
ontheBandEstringsmoveuponefretrelativetotheotherstrings.
2.Thischangestheperceivedshapeofthepattern
3.Italsomakesitsothatyoucancomfortablymovesomenotestoadifferent
stringthanonotherstringsets.

Mike Georgia
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b7 ^7 R

p4 b5 p5 b6 ^6
R b2 ^2 b3 ^3

b7 ^7 R

p4 b5 p5 b6 ^6
R b2 ^2 b3 ^3

b7 ^7 R

p4 b5 p5 b6 ^6
R b2 ^2 b3 ^3

^6 b7 ^7 R

^3 p4 b5 p5 b6
R b2 ^2 b3

Mike Georgia

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Scales

Ingeneralwecanthinkofallscalesasaderivativeofthe
majorscale.
1. Themajorscaleusesonenotefromeachletterofthemusicalalphabet.
2. Themajorscaleiseasiesttoseebylookingatthewhitekeysonthepiano.
3. Thewhitekeyswithablackkeyinbetweenareawholestepapartand
theoneswithoutablackkeyinbetweenareahalfstep.Creatingthis
MajorScaleformula:1w2w3h4w5w6w7h1

Hereitisontheguitar:

Mike Georgia

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Herearesomecommonscaleformulas.

Major wwh,wwwh 1w2w3h4w5w6w7h1

Minor whw,whww 1w2hb3w4w5hb6wb7w1

HarmonicMinor whw,wh1.5h 1w2hb3w4w5hb6w+h7h1

MelodicMinor whw,wwwh 1w2hb3w4w5w6w7h1

PentatonicMajor ww1.5,w1.5 1w2w3w+h5w6w+h1

PentatonicMinor 1.5ww,1.5w 1w+hb3w4w5w+hb7w1

BluesMajor whh1.5,w1.5 1w2hb3h3w+h5w6w+h1

BluesMinor 1.5whh,1.5w 1w+hb3w4hb5h5w+hb7w1

DiminishedWH wh,wh,wh,wh 1w2hb3w4hb5w#5h6w7h1

DiminishedHW hw,hw,hw,hw 1hb2wb3h3w#4h5w6hb7w1
WholeTone www,www 1w2w3w#4w#5wb7w1
HarmonicMajor h1.5w,wwwh 1hb2w+h3w4w5w6w7h1

DoubleHarmonicMajor hw+hw,wh1.5h 1hb2w+h3w4w5hb6w+h7h1

Mike Georgia
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Arpeggios

Letsgooversomechordconstruction.Chordsareconstructed
bystackingeveryothernoteinthekeylikethis:
13579(2)11(4)13(6)

1. Basicmajorandminorchordsare1,3,5thenthenotesaremovedaround
tocreatedifferentqualitiesofchordslike:Major,Minor,Diminished,and
Augmented
2. Whenyouaddthe7thyouthengetchordslike:Major7,Dominant7,
Minor7,Minor7(b5),Diminished7,Major7(#5),Dominant7(#5)
3. 2,4,and6arecalled9,11,13whenthe7thispresentorMajor7,Minor7,
Dom7,andAugmentedchordscanhavethe9,11,and13addedtothem.
4. Youcanreplacethe3withthe2or4.Thisiscalledsuspendedorsus2,
sus4.
5. Addingthe2,butkeepingthe3iscalledadd9.
6. 6thchordsarewhenyoureplacethe5withthe6
7. Chordswith9,11,13arecalledextendedchordsandthevarietiesareas
follows;
b9,9,#9(whenamajor3rdispresent)
11,#11
b13,13

Mike Georgia

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Herearesomecommonchordformulas.

Major 135

Minor 1b35

Diminished 1b3b5

Augmented 13#5

Major7 1357

Dominant7 135b7

Minor7 1b35b7

Min7(b5) 1b3b5b7

Dim7 1b3b5bb7

Maj7aug 13#57

Dom7aug 13#5b7

b9,#9,11,#11,13,b13 Dom+#9,b9,11,#11,13,b13
Maj9,Maj7(#11),Maj13 Maj7+9,#11,13
Min7(b9),Min9,Min11,Min13 Min7+b9,9,11,13

Mike Georgia

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MajorScaleModes

Eachnoteinascalecanbeconsideredtheroot.Thisiswhatthe
modesare.Forinstanceifyoustartthemajorscaleonthe6th
noteyouareplayingthenaturalminorscaleandthe3rddegree
oftheminorscaleisthemajorscale.

1. Italsohelpstothinkofmodesasmajor(3)orminor(b3),whichdepends
onthethird.
2. Nextnoticehoweachmodehasoneortwonotesthatmakesitunique
fromthemajorornaturalminorscale.
3. Modescanalsobethoughtofaschordsscales.ForinstanceDorianisa
min13chord,Lydianismaj9(#11),Phrygianismin7(b9),Locrianis
min7(b5,b9)

Ionian(maj7) wwh,wwwh 1w2w3h4w5w6w7h1

Dorian(min7) whw,wwhw 1w2hb3w4w5w6hb7w1

Phrygian(min7) hww,whww 1hb2wb3w4w5hb6wb7w1

Lydian(maj7) www,hwwh 1w2w3w#4h5w6w7w1

Mixolydian(dom7) wwh,wwhw 1w2w3h4w5w6hb7w1

Aeolian(min7) whw,whww 1w2hb3w4w5hb6wb7w1

Locrian(min7) hww,hwww 1hb2wb3w4hb5wb6wb7w1

Mike Georgia

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HarmonicMinorModes

Theharmonicminorscaleisdefinitelyaninterestingonewith
itsuniquestepandahalfintervalcreatingaveryeasternsound
tothewesternear.

1. Noticehowthemodenamesarederivativeofthemajorscalemodes.
2. AcommonuseofharmonicminoriswhenthereisamajorVchordina
minorkey.Themajor3rdoftheVchordisnotinthenaturalminorscale,
butitisthenatural7thinharmonicminor.
3. Anotheruseforharmonicminorthatcreepsupfromtimetotimeisthe
5thmode.WithitsDom7homechordandb2itcanbeaverycoolsound
toincorporate.

HarmonicMinor whw,wh1.5h 1w2hb3w4w5hb6w+h7h1

Locriannatural6 hww,h1.5hw 1hb2wb3w4hb5w+h6hb7w1

Ionian#5 wwh,1.5hwh 1w2w3h4w+h#5h6w7h1

Dorian#4 wh1.5,hwhw 1w2hb31.5#4h5w6hb7w1

PhrygianDominant h1.5h,whww 1hb2w+h3h4w5hb6wb7w1

Lydian#2 1.5hw,hwwh 1w+h#2h3w#4h5w6w7h1

SuperlocrianDim. hwh,www 1hb2wb3h3wb5wbb7ww+h

1.5 1

Mike Georgia
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MelodicMinorModes

Themelodicminorscaleiscloselyrelatedtothemajorscale
withitsnatural6and7.

1. InclassicalmusictheMelodicminorscaleisplayedgoingupandthe
naturalminorscaleisplayedgoingdown.
2. SuperLocrianisoftenusedinjazzoveranAlteredDominantchord(b9,
#9,b5,#5,#11,b13)

MelodicMinor whw,wwwh 1w2hb3w4w5w6w7h1

Dorianb2 hww,wwhw 1hb2wb3w4w5w6hb7w1

LydianAug www,whwh 1w2w3w#4w#5h6w7h1
LydianDom www,hwhw 1w2w3w#4h5w6hb7w1
Mixolydianb6 wwh,whww 1w2w3h4w5hb6wb7w1
Locriannatural2 whw,hwww 1w2hb3w4hb5wb6wb7w1
SuperLocrian(Altered) hwh,wwww 1hb2w#2h3w#4/b5w#5/b6wb7w1

Mike Georgia

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ArpeggioandScale
BoxShapes

Mike Georgia
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Mike Georgia
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Mike Georgia
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= Major Root = Minor Root = Blues Note = Scale Tones

C/Am Shape A/Gm Shape G/Em Shape E/Dm Shape D/Cm Shape

Pentatonic

Blues

Natural
Major/Minor

Pentatonic and Blues scale notes in Black, added Natural Major/Minor scale notes in grey

Natural Major/Minor: Three note per string patterns

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Mike Georgia
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Harmonic Minor

Melodic Minor

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Mike Georgia
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Whole Tone

Diminished

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Mike Georgia