Scales 1
| Scales 2 | Scales 3
| Scales 4 | Scales 5
| Scales 6
Scales 7 | Scales 8
| Scales 9 | Scales 10
| Scales 11
Scales
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Up to this point, we've looked at only the major scale. Now we are
going to study the chromatic scale. The graphic below gives us twelve
squares and each of those represents a fret on our guitar. They are
numbered 1 through 12. Inside each square we have filled in a musical
value. All we did was add the altered tones to the major scale pattern,
which we see immediately below the chromatic scale.
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I use only one octave of the scales. This means that the extended chords,
such as the flat 9, are derived by knowing that the flat 9, is the flat
2 an octave higher. If you need more study on this subject, you can
find it in most music theory books. We use the same notes on our our
guitar that all of the other instruments use, only we have more fun.
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Let's review. We have a grid of squares
that has twelve columns and ten rows. The rows, up and down, are
the ten strings. The twelve columns across are the frets. We start
at the first fret and go across to the twelfth. That gives us 120
total positions in one octave on a ten string guitar. These positions
represent where a string and a fret intersect. We give each position
a square. Inside the square we can place a number which is the scale
tone. The scale tone is dependent on the key and the scale type.
Immediately to our left is
the grid completely filled. Each note on your fretboard is represented
by a scale tone number. The key is C and the scale type is chromatic.
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As you start to
study scales on you steel, you have to start seeing patterns. The major
scale in the key of C should be put to memory. That will tell you what
note you have in your 120 string/fret intersections. When I study chords,
I use the chromatic scale and then study each row to see what the possibilities
are. Every note has a relationship to every other note. For example, if
I use the 8th fret, strings 4, 5, 6, then Iknow that that is a major triad
in the key of C. But what are those notes relationship to the key of D?
To see this let's look at the chromatic scale in the key of D. To make
things easier, I've shaded the area on the grid. So the same notes we
see what they represent in C, have a new meaning in the key of D. These
three notes have a relationship to every key. The computer allows us to
look at the same three positions and study what they mean to each key.
Of course if we were to push pedals
that moved any of the strings we are studying, then we could use the
computer to show us what our three positions mean to any key. The more
ways you can find to study your guitar, the more you'll be able to find
on your guitar. With all of the courses, videos, tablature, play-a-long
tapes and methods that are available to the steel student, you should
try to learn from as many different sources as you possibly can.
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