Ok, to begin this post off, I received some questions last week about how to exactly make sense of the pentatonic minor scale diagram I posted. A couple faithful readers, (all two of you) pointed out that those darn cool dot and line diagrams just didn’t make any sense!
Ok, ok… so here’s a better explanation of how to interpret those scale diagrams. (Then I’ll give ya another complete scale form to practice!)
Since a picture is worth a thousand words, here’s a second image of the five scale positions and an example of how they tie together, (using the key of G as an example.)
Ok, the five scale diagrams on the right are the original five I showed you last week. The diagram on the left shows the full neck of the guitar. Since this is the G Pentatonic Minor Scale, we begin on the first G note on the low E string, which happens to be on the third fret. On this new diagram, you’ll see identifiers just to the right showing each of the five scale positions. Notice how they overlap? Well, that’s where the positions tie together seamlessly with one another. Also, when you reach the end of the fifth position scale, you just start all over with position one. Easy enough, or clear as mud? 
(Note: Just so you know, the actual notes in the G Pentatonic Minor scale are G, Bb, C, D and F#.)
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And now for your viewing pleasure, here are the scale diagram for the Concert Major scale, it’s also called the “Ionian” scale if you’re checking out different scale patterns. This is the one that a good portion of Western music is based on, from Pop and Rock, to Classical and even most church hymns.:
A great resource for learning scales can be found at http://www.cs.utk.edu/~carder/scalfind.html This site shows you the actual notes on a guitar neck, so you can see how each of the scale positions tie together.
What program are you using to build those scale charts? They look NICE!
By: Brian K on January 30, 2007
at 2:00 pm
check out a site called neck diagram. they have a downloadable program to create chord, scales and lead guitar sheets
By: sbad on August 22, 2009
at 6:32 pm
Actually, I just built them in Photoshop!
By: worshipguitarguy on January 30, 2007
at 2:01 pm
Do you have any PSD templates you can share or do you start from scratch every time. I’m looking for something that can quickly generate custom chord fingering charts.
By: Brian K on January 30, 2007
at 2:08 pm
Sure Brian, e-mail me at gerry_leslie *at* hotmail dot com and I’ll send them over to you.
By: worshipguitarguy on January 30, 2007
at 2:20 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbndgwfG22k
Can somebody teach me some of this??
Chris
By: Chris on January 30, 2007
at 4:26 pm
I just recently got into scales…recently as in the past 2 weeks. I’ve played acoustic guitar since I was 15 (I’m almost 23 now) and the last 3 have been pretty exclusivley electric. I play lead at church, but my ‘lead’ has only been memorized solos and such (Like Carson’s lead on ‘Holy is the Lord’ and the solo in ‘Happy Song’ and such) and a few patterns and riffs I waaaay overuse.
I’m still just learning the major pentatonic scale, but MAN has that really opened up my playing! It’s almost night and day. My problem, at this point, is that I don’t have a grasp of the scale around the whole matrix of the fretboard. I know a basic 3 octave scale, but my fingers must follow the pattern or I’m lost. But, I keep chugging along and soon I will all over that fretboard like a bee on your cotton candy at the county fair!
By: ripvanwinkle on January 31, 2007
at 9:22 am
Hi there. The article says “(Note: Just so you know, the actual notes in the G Pentatonic Minor scale are G, A, B, D, and E.)”, but the notes should be G, Bb, C, D and F! The notes you listed are the pentatonic major scale. Perhaps you could update this post/page.
Thanks.
By: Lindsay on March 6, 2007
at 3:27 am
Thanks for the heads up Lindsay!
By: worshipguitarguy on March 9, 2007
at 8:33 pm
see all chord
By: Ajabor Moses on October 17, 2008
at 5:58 am
This is for ripvanwinkle. Find a buddy or two in just about the same situation as you, maybe somebody who plays just a little better than you. And you guys just find some chords you like, string together some of your own or a song you like. And just play it over and over together with one guy making up leads and the other playing rhythm, switch back and forth and MAKE yourself get out of the scale “patterns” that you have been playing. The best thing I have ever done for my playing is to play with other people, especially if they are more experienced or skilled than me and learn from each other.
By: Craig on December 29, 2008
at 8:42 am
Nice one! looking forward to more.
By: kubayi geoffrey on August 19, 2009
at 3:26 am