I took guitar lessons for two months, but had to stop because the teacher was
going way to fast and was really grouchy. So now I’m on my own and I’m having
some trouble learning guitar scales. My question is, do I have to learn the guitar
scales? Like the key of G, key of D, key of A, and so on and so on. Or can I just
learn all the cords in whatever order I want?
Also what’s a triad cord? And do I have to learn it?
I could really use some help!
I know A, Am, Em, D, G, C, C2, and E.
What should I learn next? Should I try another guitar teacher, or get a book?
And if so any suggestions where I could get a book?
Another thing, I don’t know anything about music theory—I’ve never taken
any music lessons except the guitar
for not even two months. I had maybe four or five lessons and the teacher started talking about music theory and triad chords. All I know about guitar, is the frets, the chords I mentioned, the song Amazing Grace, and some strum patterns. I’m totaly lost, if anyone could explain in a way that I could understand, please do!
My former guitar teacher said there were seven chords in each scale or
key, but my grandfather said that
there only have to be four—which
is basic. Do you have to learn all
seven, or can you learn just four
and that would be a key? For
example the basic key of A
would be A, D and E? Would
that be okay or do you absolutely
have to learn all of them?
Learning the scales is crucial to becoming advanced in guitar playing, but learn your chords and their progressions and then go to music theory. Learning how to read music notation is most important. Learn the Chromatic Scale how it applies to the six strings and to formed chords. For example, the basic F chord in the first fret will take on a new name as you ascend up the fretboard and then back down again.
Also, learn what a chord is and what a cord is. There are differences.
A triad chord is made up with three distinct notes built upon a certain scale.
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Either you learn to play SCALES.. especially PENTATONIC SCALES.. or you just never play SOLOS.. it’s up to you.
When I was still teaching. My guitar students, after 2 months, could play scales on FIVE PLACES on the fretboard and Pentatonic scales in at least 4 places on the fretboard.. and none of them were musical prodigy’s
References :
You’ll want to learn scales if you ever want to progress beyond playing open chord songs and be able to improvise.
The each scale has a different sound because of how the notes relate. A major scale is built up of half steps and whole steps. A half step is the distance between one fret to the next, so from fret three (G) on the sixth string to fret four (G#) would be considered a half step. A whole step is the distance between two frets. So the third fret to the fifth fret (G to A) on the sixth string would be a whole step.
A major scale is built this way:
W = Whole H = Half
WWWHWWWH
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Each of those steps has a number dedicated to it, most scales have eight notes. The first and last are the root note (1 & 8). To make a chord triad, as you asked, you have to include the first note of the scale, third, and fifth (Or 1 3 5).
To build a chord, find the root note that will name the chord. Begin the scale pattern. So an F Major scale would be:
F G A Bb C D E F
WWW H W WWH
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
So the first, third and fifth would be: FAC
That’s a F Major triad. Notes can be doubled in a chord too, so you can play any number of F’s A’s and C’s in the chord (Or any number of 1′s 3′s and 5′s)
The minor chord is built on the 1 3b and 5. A b means flat and a # means sharp. A flat means one half step lower than the original note and a sharp means one half step higher. So you would lower the A (Which is the third of a F Major chord) to an Ab and that would turn the F Major chord into an F minor chord. The third dictates minor or major.
Here are how the chords work:
GMaj7
The letter determines what key it is in. The "Maj7" dictates a major seventh chord, so you play a major seventh chord on G.
The major scale is used to construct chords.
Major: 1-3-5
Minor: 1-3b-5
Augmented: 1-3-5#
Diminished: 1-3b-5b
Major seventh: 1-3-5-7
Seventh: 1-3-5-7b
Minor seventh: 1-3b-5-7b
Sus2: 1-2-5
Sus4: 1-4-5
Here’s how all the scales are built, same way as chords. You will flatten or sharpen notes of the major scale to build the others.
Major: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 (W-W-W-H-W-W-W-H)
Natural Minor: 1 2 3b 4 5 6b 7b 8 (W-H-W-W-H-W-W)
Harmonic Minor: 1 2 3b 4 5 6b 7 8 (W-H-W-W-H-W1/2-H, W1/2 = Whole and a half step)
Melodic Minor: 1 2 b3 4 5 6 7 8 (W-H-W-W-W-W-H)
References :
Learning the scales is crucial to becoming advanced in guitar playing, but learn your chords and their progressions and then go to music theory. Learning how to read music notation is most important. Learn the Chromatic Scale how it applies to the six strings and to formed chords. For example, the basic F chord in the first fret will take on a new name as you ascend up the fretboard and then back down again.
Also, learn what a chord is and what a cord is. There are differences.
A triad chord is made up with three distinct notes built upon a certain scale.
References :
Guitar picker of 53 years
you must learn scales if you want to play any lead. if u know only chords you can play rythym. a lot of songs can be played with G C D only.self taught picker.
References :
Right off, sorry you had such a crappy teacher. Nothing kills an interest faster than a teacher who thinks you’re a moron, lol, even when you’ve never given them a reason to think that.
Anyway, knowing scales is handy when it comes to writing your own melody lines or figuring out someone else’s melodies. As to ‘what’ "scales" to know, 1st know that there are only 2: major & minor. The minor one actually comes in 3 flavors: natural, harmonic, & melodic. Each has its own little ‘sound" to it.
The major scale can be taken differently in that you can take a different note from the major & start a whole new ‘scale’ from that new note. These ‘scales’ are more properly called ‘Modes".
As to whether you need to know ‘em all, well its a handy thing to know but it really depends what kind of music you play & how you approach your music.
Right now I’ve got AC/DC’s Touch Too Much playing. Cool song, but if you listen to the solo, Angus is basically playing ol’ Chuck Berry riffs based off of what’s known as the ‘pentatonic minor’ or ‘blues’ scale. He’s not doing the diddly-diddly supersonic ‘scale’ style that was popular in the late 80s, b/c that would just sound weird. Just the same, his style of soloing sometimes borrows from Dorian & Aeolian, 2 modes that fit really well with modern rock (assuming you’re a modern rock player).
Find yourself a guitar instructional book that covers the modes & give ‘em a try. Just don’t obsess with having to know them all. In the end, what’s more important is being able to come up with nifty ideas & play along with other people in a band setting.
IMHO, chords are where its at, & the more of ‘em you know the more sounds you can come up wtih when you write songs!
Good luck
References :
Yes, you need to learn the scales to become proficient in learning guitar or any other music.
You’re making it a little hard on yourself. Yes, you have to learn the scales, but every key follows a pattern… i.e. The Major Scale… this is the mother of all scales because every other scale can be based off this one scale. I always suggest to start learning this in the Key of C… why, because it’s easy to remember as there are no sharps or flats. So, the key of C major is CDEFGAB.
What’s more relevant to learning right now, is knowing that scales follow a formula. The Major scale follows this formula, W, W, H, W, W, W, H…. where "W" means a whole step, and "H" is a half-step. A whole step is equal to 2 frets, and a half-step is equal to 1 fret down. You need to memorize this, and you should also memorize the order of the notes on your fretboard which is A, A#, B, C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#. So, you have 2 things to remember right now… which is a lot less overwhelming than thinking you have to learn the same scale for all 12 keys.
Just to get this formula straight, start on the 8th fret on the E string. This is a C note. If you start here and move up 2 frets, that equals a whole step (W) and will take you to a D note. Move up 2 more frets and you have another (W) whole step, and you’ll have the E note on the 12 fret. Move up 1 fret now for the (H) half-step note and you’ll be on F…. and you continue with that formula all the way up "or down" to stay in the major key of C.
Why is this important to learn? Because you can use that formula for all 12 keys and you’ll be playing in the major scale.
|——————————— —————–7–8-10-
|——————————— ———-8-10————
|——————————— 7–9-10——————
|———————–7–9-10- —————————
|————-7–8-10———– —————————-
|——8-10———————- —————————-
This is a real common box pattern to play the C major scale. Learn this pattern. This scale follows the formula I gave up above, but is now shown to be played easily utilizing all 6 strings, requiring little movement with your fretting hand.
Now, if you shift every note up or down you will still be using the major scale, just in a different key. For example. Shift every note up 1 whole step (or 2 frets).
|——————————— ———————-9-10-12-
|———————————- ————10-12————-
|———————————— 9-11-12——————–
|————————-9-11-12- ——————————-
|————–9-10-12———— ——————————
|—–10-12———————— ——————————
You’ll see that your fingers play the same exact pattern. This is still the major key, but is the key of D, instead of the Key of C. So, if you learn this pattern, you’ll know how to play the Major scale in 12 different keys.
These are the things you have to learn. There are 5 different box patterns that you should learn because you don’t want to play the same thing over and over again, rather, you’ll eventually want to move up and down the guitar neck.
Learning the 5 box patterns will enable you to be fluent in the major scale… but also the minor scale. See, every major key has a relative minor key… meaning they share the same exact notes…. but we call it differently if your starting note is different.
For example, the key of C major is the same thing as the key of A minor. Why do we have different names? Well, if you play this scale, but start and end with an A note, instead of the C note, then you’re going to have a different feel or tone. The major scale sounds happier, yet the minor scale sounds a little sad or darker…. so if the Key of C has these notes, CDEFGAB, then the key of A minor will have the same notes… you just start with the A note first now… so it reads, ABCDEFG. If you go back to the C major scale, you’ll see that the "A" note is the 6th note in the major scale. This remains true for every relative minor key. It will always be the 6th note of the major scale.
Why is that important? Because your intervals or "formula" will change. W, W, H, W, W, (W), H is the major scale formula…. well, if you start on the 6th note that in put in parenthesis, you can figure out the minor scale formula… which becomes W, H, W, W, H, W, W.
References :
|—————————— ——————5–7–8-
|—————————— ———5–6–8———-
|—————————— 4–5–7——————-
|————————5–7—————————-
|—————5–7–8———————————-
|——5–7–8——————————————-
This is a common way to play the minor scale. Again, this is just A minor. The 5th note on the E string is an A note. Notice how playing this sounds a little different than the C major form. (seen below)
|—————————— ——— ———5–7–8-
|——————————- ——– 5–6–8———-
|—————————— 4–5–7 ——————-
|————————5–7——— ——————-
|—————5–7–8————— ——————-
|————8————————– —————–
You gotten a lot of answers and a bunch of confusing music theory lessons that at your level of knowledge I would not expect you to be able to interpret just from this one answer page.
I’ll summarize a few things.
Yes, if you want to ever play solos, you’ll need to know scales. And you need to know the notes of all the frets and strings.
However you can get by without all that music theory book knowledge. If you learn the fretbord, then you can just learn "box patterns" for your fingers. for each type of scale, pentantonic , minor major, blues, etc…
If you learn the pattern then it can be applied to any key anywhere. You just need to know the "root note" locations of the pattern for each "key" you need to play. Such as Key of "C" or "Am"
The fingering is the same, just in different spots.
If you want to write your own songs, then it will be necessary to know all the scales and chord progression stuff to be able to write music.
If you just want to play rhythm guitar like folk songs an easy pop songs, then you just have to learn as many chords as you can and you can get songbooks and be able to play songs by reading the chord symbols.
And your teacher sounded like a butthead.
You need to start off with all the basic "open " chords. I see F and Bm are missing form your knowledge still. G7, D7, B7, Bm7, A7, etc….you need to know all the open minors and minor 7ths.
The major chords are just the basic A, B C, notes.
A triad is a three note chord and is the basic form of a chord.
BTW, I took only a few lessons myself a few months of chord lessons and then years later a few lessons on box pattern scales (a little theory behind them but not much) And that ‘s all I really needed to become a very good advanced player.(I had a very great talent for it, though)
But if you just want to play recreational guitar then all you need to learn is chords and how to strum a few different ways. You need to look for a group lesson or something that is for beginners, instead of a high pressure one on one teacher so you can learn the basics.
http://www.all-guitar-chords.com/
This is a good site with chord charts, theory lessons, scales, and video lessons for beginning to advanced. It’s a good site to have.
I know some folks will say I’ve oversimplified, but a lot depends on what your ultimate goal is:
Fun or Serious Musician.
Fun is easy,
Serious is, well, serious and harder.
Good Luck
References :
40+yrs guitarist/former pro musician