Learning minor scales is a fantastic way to add more notes and variety to your playing. Since they don’t contain sharps or flats, minor scales make an ideal way for beginners looking to expand their range.
Scales can be found all across the fretboard, but they tend to group together into specific patterns or shapes for easier learning. Here we explore one A minor scale shape and its recommended fingerings.
Scale Positions
Scale positions on a fretboard do not exist independently of one another; rather, they share notes between each position, making learning much simpler once you understand their relationships. To better comprehend these relationships, it can help to imagine the fretboard as a series of boxes containing scale patterns or shapes; for instance, an A minor pentatonic scale pattern can be moved up or down according to its root note location on the fretboard. Position 1 in the CAGED system features three root notes found on strings 6, 5, and 1. This form, known as an Em-shape, can be altered into different keys by moving its root note locations; as a result it creates new scale shapes which share similar interval structures (whole – half – whole).
Position 2 contains two root notes on strings 4 and 3. This position represents an A Minor scale shape with its tonal center being C; this is because A minor is related to C Major and has many of the same intervals, but has its own set of intervals with which it contrasts tonally.
Once you master a scale pattern, it can easily be transferred into any key. This enables you to avoid memorizing an entire neck for one key while still being able to play chords and solo across the fretboard – this gives a distinct advantage over students who only learn one pattern per key and find themselves limited when covering songs in other keys.
Mastering how to move scales around the fretboard will open up an abundance of musical possibilities for you as a guitarist. Repeatedly practicing each pattern and shifting them between keys will help develop an in-depth knowledge of their relationships on the fretboard; once that understanding has taken root, simply count out how many semitones it takes between different scales before switching back over.
Scale Diagrams
A minor scale can be divided into different patterns on the fretboard to help learners memorize its notes more quickly and easily. For instance, C minor scale is divided into two patterns beginning on either the second string or fifth string containing all notes from its scale and easily moveable around it on its fretboard; additionally each pattern has a root note that serves as an anchor point when learning its shapes.
Once you’ve mastered scale patterns, it is a good idea to practice some chord progressions in minor keys. This will help you better understand how scale positions relate to each other as well as develop your sense for how minor chords should sound.
Fingering the scales is also essential in building muscle memory and speed. For instance, when playing the C minor scale in open position you should use your index finger for notes on the 1st fret, middle finger for 2nd fret notes and ring finger for notes falling on 3rd fret notes – this way maximizing how your fingers play each note in turn! Creating muscle memory and speed by practicing fingering scales.
Each minor scale features its own set of intervals that distinguishes it from others. For instance, natural minor scale features flattened third, sixth, and seventh intervals that create a slightly darker tone than major. Understanding these intervals and how they apply to the scales you are learning will make them much simpler to play.
An invaluable aid when performing in minor keys is understanding and applying the relative minor scale concept. This simple idea will transform how you think about scales: any major scale can be broken down to its relative minor by moving down three half steps, which corresponds to moving to sixth position on fretboard. Once this concept is grasped it becomes easy to locate and play minor scales quickly and accurately.
Common Chords
Scale chords exist all across the fretboard, but some can be combined together into patterns or shapes for easier learning. This enables guitarists to memorize them faster and then apply them to triads, seventh chords or progressions they use when writing songs or improvising improvisations.
On a minor key guitar, the most frequently encountered chords come from the natural minor scale, including those belonging to its natural minor scale (i, iv, v and bVII chords). Of these chords, only bVII stands out; its flattened third produces its distinct dark tonality that marks out minor scales from major ones.
Some chords can be borrowed from parallel major, while others must be performed in the key of minor. For instance, an iv chord can be played either in C minor or B minor and even used within an F minor song provided that its melody doesn’t contain a G# (which would place it within melodic minor). This gives musicians great flexibility when performing in minor keys.
composers using minor keys in music often tweak the chords derived from natural minor scale to allow leading tone a stronger pull back to tonic but this also means some chords won’t sound quite as great; for instance, iv and v chords from natural minor scale won’t have the maj7 quality found in major keys and might lack some of their richness; five chord on the other hand sounds fine while still returning nicely back to tonic but lacks its strength found with major key i chord.
Another way of looking at this issue is the concept of relative minor scales. Every major scale has a relative minor that uses its notes but reduced by three half-steps – this can easily be seen on a neck diagram as whole-step/half-step patterns appear identically in both major and minor modes but with flattened thirds, sixths, and sevenths.
Common Variations
Minor keys offer many possible chord progressions to use in songs, including the iconic i-v-vii progression seen so often in blues and rock music. But there are other variations available that make minor keys sound distinct than major ones, like using the lower third of the minor scale for darker-sounding chord progressions.
A lowered third is a relatively minor modification to the minor scale that only alters notes in its second half, yet can have an enormous impact on chord progressions. Other commonly used chords in minor keys include minor seventh and minor sixth chords – both are considered augmented chords because they add the note C at the base of their minor scale for added drama and darkness.
One key distinction between major and minor scales is their use of flattened intervals instead of sharpened ones, due to how fretboard scales are constructed. When creating minor scales on guitar neck, you move root note up or down whole steps before flattening 3rd, 6th, and 7th intervals for your scale – for instance if taking A major scale and flattening its 3rd it becomes A natural minor scale: A-B-C-D-E-F#-G#
Use this technique to build any minor scale in any key by changing its root note, for instance if you want to play an A minor scale in the key of D just change its root note from C to D and you will have created the D minor scale.
Thumb-over chord shapes offer another intriguing alternative, similar to open A minor shape but using your thumb instead of middle and ring fingers to hold down the fifth string. It may be easier for some players to grasp as only two fingers are necessary to strum this chord shape.