Rock Archives - GUITARHABITS

Powerful One-Octave Natural Minor Scales – Part III

Good day my guitar friends, we’re in the middle of the One-Octave Natural Minor scales series and we continue with Part III.

In the previous lessons we practiced the scale patterns starting on the Low-E and A string and now we’re going to start with the root note on the D-string. We’re heading into the higher regions of the scale where most of the guitar soloing takes place, so the shapes are getting more relevant to your playing once you go up the strings.

If you just stepped into Part III of the One-Octave natural minor scale series you might first want to check out Part I and Part II.here are the reasons you want to learn this:

Summary One-Octave Natural Minor Scales

The one-octave natural minor scale makes it easy to recognize the shape, the structure, the notes and the intervals of the scale. Since it’s one octave they are a perfect start for beginners and will definitely create new insights for intermediate guitar players.

For anyone who’s into rock, blues and pop music the natural minor scale is a crucial scale, but you will also encounter the scale in many other styles as well.

Powerful One-Octave Natural Minor Scales – Part II

By Klaus Crow 2 Comments

A Natural Minor Scales - One Octave Patterns

Hi good people, today we’re going to continue our A Natural Minor (One-Octave) Scales Series with Part II. If you haven’t studied Part I yet, be sure to check it out: Powerful One-Octave Natural Minor Scales – Part I

Benefits of Learning One-Octave Natural Minor Scales.

The one-octave natural minor scales are important scales for Rock, Blues and Pop guitar music, soloing and understanding music theory. They are great for identifying the shape and structure of the scale, the notes within the scale and the intervals. They are also easier to play and comprehend for beginners. For intermediate players they expand the way of approaching scales and soloing.

Natural Minor Scales Starting from the Root Note on the A-string

In Part II we are learning three natural minor scale shape/patterns with the first (root) note starting on the A-string (5th string).

Tip: Learn and memorize the notes on the A-string so you can instantly recognize the key of the scale when you want to move the scale up or down the fretboard.

Natural Minor Scale Fingering

I’ve notated the left hand fingering (right hand players) for all the scale shape / patterns below.

The numbers in the yellow neck diagrams indicate the fingers. The neck diagrams also clearly show what the shape or pattern looks like. Visualize and memorize the shape of each pattern.

How to read tablature? Check out How to Read Guitar Tabs – Tablature

Play the scale shapes using alternative picking alternating down and up strokes. The first note you play is a downstroke, the second an upstroke, the third one a downstroke, the fourth one an upstroke and so on.

Practice the scale in every Key

In the examples below we play the A natural minor scale, but the purpose is to learn these scale shapes/patterns in every possible key. Once you got these scale under your fingers learn the pattern in other keys as well. Move the entire scale up or down the fret to change keys easily. Need more help with that? A more detailed explanation on this in Part I

Now let’s get to it.

Enjoy!

NATURAL MINOR SCALE SHAPES – ROOT NOTE STARTING ON THE 5TH STRING

A NATURAL MINOR SCALE fingering / shape / pattern #4

A Natural Minor Scale - One Octave - Pattern #4

A Natural Minor Scale - fingering - Pattern #4

Powerful One-Octave Natural Minor Scales – Part I

By Klaus Crow 7 Comments

One-Octave-Natural-Minor-Scales - A natural minor scale - Part-I

Today we are going to learn how to play one-octave Natural Minor scales. There are also the more common Two-octave natural minor scales, but in this guitar lesson I’m going to teach you HOW and WHY the one-octave Natural Minor scales are just as important.

Why You Want to Learn One Octave Natural Minor Scales

The one-octave scales are the smaller components of the two-octave scales. Their compact structure and shape makes them easier to play, memorize and comprehend.

Once you get them under your fingers you can combine the patterns to create the two octave and three-octave scales and other wild variations.

Moreover the natural minor scale is the perfect scale to combine with the minor pentatonic / blues scale to add some melodic flavor to your blues and rock soloing.

And last but not least, they give you a better insight in how those scales are constructed and how to easily move them all across the fretboard.

Note: This post is part of a free series where you will learn one-octave natural minor scale shapes across the entire guitar neck that will help you understand and own the natural minor scale landscape.

If you prefer the one-octave “Major Scale” series you can check it out here: Effective One-Octave Major Scales and Why!

Effective Speed Building Guitar Licks Exercises

By Klaus Crow 7 Comments

Practicing speed building exercises on your guitar will improve your technique tremendously. The speed exercises will not just make you play faster, but also your dexterity will advance. Dexterity will create flow, easiness and flexibility on all fronts of your guitar playing.

When you practice the exercises for a while you will find that your fingers will feel lighter and move more fluently across the strings and fretboard as you solo or switch between chords. Guitar playing becomes more effortless.

The exercises in this post all have their own challenges that will develop and improve different parts of your technique. Exercise #1 and #5 are your typical 3 notes-per-string super fast lick that sound really awesome once you get them up to speed, but they’re just as nice to practice slowly or at mid tempo, exercise #4 is a nice blues lick, and others will serve different purposes to enhance your skills. Just try each one of them and explore.

Take it easy, take your time, and as always, enjoy the process!

SPEED BUILDING EXERCISE #1 ( A minor )

Below is a nice fast A minor lick scale run that you can play over an A minor chord or harmony / progression (Am – Bdim – C – D – Em – F – G – Am). Start slow, play every single note clean and clear and only increase your speed when you feel comfortable playing at a slow tempo.