If you're an intermediate guitar player, chances are you know the Major and Minor scales, and you might even know a couple of different positions for each of these scales.
Today's lesson is going to revolutionize your guitar playing by:
-Unlocking new areas of the guitar fretboard.
-Giving you new ways of visualizing the scales you already know.
-Allowing you to improvise better, across the fretboard.
We'll be focusing on diatonic scales (scales containing 7 notes), like the Major scale and all of the other modes for now. But the concept I'm sharing with you today can be used on any other scale.
Let's jumb right in!
For simplicity's sake, and in order for you to see the examples on the guitar fretboard, I' m going to stick to the A minor scale standard shape for now.
These positions are essentially composed of the same notes played multiple times in one box shaped area of the guitar fretboard.
This means we are playing 2 different octaves of the same scale (or more) on top of each other in the same area of the fretboard.
But Instead, what we want to do now is play only one octave and be able to play that octave all over the fretboard.
Notice how, this first shape is outlining the scale to the right of the root note.
Check out min @3:13 of the lesson for a quick demonstration.
Now we need to find another octave to the left of my root note. So I'm going to play the A note here using the pinky (4th finger) now, and I get this shape.
Notice how I'm playing the same 7 notes but this time from the left side of our root note ''A''. Check out min @3:43 for the demonstration.
We are going to use these two shapes to play all over the fretboard, there will be a few variations here and there (More on that in a few), but essentially it's only 2 shapes.
Now here's where the variations come in.
IMPORTANT: We need to account for the difference in tuning between the G and B strings. So for the shape from the left on the 5th string (A string), fret 12.
Here' s how it goes:
-I have to move the second A note up a fret.
-I'm no longer playing fret 9.
-I play fret 10 (the A note) instead.
Now If you know your fretboard geometry then this probably makes sense to you, however, if not all you need to do is memorize this shape.
Check out min @5:14 for a more comprehensive tutorial.
All we have to do now is do the same thing for all my other root notes across the entire guitar fretboard, allowing me to take any idea/motif and move if all over the fretboard.
For the A note on the 4th string (D string), fret 7:
-From the right
Same goes for the A note on the 3rd string (G string), fret14:
Now all we Have to do is create a lick, on any of these shapes and transpose them note for note on the other.
This will allow you to take any idea/motif and replicate it all over the guitar fretboard.
Disclaimer: Do not use any phrasing elements right now, because some will not translate well on different area of the fretboard.
I'm replicating the same lick note for note but on a completely different area of the fretboard, (Fret 12 -> Fret 3) using the root 5 shape from the right and the root 6 shape from the left respectively.
Check out min @8:23 for a more comprehensive tutorial.
You can also use these shapes to solo/improvise essentially flying across the fretboard using these shapes.
Check out min @9:33 for a killer solo over an A minor backing track.
