How to Play Minor Scales on Guitar

The minor scale is one of the first tools a guitarist can learn to break out of the exercise book monotony. Minor scales tend to be more emotive than major scales and are extremely versatile. What's more, like the major scale, you need only memorize one pattern to play the scale in any key anywhere on a guitar fretboard. You should have a basic understanding of the major scale and how it's created before working with minor scales. Also keep in mind the intervals of the major scale, as minor scales are based around this structure.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Electric or acoustic guitar
• Notebook or paper

1. Write down the intervals of a minor scale. Every note in a scale is either a whole step or a half step from the previous note, corresponding to one or two frets on a guitar. The minor scale is formed by a whole step, followed by a half, continuing whole, whole, half, whole.

2. Transfer the written scale formula to the guitar fretboard by matching a whole step with a space of two frets and a half step with one fret. It may help to write down the fret numbers beside the scale steps.

3. Play an A note at the 5th fret of the low E string. This will be the root note of your scale. Starting from the A, move up the frets by the scale intervals. Since the first interval is a whole step, the next note should be two frets above the A at the 7th fret, which is a B. The next note will be a C, 8th fret, and so on.

4. Instead of following the scale only on one string, after the C start the next note on the A string, 5th fret, which is a whole step higher than the C on the E string. Do the same after the 8th fret on the A string, moving to fret 5 on the next.

5. Played all the way through, the scale should be A, B, C, D, E, F and G, following frets 5, 7 and 8 on the low E string, frets 5, 7 and 8 on the A, and fret 5 on the D string. Fret 7 on the D will be another A, the octave of your root note.

Tips & Warnings

• Use the scale formula to find every scale pattern on the fretboard. Write down the patterns in your notebook--they can be used for any root note.

Resources

• Good introduction to major and minor scales