Guitar Scales Chart
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Here is our guitar scales chart. It shows the 6 most common guitar scales in their most common positions. For more info on the scales themselves take a look at our guitar scales section where you will find more details on these scales and links to further guitar scale content.
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With the scales, do I start on the root note? As can be seen, the root note isn’t always the first note in the scale position
Hi Gerry,
I would recommend starting on the root note as you ascend the scale. By starting on the root, you are training your ear to the sound of the scale. As you descend you might want to descend all the way to the bottom of the position, but then ascend to the root note again.
Hope this helps.
Really helped my practise
hi,could you tell me what frets these scales start on?thanks
Hi Daniel,
The scales can start on any fret and depending on which fret they start on dictates which key they are in.
I’ve seen a bit of confusion relating to this so I recommend you take a look at the page:
https://www.guitarorb.com/guitar-scales/
and see the section I added at the bottom of the page “Update: Reading the Neck Diagrams”
I think this should clear this up for you.
hi,ye that paged has helped,thanks
The red notes are the “ROOT”. So, you can actually apply these scales to any key and any fret.
Example: You want to play an “A Minor Pentatonic” scale. So your root note “A” is located on the 5th fret of the E string. Therefore, you can start the pattern on the 5th fret.
If the key was “C”, you would start on the 8th fret. Etc. etc.
Once you figure that out, try moving the pattern to a different string to start. So, for “C minor pentatonic”, you could also start on the 3rd fret of the A string.
hello, am a beginner and i have no understanding of all these…i will really need ur aid please. What steps must i take to be an excellent guitarist?
I’ve played for almost 50 years now. What worked for me was to start with some individual lessons from a good teacher, working with scales and tablature, then and ever since, play and practice. (Once you get some basics down, it’s also fun and beneficial to turn on the stereo and play along with artists and styles you like.)
I agree with Greg on getting a good instructor. They can always teach you something you didn’t realize you needed to know. I’ve been playing for about fifteen years now. I am mostly self-taught, but took a few lessons early on (and by a few, I mean three). Even still, those few made the world of difference. So, find yourself a good instructor.
To be “an excellent guitarist,” you first need to determine what kind of music you want to play. Blues, jazz, rock and metal all have different sounds and require different skills. But for the basics, you definitely need to start with learning chords and scales. Tablature (tabs) help you learn how to play what other people play. They are definitely the fun stuff for beginners. But you can’t let them dominate your practice. Truly excellent guitarists don’t neglect the rudiments.
I would also recommend learning the anatomy of your guitar, simply for the sake of maintenance – such as when you need to replace strings, or if you ever want to upgrade your pickups.
like it.
I am confuses from where we have to start left or right
Which frat is use index finger
And mostly I want to play bollywood song so which scale I prefer most.. …
plz can u name d strings so we knw which string u got d root key from
The strings from the bottom on the neck diagrams to the top are the low E string, then A, D, G, B and then the high E string at the top.
You can see the thickness of the strings at the bottom of the diagrams is greater than at the top.
Very good !
This site has helped me understand scales so much words more words cant explain how grateful I am thankyou so much hope you have a wonderful Christmas and 2018 is full of blessings for you
Thanks Adrian, mery Christmas to you too.
its really helped me , but how can i create my own solo using the scales ive learnt?
I improvise with guitar quite fluently but I don’t play any of these scales. I play be ear – meaning I listen for and find the root note then go from there. Maybe I’m leaving good notes out? The scale I use goes like this: 1-3-5-7-9-12 or 1-3-5-7-10-12.
I AM JUST STARTING WITH AND PLAN TO START WITH A TUTOR, THE SCALES TO PRACTICE IN YOUR DIAGRAMS DON’T MAKE IT CLEAR WHICH FINGER NUMBER SHOULD BE USED ON EACH PICKED NOTE ON THE SCALES. THIS WOULD HELP AND PLEASE FORGIVE ME IF IT HAVE JUST MISSED THIS ON THE EXPLANATION. ALSO WHATS THE CORRELATION WITH THE HIGHLIGHTED RED NOTES. IS THIS THE STARTING ROOT NOTE TO START THE DECENDING SCALE ON THE FIRST FRET FOR EXAMPLE. HOWEVER IF THATS THE CASE WHY ARE THERE ITHER ONES STARTING ON DIFFERENT FRETS ON DIFFERENT STRINGS? ANY HELP GREATLY APPRECIATED.
I am new, so I’m not exactly sure, but…
There are positions on the neck. 1st position = 1st fret index- 2nd fret middle- 3rd fret ring- 4th pinky.
Then move hand to 5th fret-index finger and so on
I don’t believe the rules are exact because ease of movement is highly important too. Bottom line is…don’t neglect the pinky and learn to stretch.
I have come a long way since visiting this site a few days ago. It’s such great and helpful information that has unlocked a lot of the mystery. I am a beginner but have noticed a lot of people asking similar questions about scales that I also got stuck on for a long time. One of the best ways I have found to help work out where the root notes are and where to start the scale (the meaning of “Root is on 6th or 5th string” with the scale instantly became obvious), was to mark up a rudimentary picture of a Keith Urban Player poster I had (google under images for other examples a not everyone will have the pis), cropping out the fretboard showing the natural note locations. I then used a note program like MS OneNote to place a screenshot of the scale from this site and then inserted the fretboard pic I had created under the scale diagram so it’s easier to see where all the notes are and where the root notes are. The scale is just a pattern to follow but it does help to have a diagram of a fretboard showing the notes from 1st to 12th fret. I have only recently done this after finding this awesome site and it started to become easier to see how the scales fit in and how much better and more enjoyable playing with the backing tracks can be. There does not seem to be a way to upload an example diagram if needed but I will provide if requested where possible.
Are there scales patterns that you can start on the 4th string or 3rd string for example?