Scales Patterns

Here are some useful scales. These scales will help you with many things, such as composing music, playing existing music, improving speed and accuracy, and soloing. Remember, that these are patterns, which means you can move them up and down providing you keep the same fret distance between each note. I have based all of these scales in A.

To assist, I have included finger numbers for the way that I play the scale, It may not be the *best* way, but it works for me.

Legend:
R = Root Note
1 = Index Finger
2 = Middle Finger
3 = Ring Finger
4 = Pinky Finger

1: A Natural Minor (Two Octaves)
e|------------------------------5------------------------------|
B|------------------------5-6-8---8-6-5------------------------|
G|------------------4-5-7---------------7-5-4------------------|
D|--------------5-7---------------------------7-5--------------|
A|--------5-7-8-----------------------------------8-7-5--------|
E|--5-7-8-----------------------------------------------8-7-5--|
    R             R             R             R             R
    1 3 4 1 3 4 1 3 1 2 4 1 2 4 1 4 2 1 4 2 1 3 1 4 3 1 4 3 1


2: A Harmonic Minor (Two Octaves)
e|----------------------------4-5-4----------------------------|
B|------------------------5-6-------6-5------------------------|
G|--------------------5-7---------------7-5--------------------|
D|--------------6-7-9-----------------------9-7-6--------------|
A|--------5-7-8-----------------------------------8-7-5--------|
E|--5-7-8-----------------------------------------------8-7-5--|
    R             R             R             R             R
    1 3 4 1 3 4 2 3 4 1 3 2 3 1 2 1 3 2 3 1 4 3 2 4 3 1 4 3 1


3: A Major (Two Octaves)
e|----------------------------4-5-4----------------------------|
B|------------------------5-7-------7-5------------------------|
G|------------------4-6-7---------------7-6-4------------------|
D|------------4-6-7---------------------------7-6-4------------|
A|------4-5-7---------------------------------------7-5-4------|
E|--5-7---------------------------------------------------7-5--|
    R             R             R             R             R
    1 4 1 2 4 1 3 4 1 3 4 2 4 1 2 1 4 2 4 3 1 4 3 1 4 2 1 4 1

Note: when the pentatonic scales are played, an additional note is often added in at the end of the scale. Its perfectly fine not to play this note at all. I have put the note in brackets. This applies to Scale 4 and 5.

4: A Pentatonic Minor (Two Octaves)
e|----------------------5-(8)-5----------------------|
B|------------------5-8---------8-5------------------|
G|--------------5-7-----------------7-5--------------|
D|----------5-7-------------------------7-5----------|
A|------5-7---------------------------------7-5------|
E|--5-8-----------------------------------------8-5--|
    R         R         R     R         R         R
    1 4 1 3 1 3 1 3 1 4 1  4  1 4 1 3 1 3 1 3 1 4 1


5: A Pentatonic Major (Two Octaves)
e|----------------------5-(7)-5----------------------|
B|------------------5-7---------7-5------------------|
G|--------------4-6-----------------6-4--------------|
D|----------4-7-------------------------7-4----------|
A|------4-7---------------------------------7-4------|
E|--5-7-----------------------------------------7-5--|
    R         R         R     R         R         R
    1 4 1 4 1 4 1 3 2 4 2  4  2 4 2 3 1 4 1 4 1 4 1

Ok, so there are the basic scales. Practise them through at take notice of the finger patterns, as they are quite cumfortable once you get used to them.

"Great, after a bit of practise you can make up some short solo licks and put together a solo (Particularly using the minor pentatonic, which I generally find is easiest). So, your playing along with your band, come to take your solo, and it sounds great, except, you're stuck. It sounds good but needs more variety in pitch, needs to go a bit higher up.

Well how can you do that? The easy way out would be just to raise the pattern 12 frets, but this usually ends up sounding out of place." The above descibes how I was, still partly am, and why I am writing this lesson. I worked out the below 4 scales for my own use and improvement, but I decided to share them. These scales span 3 octaves, rather than 2, which gives you alot more (almost all) the range of the fretboard, and help you to do buildups to the higher notes.

For these, I am only giving the ascending (going up), the finger pattern is the same coming back down, as are the frets.

6: A Natural Minor Extended (3 Octaves)
e|-----------------------------------------------12-13-15-17-|
B|-----------------------------------10-12-13-15-------------|
G|---------------------------9-10-12-------------------------|
D|-----------------7-9-10-12---------------------------------|
A|----------7-8-10-------------------------------------------|
E|-5-7-8-10--------------------------------------------------|
   R               R                 R                    R
   1 2 3 4  1 2 4  1 2 3  4  1 2  3  1  2  3  4  1  2  3  4


7: A Major Extended (3 Octaves)
e|-----------------------------------------------12-14-16-17-|
B|-----------------------------------10-12-14-15-------------|
G|---------------------------9-11-13-------------------------|
D|-----------------7-9-11-12---------------------------------|
A|----------7-9-11-------------------------------------------|
E|-5-7-9-10--------------------------------------------------|
   R               R                 R                    R
   1 2 3 4  1 2 3  1 2 3  4  1 2  3  1  2  3  4  1  2  3  4


8: A Minor Pentatonic Extended (3 Octaves)
e|-------------------------------------12-15-17-|
B|----------------------------10-13-15----------|
G|-----------------------9-12-------------------|
D|-----------------10-12------------------------|
A|---------7-10-12------------------------------|
E|--5-8-10--------------------------------------|
    R           R             R              R
    1 2 4  1 3  4  1  3  1 3  1  3  4  1  3  4


9: A Major Pentatonic Extended (3 Octaves)
e|---------------------------------12-14-17--|
B|------------------------10-12-14-----------|
G|-------------------9-11--------------------|
D|------------7-9-11-------------------------|
A|--------7-9--------------------------------|
E|--5-7-9------------------------------------|
    R          R            R            R
    1 2 4 1 3 1 2 4  1 3  1  2  3  1  2  4

And there you have it. Practise these and you will notice substaintial improvement. Id reccomend practising clean, and slower to start with, to make sure you hit each fret accuratley and pick at the right time, then speed it up! Make sure you go ascending and descending!

Comments

[Fed_X666]

great lesson it really helped me out i can't afford lessons so this site has been a very good help thanks a lot guys keep up the good work.

[sodergren]

yeah, good lesson jimbo

[fatboy]

Nice one for introductory, bring out the other pattersn for the cales as well, so you can cover the whole fretboard, with out chaning key.

[hank shermmann]

good stuff man, but its kinda basic.

[love_metalRM]

Excellent stuff..Great lesson..i want to learn more..

[troutBoy]

gr8 lesson the scales are really useful - 4/5

[Aditya]

the 3 octave span was wat i was lookin for..thanx man

[rohit]

thanks for or lessons

[rohit]

i think ultimate-guitar.com is doing a great job in proving knowledge for people who takes music seriously, thank you ultimate-guitar.com

[Moog3797]

great job on the lesson, ultimate guitar is the best. all guitarist should learn to play phish songs, it really helps, i mean REALLY helps

[Metalology]

After i learn the rhythm for Crazy Train im gonna buy a big book of scales and just do that then leads will come easier

[Mitchpark1]

one of th best lessons ive had on the site

[Dudemandude]

Sweet, those scales are helping me alot with doing solos : thanx, and you rule!!!!

[GoYaffa]

thanks alot Dude, the different patterns have really added more variety to my solos in any style of music.

[buckethead101]

hey dude thanks for improving my riffs because you're lesson makes me feel great.....
5 stars to you guitar-matt2004 and your greatest lesson(this) of all.....

[zeusplayer44]

hey man this is great, i might just print it, i used to pretty much just make up solos and i didnt know what i was doing, even though ive been playing for 4 years, thanks again, wonderfull, 5 stars

[Zombat]

Frickin' awesome dude. Thanks a ton!!

[-TeddyNapperFi-]

excellent lesson!

[TheUnForgiven]

nice to see some scales in tab form and excellent lesson to cheers mate

[farglesnuff]

wow... this lesson is gonna improve my skills greatly. after reading it once i can almost see how the patterns work. thx alot dude!

[CptMorgan]

good job on this man this is exactly what i was looking for =)

[iced_faith]

nice lesson. covers the basics very efficiently. i found it rather helpful. usually im very confined to blues scale so this is great

[ddominguez8201]

cool now mabey I can get out of this rut that I'm in and start thrashn' some solos. thanx

[natesD]

this is a dumb question, is that the best fingering for the scales? or just do whats most comfortable?

[Laser]

Thank you!

[me_myself_and_i]

ultimate guitar kicks freshly mowed grass, i assume that theirs no swearing on this website? well the lessons are pretty good

[me_myself_and_i]

if you want to buy a big book of scales buy fretboard logic, bill edwards is a genius, i was disapointed by the dvd's though

[Enix_03]

not bad

[dwnbowden]

very good lesson

[Super Hobo]

are you sure that thats the a major scale?

[Bill Turnip]

A good lesson? You have to be kidding me! That lesson was brilliant! As a starter, simly knowing these scale patterns exist has improved my playing tenfold, and when i learn the 3 octave stretches itll probably get even better! Well I can hope... But keep up the good work!

[Bill Turnip]

I wanna say thank you...I'm new, and thats helped a lot, and once ive learnt the extended scales, im sure itll help even more. If this is the second time the message appears, sorry, but it didnt seem to work last time

[Assassin_Itachi]

a very helpful lesson. thank you.

[newbieaxman]

~wOOt wOOt~ great lesson dude.. it helps a lot especially for beginners like me...

[gary19862k6]

yeah its a great lesson, but where the finger numbers are under the tab, you could maybe also put in beneath those numbers what each note is on the tab aswell, that way people can see the difference between the notes in the scale used for say the A-Major Pentatonic to just the A-Major one you had there, and so on.

[gary19862k6]

yeah good lesson, but maybe where you have the finger numbers beneath the tab, you could also put in the notes that are actually getting played during the scale. Then people can see the difference between say the A-Major Pentatonic scale and just the A-Major scale you showed, and so on. Just an idea.

[Blink90Bedford]

good lesson!!!! i agree with what gary is saying tho. BTW if u want a book that will improve ur technique and a whole lot more than tht, get 'the complete guitarist' by richard chapman, its got everyhting!!

[Sethiroth]

those extended scales will prove helpful, thank you

[flipfox_redoubt]

wo0o0o0o0oT!!!!!
nice one

[Crazy Erik]

Great Lesson. The extended scales were especially useful

[gitarakista]

it will be better if you put the intervals in each scale. so we can apply it to all notes.

[Jman813]

Thanks it really helped

[jixu]

what the heck is this!!!!! changed my mind!i better start playing cymbals!rather this one!by the way thanks! i do helps me a lot!

[Insanity207]

good lesson, i like the tabs they help alot!

[VolucrisExNox]

Awesome lesson. These scales are really good to develop speed and create some good hard rockin' riffs.
Keep up the good work.

[-mick-]

cool lesson...

[Str4ng3r]

Printin... thx for a awsome lesson

[jckido21]

the finger numbers really help out

[boblovestosk82]

hey thanks this stuff is ery useful to me.....i look to learn all the styles because i figure it can only make me better as an instumentalist

thanks,
guitar_rocker6405

[masterofnothing]

Fed_X666 wrote:

great lesson it really helped me out i can't afford lessons so this site has been a very good help thanks a lot guys keep up the good work.

same here

[nigeman86]

im havin trouble puting together my own solos can u give a simple exapmle, just sumthin to practice

[matt \,,/]

???im confused.....i understand what you mean by playing the notes in a certain order so they sound good, its jst that every lesson about scales i go onto its always got a different bunch of notes in the same part of the neck..jst dont know what one to practice an i end up mixing them up....

[RS-GUITARIST]

well done

[metalhead_jerry]

brilliant man!
loved it, really helped me!

[Metalhead1991]

thx a lot for an awsun lesson. im just gettin into scales and this helped. one thing i want explainin a bit if sum1 cud plz. ok so i thought the root note was the like the first note on a scale or sumthin.. but how come ther are like 5 root notes in these scales.... can sum1 plz explain this to me.

[b0xD]

Wow this lesson is awesome...Finally made it clear how to read scales and understand what they are and do. Best lesson on this site...I been coming here for some time now and I have only just found this lesson now. Awesome work.

[guitarguy87]

great lesson dude. this'll help me out on the solos ive been trying. =P.

[tremonti4ever]

most excellent lesson 5 stars

[sTx]

Awesome job, dude.

[overb00st]

guess i got it

[dryh2o_podz11]

how can i imrove my solo if i dont know how 2 make solo

[Beware!Criminal]

Thank you so much for posting this. You did a great job, and helped me tremendously. I added two new scales to my repertoire (minor and harmonic minor), and cleared up some confusion. Thanks again.

[Stringtastic!!]

Maxamillion!! Thanks 4 taking the time.. U-G is in fact my only instructor, truly a gr8t site!!

[annihilation]

I've been looking for a lesson like this for ages, (y)

[pablo_89]

great lesson!!! it pleased my guitar teacher when he wanted me to learn these!!!

[jimbojetuk]

very nice , this is building my speed like hell!

[guerito]

I haven't gone through all the scales yet, but i'm pretty sure that your major scale and your minor pentatonic scale are both in E, not A. And i think the major pentatonic scale you show is in F. I mapped out the notes on the fretboard and filled in the entire scale.

[guerito]

oh wait; uh...never mind

[Evil Rising]

this lesson was great!

[Metal101]

Thanks dude! This really helped me out! It's just so easy to follow, I'm printing it out...

[gilles_frehley]

wow
one of the best lessons so far...
thnx ^^ really helped me :p

[Beavshak]

very helpful thanks

[xlukex]

cheers a had to learn this for my GCSE music

[feeney]

thanks dude! i will be learning this as soon as i get home from school !!!!!

[deadxseductress]

Great lesson. Though it is basic, it's really helped me in improvising solos. Thanks =]

[conquistador]

ok so your saying if i moved down the a natural minor scale 2 frets it would be the G natural minor scale??

[ColCommunism]

Good lesson. Really helps me when I need to remember a certain scale pattern.

[ColCommunism]

Actually, I'd like to amend my comment above. This was the lesson that taught me the minor pentatonic pattern, and it's revolutionized my playing. Thank you for improving my guitar playing tenfold.

[guitarismylife1]

That really was a great lesson especially the three octave spanning scales, they are the key thing thats been missing from my solos (the runs up to high notes), so thanks a lot and keep up the good work

[vertices]

interesting

[guitarguru134]

yes thank you for these scale patterns, i recently quite lessons because all i was learning was songs, and i reall y need to know the scales to improvise solos in songs that i have wrote,and real songs from famous artists. It was alright learning the solo note for note, but it didnt really improve my playing and knowledge of scales. thank you again for this!

[mellobello]

This lesson helped a lot. But any ideas for remembering all/a lot of scales? I know most/all great guitarists have them in their minds. Help!

[flipsk8r1928]

lol, good lesson.

[DesolationJD]

nice elsson man ...
the extended scales were very useful ...
hats off

[Glennjoe]

good lesson!

[saril_malankian]

i ve enterad a short term class, but i dont realy understand about scaling and the extended..so this lesson make me clear...

[jrnjd]

great lesson for a beginner/intermediate like me.

[redflag_ppl]

soo these are just scales,,not pentatonic or anything?

[cassisawesome1]

good stuff

[andrewAnimosity]

good lesson

[manwe1]

Great lesson, thanks. As an absolute beginner this is valuable stuff. More of the same please.

[carpe diem 101]

Dude, its all making sense now. Thanks a ton.

[kevintimmers]

GREAT LESSION! Im serious, my fingers are starting to feel loose everytime they are landing on the strings while practising these scales! keep it up.

[kevintimmers]

sorry for the double post i miss spelt LESSON

[Portugeezer31]

how can i put this into a solo? like how can i use these scales effectively?