There are many scales that I use in rock/metal. In this lesson I am going to teach a couple scales, starting with blues, Harmonic minor, natural minor, mixolydian, phrygian. Figure 1 shows how to play the blues scale in the key of a, you could use this any key this is just the pattern, also you could play this on the octive which would be sweet on the 17th fret starting on a which is used a lot in rock sometimes even metal like pantera.
Figure 1
e------------------------5-8------------------------------------------------
b---------------------5-8---------------------------------------------------
g----------------5-7-8------------------------------------------------------
d-------------5-7-----------------------------------------------------------
a--------5-6-7--------------------------------------------------------------
e---5--8--------------------------------------------------------------------
Now in figure 2 I am going to show you the Harmonic minor scale in the key of A. P.S all of this is in a but you don't have to only do it in a just get the pattern down. The bands that use this scale are mostly metal (b.l.s., Yngwie Malmsteen, iron maiden, avenged sevenfold and more. You may find this sounds sort of egyption or middle eastern sounding, but sounds great on high disortion. Also If you are a beginer with soloing than you just play the notes as they are you can just play notes together in the scale that sounds good.
Figure 2
e----------------------------5----------------------------------------------
b----------------------5-6-9------------------------------------------------
g------------------5-7------------------------------------------------------
d------------6-7-9----------------------------------------------------------
a-------5-7-8---------------------------------------------------------------
e--5-7-8--------------------------------------------------------------------
Now I am going to show you the natural minor scale, This is the same scale as the harmonic minor scale except there are a couple different notes. The bands that use this scale are a lot of 80s metal, there is a list so long I can't name them all. Figure 3 shows the A natural minor scale.
Figure 3
e---------------------------5-7-8-------------------------------------------
b---------------------5-6-7-------------------------------------------------
g-----------------5-7-------------------------------------------------------
d------------5-7-9----------------------------------------------------------
a-------5-7-8---------------------------------------------------------------
e-5-7-8---------------------------------------------------------------------
Alright now i will show you the mixolydian scale (mode). The thing different about a mode is that if you were playing lets just say out of the A natural minor scale you wouldn't play the mixolydian scale in a you would play in g because the mixolydian has a different order of notes thn the natural minor scale so the mixolydian scale starts on the 7th note of the natural minor scale so if you are playing in a minor than you will play g mixolydian. The mixolydian scales is played by shredders like steve vai, joe satriani, my great guitar teacher, scale is used in music from jazz to metal. At 1st when you learn scale it may be wierd but i think it is easy. I recomend you use a alot of hammer ons and pull offs when using this scale. Figure 4 shows the mixolydian scale in the key of a minor but is the g mixolydian scale. I am going to show it to you on the 15th fret but you could play it a octive down on the 3rd fret.
Figure 4
e--------------------------------------15-----------------------------------
b------------------------------15-17-18-------------------------------------
g----------------------14-16-17---------------------------------------------
d--------------14-15-17-----------------------------------------------------
a------14-15-17-------------------------------------------------------------
e-15-17---------------------------------------------------------------------
Now I am going to show you the phrygian scale (mode) This scale is also a mode so the same as the mixolydian scale applies to it. If you are playing in the key of A natural minor you would start on the 5th note which would be E phrygian. You can check to see if what your doing is correct by checking the notes of the two scales and make sure they have sharps or flats if they have any. Many great guitar players use this scale or mode, guys like Michael Angelo Batio, Yngwie Malmsteen, and many other great metal shredders use this scale. Figure 5 shows the e phrygian scale in the key of A minor.
Figure 5
e--------------------------------------12-----------------------------------
b------------------------------12-13-14-------------------------------------
g-------------------------12-14---------------------------------------------
d-----------------12-14-15--------------------------------------------------
a---------12-14-15----------------------------------------------------------
e-12-13-15------------------------------------------------------------------
Now lets talk keys some of the most used keys are a, and e minor. In the key of a minor the notes are a b c d e f g a, and in the key of e the notes are a b c d e f# g a. If you know these than you can figure other scales with the same notes just in a different order. In the next lesson I will talk about arpeggios and more detailed lead tricks, and other usefull leads.
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