Advanced Guitar Scales

Looking to spice up your solos? Or are you just looking to solo in the first place? If so, you need to learn some guitar scales. We’ve covered the basic scales(minor pentatonic, chromatic, e Phrygian etc.) already in our previous lessons, but now it’s time to progress onto the more advanced guitar scales. In this lesson, we’ll be going over four great guitar solos that, if learned, are sure to improve your soloing. Or at least allow you to compose some sweet riffs. Scales covered will be the G Major Pentatonic, G Blues Scale, C Lydian Flat Seven, and A Harmonic Minor.


G Major Pentatonic

E: |--------------------3-5-7-5-3------------------|
B: |----------------3-5----------5-3---------------|
G: |------------2-4-----------------4-2------------|
D: |---------2-5------------------------5-2--------|
A: |-----2-5-------------------------------5-2-----|
E: |--3-5--------------------------------------5-3-|

Many people rave on the minor pentatonic scale. While lots of rock solos are derived from it, many solos are also derived from the G major pentatonic. It’s a great, easy to play scale that, when learned and mastered, can be used to create lots of good riffs or solos.

How do you play it? Well, you’ll use your index finger and ring finger to play notes that are 2 frets apart, while you’ll use the index finger and pinky finger to play any notes 3 frets apart. But the bottom line for playing the scale correctly is to do what feels comfortable, as far as hand placement is concerned.

And for the visual folks – a G Major Pentatonic Scale Exercise Video:




G Blues Scale

E: |------------------------3-6-3------------------------|
B: |---------------------3-6-----6-3---------------------|
G: |--------------3-4-5-6-----------6-5-4-3--------------|
D: |-----------3-5-------------------------5-3-----------|
A: |----2-3-4-5-------------------------------5-4-3-2----|
E: |-3-6----------------------------------------------6-3|

Blues scales are also well-used by guitarists who write solos. The reason for this is because blues scales have that distinctive, melodic sound that most guitarists are after. They’re simple to play, yet sound great, which is why they are worth not just mastering, but incorporating in solos and riffs.

The easiest way to play the scale is to use your index and pinky fingers for the notes on the low e string, b string and high e string. You’ll use all four fingers on the a and g strings. Finally, you’ll use the index finger and ring finger for the d string.

G Blues Scale Video:




C Lydian Flat Seven

E: |------------------2-3-5-3-2------------------------|
B: |---------------3-5---------5-3---------------------|
G: |----------2-3-5---------------5-3-2----------------|
D: |-----2-4-5-------------------------5-4-2-----------|
A: |-3-5------------------------------------5-3--------|
E: |---------------------------------------------------|

The C Lydian is a commonly used Jazz scale. Now you might be thinking “what is the point of learning a Jazz scale when I am a rock/country/other genre guitarist?” Even though it is a Jazz scale, it is used in many genres of music, including rock, blues and country. It has a great sequence of notes which can be arranged to form a neat solo, which is why the scale is great to learn.

You’ll use your index finger and ring finger to play notes on the a and b strings. You’ll use your index, ring and pinky fingers to play the notes on the high e, g and d strings. Pretty simple, but really good.

Sorry, I’ve got no video for this one yet. (If you send me one of you doing this scale, I’ll post it here.)


A Harmonic Minor

E: |---------------------1-4-5-4-------------------------|
B: |------------------3-5-------5-3----------------------|
G: |-------------2-4-5-------------5-4-2-----------------|
D: |--------2-3-6-----------------------6-3-2------------|
A: |---2-3-5---------------------------------5-3-2-------|
E: |-5--------------------------------------------5------|

Harmonic scales are really great to learn, and the A Harmonic Minor is no different. The A Harmonic is useful for creating great sounding solos and riffs in virtually any genre of music. Learn this one well and it will be of great use to you.

Playing the A Harmonic Minor is easy. You’ll use your ring finger on the low e string note, index, ring and pinky fingers for the notes on the a string, d string, g string and high e string. Finally, you’ll use your index and ring fingers on the b string. That’s all it takes to play this awesome scale!

An ascending riff in A harmonic minor video:



Here’s rock lick 8 in A Harmonic Minor (E major chord) Video:



By learning and mastering the above scales, you should have no problems whatsoever composing solos that have a distinctive sound.