SCALES

A scale is a collection pf pitches in ascending - descending order. There are many different types of scales; major, minor, pentatonics, modes, etc. We'll look at various scales. First up is the pentatonic scale. Pentatonic means "five tones". There is both a major and minor pentatonic scale. The minor pentatonic scale is the most common scale used by guitarists in many of todays modern styles of music - especially rock n' roll and blues. Try practicing these scales using alternating downstrokes and upstrokes.

Minor Pentatonic Scale in A	Major Pentatonic Scale in A

Modes

Modes are a system of seven tones that start at various degrees of the major scale (ie; do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do). There are seven different types of modes used in todays western music; Ionian Mode is always the first degree of the major scale. Ionian Mode is also known as simply the Major Scale. The Western Major Scale is a set of 8 notes, starting from one note - ascending and finishing on that same note, an octave higher. The steps are as follows, with a W representing whole steps and a H representing half steps; 1-W-2-W-3-H-4-W-5-W-6-W-7-H-8. Dorian Mode is the 2nd, Phrygian the 3rd, Lydian the 4th, Mixolydian the 5th, Aeolian the 6th and Locrian the 7th. Ionian, Lydian and Mixolydian Mode are all considered major scales while Dorian, Phrygian, Aeolian (aka Natural Minor Scale) and Locrian all make minor scales. Here are the scales of each mode all using G as the tonic. The letters in parentheses are the notes played in each scale. Once again rotate you're downstrokes and upstrokes.

Ionian Mode (G-A-B-C-D-E-F#)	Dorian Mode (G-A-Bb-C-D-E-F)
Phrygian Mode (G-Ab-Bb-C-D-Eb-F)	Lydian Mode (G-A-B-C#-D-E-F#)
Mixolydian Mode (G-A-B-C-D-E-F)	Aeolian Mode (G-A-Bb-C-D-Eb-F)
Locrian Mode (G-Ab-Bb-C-D-Eb-F)