Seasoned Beg.

So I've been noodling around with the guitar since as long as I can remember but Drums overtook me in high school and that became my primary instrument. As I get older and play in more bands I'm just finding it a pain to rely on other people and have once again started to focus more on guitar. I figure if I'm the only person I need to depend on then the only one to blame will be myself for any shortcomings.

This site has been a great help, I've been using it for awhile now and finally decided to sign up and take full advantage of the community. My question today is relatively simple but hopefully will give some directional guidance.

So aside from the few songs and chords I've learned. I've read it's good to build up a strong foundation of scales as a backbone to music theory and understanding chord and song structure. So I've learned the 5 positions of the major scale as well as the major pentatonic and went to learn the minor of each and find out the scales are exactly the same??? What gives. Is it that simple? Aoelian starts on Ionian's 2nd formation and the minor Pentatonic starts on the major Pentatonic's 5th formation?

Is it that simple? Do I really only need to just practice these 10 different formations and will get 4 sets of scales out of it? What else does this apply to? And more importantly how the hell do I effectively start applying this... I know this may go into a bit more complexity than I originally intended but even a simple answer of... "just play around with it until you feel comfortable and play what sounds good" would actually be enough for me I think to at least ease me on my way.

I gotta run my friend to band practice but will try to continue this discussion a bit later and put my mind to rest... I'm really looking forward to advancing with this instrument and start performing some open mic sessions in the future.

i cant answer ur question but will say tht u have definatly chosen the right scales to start with. ther are like 4 or 5 different formations of the pentatonic, and mny other scales come outta this, hope some 1 on here has the answer and welcome :)

Yep, it really is that simple. The minor scale is really the minor mode, just start on the 6th of the major scale, these are called relative keys since they share the same notes. Err, that is A minor and C major are examples of relative keys. You've come a long way already, because recognizing and understanding these relationships is a great way to learn all the scales. It also helps a lot if you start dabbling into modulation.

Anyway, I guess in regards to your question, modulation is probably what it applies to most. Modulation is merely changing a songs key. Changing to keys relative minor is one example. You can also modulate to "similar" keys, keys with one more or one less sharp or flat. G major and E minor are both similar to C major and A minor. Hope this helped.

That is crazy.
I actually just googled for the aoelian and ionian along with the major and minor pentatonic. I figured that would be my best place to start learning and upon comparing the different scales was shocked to find out that by learning the Ionian, I had already learned the Aeolian.

So I guess learning the notes of the fretboard would really help me put these scales to work so I can more easily identify which key of which scale I'm playing in.

Do you all end up practicing up and down the neck in each key with these scales? Really tedious when I think about it. I wonder if I just play all 5 major scale forms on the A note of the low E string and eventually just through memory will be able to start off anywhere and feel comfortable.

On a side note real quick, why the hell is there like 20 ways to play the pentatonic scale on the 'scales' part of this web site, it makes it so much more complicated looking that other sites that just give you the 5 positions and show how they change in each key.

I guess that's just how the tool is structured, but it does separate them nicely. Even though they're all the same scale, they have completely different sounds depending on how you shift it around. I like the major pentatonic and major blues a lot myself.

Hey!
Yeah you're definitely on the right road here. The next thing you need to do is learn all the modes of the major/minor scale, so if I might direct you to my lesson in the 'lessons' part of this site called 'Modes and how to use them' I think that would be a good start!

Afro

diatonic scales are good too

Modes come under diatonics!

dude what is this new Karma thing I just noticed it on me and BBT's account names

ooooooooh! i have no idea! looks tastey

EDIT: i think they are doing scientific experiments on us...

yeah man I think we're supposed to give each other comments to boost Karma, my image is busted though it's only a little box wiht a red x inside

karma? wait.. does that even make sense? =p

I've seen the karma thing on other sites before. If someone says or does something that you like, you can give them a karma point.

no idea either.

well on mine the karma thing is just the white box with the red cross which means the image cant be displayed :s

and back on topic look at modes and that should help a lot

hey Afro Raven long time no see. I guess its the first question in awhile with enough complexity to warrant a reponse from the resident master of theory.

Can't decide if that was flattery or sarcasm...cheers anyway dude!

Afro