scales

ok i just finished learning a few scales. full scales not just positions on the fretboard. now i was wondering how can i change the key of a scale without having to go back to the "drawing board" and re learn the entire scale.the scale im talking about is the e harmonic minor. i wanna learn the a harmonic minor but without doing what i stated above. is there a way i can count steps or something?

Well if you did learn different positions and patterns... you could just move them up so the root was on the right note for whatever key you want. Remember that everything repeats from the twelth fret (so the 13th fret is the same note and octave higher as the first fret).

you can move everything down 5 steps or up 7 steps but like Doz said , you're better of learning the patterns and combining them to a full scale..

Yep, unfortunately what Doz and Dave said is correct. The only other way to do it is to memorise all the notes on the fretboard, so that when you are using a scale in a different key, you can see which notes to hit. That is incredibly difficult and time consuming though, and the option that most of the pros (including Vai and Satriani) skip over. You are much better learning the scale positions and then moving them up or down the fretboard when you change key.

Afro

thanks for the input

I would only add if you know where your tonic notes are on a fretbord then you could use the intervals to build a scale from there. In this case a E harmonic minor which is spelled 1, 2, b3, 4, 5, b6, 7; you find your E's and you can build a scale from there as long as you know the major scale pattern (box).

ive actually been doing that with my riffs you know to change them up i didnt know what it was called though... thanks anyway

i knw lots of stuff bout music theory nd i knw how scales overlap (A minor nd C major 4 example) plus i knw all the notes on the fret board yet 2 me the easiest way 2 memorize a scale is the old way, via chord progressions,,A harmonic minor chord progs r:Am,Bdim,Caug,Dm,E,F,G#dim i memorise all my scales this way exept 4 pentatonic i use the box position i got used 2 it..