Blue metal guitar

The Harmonic Minor Scale

The harmonic minor scale. A staple in classical music and a fan favorite of the neoclassical shredders, it’s sinister sound catches the ear.

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Easy Guitar Chords for Beginners

When starting out on the guitar, or any instrument for that matter, it’s important to build a strong foundation. Seems like a pretty common sense principle, but we all can agree that we’ve had to fight the urge to tackle more advanced concepts and techniques before we were ready for them. So with this lesson I’d like to hit on the essential guitar chords for beginners to learn.

Guy playing minor pentatonic scale

Minor Pentatonic Scale Positions

Like its major counterpart, the minor pentatonic scale is a highly popular scale due to its versatility and playability. A staple in blues music, this scale brings moodiness and tension that creates that familiar blues feel, particular when played over major/dominant chords.

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Relative major and minor scales

Relative Minor and Relative Major Scales

Few concepts in music theory provide an “aha” moment quite like learning about the relative minor and relative major keys. The realization of the relationship between the two brings quite a bit of clarity to the learning the major/minor scale patterns and sets the groundwork for exploring the concept of modes.

Intervals on the guitar
Blues scale on guitar

The Blues Scale

When it comes to soloing, the blues scale is one of the most popular scales used.  It’s used across many genres of music, from blues to rock to jazz and others. Let’s take a look at what makes up this widely used scale.

Building chords from the major scale

Major Scale Chords: What they are and how to build them

Building chords from the major scale sets the foundation for writing and understanding chord progressions, transposing to other keys, and developing your ear as a guitarist. In this lesson you’ll learn how chords are constructed from the major scale by stacking 3rds, what determines the quality of these chords, and how these chords map to the fretboard.

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