There are several ways to notate musical examples for the guitar. Standard Notation, Tablature (TAB) and Chord/Scale charts are the most common.
Chord and Scale charts are actually pretty simple once you understand the orientation.
The 6 vertical lines represent each string. The horizontal lines represent each fret.
The example above shows five frets of the guitar neck,
but chord/scale charts can contain as many frets as needed.
***Always assume the 1st space is the 1st fret…
…unless you see a fret number indicating a specific fret.
*If a fret number is specified, use the pattern based on that fret!
Now that you understand the orientation of the neck graphic, we need to number our fretting fingers…
(*it’s not uncommon to use your fretting thumb (T) to produce chords.)
Make sure you understand that:
1st finger=index finger
2nd finger=middle finger
3rd finger=ring finger
4th finger=pinky
T=thumb
CHORD CHARTS
*By putting finger numbers on the chord/scale charts, we can create pictorial diagrams of a given chord.
To play this example, you would simply put your index finger (1) on the 5th string/2nd fret and your middle finger (2) on the 4th string/2nd fret. This is a chord called E minor (Em).
But wait!!! We need to know what strings to strum…
Strings are often omitted from a chord. Chord charts use a combination of X’s & O’s to tell us which strings to play or not (you always play the notes that you are fretting).
X=DON’T PLAY!!!
O=include this open string
Play the shape and strum all of the strings. Are we making music yet? If you are confused, reread the earlier sections of this article.
Let’s try a chord that omits 2 strings:
This chord (Fmaj7) can be made by putting your index on the 2nd string/1st fret, your middle on the 3rd string/2nd fret and your ring on the 4th string/3rd fret. Strum the 1st 4 strings.
REMEMBER NOT TO STRUM THE 5th & 6th STRINGS-THEY HAVE BEEN X’D OUT OF THE CHORD!!!
The orientation for chords and scale charts is the same:
The main difference with scale charts is how they explain fingering. In scales, one finger plays several notes on different strings. You can usually find a logical pattern in a given shape to “assign” a given finger to a specific fret:
This diagram reminds us that the index plays ALL the notes on the 2nd fret,the ring plays ALL the notes on the 4th fret and the pinky is stuck with ALL the notes on the 5th fret. (Notice we don’t use our middle in this example. If we had notes to play on the 3rd fret, it would be logical to use our middle finger to play it.
*Get REALLY used to this four finger grouping-
we’ll refer back to it often!!!
Now all we have to learn is the direction to play the scale.
If we want to play the scale ascending (Low to High), we would start on our root/tonic indicated by the circled dot. Now we continue up that string until we are out of notes. Now we move to the lowest note on the next string playing from Low to High. Continue this process until you are out of notes and/or strings…
Here is what it looks like in tab:
*To play the scale descending (going from High to Low), we would just reverse the order.
Most common scales use seven notes to give their specific sound, but we can also play “diet” FIVE note versions. A PENTATONIC SCALE is just a five note version of a full seven note scale (penta=five tonic=tone). Pentatonic just means omitting two notes from a given 7 note scale (there is also such a thing as a MAJOR Pentatonic scale that uses only five of the seven Major scale notes. We’ll learn all about this scale later). If you think of a full 7 note scale as a human body, the 5 note pentatonic version would be the skeleton. These skeletal notes give us the general outline of the full scale.
But why would I want to play a truncated version of a bigger scale? If I have 7 notes at my disposal why don’t I use them all?
Good question. The answer is simple-“less is more“. The more notes a scale has, the smoother it sounds (the space between notes is shorter). But when we play a pentatonic scale with less notes, it sounds more open and immediate. Pentatonic scales cut out the fat and get right to the meat of the scale. Think of them as “bullet points” for a scale-they give you just the highlights.
Because they sound so direct, they are used in several styles of music. Straight ahead R&R, Country, Rhythm & Blues, Folk, World Music, etc. all use these simple yet intimate scales in their respective genres.
Do you remember the FOUR FRET BLOCK that we learned earlier?
The Minor pentatonic scale incorporates this fingering but doesn’t use the middle (2nd) finger.
QUIZ TIME!!! HOW MANY MINOR PENTATONIC SCALES ARE THERE???
Twelve. Remember that minor pentatonic is just a scale formula or shape. We can start this shape on any of our 12 chromatic notes to produce 12 minor pentatonic scales. The same is true for other scales. For each type of scale, there are 12 possible starting places-meaning there are 12 of every kind of scale.
If, for example, we wanted to play an F# minor pentatonic scale, we would start on the letter F# as our tonic. Since our circled tonic is on the LOW E string, we need to find an F# on that string. From there, just follow the orange line for direction. Here is how you would play an F# minor pentatonic scale. Just remember that your index always plays the second fret, your ring (3rd finger) plays the fourth fret and your pinky plays the fifth fret in this example:
Follow the blue arrow to play the scale backwards (descending):
Here is the F# minor pentatonic scale ascending and descending:
In the last lesson we likened 5 note Pentatonic scales to “skeletons” of the original 7 note scales.
This guy represents a 7 note Minor scale. (His name is the Natural Minor Scale– we’ll learn all about him later.)
Here is his 5 note Pentatonic “skeleton”. It’s still the same guy/scale-there’s just less of him.
Let’s say theguy (Natural Minor scale) contains the notes: A B C D E F G (A)
His skeleton uses 5 notes to give the basic form of the scale: A C D E G (A)
SO…Anytime we can use a full 7 note scale, we can always substitute the 5 note pentatonic skeleton.
But what if we tried to go all mad scientist on this poor guy’s skeleton??? What if we added anotherbone (note) or two? It wouldn’t be too much different from the Pentatonic skeleton, but it would be vastly different from the original guy/ scale…
Minor Pentatonic is interchangeable with Natural Minor. All the notes agree. But when we add in foreign notes, they aren’t found in the original body scale. These oddball additions are referred to as passing tones. Because they aren’t technically correct, they sometimes have a “brash“ effect. Listeners are quick to pick up on these deviations because they vary from the overall scale and “feel” of a song.
Many styles of music use passing tones. We’ll also learn about other scales incorporating passing tones to create new and unique sounds.
Probably the most commonly used scale that contains passing tones is the “Blues Scale“. The Blues Scale is essentially the Minor Pentatonic with one passing note added per octave. I’ve marked the passing tones with an “X”. Remember to play these! It’s no longer a pentatonic scale because it has more than five notes. Here is the pattern (remember to use the four finger block!):
Here is the Blues Scale in the Key of X:
What if we try to attach even more bones/notes? We can add notes to the Blues Scale and come up with a scale that doesn’t really have a name. I call it the BWPT (Blues with passing tones):
It’s not as difficult as it first appears. There are only two fingerings to play this scale- index, ring & pinky or index middle and ring. Guitarists like this shape because of it’s symmetry. It is easier to play across the strings if the pattern stays the same. Try this simple exercise using the first three strings:
