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I'd suggest you learn them in this order.
Pentatonics- major and minor, in 5 positions, in at least 5 keys (C, G, D, F, Bb first)
Major scale- in CAGED and 3 note per string patters, in at least 5 keys.
Major scale modes, in CAGED and 3 note per string patters, in at least 5 keys.
Melodic minor, in CAGED and 3 note per string patters, in at least 5 keys- especially the super locrian mode of this and its use over the V chord.
Harmonic Minor, in CAGED and 3 note per string patters, in at least 5 keys.
Once you get that far you will be pretty capable and will probably have diverted off to investigate things that you find interesting- I got stuck in diminished scale and super locrian stuff for a bit.
At the same time you should be looking at arpeggios.
I can always tell a player who got stuck in scale playing and neglected arpeggios.
Scale playing is kinda like regurgitating the dictionary at someone- yeah all those 15 letter words are mightily impressive when delivered at speed but is it a cohesive sentence?
Usually not.
Argeggios (and more specifically the outlining of chord progressions in playing) give you contextual vocabulary rather than just loads of impressive finger wiggling.
Do I use them all?
Yes but some more than others- it depends on the material.
Over rock type stuff it is more major scale and dorian, mixolydian, pentatonics.
Over blues it is major/minor pentatonics, mixolydian, superlocrian, melodic minor
Over metal type stuff it is often 3 note per string major scale modes, harmonic minor and modes, pentatonics.
Over jazz stuff it is everything.
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Also looking at "classical" stuff alongside, I know when I was a kid they had major, harmonic minor and melodic minor scales. Somewhere in the intervening 30 years or so, they've recognised the validity of the natural minor scale; and the wholetone scale has made an appearance too (or maybe I never noticed it previously). (And of course, chromatic ones too).
Its an interesting angle though - "are there good and bad keys for the guitar?" - I've found that once you get over the hassle of reading and remembering multiple flats/sharps the physical constraint the instrument itself imposes on the key, is negligible on the guitar (and only a minor issue on the bass - no doubt a 5 string bass (I've not played one) will get round it to a certain extent). I know from experience that some instruments are a complete pain in the arse in certain keys, though.
PS played plenty of stuff in Db major or Ab major, I think I had some in Ab minor (7 flats) a few times.
Nil Satis Nisi Optimum
I'm not really the best guy to ask for beginning music theory books because I learned most of it at school and I don't teach from a book either.
If you can't or won't do that then pretty much any beginners music book should be ok.
"Basic Music Theory: How to Read, Write, and Understand Written Music" is supposed to be good but it is pitched at a very basic level.
The problem is I don't know if this is where you are at with it and what book I should suggest.
'Music Theory of Dummies' is pretty good too.
Studio: https://www.voltperoctave.com
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When I started I didn't know about CAGED but have learned/applied it. I took lessons though, and the teacher has a large amount of prepared material with a bunch of stuff on. But, there's plenty of online resources around, of varying quality. One I've understood and stuck with for a little while, because its explained in a logical way, is:
http://www.justinguitar.com/en/SC-000-Scales.php
I've linked to the "Scales" lessons but you'll see on the left of the screen, links to all the stuff he's done. Its a good starting point. Also its a good tip he offerss - don't just learn scales for the sake of it, learn them in order to use them. Don't learn too many too quickly, etc.
At the time I didn't know they where called pentatonic scales and it was much later that I realised the CAGED system could be used as names for the 5 shapes I'd already worked out.
Then I started to fill in extra notes in the pentatonic scales to create the modes of the major scales. After that, I worked out how to modify the modes of the major scale to create other scales. For example, I view a harmonic minor scale as an Aeolian mode with a major 7th and a melodic minor scale as a Dorian mode with a major 7th.
It was ear driven in that I heard sounds I wanted to create, then worked out what groups of notes (i.e. scales) made that kind of sound.
I try to keep things as simple as possible and know what it's going to sound like if I deviate from, or add to, the basic pentatonic CAGED shapes which form the framework for my thinking. Also, I'm generally aware of the arpeggios of the chords as I play through a sequence, so I can bend the scales to fit the chords.
Although I often employ three notes per string, I've never learned three notes per string scales because I just see them as notes selected from adjacent CAGED shapes. Having said that I'll sometimes get lost, throw my fingers at the neck and wing it by ear to resolve things, which can give interesting results.
However, my playing is rooted in blues and rock, with a few jazzy notes. I'm out of my depth with full on bebop style jazz because my ear isn't connected with that and, although I appreciate it, it's not what I want to play. So there's a whole load of stuff I'm aware of but choose not to spend time on.
I started off with minor pentatonic, as so many of us do, and as a self-taught guy I didn't show any real interest in theory for the first 2-3 years at least. I didn't think of it as minor at that point, just the pentatonic scale.
The next step was realising that sometimes guys used a pentatonic scale that wasn't the one I expected, but was 3 semitones lower. I think Honky Tonk Women was the first song I really noticed that on. So on G major Keef or Mick would be using what I thought of as E pentatonic, and that gave a sound that was less bluesy, more country. I also realised you had to phrase things differently to make it sound good, like resolving to the G a lot more. I also realised that in some contexts in G one of the two pentatonics worked better, while in others you could use them interchangeably for different sounds. It was only much later I found out that the E pentotonic was also called the G major pentatonic.
Next step I got kind obsessed with Santana and I realised he was adding a couple of notes to the pentatonic scale. If you had a song in A minor (pentatonic ACDEG) he'd add a D; and in some contexts he'd add an F, in others an F sharp. I sort of noticed that the F was added when the IV chord was minor, F sharp when it as major or dominant, but I wasn't really thinking about these as different scales, or theoretically in relation to the chords, I just thought you took your basic pentatonic and you added two notes, one a tone above the root, and your ear would tell whether to add what I later found out to be the minor or major 6th of the root.
I also realised that the fretboard pattern formed by adding the F and the pattern added by adding the F sharp were actually the same, they just started at different points of the fretboard. So you didn't need to learn two patterns, just one, and start it on different points of the neck.
What I'd discovered, although I didn't know this at the time, was two of the modes of the major scale. And once I learned these patterns I realised there were a lot of places in music - including most rock music - where the pattern could be made to fit. Of course many people regard this pattern as 7 different scales, but I never really have - I think of it as one pattern, and rely on your ear to make it work in context, rather than consciously thinking "this is Aeolian" or "this is Dorian" or "this is Myxolydian".
Of course there was music where this didn't work. I realised if I stuck on a Frank Sinatra album and tried to busk along with my pattern I was completely lost. At some point I realised if I was going to progress to playing more complex music I'd need to study theory properly and get blues scales, melodic minor, harmonic minor and symmetrical scales under my fingers.
But it's amazing how much ground you can cover with a tiny amount of theory: pentatonic, pentatonic 3 frets down, and pentatonic with the two added notes gave me all I needed to know to solo on most rock/pop.
Yes, just learning what I've written could take 20 years.
It will at least take 2, I reckon
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1. I know major scales - in all 5 positions. But for now, let's stick with the basic position, which one might refer to as the "E" shape position; others might know it as the 2nd position; or the 1st pattern (there is no strong convention on its naming). Here's a picture, for clarity:
2. If I play notes 1 (ie above, the red blob on the low E string, NOT the note before), 3, 5 and 7 in a major scale, I've just played the arpeggio for the major 7th chord (R, M3, P5, M7)
3. If I play notes 4, 6, 8 (ie 1 an octave up) and 10 (ie 3 an octave up) I've also just played the major 7th arpeggio, albeit in a different way.
4. If I play the notes 5, 7, 9 (ie 2 an octave up) and 11 (ie 4 an octave up) I've just played the dominant 7th arpeggio (R, M3, P5, m7)
5. If I play notes 2, 4, 6, 8 (ie 1 an octave up) I've just played the arpeggio for the minor 7th chord (R, m3, P5, m7)
6. Similarly for notes 3, 5, 7, 9 and 6, 8, 10, 12 of the scale - minor 7th arpeggio
7. If I play notes 7, 9, 11, 13 I've just played the half-diminished 7th arpeggion (R, m3, d5, m7)
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
I learnt the minor pentatonics first then discovered that the major ones used the same shapes; you just move the shape down 3 frets. I learnt the major and relative minor scales after that. As I use the CAGED system knowing the pentatonics meant I had a great idea of how the relevant major/minor scales related to them.
I've yet to delve more into scales as most of the time I play bluesy, classic rock.
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Yes......the scales and pentatonics are easily relatable. BUT the arpeggios are only vaguely related to the underlying scale/arpeggio, in his diagrams and positions - there's a lot of times where the note is played on a different string etc. Whether this is for a reason, such as its easier to move around a few frets doing arpeggios, or its useful to reach those extra notes at the top/bottom, I don't know - I'd have thought it more logical, and easier to learn, just by staying in the position.
Using position 1 ( E shape ) as an example it's a couple of notes short of both the related pentatonic/minor scale.
You're right, position shifts exist, it's sometimes easier than a huge stretch but it drifts out of position which can be confusing.
@Paul_c2 if you show me an example of what you meant I might be able to help
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