Basic Guitar Scales - Top 4 Scales Every Player Should Know

If you are interested in learning how to play lead guitar your first step should be to learn some basic guitar scales. Scales are the building blocks for lead guitar playing and once you master the basic guitar scales mentioned below you will be ready to jam some killer licks over your favorite tunes or perhaps your own chord arrangements.

Basic Guitar Scale #1

The minor pentatonic scale is the easiest and most common scale used in rock and blues styles. Here is the pattern. You can play it starting on any part of the neck.

l--X---l------l-------l--X---l
l--X---l------l-------l--X---l
l--X---l------l--X---l-------l
l--X---l------l--X---l-------l
l--X---l------l--X---l-------l
l--X---l------l-------l--X---l

Basic Guitar Scale #2

The major scale is the most popular in western forms of music and is the starting point for all music and guitar theory. It is the do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do scale we all learn in grade school music classes. Here is the pattern.

l--X--l--X--l------l------l
l------l--X--l------l--X--l
l--X--l------l--X--l--X--l
l--X--l------l--X--l--X--l
l--X--l--X--l------l--X--l
l------l--X--l------l--X--l

Basic Guitar Scale #3

The minor scale is another popular one is western music. It is the sixth mode of the major scale which means if you played the major scale starting on the sixth note in the scale and continued up an octave you would essentially be playing a minor scale. Here is the minor scale pattern.

l--X---l-------l--X---l--X---l-------l
l--X---l--X---l-------l--X---l-------l
l--X---l-------l--X---l-------l-------l
l--X---l-------l--X---l-------l--X---l
l--X---l-------l--X---l--X---l-------l
l--X---l-------l--X---l--X---l-------l

Basic Guitar Scale #4

The blues scale is an easy one to learn once you know the minor pentatonic because it is basically the same scale with an added note. This added note called the "blue" note gives the scale its unusual sad quality. You can use the blues scale in rock and blues styles and it will sound great. Here is the pattern.

l--X--l------l------l--X--l
l--X--l------l--X--l--X--l
l--X--l------l--X--l------l
l--X--l------l--X--l------l
l--X--l--X--l--X--l------l
l--X--l------l------l--X--l

I hope you will enjoy playing the basic guitar scales above and learn to incorporate them into your lead guitar playing. These are the most basic scales and for some people it's all they ever need. You would do well to master them inside and out. Visit my blog for tips on mastering guitar scales in record time.

John Hughes has been playing guitar for longer than he can remember. Aside from teaching guitar for the last three years he enjoys writing articles about playing guitar and other guitar related topics. If you are serious about mastering basic guitar scales you owe it to yourself to check out Guitar-Scale-Mastery.info