A Lead Guitar Lesson For How To Quickly Change Between The Major And Blues Scales
One nice trick during lead guitar parts is to switch between a major and a blues scale. The major scale parts are sweetly melodic in contrast to blues scale parts. Switching between these scales in a performance changes the mood seamlessly. This lead guitar lesson explains how to do this.
We will start with A major to show a useful fingering pattern for playing the major scale. The first note is A. It should be played with the forefinger, finger 1, on the fifth fret, on the largest string. This can be notated as 151. Using this notation, the entire scale appears as: 151-171-191-2101-4121-192-3112-4122. There are easier ways to play the major scale. This is just one way that provides flexibility during improvisation.
One can continue up the scale into the next octave at the same hand position, by playing: 193-3113-4123-194-3114-195-2105. Continuing into the third octave from the same position is done as: 4125-196-2106-4126. However, if one wants to complete the third octave, it would be better to instead play at another position, as: 1125-3145-4155-1126-3146-4166-4176.
The flexibility of this fingering pattern comes from the fact that most notes of three octaves of the major scale can be reached from one hand position. Improvising at this position is also, as it turns out, in the Phrygian mode.
One should learn to play the major scale this way, up and down, through one, two, and then three octaves. If using a flat-picking style, alternate picking up and down each note. One should practice slowly at slower speeds until able to play without making a mistake. Only then should trying faster tempos be done. Once this is achieved, it is easy to transpose the major scale to another key. Playing G major can be done by using the same fingering pattern two frets below, starting with G at 131. Transposing to E major is a little different in that many notes will be played as open. One can get used to this by pretending to play those notes on the nut.
Changing to the blues scale from A major is a matter of getting in position to play in the key of the relative minor, F# minor. Getting to this position quickly is just a matter of moving down the neck to place the fourth finger on the first note of A major, or 451. Now the forefinger is at F#. The blues scale is played: 121-541-122-342-123-343-124-344-125-355-126-356.
The third finger is stretched out to reach the higher notes on the fifth and sixth strings in the blues scale. This is done so that this stronger finger can be used to bend notes. When the first and third fingers primarily play the blues scale, this is called two finger blues.
One you have mastered switching between these scales for any key, you have a tool to use during improvisation. Once you figure out what key a song is in, you can decide to use melodic phrases on the major scale, or go for an edgier sound by using the blues scale. You can also switch between these scales for different moods in different parts of the song.
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