I want to share a method that I used to memorize the major scale (or any of its modes) and that I’m also applying to learn the harmonic minor scale. In principle this method should work for any heptatonic scale (scales that contain 7 notes per octave) and can be “modified” for any pentatonic scale (scales containing 5 notes per octave). It’s method that I thought of myself, although I highly doubt I’m the only one who thought of it.
In my mind it all makes perfect sense, I hope I can explain well enough for you to understand as well.
To explain this method I will, rather arbitrarily choose the G major scale, shown below on a random guitar string, at this point it doesn’t matter which string it is, also you don’t really need to worry about the exact notes, just pay attention to the relative distance between each note.
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For my method, we will divide the scale into 3 notes per string, so let’s do that:
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As you can see, the scale gets divided into 7 different note patterns, which is logical since the scale contains 7 different notes. The 8th pattern would just repeat the first pattern again. And that’s the basis of my method, if you use a 3 note per string pattern for every position of the major scale, all of the positions will just be a repetition of these seven 3-note patterns and they’re always in the same order.
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Here you can see the AABBCC pattern. If this guitar would have 7 strings, either below the high E or above the low E, the next (or previous) 3-note pattern would be pattern A, to complete the AABBCCA order. Note that when going from the G to the B string the patterns shift 1 fret to the right because of how the guitar is tuned.
Let’s take a look at some other positions.
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Here you can see that all of these positions follow this AABBCCA pattern and it always repeats itself. The difference between the positions is just that they all start at a different point. Notice again that the patterns shift 1 fret to the right when going from the B to the high E string.
So, what does this mean? It means that instead of needing to memorize all positions you can simply remember these 7 little 3-note patterns and what order they are in. This then means that if, for example, you want to play the major scale in a random key on a random location on the fretboard, you just need know 2 consecutive 3-note patterns from which you can then deduce all the other patterns, since the order never changes. For example, if you figure out that a certain scale on has pattern A and then pattern B on a certain position (you figured this out for example by ear or by locating the specific notes on the fretboard), you automatically know that the next pattern is B, then C, then another C and so on. The only exception being when you get two consecutive A patterns, then you will need to figure out a third pattern.
You could also apply this to other heptatonic scales, for example to the harmonic minor scale. Of course, this will be slightly harder because the harmonic minor scale will have more than 3 different 3-note patterns.
To do this for a pentatonic scale, you can do exactly the same, but instead of 3-note patterns you use 2-note patterns. You will then logically obtain a sequence of five 2-note patterns, since a pentatonic scale contains 5 notes.
This was my attempt to explain this method, I hope it makes sense and I hope it will help some you in some way.
In my mind it all makes perfect sense, I hope I can explain well enough for you to understand as well.
To explain this method I will, rather arbitrarily choose the G major scale, shown below on a random guitar string, at this point it doesn’t matter which string it is, also you don’t really need to worry about the exact notes, just pay attention to the relative distance between each note.
View post on imgur.com
For my method, we will divide the scale into 3 notes per string, so let’s do that:
View post on imgur.com
As you can see, the scale gets divided into 7 different note patterns, which is logical since the scale contains 7 different notes. The 8th pattern would just repeat the first pattern again. And that’s the basis of my method, if you use a 3 note per string pattern for every position of the major scale, all of the positions will just be a repetition of these seven 3-note patterns and they’re always in the same order.
View post on imgur.com
Here you can see the AABBCC pattern. If this guitar would have 7 strings, either below the high E or above the low E, the next (or previous) 3-note pattern would be pattern A, to complete the AABBCCA order. Note that when going from the G to the B string the patterns shift 1 fret to the right because of how the guitar is tuned.
Let’s take a look at some other positions.
View post on imgur.com
Here you can see that all of these positions follow this AABBCCA pattern and it always repeats itself. The difference between the positions is just that they all start at a different point. Notice again that the patterns shift 1 fret to the right when going from the B to the high E string.
So, what does this mean? It means that instead of needing to memorize all positions you can simply remember these 7 little 3-note patterns and what order they are in. This then means that if, for example, you want to play the major scale in a random key on a random location on the fretboard, you just need know 2 consecutive 3-note patterns from which you can then deduce all the other patterns, since the order never changes. For example, if you figure out that a certain scale on has pattern A and then pattern B on a certain position (you figured this out for example by ear or by locating the specific notes on the fretboard), you automatically know that the next pattern is B, then C, then another C and so on. The only exception being when you get two consecutive A patterns, then you will need to figure out a third pattern.
You could also apply this to other heptatonic scales, for example to the harmonic minor scale. Of course, this will be slightly harder because the harmonic minor scale will have more than 3 different 3-note patterns.
To do this for a pentatonic scale, you can do exactly the same, but instead of 3-note patterns you use 2-note patterns. You will then logically obtain a sequence of five 2-note patterns, since a pentatonic scale contains 5 notes.
This was my attempt to explain this method, I hope it makes sense and I hope it will help some you in some way.
