Tag: learn to play guitar

electric guitar G

What Makes a Mode

What make the modes is where the music resolves… comes to rest… feels at home.

If you take a pool of notes – C D E F G A B – and make the C sound like home, you get the major scale or C Ionian mode (at this point think of mode as meaning way…



About Pentatonic Scales

There are five interlocking patterns that are usually taught for the pentatonic scale. Each of those 5 patterns line up along side each other to cover the entire fingerboard with one scale.

A minor pentatonic = A C D E G

Anywhere you find those notes on the fingerboard, it’s the A minor pentatonic scale. If…



How to Practice Modes

There are many good ways to practice modes.

Start in a major scale position and alter the notes in that position to get the modes:

Lydian – raise the 4th

Ionian – return the 4th to natural

Mixolydian – lower the 7th

Dorian – lower the 3rd and 7th

Aeolian – lower the 3rd, 6th and 7th

Phrygian – loser the…



electric guitar D

Learning to Solo on Guitar

Start forcing yourself to play notes out of step-wise sequence.

One way to do that is learn melodic patterns. Go through your scales and play 1 3 – 2 4 – 3 5 – 4 6 – 5 7 – 6 8 – 7 9 (thirds) or 1 4 – 2 5…