seeing the chords on top of scale patterns

The image below is showing the major scale pattern in the key of G.
If you want to try to play the 7 possible triads within G major, this chart makes it easy to see which chords fit in where!


The I, IV, and V chords are all major, and the II, III, and VI chords are minor.  The VII chord is a minor, but with a flatted fifth - since F# minor would have a C# in it.  G major doesn't have C# at all, so the chord gets a diminished kind of sound.

So far, looking at the chords this way on top of the major scale has really helped to pick out the arpeggios when I'm in a scale.  The chart helps to see where to aim in the scale when you're in a major key that matches a chord progression (for example, if the song has a part with the chord pattern: G D Am C, you could focus your lead guitar's soloing to the I, V, II, and IV notes shown in the image above).

These patterns aren't just restricted to the key of G - you can slide this left or right by any amount of frets, and the patterns remain the same - it is just the key of the major scale that changes. 

Many songs don't stay in the same key signature for long, but knowing where to play when the key signature is well-defined is critical if you want to clean up your soloing and improvisation while jamming.

Enjoy!

TIPS: 

- Try to fill in the names of the notes on the above image - each chord is only 3 notes, repeated over and over again in the patterns.  By doing this, you'll be learning the next level of detail (which note is which, and where octaves of each note can be found) - and once you are comfortable with that, playing scales along with any chord progression can be mastered!

- Practice these same patterns in key signatures other than G major.  Just slide the whole major scale pattern to match the fret you wish to be your root note - everything else stays the same!

My Recording/Jamming Setup

Here's a quick post to show off my "studio".

The picture is a little rough, but shows the basic idea.

So each of my 4 tracks (piano/synth, guitar, bass, and vocals) all go directly to the mixer.
From there I can adjust their "send" levels for how much of each track's sound is to be processed with effects.
I can also adjust the main levels for each track from the mixer too.
Then from the mixer, all tracks are sent to the amplifier depending on their FX Send Level.
The amplifier lets me add reverb, chorus, or overdrive/distortion at the press of a built-in foot pedal.
With these effects applied, I can then sample any of my four tracks either at the same time or independently, and have the effects included on the loop!

Finally, the loop pedal returns the FX mix signal back to the mixer for final levels, and from there it can be sent out to a recording device, or to a PA if not recording.

The only problem I've run into with this setup is if I want to record and listen at the same time.  There is a slight delay (just a millisecond), but it adds up when trying to sample multiple tracks.

If I choose not to record, and just loop directly to speakers, this results in no delay between live and loop.

So I still need to find a way to listen to what I'm playing/sampling/looping while I'm recording that avoids this annoying millisecond delay.  Until then, it's a great setup for practice, but still not quite ready to deploy on-stage... working on it...  :)

Easy Octaves on Guitar

In standard tuning, there are easy locations to jump up an octave for whatever you wish to play.

This picture shows where notes can jump up an octave:

The red/blue dots represent octaves of each other as you move left to right going up in pitch.  So for example, 2nd fret on low E string is an octave below 4th fret on D string, which is an octave below 7th fret on B string...

The significance of this layout is that any pattern you wish to play on two strings that are next to each other (string pairs low E & A, D & G, then B and high E), can also be played one or two octaves higher using the exact same pattern, but just by shifting over a few frets and down 2 strings.  I've tried to show this in the following picture:

So the green box is around each of these 2-string pairs, and the pattern repeats at each level. 

Try it out!  Doesn't matter which fret you start on so long as the spacing is the same as shown on the chart.

I've been playing around with different patterns and switching from octave to octave rapidly, makes for some good effects/sounds.

Have fun!

Scales on Complete Fretboard

Here is a work in progress.  I am trying to find a comprehensive way to map out scales for the entire fretboard. 



fretboard scale diagrams

 
I created this by smushing all of the individual patterns for each scale onto one fretboard layout.  The root notes are marked by boxes around the dots.  Some of the notes for Harmonic and Melodic minor actually get used by two patterns, so these are marked as unfilled dots. 

So then for whatever key you want to play a scale in, just line up the frets on the guitar to the boxes and dots on the diagrams.  If you run out of room, no need to worry, the patterns for these scales repeat every 12 frets, so just pick up back at the beginning when you can't go any further on the fretboard.

This is a great tool for jamming and practicing.  Just pick a key, pick a scale, and go nuts!