Scales

HOW TO USE SCALE BUILDER

Using the select menus below, select either a major, natural minor, harmonic minor, melodic minor, blues, altered, diminished, octatonic (jazz diminished scale) or wholetone scale.

Use the "Low fret" and "High fret" menus to choose how much of the scale to display. To practice in a specific position choose a 4 or 5 fret area. As you play and visualize those notes you will burn that area of the fingerboard into your memory.

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Practice Audio

Click on a tab below (Major, Minor or Dominant7) to reveal practice tracks in each key. Experiment by finding repeating patterns in whatever scale you have pulled up in the scale practice tool above. Also, if you'd like to play along with various chord progressions in other styles, check out the chord progressions page.

Jazz 4/4 Swing Tempo 140

Pick a major scale above to play along. There are 3 major chords in every major key. They naturally occur one the 1st, 4th and 5th note of any major scale. For example, the C chord is built on the 1st note of the C major scale, the 4th note of the G major scale and the 5th note of the F major scale.

Try experimenting with playing the C major scale with the F major track. Also, for some wild sounds, try getting a little out of the box by playing the D major scale with the C major track.

Amaj7

A#maj7 or Bbmaj7

Bmaj7

Cmaj7

C#maj7 or Dbmaj7

Dmaj7

D#maj7 or Ebmaj7

Emaj7

Fmaj7

F#maj7 or Gbmaj7

Gmaj7

G#maj7 or Abmaj7

Jazz 4/4 Latin Tempo 140

Select a minor scale above. Every major key has 3 naturally occurring minor chords. The relative minor is built on the 6th note of the scale. The other 2 minor chords are built on the 2nd and 3rd notes of the scale. So, for example, in the key of C, the 3 minor chords are Dm, Em and Am.

Another way to think about this is to pick a minor track below and find the scales that might work for that chord. So, for example, Bm is the 2nd chord of the A major scale, the 3rd chord in the G major scale and the 6th chord in the C major scale. Each will give a little different flavor as you play along with the A minor track.

Have fun experimenting with different combinations.

Am7

A#m7 or Bbm7

Bm7

Cm7

C#m7 or Dbm7

Dm7

D#m7 or Ebm7

Em7

Fm7

F#m7 or Gbm7

Gm7

G#m7 or Abm7

Dominant 7th Jazz 4/4 Swing Tempo 140

The 2 chords used in each of the audio practice tracks are listed below each audio player. The first chord (the V7 chord) is built on the 5th note of a major scale. For example, G7 chord is the V7 chord in the key of C.

    A7alt to Dmaj7

    Bb7alt to Ebmaj7

    B7alt to Emaj7

    C7alt to Fmaj7

    Db7alt to Gbmaj7

    D7alt to Gmaj7

    Eb7alt to Abmaj7

    E7alt to Amaj7

    F7alt to Bbmaj7

    Gb7alt to Cbmaj7

    G7alt to Cmaj7

    Ab7alt to Dbmaj7

How to Roll Your Own Riffs

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