Learn basic guitar scales. These scales will help you learn how chords are formed from the notes of a scale. After learning how to play scales you can begin creating melodies from the notes of the scales. Scales are also a good warm up exercise and help improve finger dexterity.

Jump ahead:

• Major Scale
• Minor Pentatonic Scale
• Major Pentatonic Scale

How to Read Guitar Scale Diagrams

The Image below is an example of a Guitar Scale Diagram. Scale diagrams show the pattern to play a scale and how the pattern would appear on the fretboard.

The rectangle in the diagram represents the fretboard of a guitar. Like reading guitar tabs, the bottom line represents the low E string. Follow the arrows to play the scale. The red and black dots show where to fret the string to play the scale, the red dot representing the root notes of the scale.

The C Major Scale has no sharp or flat notes in its scale. A scale contains all the notes needed to make chords for that key. The notes are numbered below. This will help you become familiar with how to find the third and fifth notes of scale build common chords from. The G Major Scale is shown also.

The Notes of the C Major Scale

C D E F G A B C
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

The Notes of the G Major Scale

G A B C D E F# G
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Major Scale

The Major Scale can easily be played on one string up or down the length of the guitar neck as well as other combinations of patterns using multiple strings. Below are diagrams for the Major Scale showing one (left) and two octave (right)scale patterns.

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Minor Pentatonic Scale

The Pentatonic Scale’s use is popular in rock soloing. The diagrams below are the 5 Minor Pentatonic patterns. Match the Root note (red notes in diagram) with the Key you want to play in.

This diagram shows the 5 Minor Pentatonic patterns spread over the length of the guitar neck. Notice how the patterns connect to eachother.

Major Pentatonic Scale

The Major Pentatonic Scale’s 5 patterns. The patterns of the Major Pentatonic Scale may look the same as the Minor Pentatonic patterns, but notice the roots are not the same for each. Remember to match the Root note (red notes in diagram) with the Key you want to play in.

This diagram shows the 5 Major Pentatonic patterns spread over the length of the guitar neck. Notice again how the patterns connect to eachother.

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Here you will find a reference to every note on the guitar’s fretboard in standard tuning up the the 12th fret. Use this to learn where each note is, and to aid in learning guitar scales and chords later on. The b/# (flat/sharp)between notes show the flat and sharp notes. Example: a b/# between a C and a D note is Cb / D#

Notice the octave patterns (where each note is repeated) in the diagram to help you remember where the notes are on each string.

Learn the basic chord shapes for guitar. These chords will help when you begin playing songs after a little practice. Learn power chords, barre chords and the basic open chord forms. Take what you learned from the guitar scales section and learn how to construct chords. Once you learn how chords are made, you can build chords anywhere on the neck of the guitar.

Jump ahead:

• How to Read Guitar Chord Diagrams
• Power Chords
• Barre Chords
• Open Chords

How Chords are Made

A chord is made up of at least 3 notes; the first or root note, the third and the fifth. Minor Chords are made by using the flat 3rd note of the scale.

Major C – C E G D – D F# A E – E G# B F – F A C G – G B D

A – A C# E

Minor C – C Eb G D – D F A E – E G B F – F Ab C G – G Bb D

A – A C E

Different chord voicings are created by adding other notes from the scale. For instance, a seventh chord is made by adding the seventh note of the scale to the first, third, and fifth.

How to Read Guitar Chord Diagrams

Guitar Chord Diagrams are a little different than tabs or scale diagrams. The thicker line at the top of the square represents the nut of the guitar. View guitar chord diagrams as if you were facing the fretboard with the guitars neck pointed straight up.

Power Chords

Power chords are made using the first, fifth and often the octave note of a scale. A power chord can be moved up and down the neck of the guitar. Power chords do not have the 3rd note of the scale within the chord, making it neither major nor minor. Power chords are frequently used in rock and heavier sounding genres that use more overdrive or distortion in their guitar tone. The diagrams below show power chord forms with the root note on the 6th, 5th, 4th, and 3rd strings.

Barre Chords

Barre chords (or bar chords) require one finger to fret a few or all the strings to form a chord. The index finger is used to do this and enables the chord to be moved up and down the neck. The diagrams below will show you how to play major and minor barre chords. The arch connecting two or more dots indicates the notes that are barred by one finger.

Major Barre Chord Forms on the 6th and 5th Strings

Minor Barre Chord Forms on the 6th and 5th Strings

Open Chords

Open chords contain at least one open string, meaning one string is played but not fretted. The chord diagrams below are basic major and minor chord forms.

Open major chords for guitar in standard tuning.

Open minor chords for guitar in standard tuning.

More Guitar Chords

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The anatomy of an electric guitar

More about Electric Guitars

The anatomy of an Acoustic Guitar

More about Acoustic Guitars

Guitar Anatomy Reference

tuning pegs – One for each string. This is where the end of the string is wrapped typically 2 to 3 times. You tune the guitar with these pegs by twisting these to adjust string tension.

headstock – this is the head of the guitar where the tuning pegs are installed. Each guitar’s headstock is differently shaped depending on its manufacturer. Some headstocks spread the tuning pegs out 3 to each side, while others have all 6 (or 7) on one side of the headstock as well as other combinations depending on manufacturer.

truss rod – this adjusts the bend in the neck of the guitar. The neck is usually bowwed slightly to keep strings from buzzing on frets and for the overall setup of the guitar. A single rod goes through the neck of the guitar and can be loosened or tightened to achieve this. Unless you know how to adjust this properly, it’s usually a good idea to leave this as a job for luthiers or guitar techs. Improperly adjusted truss rods could potentially damage the neck of the guitar or mess up the intonation.

nut – The nut holds the strings above the fretboard at the top of the neck. The nut is glued to the headstock and top of the fretboard. Each string is placed in a notch on the nut. Nuts are typically made from plastic, wood, bone, ivory or other material.

fretboard – the fretboard is the top side of the guitar neck containing the fret wires and usually inlays. The scale of fretboards vary on the types of guitars and their manufacturers. Fender style guitars and Gibson style guitars vary in size and typically in number of frets. Fretboards are made from a wide variety of woods including the more common maple, rosewood, or mahogany.

frets – frets are the metal strips or wires spaced out across the neck. Frets allow the string to resonate a note at the point where the string is pressed down on the fret. The number of frets on a guitar depends on its make and model.

strings – Made from steel, nylon, or other material such as copper, zinc and titanium. The the lower strings are wound around another reinforcement string in the middle. Classical style guitars are usually strung with nylon strings.

pickguard – the pickguard protects the body of the guitar and its finish from scratches from picks and fingernails. Fender Strat style guitars have pick guards that the pickups, volume and tone knobs and pickup switch are attached to. Pickguards are made out of plastic, vinyl as well as other materials. On acoustic guitars, pickguards are glued to the guitar’s body under the sound hole and usually around the rosette.

body – The body of the guitar is hollow for acoustic guitars, and semi-hollow or solid for electric guitars. Most guitars are made with wood such as maple, ash, alder, mahogany as well as other types for electric guitars, and spruce, red cedar, rosewood and other woods are used for acoustiic guitars. Some guitars are now made with acrylic material that allow you to see through the guitar’s body.

pickups – Electromagnetic, these turn the string vibrations to an electric signal sent through the instrument cable and into the amp. Pickups are made with a magnet such as AlNiCo that is coiled with very fine copper wiring. Single coil pickups often pick up 60 cycle hum, or mains hum. Humbuckers use two pickups wound together that cancel out 60 cycle hum.

pickup switch – This switches between the guitars pickups. On Gibson style guitars that use two humbucker pickups, when switched all the way down, the bridge pickup is used. When switched to the middle position, both the bridge and neck pickups are used. The neck pick up is used when the switch is all the way up. Fender Strat style guitars usually have three single-coil or a humbucker and two single-coil pickups and a 5 position switch to toggle the middle pickup as well as neck and bridge pickups.

volume knob – Adjusts the volume of the signal sent to the guitar amp. Slight adjustments with this knob can alter the overall tone of your guitar and amp.

tone knob – Adjusts the amount of bass or treble frequencies sent to the the amp from the guitar’s pickups. With this knob all the way up, you get a bright sound and a darker sound when all the way down. This also helps adjust your overall sound.

cable jack – This is where you plug in an instrument cable to run through guitar effects and/or to the amp.

tremolo or whammy bar – An arm or lever connected to the bridge. This allows the guitarist to alter the tension of the strings to create vibrato and pitch bending effects. Floyd Rose bridges lock the strings at the nut to help keep the strings in tune after the tension has been changed temporarily by the whammy bar.

bridge – The bridge holds the strings and or saddle to the body of the guitar. Sometimes has a whammy or tremolo bar attached to it.

saddle – Where the strings are held up above the neck from the bridge. On acoustic guitars, this is the thin strip of plastic or other hard material in the bridge. On electric guitars different variations of saddles are available. Some Telecaster style guitars use 3 saddles with two strings on each. Others use individual saddles for each string.

strap pegs – These hold the guitar strap to the guitar’s body at the bottom of the guitars body as well as somewhere near where the neck and body are connected depending on the model of guitar.

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Electric guitars are made with solid, semi-hollow, and hollow bodies. Using an instrument cable (or wireless system) the guitar is plugged into an amplifier. Without an amp, electric guitars make little musical sound. Most modern electric guitars have 6 or 7 strings though different variations can be seen on custom electric guitars.

A Brief History of the Electric Guitar

The electric guitar is the result of guitarists’ desire to play the guitar and hear it at a louder volume. This became more important during the big band era, as the hollow body acoustic guitars of that time struggled to be heard along with the other instruments.

Before the modern solid-body electric guitars, luthiers, or guitar makers, experimented with amplifying acoustic guitars by using microphones or tungsten pickups. Tungsten pickups were used to modify acoustic instruments to be amplified. These were usually placed in the sound hole below the strings. In 1950 Leo Fender introduced a solid body, prototype guitar called the Esquire. The Esquire had a single pickup and was reintroduced in 1951 with two pickups, and renamed to Broadcaster. The Broadcaster was again renamed to its present name, Telecaster. Though there were other electric guitar prototypes around this time, the Telecaster became the first mass produced solid-body, electric Spanish style guitars available on a commercial market. The Precision Bass was introduced by Fender within the same year. Since the Precision Bass had frets and could be played like a guitar, not to mention the ability to plug into an amp, bass players now had a revolutionary alternative to the acoustic bass. Fender produced the Stratocaster later on in 1954.

Electric guitars are now made with solid, semi-hollow, and hollow bodies. Using an instrument cable (or wireless system) the guitar is plugged into an amplifier. Without an amp, electric guitars make little musical sound. Most modern electric guitars have 6 or 7 strings though different variations can be seen on custom electric guitars.

Electric guitars have pickups which turn the string vibrations into an electric signal sent through the guitar cable and into an amplifier. There are usually 1 to 3 pickups on an electric guitar which can be switched and wired to different configurations to alter the sound. Single coil pickups are popular in Fender Stratocaster and Telecaster type guitars. Single coil pickups tend to produce 60 cycle hum. Humbuckers are about the width of about 2 single coil pickups side-by-side and produce a thicker sound and cancel out the 60 cycle hum of single coils. Humbucker pickups can be coil-tapped which allows the guitarist to switch from the normal humbucker sound to a single coil sound made possible by an additional switch on the guitar and alternate pickup wiring.

Electric guitars are famous for their sound to be altered by effects pedals, processors, rack units, etc. and of course, their amplified sound.

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The Circle of Fifths is a common music theory tool used to show the relationship of all the tones of the chromatic scale. The Circle of Fifths starts at the top with the Key of C. C is the natural scale meaning it has no sharp or flat notes in its scale. Moving clockwise the next Key is G which is the fifth of C (C D E F G). Each key after C adds a sharp as the Circle of Fifths continues. The key of G has one sharp note, the next fifth, D, has two sharp notes, and so on.

Reading the Circle of Fifths counterclockwise is for the keys that contain flat notes, the key of F having one flat note in its scale, Bb having two flat notes and so on.

Most acoustic guitars come in 6 string or 12 string variations, but there are others and many custom made guitars that include more or other features. Acoustic guitars are popular with blues, jazz, rock, folk and country styles, though it has a smaller volume compared to that of an electric guitar.

A Brief History of the Acoustic Guitar

Instruments similar to the acoustic guitar have been noted throughout history dating back to over 5000 years ago. These different instruments eventually lead to the evolution of the six string classical guitar which originated in Spain.

Acoustic guitars are made using different types and combinations of wood. There are several types of acoustic guitars including classical and flamenco guitars that are strung with nylon strings. Animal gut was used before nylon strings.

Before flamenco and classical guitars, Renaissance and Baroque guitars were used. These guitars were smaller in body size and sound compared to the flamenco and classical guitars that followed them and had 8 to 10 strings tuned similar to modern 12 string guitars. Early Romantic Guitar Information

Flamenco guitars are traditionally made using Spanish cypress for the back and sides, and spruce for the top of the guitar. Flamenco guitars use thinner wood for the top or soundboard, and are usually slightly smaller in size than a classical guitar. To protect the guitar’s surface from the rhythmic tapping of the fingers, a pickguard or, golpeador, is sometimes found at both sides of the sound hole. Wooden tuning pegs are traditionally used on flamenco guitars because they increase the attack of the strings. The strings are typically set lower to the fretboard compared to classical guitars.

Classical guitars are very similar in appearance to flamenco guitars, but are typically made with rosewood for the back and sides and a top made of cedar or spruce. The wood used for the top or soundboard is usually thicker than a flamenco guitar making its sound much different. Classical guitars typically have a rosette, but are usually seen without pickguards since the strings are usually played with the fingers rather than a pick.

Flat-top guitars usually refer to another type of acoustic guitar and perhaps one of the more common types. Flat-top acoustic guitars are similar to classical guitars, but differ in body structure and often size for reinforcement to the tension of the steel strings used instead of nylon like the classical guitar. With steel stings and more string tension its very common to use a pick to pluck the strings. A pickguard is found under the sound hole with the rosette. The bodies of flat top guitars are usually made wider and deeper, giving it different sound characteristics than a classical guitar.

Archtop guitars were invented by Gibson Guitars founder, Orville Gibson around the 1890’s. Inspired by the violins design, archtop guitars use flatwound, steel strings. Archtop guitar bodies are curved rather than flat and have f-holes like a violin. These guitars became very popular with country and jazz guitarists and are also common in swing and big band. Luthiers began making archtops with humbucker pickups, making the guitar electric as well as able to be played acoustically.

Resonator or Dobro guitars came about from attempts to make the acoustic guitar louder prior to electric guitars and amps. These guitars are similar to flat-top acoustic guitars in structure, but use a metal resonator mounted to the top of the guitar. These guitars are typically used in slide and blues and come in a couple different neck types. The square neck resonator guitar is played face up on the lap using a slide. Round neck resonator guitars can also be played this way, but are not limited to this position like the square neck resonator.

Twelve string guitars use another set of smaller guage strings to give the guitar an effect similar to a chorus ef ect. In standard tuning, the low E string up to the G string, the smaller guage strings are tuned an octave higher than the normal guaged strings. The B and high E strings tune in unison to make a pair of the same noted strings. Example: eE, aA, dD, gG, bb, ee

Acoustic guitars made today often come equipped with a piezoelectric pickup allowing it to be plugged into an amp or mixer. These pickups are often installed in the bridge under the saddle. Other acoustic pickups are placed in the sound hole under the strings. Before these types of pickups, the guitar was an instrument that did not produce as much volume as other instruments it was commonly accompanied with. As you will read in the Electric Guitar section of this site, during the big band and swing era, a shared effort began to amplify the the guitar.

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