Lets face it, there seems to be so many guitar minor scales around to choose from, how do you know which scale is which and more importantly, which minor scale do you use to get the right sound?

Sadly, because of the seemingly steep learning curve, a musical journey into the world of theory can cause some beginner guitar players to experience frustration and doubt or get a

little anxious because they are not really sure what they are meant to be playing. Some guitarists totally ‘freeze up’ from not knowing how all the guitar minor scales fit together or how they relate to each other on the fret board, this can also leave you feeling down and disheartened because your not at ease with the one thing you want and love to do.

Lets clear up the confusion surrounding minor scales and deal with the five most common guitar minor scales and shapes available to us, so you can just get on with the matter at hand – playing the guitar.

Learning the five fingering patterns below to these widely used guitar minor scales will clear up any confusion you may have and give you more than a lifetimes worth of creativity to mess around with.

The Minor Pentatonic Scale

The minor pentatonic scale is a five note scale that can be identified by its minor third interval from the first note of the scale to the second note of the scale. If you ever get stuck for a minor scale to play over a minor chord, this is your safest option, it will work perfectly every time. Everyone uses this scale, now its your turn.

G Minor Pentatonic Scale
E———————————–|——————————–|
B———————————–|——————————–|
G———————————–|——————————–|
D————————–3—-5–|——————————–|
A—————–3—-5———–|——————————–|
E——-3—–6——————–|——————————–|

Pentatonic scales are more widely used than any other scale as they can be used in nearly all forms of western music. Memorize the pattern or fingering on the low E string, whatever position you start from on the fret board, it is the same for any key that you work in.

The Minor Blues Scale

Once you have the minor pentatonic scale under your fingers you might want to start to play with a more bluesy feel to your music, if so, just insert the ‘blue note’, as it is called into your mix by putting the fourth note between the minor 3rd and 5th of the pentatonic scale:

G Minor Blues Scale

E———————————–|——————————–|
B———————————–|——————————–|
G———————————–|——————————–|
D————————–3—-5–|——————————–|
A—————–3–4–5———-|——————————–|
E——-3—–6———————|——————————–|

The Dorian Minor Scale

If you want your song to have a bit more of a funky flavour, try the Dorian minor scale. Convert the pentatonic scale into a Dorian minor scale by adding in the 2nd note and the 6th note onto the original five notes. If you have ever heard the term Dorian Funk, it is because the licks or riffs you heard were built from the Dorian scale, the second mode of the major scale. At this point, don’t worry about what all that jargon is I just said, just learn the pattern or fingering and when you have your chance to play over a minor chord, play this shape to get a Dorian sound. Think of it as a pentatonic scale with a couple of other notes.

G Minor Dorian Scale

E—————————————|——————————–|
B—————————————|——————————–|
G—————————————|——————————–|
D—————————2-3—-5—|——————————–|
A——————3—-5—————|——————————–|
E——-3—-5–6———————–|——————————–|

The Aeolian Minor Scale

The Aeolian minor scale is the sixth of the seven modes from the major scale and starts from the 6th degree of any major scale. You will find it is used extensively in rock and heavy metal settings. Compare the Dorian and Aeolian patterns and you will see that they are practically identical. They differ from each other by just one note, the Aeolian has a flattened 6th note, whereas the Dorian scale has a natural 6.

G Minor Aeolian Scale

E—————————————|——————————–|
B—————————————|——————————–|
G—————————————|——————————–|
D——————————3—-5–|——————————–|
A——————3—-5–6———–|——————————–|
E——-3—-5–6———————-|——————————–|

When called to play over a minor chord, the pentatonic scale will fit over all guitar minor chords. When the time comes that you feel confident enough to start to experiment, try the Dorian mode and Aeolian mode and see which one you like, just experiment and follow your ears. If you start to feel adventurous you can start to ‘fuse’ different patterns together, hence ‘fusion’ music, don’t be afraid to experiment. Now go and learn the above guitar minor scales.

At some point, all guitarists need to learn how to change the strings on their guitar. Sometimes you’ll be forced to change one when a string snaps. But usually, you’ll simply want to change them, as strings lose their brightness and wear out.

The amount of time you leave between change strings varies depending on several factors. If you play your guitar regularly, then you might like to change your strings once a week or once a month.

Most Professional guitarists tend to change their strings before each gig. But in the end, it all comes down to a matter of personal preference. Something to bear in mind if you’re using your guitar for a gig, is that your strings need a few hours of play to break in properly. During this time, your strings will go out of tune as they stretch so you’ll have to retune.

Anyway, here’s what you do:
Remove the old strings by detuning the machine heads until the tension becomes loose enough to allow you to pull each string away from the headstock.

Another quick way to remove the old strings is to snip them using a pair of wire cutters. Be very careful if you do it this way, and make sure they are loose, since the bare ends of the strings can be sharp and easily flap around. Bare guitar strings are amongst the many things you DO NOT want to catch in your eye.

How you go about installing your new strings will usually depend on the type of guitar you have, as many guitars have slightly different methods. However, the strings are usually held in place at one end by fixtures behind or on the bridge, and at the other by turning the machine head on the headstock.

Here’s a small insider tip guitarists have been using for years to get more life from your steel strings once you’ve removed them: Boil them.

Dropping a set of strings into a pan of boiling water for 10 to 15 minutes will remove a lot of the grimy build up and bring a new life back to what would otherwise be lifeless strings.

It won’t last for very long, and you can’t get away with doing it too many times, but it can be an effective temporary measure.

I wouldn’t suggest you rely on this technique too much, strings aren’t too expensive – and using new strings saves you a lot of hassle.

Regardless of what kind of guitar you have, your strings need to be stretched after you’ve put them on. When you first tune your guitar, put your hand under each string around the pickup area, pull the string a few centimeters away from the fretboard, then release it. If the pitch has dropped, retune and repeat the process. Keep doing this until all the strings stay in tune.

On most electric guitars the strings are either secured at the bridge end by an independent tailpiece (like most Gibson guitars), or passed through the body of the instrument from the back into an all-in-one bridge unit (like most fender style guitars).

At one end of every steel string, you will find a tiny disc of metal around which one end of the string is wrapped. This is called the ball end.

Take the opposite end of the string and thread it through the fixture at the bridge.

Pull the string through until the ball end stops you from pulling the string any further.

Most electric and steel-string guitars use a similar system for securing strings at the machine head. The capstan to which the string is attached stands out vertically from the headstock. Strings can be passed through a hole in the side of the capstan.

The end is then passed around and under, trapping it in place when the machine head is tightened. Some capstans have vertical slots instead of holes. To use these, cut the string to length, and insert into the tip of the capstan. Then bend the string to one side and wind it around.

This leaves the string endings neat and tidy.
Here’s what you do next: Slowly turn the machine head for each string, increasing the tension until the string becomes suitably tight.

To save yourself time and energy, you can use a cheap plastic string winder, which simply fits over the machine head allowing you to crank it along more quickly.