What About Other Scales and Music Genres?

Posted on 06-01-2012 | By: Desi Serna |

Category : Video

Pentatonic and major scale patterns are used most of the time in popular music. The next scale that is likely to come up is the harmonic minor scale. Even though it comes up less often and only in small parts, the harmonic minor is actually very important and I plan to teach it in the upcoming Fretboard Theory Volume 2. But believe it or not, all other scales are rarely, if ever, used in the music that most people listen to (oldies, classic rock, rock, pop, country, folk, etc.). When I search the Internet for the top 100 guitar tabs, I see artists such as Guns N’ Roses, Metallica, The Eagles, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Pink Floyd and songs that are primarily based on pentatonic and major scale patterns (with some occasional harmonic minor scale). You won’t really come across other scales unless you venture into unusual styles such as jazz and some other forms of instrumental music (like instrumental rock from Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, John Petrucci, etc.). And if you want to venture into exotic scales and styles (which I hope you have the opportunity to do someday), then you better make sure that you’ve mastered all the guitar theory behind pentatonic and major scales because more complicated concepts stem directly from these rudimentary music principals. In other words, it’s not an either or thing. You’ve got to lay a proper foundation before you can successfully build upward.