Hi everybody! One of the major advances I took in my playing was when I studied, practiced, and put into practice, all of the modal scale patterns that covered the entire neck of the guitar.

The ultimate goal was to NEVER be in the dark about what notes to hit while playing in a particular key.

I also discovered something very important as I was learning and playing these scale patterns. I learned that when you practice and play the correct notes over and over and over again...you will naturally play the correct notes instead of "klunkers" because you have trained your mind and fingers to do the right things instead of the wrong things.

Until you repeatedly work over the same correct note sequences, you'll remain in a state of uncertainty about where you are going on the neck and that uncertainty will result in wrong notes being played because you'll be guessing instead of knowing.

Now this isn't something that you learn overnight or even in a week. Sure, you can learn all the patterns in a week if you want to but it takes time to become comfortable with this new found knowledge as well as using it to your advantage when playing lead guitar.

I've memorized fourteen different scale patterns in the key of G that cover the entire neck of the guitar that I'd like to burn into your brains too. I'm going to give them to you over the course of a few weeks so you have time to study and really get involved with this.

As you know with guitar, scale patterns and chord shapes can be shifted up and down the neck using the same fingering yet producing different scales and chords.

There's no difference here.

Once you learn all of these mode patterns, you'll be able to play lead in any key that you need.

I've always been an advocate of knowing what notes are at what fret. Therefore I've included them in these diagrams as well as the suggested fingering.

For example, G-2 means that you're playing the note "G" using your second finger.

Your mission is to not only memorize these patterns, but play them over and over and over to "brainwash" your mind and fingers into playing the right patterns without thinking about it.

Trust me. There IS a state that exists where you can play these notes correctly all the time; you just have to have patience and dedication.

Also play these chords along with the scale patterns for more involvement. You may start hearing your music in a different way as I did and songwriting becomes less frustrating and more fun!

G Major
A minor
B minor
C Major
D Major
E minor
F#dim

Single Position

G Ionian (Regular Major)

Fret 1| 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |10 |11 |12 |13 |14 |15 |16 |17 |18

1E|---|F#1|G-2|---|A-4|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|F#1|G-2|---|A-4|--
2B|---|---|D-2|---|E-4|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|D-2|---|E-4|--
3G|---|A-1|---|B-3|C-4|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|A-1|---|B-3|C-4|--
4D|---|E-1|---|F#3|G-4|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|E-1|---|F#3|G-4|--
5A|---|B-1|C-2|---|D-4|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|B-1|C-2|---|D-4|--
6E|---|---|G-2|---|A-4|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|G-2|---|A-4|-- 

MultiPosition

G Ionian (Regular Major)

Fret 1| 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |10 |11 |12 |13 |14 |15 |16 |17 |18

1E|---|---|---|---|A-1|---|B-3|C-4|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|--
2B|---|---|---|---|E-1|---|F#3|G-4|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|--
3G|---|---|---|B-1|C-2|---|D-4|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|--
4D|---|---|---|F#1|G-2|---|A-4|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|--
5A|---|---|C-1|---|D-2|---|E-4|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|--
6E|---|---|G-1|---|A-2|---|B-4|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|--

Single Position

A Dorian minor 

Fret 1| 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |10 |11 |12 |13 |14 |15 |16 |17 |18

1E|---|---|---|---|A-1|---|B-3|C-4|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|--
2B|---|---|---|---|E-1|---|F#3|G-4|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|--
3G|---|---|---|---|C-1|---|D-3|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|--
4D|---|---|---|---|G-1|---|A-3|---|B-4|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|--
5A|---|---|---|---|D-1|---|E-3|---|F#4|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|--
6E|---|---|---|---|A-1|---|B-3|C-4|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|--

I'll give you three more patterns next time along with some more insight on how this will take your playing and knowledge to a new level.

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Copyright (C)(P) 2001 Will Landrum and InterFocus Music Article by Will Landrum of http://www.willlandrum.com

List of other articles by Will Landrum @ GuitarSite.com:
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