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GMC Forum _ THEORY _ Some Questions About Scale Use

Posted by: brad9701 Jan 2 2008, 07:57 PM

Ive just started try to teach my self some theory and i think im confused on some of the basics.
help would be great. I know the five boxes of the pentatonic scale i just needed some clarification you CAN move them up and down the fret board and youir root note determines the scale? Do the boxes have to be in any order or can you mix them up? how do you know what note to go to from one box to another . And when you solo over a chord progression do you have to stay in that key Im just kinda confused about this stuff. Im completely new some these quiestions are probably stupid but any info would be great

Posted by: Andrew Cockburn Jan 2 2008, 08:25 PM

Hi Brad,

Yes, you certainly can move the boxes up and down, and just as you said, the root note gives you the name of the scale you will be playing in the new position.

The boxes we learn for each scale are in a specific order and cannot be changed or you will end up with a different and wrong scale, but having said that, as long as you always ensure the root note is correct, this will take care of itself. Of course you don;t need to play the boxes in any specific order, you can play any note from any box at any time and it will still be a part of the scale. Think of the boxes as a list of all possible notes that can be played in that scale on the guitar. There are no rules on how you move from one box to another - they are all valid notes and it depends on what you are trying to play. In practice, you can start off by moving between boxes adjacent to each other, and in Kris' lesson he suggests sliding up a string from one box to another so that you can change boxes but still keep a reference point.

In general, chord progressions and scales are very tightly intertwined. For a particular part of a song, you would choose a chord progression and scale and stick to them - you have to match them up you can;t choose them in isolation.

Hope this answers some of your questions

Posted by: brad9701 Jan 3 2008, 01:14 AM

Thank you so much you just cleared up alot of confusion.