20 Scales In 1 Solo

I often hear from intermediate guitarists that they're having trouble expanding their licks beyond the standard Minor Pentatonic and Aeolian shapes, so I created this exercise as a crash course in some of the coolest/most popular scales and modes that guitarists use. Here's a brief overview of each one (in the order they appear in the exercise) and how to apply them...

Minor Pentatonic

Everyone knows this one - the go-to scale for all guitarists! It's a cut-down version of the Natural Minor scale, consisting of only the root, minor 3rd, 4th, 5th and 7th. The pentatonic scale is incredibly versatile and can be applied in nearly every context in Rock and Metal music.

Dorian

The Dorian mode is a slightly spiced-up version of the Natural Minor scale which features a sharpened 6th degree. If you don't wanna think too hard about things you can pretty much just use Dorian as a replacement for the minor pentatonic (just think of it as a regular pentatonic scale + the bonus #6 note). Or, if you wanna use Dorian "properly", then look out for minor chord progressions that feature a IV Major chord i.e. if you're in the key of E minor and you see an A Major chord. Dorian will sound super effective over that IV Major chord!

Blues

The Blues scale is simply a Minor pentatonic scale with an added b5 degree. This b5 note is the quintessential "Blue" note and is what gives the pentatonic that extra Blues flavor. One thing to note though - you should only ever use the b5 note as a passing tone, never linger on it! The note exists to create tension that needs to be resolved, so hanging on it too much sounds incredibly uncomfortable.

Harmonic Minor

The lynchpin of Classical music, the Harmonic Minor scale is a natural minor scale with a sharpened 7th degree (aka. Major 7th). The Harmonic Minor scale is very easy to apply and is nearly exclusively used to resolve from the Dominant V to a I in a Minor key. For example, if you're in the key of E minor and you see a B Major (or Dominant 7) chord then you know straight away that you can use E Harmonic Minor here.

Mixolydian

The Mixolydian mode is slightly tweaked version of the Major scale that features a flattened 7th degree (Minor 7th instead of a Major 7th). By far the most common usage of Mixolydian is to use it over the top of Dominant 7 chords (Major chords with a Minor 7th). So whenever you're faced with a rhythm/groove with a very strong Dominant 7 chord base then you can go ahead and use Mixolydian. In addition, if you're in a Major key and notice a VII Major chord (i.e. something like Sweet Child O' Mine that goes from D Major to C Major) then you can also use Mixolydian!

Aeolian

The Aeolian mode is just another name for the Natural Minor scale. You've no doubt use this scale all the time as it's by far the most widely used scale in Rock and Metal (along with its reduced sibling, the Minor Pentatonic). Whenever you're in a Minor key then you can be safe using Aeolian as a base.

Melodic Minor

The Melodic Minor scale is a bit of an enigma to most Rock and Metal guitarists as it's not really used at all in our style of music. There's 2 ways you can look at it: either as a Major scale with a flattened 3rd degree or as a Harmonic Minor scale with a sharpened 6th degree. I personally think of it as the latter as it serves a similar purpose to the Harmonic Minor scale. The 2 most common ways I use Melodic Minor is a) as a replacement for the Harmonic Minor scale (it sounds especially good if you resolve to a Major chord instead of the I Minor) or b) if I'm playing over the top of an altered chord (such as an Augmented chord). Don't worry so much about this one unless you're really trying to go hard into a Jazz or Classical sound!

Phrygian

The Phrygian mode is a Minor scale but with a flattened 2nd degree. Phrygian is an incredibly common mode in Metal due to the evil-sounding flattened 2nd (think the Symphony Of Destruction riff). Basically, whenever you're in a Minor key and playing over a riff or rhythm that uses this interval (i.e. moving between E-F power chords) then you're safe to use Phrygian. You can just treat it as a regular good ol' Minor scale but throw in that spicy flattened 2nd sometimes.

Hirajoshi

Made famous by Marty Friedman, the Hirajoshi (otherwise known as the Japanese Pentatonic) is, like the Minor Pentatonic, a cut down version of the Natural Minor scale. It uses the root, 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 6th. What's cool about it is that it doesn't have its own special rules and you can just use it as a straight-up replacement for the Minor Pentatonic or Natural Minor scales! It has its own definite flavor that you need to get a feeling for though (it sounds kinda Phrygian to me).

Diminished

The Diminished scale is a bit of a gimmicky one, but fun nonetheless when used in the right context. You build the scale by alternating Tone-Semitone-Tone-Semitone etc from your starting note. The classic ascending/descending Minor thirds Diminished licks are built from this scale. You obviously want to only play this one over a Diminished chord!

Ionian

The Ionian mode is just another name for the Major scale. Even though the Major scale isn't played too much in Rock and Metal, it's still very important to know and understand it as it'll make mastering its spicier variants (Lydian, Mixolydian etc) much easier. Whenever you're in a Major key then you can be safe using Ionian as a base.

Phrygian Dominant

The Phrygian Dominant scale is a slightly turbo-charged version of the Phrygian mode, with a sharpened 3rd degree (Major 3rd instead of a Minor 3rd). You'll notice that gives it a much more "exotic" flavor. The notes are actually exactly the same as the Harmonic Minor scale, you're just starting from a different approach (i.e. E Phrygian Dominant and A Harmonic Minor are the same). Chords-wise, you can use the same approach as you do for Phrygian, but you're looking for a Major base instead. For example, a Phrygian movement would be E Minor-F Major, but a Phrygian Dominant movement would be E Major-F Major (think the typical Flamenco-type chords).

Chromatic

The Chromatic "scale" isn't really a scale as such, more like...a series of notes that are available to you. A Chromatic scale refers to a series of sequential notes played in order i.e. C-C#-D-D#-E-F. The most common way I use Chromatics is to transition from 1 note to another distant note, just like how I do in this exercise at the relevant section.

Mixolydian b6

Just like the name suggests, Mixolydian b6 mode is simply a Mixolydian scale with a flattened 6th degree. On the surface this scale might seem a bit obscure but it has an incredibly signature sound that you've heard in many songs (think the main melody of "Wonderboy" by Tenacious D). You can use this scale whenever you're in a Major key and have a IV Minor chord i.e. A Major to D Minor. In this example you would stick to Ionian (or something similar) over the A Major and then switch to A Mixolydian b6 over the D Minor to really emphasize that IV Minor.

Lydian

Made famous by Joe Satriani, the Lydian mode is a a Major scale with a sharpened 4th degree. It has a very whimsical, almost magical kind of sound when used in the right context. You can use Lydian whenever you're in a Major key and have a II Major chord instead of a II Minor i.e. if you're in the key of C Major and have a D Major chord. Whenever you land on this II Major chord can switch to C Lydian.

Lydian Dominant

Now this is a wacky one! Lydian Dominant is a Lydian scale but with a flattened 7th degree. I associate the sound of Lydian Dominant with weird, outside sounds such as Prog Metal and cartoon music (it's the scale used in The Simpsons theme). You can technically play it over any variation of a Dominant 7 chord. It can sound super cool if you pull it off but be careful with this one!

Locrian

The infamous 7th mode of the Major scale, the Locrian is the most unstable of all the standard modes as its foundation is the unruly Diminished chord. I would lump this one in with the Diminished scale and Whole-Tone scale and only use them when you wanna play some weird, outside shit over Diminished chords!

Whole-Tone

Like the Diminished Scale, the Whole Tone scale is a bit of a gimmick and can only really be applied under very specific conditions. You build the scale by simply just stacking tones on top of/below each other from your starting note i.e. C-D-E-F#-G#-A#-C. Aside from using it as a flavor to stylize some of your licks, it actually works surprisingly well over Augmented chords.

Altered

The go-to scale for when you want to sound 1000% more Jazz, the Altered scale is a mode of the Melodic Minor scale that you can use to get a really sick outside sound. An easy way to find the Altered scale is to take the Melodic Minor scale 1 semitone up from your desired key and simply start 1 semitone down from its root note i.e. if you wanna find E Altered then you take the F Melodic Minor scale but start it from E instead of F. You can use the Altered scale in a similar way to how you use Melodic minor, such as over V chords or over altered chords such as Augmented.

Good luck and don't forget to share your progress with everyone in the Discord server!