This is going to be a theory related article where we will learn about the most common country guitar scales.
Learning guitar theory is an important part of guitar playing. While many guitar greats have gone on to stardom without knowing theory, it still is a very useful skill to understand.
While there are many different guitar styles to play, most still use the same basic scales for 90% of the songs out there.
Let’s talk about the most widely used scale in all of music today…
They are the Major Pentatonic scales.
The most common pattern begins by pressing on the 5th fret on the fattest string (e string) with your pinky/fourth finger.
Take a look at the picture to the right. The “5″ represents the 5th fret where you start with your 4th finger.
The black dot to the left of is on the 2nd fret and you play this note next.
This is the most common pattern for playing country guitar scales. Each horizontal line represents a guitar string.
The bottom line is the low E string. The highest line is the high E string.
Work your way up the pattern by starting at the bottom 5 all the way up the scale. Each dot represents the fret and string that needs to be played.
There are a total of 12 dots which means that you should be playing 12 notes to the top and 12 notes back down again.
With a little practice you will memorize this scale. For further advanced practice, you can move the pattern up and down the neck of your guitar.
There are multiple patterns for playing this scale. The guitar makes it possible for multiple patterns. Some patterns are easier to play in certain areas of the guitar than others.
By studying this scale and the multiple patterns you will be able to play along with certain chord progressions.
Country guitar greats like Chet Atkins play most of their music in the major pentatonic. Take a listen to their songs and you will notice these patterns being played in the form of licks and lead guitar parts.
For more practice, grab your guitar and play notes in this pattern while listening to country songs. You’ll notice that this pattern works well with most country songs.
If it doesn’t sound like it’s work at all, then your song is in a different key (most likely a minor).
This is just a basic introduction to scales with only the most popular pattern being discussed.
Guitar theory and scales are such a large topic that you could fill an entire blog up with just theory related information. In fact, there are several sites that are all about theory. You can find them on google.
Got further questions? Any additional information about country guitar scales? Please comment below and help me make this page better.
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
This was a lot of fun. Even as a rock player, I studied a lot of Chet Atkins and it did wonders for my playing. I’ll tell ya, you can think that you can play really well, but until you’ve picked up some chicken pickin’ licks – oh man does it put you in its place! I thought I was pretty good already, and then I had this bluegrass teacher show me some fast country instrumentals and it put me in my place! haha!!
The Internet has made a lot of changes in our lives. Before the internet, we were forced to visit our music teachers to learn the guitar, now there are programs that help us learn quickly and effectivley. It is no longer a hassle trying to get to your music lessons.
And that’s what makes the internet great. Just think – instead of hiring a guitar teacher for 50 bucks an hour, you can join guitar teaching websites for 10-20 bucks a month now… anyone that has internet can learn guitar. There really is no excuse…
Hey this was actually some pretty useful information. It’s hard to explain guitar scales and theory but I think you did a good job. I’ve been trying to get my grasp on it for awhile but it is just difficult to understand. I have the basics down but I really feel that my time is spent learning other stuff on the guitar.
Any who, keep up the good work. This site keeps getting better and better. I’m glad to see you putting hard work back into it.
Joe
Totally man, guitar theory is tough to teach. I find that people either get it right away or don’t. It’s it’s own language. To this day, I don’t know much about it. I know some things, but I couldn’t sit down and teach someone right off the top of my head. I’d have to get out a book on music theory to refresh my memory. It’s truly the ‘science’ behind music instead of the actual experiment. In other words, it’s great to jump in and start playing and leave out all the ‘science’. But if you want to know how and WHY the ‘experiment’ works the way it does, you need to know the science.
Well id say your entirely right but not on everything you pointed out about guitar warm-up!
To each his own. I believe warming up is extremely important even if it’s for 5 minutes. Your fingers and hands and arms have muscles and just like other muscles in your body, it’s great to warm them up before giving them a workout. Try playing the guitar for an hour with and without a warm up. I guarantee you’ll notice a difference.
Excellent lesson with great advice. I especially like how you stress the importance of guitar theory. I agree completely. Guitar theory is extremely important in a beginners quest toward becoming a good guitar player. I also enjoyed your lesson the Major Pentatonic. I had no idea it was so widely used in Country Music. I will be sure to add this scale in my daily practice sessions!
- Ralph
Thanks Ralph, you sound like a true musician. I don’t consider myself one because me and music theory don’t ‘click’. I understand some stuff, but it’s just so hard for me to remember anything and truly know how it works. I need to spend more time studying it.
Would it be possible to do an article on common phrasing/common country licks – because it is hard to play the pentatonic scales without it sounding like “blues” over a country rhythm. The blues style of lead guitar is so entrenched I cant get away from it! And I’m counting double stops, unison bends and the like as part of the problem!
Yea most definitely. I’ll do this before the end of the week. I like to start by teaching people the pentatonic scale as their very first learned scale, but after that it’s definitely a good idea to focus on licks and scales that are in the category of music that you like. Blues is great to learn and all, but this IS a country focused website. So I’ll get that lesson out soon