Natural minor guitar scale exercises are the focus of this lesson. A couple of things to remember while practicing these exercises. First, it's a good idea to say the notes as you're playing them. I can't stress enough how important it is to know all of the notes on your fretboard. For more on this topic visit my guitar lesson "Fretboard Notes Memorization Using Patterns" available on this website. Second, always use a metronome when practicing scales. Use of a metronome will not only improve your sense of timing, it will also help synchronize the timing between your right and left hands making your scale runs cleaner, smoother and faster. This kind of synchronization is imperative for shredding. All four of these exercises focus on the Natural Minor Scale in the key of A minor but once you're comfortable with the patterns, you should transpose* them up or down into other keys.
Natural Minor Guitar Scale Exercises Video
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Exercise #1
Natural Minor Guitar Scale - Exercise #1
This first exercise simply plays the A natural minor scale chromatically up using three notes per string triplets. The notes for each string are displayed on the video.
Exercise #2
Natural Minor Guitar Scale - Exercise #2
This second scale exercise goes a bit farther following two string patterns in the A natural minor scale going chromatically up using three notes per string triplets.
Exercise #3
Natural Minor Guitar Scale - Exercise #3
This third exercise uses only the lower three strings (E A D) and goes through the 7 scale modes. More information on scale modes can be found in this guitar lesson "Major Scale Modes".
Exercise #4
Natural Minor Guitar Scale - Exercise #4
This scale exercise uses only the higher three strings (G B high-E) and goes through the 7 scale modes. More information on scale modes can be found in this guitar lesson "Major Scale Modes - C Major Scale Expanded".
Notes
Lesson Notes:
- Say the notes as you're playing them
- Always use a metronome when practicing guitar scales
- Transpose these exercises up or down into other keys once you're comfortable with the patterns
- * to move a musical composition up or down in pitch.
