Understanding Scales & Modes Made EASY

today I'm going to show you the methods that I've used for over ten years to understand scales and Moe's which have allowed me to learn songs in less than an hour improvised on the spot and create full tracks in just a matter of hours now I've been teaching these methods privately to my students for over two years but you guys have been asking for it so here it finally is the way I teach it is very modern logical and a pattern oriented way so if you want to learn scales and actually understand them very fast keep watching let's get into it [Music] now before we get started I'm going to be doing a lot of these videos on my youtube channel but I'm also going to be doing helpful tips on my Instagram so if you have Instagram and you have a second follow me at Nick nocturnal on day all right let's get into it so to start up I am specifically in drop deep that does not mean you have to be in drop deep you can be an e standard drop D drop C drop whatever you like if you want to follow along exactly I recommend tuning to drop d it's very simple if you're an e standard then just take that low e bring it down to a d that is it but I'll show you right at the end how to translate anything from a drop tuning to a standard tuning and from a drop tuning to a different drop tuning it's very very simple okay so a scale is essentially a set of on average around seven different notes sometimes less than seven sometimes more than seven that you have to play within in order to be considered in a specific key they're essentially your boundaries within that key if you play outside of that set of notes outside of your boundaries you're then considered out of key things will sound wrong they will sound ah a lot of the time but if you play within those boundaries within that key you can technically play any of those seven notes and it doesn't really matter necessarily which order you'll be in key and they'll always sound at least decent now modes is a really fancy word for just being able to play that a set of notes those seven notes everywhere on your fret board but it's the exact same notes just being able to play them everywhere now the first scale you're gonna learn is called the minor scale it's extremely important and it's what I base literally all of my music theory knowledge off of okay now we're going to be learning the minor scale pattern however we're specifically going to be playing it in D minor because we're in drop D okay but focus more on the pattern of the minor scale then really caring exactly what key it is okay to start off we're actually going to be ignoring the low string the low six string we're going to be bringing that in later we're going to be first going to the D on our set a string that's on the fifth fret okay that's where a pattern is going to start the pattern looks like this five seven eight next string five seven eight next string five it has seven notes those are the seven notes by Sony [Music] that is the minor scale that is the minor scale pattern but specifically the D minor scale pattern because we're starting at a D let's say we took that exact pattern that's shape right that's the important part the shape and we brought it all down just one fret we're still playing the minor scale but this is a c-sharp not D so now we're playing to C sharp minor so our key is instead C sharp minor this applies to changing it to any fret you go down here third fret this is a C play the minor scale pattern that you're playing C minor B be my etc etc so that's the important thing we're trying to learn is just the pattern of the minor scale okay now you know how to translate it everywhere which is the important part as well anyways let's get back to it so this is the lower half of the full usually play of scale right seven notes and that's the scale however people usually play two octaves of the full scale and it looks like this so that's one two three four five six seven in terms of the notes and then you go back to one you go back to a D and by the way how to find where your next section the next octave that starts with your scale take the note you started on do an octave chord so take the note go to strings up and then two frets you'll always find it that octave so now this is your new one and then one two three four five six seven on a few quasi seven what to do provides except they're just usually played together okay anyways before this you start at seven on that third highest string you go seven five on the next string six eight next string five six eight exact same notes you play down here [Music] it's just an octave higher and you usually put them all together now we're going to actually use even just this one scale to actually already be able to improvise I'm going to be using this little string as well because it's a D as well right so we know it's in D minor it's in the key and you're just going to be picking random notes within this pattern and kind of jamming between them and actually creating a riff let me show you [Music] I'm picking random notes within my scale but because there was in my scale there was in my key meaning that anything you play technically can't sound wrong as long as you stay within those boundaries they might not always sound incredible some note combinations might sound better than others but it'll never sound wrong that's really the key to understanding scales that's why we have to understand okay now that is the simple minor scale that so you can already technically write a whole song with just that but now we're going to learn two more scales that are very much linked to the minor scales that I like to call derivative scales that's because you use the base of the minor scale that we already learned that pattern but you just make a couple adjustments so we have a minor scale and then we have two derivative scales one is harmonic minor one is blues harmonic minor sounds very dark it's the minor scale but a little more classical and a darker violet blues you heard a million times before it sounds cell during sounds like blues [Music] right so that's it now serve harmonic minor harmonic minor is literally the exact same as minor all you're doing is sharpening and by sharpening I mean you're taking a note and moving it instead of one fret higher you're gonna be sharpening the seventh note that you'd usually play right so our pattern is five seven eight five seventy five so in terms of note in order it's one two three four five six seven right you're just gonna be sharpening the seventh note so that note is the know you're gonna play instead and together five seventy five seventy six instead of five seven eight five 75 that's harmonic minor now let's do the exact same thing to the octave right that's regular minor seven five six eight five six eight the seventh note you're gonna be playing those so one two three four five six seven you just gonna sharpen it boom play both together [Music] that's harmonic minor really simple just sharpen the seven no blue is now is a little different because technically you're not taking away a seventh note or you're not taking way to note and then sharpening it you're actually going to be adding on completely an additional note so harmonic minor you replaced a note sharpen it specifically the seventh note blues you just straight-up add on a note which makes it in total have eight notes in the scale well you're adding on four blues is a sharpened four okay so in terms of order you're going one two three four five six seven so one two three four and then add on a sharp four meaning one fret above four and not the fourth fret in terms of the fourth note in your series of one two three four then that's gonna be the blues note 1 2 3 4 short 4 5 6 7 right so that's that blues note now same thing do with with the octave right 1 2 3 4 add on a sharp 4 it's just one fret about the 4 5 6 7 right there you go that's the blue scale and the harmonic minor scale easily linked just from the minor scale so now what I recommend is just keep going over your scales start with the minor scale focus on that one first because once you get that one down it's very easy to translate to the harmonic minor blues are absolutely any other scale you will learn in the future okay now you are piling Nick what about that low sixth string we're gonna learn that right now but we're gonna learn this just on the sixth string and we're learn it horizontally you know so that our scale weeks from now we learned it vertically you know going down way up now the sixth string are only gonna learn the scale going horizontally okay now this again is a d just like this is a D okay and the pattern on the low string goes like this zero two three five seven eight and ten same thing when it comes to harmonic minor in blues now well this is a d this is the first note and in order to find harmonic minor we got a sharp in the seventh so in terms of you know the note value this is the first note second note there's no more snow there's no stakes note and then this is the seventh note we usually hit but instead replace it and sharpen it same thing we play up here it's just an octave lower okay now same thing with blue is out on a sharp four so one two three more and on a sharp four five six seven so now this is the part that if you're in a standard tuning it's the only thing that you slightly have to watch out for everything else is the exact same but if you're in a standard tuning instead of the pattern being zero two three five seven eight ten everything is - two frets everything is two frets lower than it normally would be so for you instead it would be zero one three five six eight and then ten and because you're in a standard tuning everything's two frets lower you wouldn't be in drop D you'd be probably an e standard meaning you're starting on an E and not a deep so you're not starting at the first note of the series anymore the e is actually the second note of the series so you'd actually be going two three four five six seven and then one this would then be where your D is that's the only difference everything else is the exact same that's easy off the low string and I seriously recommend just learn the low string learn it horizontally because it will help you much more later when it comes to modes when it comes to chords chord progressions all of that stuff okay so when you're practicing your scales top five strings only do them vertically then just get to the low string and get used to it horizontally on its own so that's the scales portion of this video if you like that portion hit that subscribe button down below and share the video because honestly I think even just that in itself will help so many people understand scales so now we're going to move on to modes now again if you remember what I said at the beginning mullets is just a fancy word for saying playing the exact same notes it's just for being able to play them everywhere on our fret board instead of just this one area but still the exact same notes now a really good way to kind of think of modes is think of like a circular clock shape of something right and our scale rate the minor scale goes first note second L three four five six seven and it repeats right when you hit one again it's just the octave of one the exact same note an octave higher now modes makes it so first position we're going to go 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 but the second mode we're instead just going to start at 2 and then go 3 2 3 4 5 6 7 and then because we're starting one note later we're gonna end one note later so we're gonna end at 1 however you're still going over the exact same series of notes as your scale the same series of notes you just starting at a different point within the series just like the 3rd mode you're gonna start at 3 you're gonna go 3 4 5 6 7 then 1 2 ok same notes you're just starting at a different point within the series of notes that's all modes are ok so based on that knowledge of course they're probably 7 modes just like there's seven notes in our scale there's gonna be a mode per note to start on within the scale if that makes sense so our first mode and so our second mode is gonna start on the second note of our scale right and just be consistent right make sure all your modes start on the second string just so it's easier to understand easier to make everything kind of aligned with each other ok so first of all second mode is start on that second note it's gonna start at the seventh fret pounding it goes like this seven eight ten seven eight ten again and then seven right going over the same series of notes of one two three four five six seven you're just starting at two and you're going to three four five six seven one so playing this is the same as going back to your first position and instead starting at the second note [Music] they're the exact same notes it's just a different position meaning that the pattern is shaped a little differently okay so anyways that's the minor scale right the second position now how do you apply the harmonic minor blues or any other scale you learn well by following that same rule harmonic minor we always sharpened the seventh note within our series that's the important little trick to remember so whenever you get to seven on whenever you count to seven you're still going instead safety replace seven with a sharp seven but we're now starting counting from what number two because we're on our second mode so instead you're going to be doing two three four five six seven one so this is your second note you're going to go 2 3 4 5 6 7 is normally here sharpen it and then you're gonna end at 1 there you go that's harmonic minor 2nd position second mode do the exact same thing for the blue scale right blues we're adding on a sharp 4 ok but we're gonna start counting from 2 so we're gonna go 2 3 4 sharp 4 5 6 7 1 right as we start it - we're gonna end at 1 we start one later we're gonna end one later ok now that's how that works for all of the modes so when we get to the 3rd mode you know you're gonna start at 3 and it's always still going to be the sharp and 7 it's always gonna be the sharp and floor but just make sure you're counting from the right note within your series and will always perfectly align for you ok now back to the second mode do the same thing we learned at the first mode make an octave chord to find the higher range the higher octave right there you go you land on 9 powder goes like this 9 10 next string 8 10 next string 6 8 10 right the same notes you played down here it's just an octave higher okay so 9 10 8 10 6 8 10 all right now harmonic minor now remember again we're starting to count from what to right okay so - and harmonic minor is replaced the seven with the sharp seven so two three four five six seven is normally hear sharpen it sharp seven and then one blues add on a sharp four so two three four on a sharp four five six seven one okay you can play it all together [Music] right so now let's do one more mode and let's do the third mode I'm not gonna go over all of the modes cuz honestly it would make this lesson an hour long if you want me to make a video like that I feel free to tell me down below but all the core concepts of modes is really just in the first couple modes and then the rest is just kind of rinse and repeat a lot of memory work okay so third position on the eighth fret make sense right so we're gonna go eight ten twelve eight ten twelve nine that's the third position okay now harmonic minor again take the seven sharpen it what note are we starting on in the series the third note right this is the third mode so we're gonna go three four five six seven normally here at sharpen it one two right we're going to end up too because we started at three this time remember it's just a circle the same series of notes depending if you're in harmonic minor or blues or just minor works right now blue is add on a sharp four right so three four sharp four five six seven one two there you go now octave same idea right make an octave chord find the octave it stores it 10 pattern goes 10 and then next string 8 10 11 then eight 10 12 [Music] there you go that's minor right now harmonic minor replaced the seven with the sharp seven same rule and again what degree or what position I was starting on three just an octave higher it doesn't matter that it's an octave higher it's still a three okay so three four five six seven normally here sharpen it sharp seven one two blues out on a shark four we're starting from 3 so 3 d 4 sharp 4 5 6 7 1 2 ok you play it all together but see even just from those 3 modes you now know your boundaries within all those different scales again I recommend first just learn minor right so now instead of just learning it here and being able to only improvise in this area you can now even go up here [Music] right and the more modes you learn the more you get used to the more free you'll be in terms of being able to play within your boundaries everywhere okay now I'm gonna give you a chart I'm gonna leave it free so you can actually understand this stuff because but if I go over all of these modes it's gonna be an over our lesson and there's no snow point cuz all the concepts you already understand okay so there you have it and just you know look at this chart I'm gonna explain it best I can so here's the chart now just to quickly go over it the blue dotted notes are anytime you want to use a blues note and the pink dotted notes or anytime you want to use the harmonic minor note right pink harmonic minor take the seven replace it with a sharp seven blues add on a sharp four again to start off ignore the blue and the pink notes just learn the regular notes learn the scales vertically and ignore the sixth string for now however on that chart you'll still see the six string that low string you'll see the tabs on it it's just in a lighter gray color to remind you that those are where the notes are but just do them separately do the low string horizontally do the top five strings vertically look at that first and minor then start to expand to each of the different modes the chart right at the top of it you know you see the whole fretboard you see all the modes together and then right on the bottom under you see all them both segregated you know fifth position six seven and one two three four get used to those and honestly it'll really help out now all this knowledge translates to get to any tuning I know I've been draw but let's say you were in dropsy the only difference would be that this is not a D it's a C so you'd be playing in C minor if you were a draw B the only difference would be that this is a B and you'll be playing B minor the pattern never goes away but the notes themselves change that's why I don't teach in terms of no names necessarily I teach in terms of patterns because then no names are always changing okay but there you have it guys I hope that all made enough sense if you like this video please please hit that subscribe button down below and please share it around you know I know that this knowledge can really help so many people that are struggling when they go online and they're trying to learn scales modes and it's just taught and such a weird awkward and ambiguous way where nothing logically really links together unless you like know it in a very specific theoretical way which a lot of us don't write a lot of us are just guitarists we're not crazy music theorists and a lot of us I'm assuming if you're watching this probably playing metal to where music theory is even less prominent right so this is really a method not only if you're a metalhead but if you're just a guitarist searching to understand theory so if you like this again subscribe and please share it around now if you want me to do more videos like this regarding even showing the rest of the modes even though you'll have the chart to see them or if you want to see you know how to create chords just based on scales how to create unique songs you know how to use different modes and translate keys all that kind of fun stuff how to improv whatever it might be tell me down below in the comments and I might do a video like that well yeah I put a lot of work into this one so I really hope you guys like this video but um best of luck you know if you have questions ask down below as well but use that chart practice it and I guarantee you you'll be able to understand just music in general so much more anyways guys thank you so much for watching if you're interested in supporting the channel then be sure to check out the patreon there's a lot of cool perks on there as well as like weekly tips and whatnot there's gonna be a link on the screen and description but yeah I really hope you guys like this video and I will see you next time you

Channel: Nik Nocturnal

Views: 666,593

Keywords: scales, modes, guitar scales, music theory, minor scale, blues scale, harmonic minor scale, metal scales, nik nocturnal, guitar lesson, how to learn scales, how to improvise on the guitar, how to make a riff, how to solo, metal music theory, how to write a song, music theory for dummies, learn scales fast, learn modes fast, most important guitar scales, pentatonic scale, scales made easy, scales chart, nik nocturnal scales chart

Id: 96AyJplf1MM

Length: 22min 51sec (1371 seconds)

Published: Thu May 23 2019