I wrote this because a few people have emailed me, and they wanted to know how to read my charts. So here it is... (By the way if you don't know tab go to Lesson 6: Reading Tablature).
Instead of going head first into full scale patterns, I will show you by showing how the separate patterns relate to the full pattern. The first thing that you must remember is that the full patterns are like looking straight down onto a guitar as if the guitar were laying on a table and you are directly above it.
The next things to look for are the strings. I've numbered them on the diagram below, but they won't be numbered in the lessons. The 1st string is the High E String. The 6th string is the Low E String. I have also marked the notes of the strings on this pattern. Once again, they won't be marked in the lessons. I've also marked the frets underneath the pattern. These will be on the patterns in the lessons. I'll explain how to read the charts in the text that is below them.
Full Pattern (E Major Scale)
Pattern 2 (E Major Scale)
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Pattern 5 (E Major Scale)
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Notice how the 12 fret's notes are the same as the open notes (or 0 fret's notes)
This is because the patterns repeat. I showed an example of Pattern 5 so that you can see what the pattern looks like.
Here's how to read them. I will first show you on Pattern #2 then the Full Pattern.
Playing a Pattern
(Assuming you have already isolated the pattern as above).- Go to the 6th String.
- Decide whether you want to start on the root note (recommended) of the
pattern or the first note of the pattern. If you wish to start on the
root note go to the first
on the 6th String. If there is no
on the 6th string then go to the 5th String. If you decided to start at
the beginning of the pattern, go to the first
or 
from the left on the 6th String. - Play the note that you decided on.
- Go to the next
or
to the right on that that string. If there is no note to the right then
go up a string, and play the first note (cloesest to the left).
- Repeat Step 4 until you either reach the end of the pattern or reach
the next
(Root note)
Note: If you play from one
to the next
that is a one octave scale. If you play from one
through to the 2nd
after that, you just played a two octave scale.
Playing a Full Pattern
There are numerous ways of playing this so here is my chart for you to follow.
- Decide Where you want to start. (Root note or the first note of the pattern)
- Play the note you decided to play.
- Play to the end of the pattern on that string.
- Decide whether you want to continue to play on the current pattern by going up to the next string, or to continue on the string you are on.
- Play the note you decided on then repeat back to step #3 on this chart.
So now you should know that you can play a scale on one string or you can play into the next pattern. The whole point of these patterns is to get you to better visualize the fretboard, and to learn the modes more easily but you have to go to Lesson 14 to learn about modes.
Guide to Chord Charts
I use 3 basic types of chord charts in my lessons (chart shown below).
The first thing that I would like you to notice is that in Type #1 and #2
the frets are numbered on the left hand side. the strings go from 6th to
1st (left to right).
To Play the chord you must place your fingers where the marking is. The marking may be either an X or a letter denoting a chord tone. Be careful with open notes. This is explained below.
Type #1
- To mark the chord, I typed in the chord tones that you play as opposed to dots like in Type #2. This gives more info than Type #2
- I also made the root notes blue and the other notes red.
- I denote open strings by placing the note, dot, or number on the thick top line or above it.
Type #2
- This is the same as Type #1 except I use dots to mark the chord. Once again the blue designates the root notes, and all other chord tones are in red.
Type #3
- This shows the degrees of the scale which each note is as opposed to putting down the notes.
- I used an "R" instead of a 1 because the 1st degree is the root note.
- Once again the blue notes are the root notes, and the red notes are all other chord tones.
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