Very excellent I enjoyed how easy your explanation was to see exactly it's difference between those two scales. I was noticing that the bottom three notes were on top and the second three notes in the bottom can the others be transformed like that from the 1scale¿ Sure wish you would have gone into detail on that? Oh forgot can you give us a most common used comping jazz chords details version tho not the shortcut one???
Thanks, glad you appreciate it. The theory is important but, as you alluded to, being able to confidently use it to create great music is what really matters!
Ok, Greg… you got me. Like Jens Larsen says that you want lessons to support sounding musical as well, otherwise it’s boring. You nailed it! I subscribed. Thank you!!
After looking at your pattern, it is basically the 3NPS 2nd pattern and missing the 1st note in that pattern, up to half the 3rd pattern of the 3NPS so you just use one octave. I definitely think this helps with improvising by streamlining the notes available allowing you to feel the misic under your fingers a bit easier. Using the 3NPS method with this idea keeps you from getting lost no matter what you are trying to do. Thanks for sharing.
There's many ways to organize the notes on the fretboard and yes, some are combinations of 3NPS, CAGED and others. All are viable, whatever works for you!
Brilliant lesson, Greg! If you already know the major scale patterns in each key, then being able to link them adds a whole new dimension, and with a little practice, being able to flatten the third and seventh, which is important in jazz, will come easily--you'll learn to hear the correct intervals in your mind as you play. You're the best on-line teacher I've found. I'm a member of FretDojo Academy, and I recommend it to anyone who really wants to learn to play the guitar.
Thanks very much for your kind comments Jeffrey - yes this is a great system for learning any scale pattern across the fretboard just by changing the intervals in each shape. I appreciate you!
Hey Greg from an old blues man guitarist venturing into the intricate jazz field I think that if I don't succeed I will still owe you a ton of thanks. You've made more sense of the process easier than I've found anywhere else. I thank you! Tom
Hi Thomas I'm really happy to hear you found value in this video - if you are consistent in your effort daily, and have a clear vision of what you want to acheive, you WILL succeed!!
I have been playing guitar for 40 years plus. The information here most valuable . Its gets you away from box shapes that trap so many people. It talks about minor 3rd that is a flat major 3rd and flat 7th when you want to play Dorian. It avoids playing a F major scale that have the same notes at G Dorian by moving back to the first fret. Use the same position starting on the 3rd fret but just Flatten the Major 3rd and major 7th note and you are there. By thinking this way you are improving your theory knowledge and your playing becomes more economical. All the notes you need are there right under your fingers. Forget patterns learn the notes. This is a top drawer lesson. The best information I have seen on the internet in years.
Giddy Greg, I've searched so many you tube vids and stumbled across you and modes are confusing 7 keys plus 7 modes blah blah but you just opened a door that's easy to play Thanks much appreciated 🙏
Hi Greg, I've struggled with understanding scale patterns and have been boxed in with the cage system for years. This explanation makes perfect sense, and I'm practicing it as we speak. Many thanks for creating these videos.
Greg, this the best guide to jazz guitar that I have seen on RUclips. I will be enrolling in your beginner course. I can only imagine how fast I can finally learn. I have been struggling for years with chords, tablature never to reach my target. You make it simple. Thanks
I've been playing for more years than I'd like to admit and have a good grasp of scales but you do have a novel approach that is like another wrench in the toolbox in being fluent playing across the whole fretboard . I admit that I'd been stuck in positions sometimes and this really does help to break out with your observations on the ease of visualizing the basic patterns in different spots .
Hi Greg, I like this approach. I 've done a similar thing with pentatonic scales over the entire fretboard. I'm a scale lover and use the boxes a lot. for me, in the key of D major, the box starting on F# also represents the phrygian mode by changing the tonal center. In doing so for all the boxes, you have phrygian in all 5 boxes without changing any fingering and so forth with Maj, min, mix and dorian. Knowing scales makes it easy to pick up nice little tips like yours today very easy. Thanks
What a relief😅! I loved the first part of the pattern lesson.; it really makes it easy to play the scale and to improvise. I play keyboard and always wanted to see the guitar fretboard as I see the piano keyboard…. And I think I got the point from your lesson. Thank you Greg.
Your videos have helped me sooo much. Finally starting to wrap my head around playing jazz. As a long time blues player, your methods are exactly what I needed to help me break into jazz
I think it's fantastic that you can come up with another method to help us see the different scale shapes and all that's good so I'm going to practice this give it a fair shot I added to my repertoire of skill sets and let muscle memory take over
I have been a student and player of classical guitar since the early 70s... I have Aaron Shearer's Scale Book which is almost 300 pages of scales, patterns and studies. The way you present this is awesome and easy to understand. Any yes I do think you are on to something.
I remember Aaron Shearer! Have you ever read through his Classical Guitar Technique Book? Slur, ornament and reach development exercises to your hearts content
I agree whole heartedly with you on this approach as I only started to understand scales/modes by thinking of them as variations of the major scale. Being self taught I kept this to myself as I thought it was probably ‘wrong’. The flat 3 flat 7 change you showed at the end is exactly where I am headed now as I love the sound of a minor seventh chord but never sure how to play around it. Many thanks. I am now not alone !!
Mate, you are my hero. I truly believe this is the most user friendly explanation for jazz guitar scale soloing I have seen. Looking forward to practising it. Thanks heaps for the PDF`s.
Whoa, learning the music side of playing guitar beyond memorizing tablature has been really confusing and I was about to go home and cry when you finished the first set of patterns and really did just make the concept click in such a simple way that a lot of other things are gonna connect now. Thanks man I appreciate you. Edit: finished the lesson and had yet another lightbulb moment. I think you're my ticket out of that hell where your friends think you're good but you know you suck
Thanks so much Dexter. Yes, learning the fretboard and guitar improvisation in general can seem to be a daunting task when you first start. But just take it one step at a time and be patient, you'll get there! Spend a lot of time with these patterns until they become second nature to you, they will serve you VERY well for the remainder of your guitar journey. Years, even decades! Get what you can out of these RUclips lessons and consider joining us in the Fret Dojo Academy where you'll find a LOT more lessons like this one.
I practice linear patterns (to break out of boxes), so they are not new for me, but explicitly thinking about them as connected one octave segments is a helpful concept. Easier to envision and work trough on the fly than treating a linear run as one long pattern - which is what I tend to do. Actually, I kind of think of linear runs as parts of boxes linked together rather than extending & repeating one octave pattern. I definitely see myself re-imagining loads of scales and arpeggios this way to simplify how I think about them. Thanks!
Re--imaging how we approach a lot of things on the fretboard is an ongoing process for all of us. Learning the scales all on one string really helps as well!
New to Jazz guitar, but this really does help to understand. Feels great to break out of boxed patterns and this is the first video I've seen that makes it clear. Well done.
Very clearly presented, and it makes sense. Thanks Greg. Another tool in toolbox. I'll add this to using and connecting individual arpeggios, i.e., progressions, or use melodic embellishment, to create an improvided musical statement,
Got this PDF ages ago, printed it but had not practised with the video. Seeing the video again increased my understanding and was able to gel your concept. Thanks again Greg. 🙂
frankly speaking you really explained this to my best understanding cos i'v been using box pattern and was finding it a bit difficult to link it.though i would want you to explain this using all the modes such as Aeonian,locranian etc.Thanks.
I love this method, I would learn this by comparing the 3 major scales with the Major Ionian scale by comparing the mixolydian, Lydian and Ionian scales together then doing the same 3 minor scales the Aeolian, phrigian and Dorian minor comparisons
An excellent lesson! Not only practical but also a way of exercising your mind and fingers in finding notes around the fretboard, rather than rote learning I’ll be honest … the whole CAGED system....something I’ve avoided Whilst I learnt, and use, a sort of CAGED system on my guitar, I was also told that it's one of the easiest things to teach and understand incorrectly. Frank, my late teacher, said that it was never meant for more than having a sort of mental 'map' of available notes over chord grips. Once you leave the major scale patterns and start to get to harmonic minor or melodic minor shapes, it kinda gets a little bit of an exercise in cataloguing , rather than a collection of USEABLE scale or chord shapes! I rarely play scales straight up and down from any of my CAGED grips; they're decorated arpeggios as the song and my ear dictates. The only time I play a straight scale or sequence, I tend to prepare in advance and use finger friendly, economic patterns. Joe Pass was considered the doyen of CAGED, and certainly taught something similar to it, but he used it to visualise chord shapes for comping or chord melody, not for scales Books like Bill Edwards’ Fretboard Logic series even claim that the CAGED system is the reason the guitar is tuned as it is...a bit chicken before the egg Sorry I’m digressing 😀
Hey Greg, this is a huge eye-opener for me! Your explanations and graphics are so clear and easy to understand. I just subscribed to your RUclips channel and I’m sure I will take one of your courses very soon!
Most excellent clarity and understanding expansion relationships. So easy to follow and understand after working with modes memorization and CAGE system. Thank you good sir.
Hi Greg, I’m new to the guitar and jazz guitar especially. Also just discovered your channel. A few weeks ago I was learning the Major scale on the fretboard and saw this pattern, which helped me make sense of the fretboard. I think it was because I was learning piano before I came to the guitar. I like the way you used the pattern to work out the Dorian scale. Makes much more sense. Thanks for sharing this lesson. It is much better to use the fretboard like the piano. 👍👍👍
My 1st instrument is piano, but playing my guitar is great ear training. It changes everything up. I want to know every note I am playing on the guitar, not just memorize chord shapes. So, I moved away from box positions and was developing a system similar to your system. You have helped me move along in this system, as it makes sense to me. Thanks.
As a novice player, I've been learning the scales based on placing the root of the scale on any string and learning the associated intervals given the root of the scale. Similar, but you've given it a bit more polish and structure. You present a nice overview of your framework. What I've been wondering lately, and you allude to it, concerns the fundamental lack of symmetry in the standard guitar tuning. The standard tuning is very useful because almost all tabs and lessons one finds assumes the player will use it. None the less, tuning the guitar to fourths across all the strings is very interesting because now the same pattern for a scale (or chord) work regardless of which string the root is placed. Example: In standard tuning, if i have a shell chord shape that spans 4 strings, the shape must change when it moves from the root on the sixth string to moving the root to the fifth string, and it changes again when the root is placed on the fourth string. Tuning the guitar to all fourths, the chord shape doesn't need to change when moving the root from the sixth string, to the fifth or fourth. Similarly the scale pattern doesn't need to change. Granted the world operates in standard tuning. But fourths seems to simplify playing chords as well as simplifying improvisation. Wondering about your thoughts on the matter.
Hey Dean, Thanks for watching! That's an interesting question I could write on about, but instead, check out my interview with Jazz Guitarist Ant Law who uses this crazy 4ths tuning.
Great way do to do Pass style licks- three octaves with similar fingering!! Great way to learn the fingerboard! knowing the fingerboard frees up your playing!
This is a great way to get started with Jazz soloing. I love the out-of-the-box way of re-conceptualizing scales to give us a three-octave range that connects the dots. The bonus was showing us how to adapt this to the modes. Really great work, Greg!
Learning jazz guitar, I have a tendance to verticalize the fretboard, due to the use of arppegios. It's good to sometime get back to a more technical and efficient way to visualize the fretboard, and your system is very nice for that !
Hi Greg, find the method both useful and practical in terms of (I) learning the symmetry of the fretboard and (II) being able to explore more of the fretboard - both things you mention. Thanks Nick Melbourne
Hell yeah, Greg! Thanks for making this content. I picked up this pattern from Randy Rhoads playing, but never made the connection you could transfer it to all the root notes across the fretboard. Super powerful and makes scales fun again 😃
Hi Greg I am not a particularly good guitar player . However , I have learned a lot of jazz chords ,Pentatonic major and minor scales . I have Been Frustrated as to how I use this knowledge your fantastic lessons are showing me the way , with practice maybe I will finally start to play jazz guitar . My heroes are Wes Montgomery , Joe Pass as well as Django . Thanks for your lessons 👍🎸
Whether you see it as a box or not, it’s just a way to memorize the entire pattern in chunks. The caged system is just fine for learning the fretboard. As you learn the entire footboard, you can color outside of the lines.
Very nicely done video. I had stumbled over this concept a bit through my own messing around, but somehow hadn't processed the degree to which this could be translated into other scales beyond the major. This showed me the utility of thinking about other modes as simply slight alterations of the same pattern. I guess the next step for me would be thinking about how this approach is then applied when composing/improvising lines over chord progressions.
Good and simple system for getting more range, I kind of ended up doing this in my playing anyway without really thinking about it, following various trees up and down. The more challenging part for me is how to seamlessly switch trees as the chords change. And as the music is flying by, how do you know quickly enough which tree to swing to? (Maybe that would be called, the "Tarzan Method"???)
Thanks for your thoughts Mark! Easy way is to remember the finger pattern that starts (most) of the one octave shapes, then you can quickly spot the key that you are trying to target as you solo over the progression.
@ I’ve merged practicing what you taught here with the 5 positions of walking up the scale on the fret board. I now feel like I’ve connected the whole fret board which is amazing.
I'm so bogged down & bored with playing 12 bar blues & little else that I decided, on the strength of this lesson, to purchase your Beginner Jazz Guitar Course. Here we go.
Greg - thanks for this. love it. .I think the structure works really well, and it's much simpler to grasp than CAGED (although tbh - I think it might work better as a simplification after you've learned CAGED than a way to avoid it..)... I think the leap you've made into Arpeggios and modes comes out of not just knowing the shapes within the tree, but obviously having a good sense under your fingers of where the intervals are ...which is probably going to take me a bit longer to get to...... oh and you could have added in how to drop a 4 and 7 to create a pentatonic. [slightly nerdy point: there's a contrast here with CAGED - where the genius is the same shape = a different mode for a different key - if you pick a different root (eg: C major = D dorian = A minor) vs your scale tree where you keep the root, but change the shape...not better or worse..just different!]...
Thanks for your comments Simon! Yes just to be clear - it's a still a good idea to learn box positions like CAGED, however the tree system is great as it ties all the positions together so you can move through the whole fretboard. But if you ONLY have CAGED then it can be a bit limiting if you don't connect the patterns horizontally on the fretboard. Thanks for checking out the vid!
![Where Guitar IMPROVISATION Begins: The [ABSOLUTE] Fundamental MindSet](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/o1qXU6Nm_d4/mqdefault.jpg)
![Where Guitar IMPROVISATION Begins: The [ABSOLUTE] Fundamental MindSet](/img/tr.png)
To get your free PDF which has the jazz scales guitar tabs and diagrams for this lesson, go here: www.fretdojo.com/pdf
Very excellent I enjoyed how easy your explanation was to see exactly it's difference between those two scales. I was noticing that the bottom three notes were on top and the second three notes in the bottom can the others be transformed like that from the 1scale¿ Sure wish you would have gone into detail on that? Oh forgot can you give us a most common used comping jazz chords details version tho not the shortcut one???
@@alfredromero4784 thanks!! Now, those are big questions...more jazz chord videos are coming out on the channel soon! Stay subscribed for more😉
finally someone who’s not trying to explain theory but showing us HOW TO APPLY IT
Thanks, glad you appreciate it. The theory is important but, as you alluded to, being able to confidently use it to create great music is what really matters!
Finally a teacher that does not confound and confuse the Jazz learning and technique process, bravo !
Thanks for your kind comments Gabriel! Glad you found this useful :)
Methinks you have given me the key to open a door to the scale patterns. I know that there are many doors but this is the key to the entrance.
Been playing acoustic guitar but loved listening to jazz guitarist tricks. You have switch my ideas from 0 to 100. Good tutor. Thanks😁
Ok, Greg… you got me. Like Jens Larsen says that you want lessons to support sounding musical as well, otherwise it’s boring. You nailed it! I subscribed. Thank you!!
After looking at your pattern, it is basically the 3NPS 2nd pattern and missing the 1st note in that pattern, up to half the 3rd pattern of the 3NPS so you just use one octave.
I definitely think this helps with improvising by streamlining the notes available allowing you to feel the misic under your fingers a bit easier.
Using the 3NPS method with this idea keeps you from getting lost no matter what you are trying to do.
Thanks for sharing.
There's many ways to organize the notes on the fretboard and yes, some are combinations of 3NPS, CAGED and others. All are viable, whatever works for you!
It makes all the sense in the world. It's the way to play scales !
Brilliant lesson, Greg! If you already know the major scale patterns in each key, then being able to link them adds a whole new dimension, and with a little practice, being able to flatten the third and seventh, which is important in jazz, will come easily--you'll learn to hear the correct intervals in your mind as you play. You're the best on-line teacher I've found. I'm a member of FretDojo Academy, and I recommend it to anyone who really wants to learn to play the guitar.
Thanks very much for your kind comments Jeffrey - yes this is a great system for learning any scale pattern across the fretboard just by changing the intervals in each shape. I appreciate you!
I've been looking for a video like this for years! Thanks 👍🏾 Straight to the point!
Glad you found this useful Osi!
Hey Greg from an old blues man guitarist venturing into the intricate jazz field I think that if I don't succeed I will still owe you a ton of thanks. You've made more sense of the process easier than I've found anywhere else.
I thank you!
Tom
Hi Thomas I'm really happy to hear you found value in this video - if you are consistent in your effort daily, and have a clear vision of what you want to acheive, you WILL succeed!!
I have been playing guitar for 40 years plus. The information here most valuable . Its gets you away from box shapes that trap so many people. It talks about minor 3rd that is a flat major 3rd and flat 7th when you want to play Dorian. It avoids playing a F major scale that have the same notes at G Dorian by moving back to the first fret. Use the same position starting on the 3rd fret but just Flatten the Major 3rd and major 7th note and you are there. By thinking this way you are improving your theory knowledge and your playing becomes more economical. All the notes you need are there right under your fingers. Forget patterns learn the notes. This is a top drawer lesson. The best information I have seen on the internet in years.
You are welcome to the Sunday BBQ dinner cuz this really helped me visualize the fretboard
Giddy Greg,
I've searched so many you tube vids and stumbled across you and modes are confusing 7 keys plus 7 modes blah blah but you just opened a door that's easy to play
Thanks much appreciated 🙏
Thanks for breaking it down to easier to learn patterns
Hi Greg, I've struggled with understanding scale patterns and have been boxed in with the cage system for years. This explanation makes perfect sense, and I'm practicing it as we speak. Many thanks for creating these videos.
Thank you so much. Glad it was helpful!
I'm Glad that I stumbled onto your channel .
Thanks for stopping by. Happy New Year!
Greg, this the best guide to jazz guitar that I have seen on RUclips. I will be enrolling in your beginner course. I can only imagine how fast I can finally learn. I have been struggling for years with chords, tablature never to reach my target. You make it simple. Thanks
I have naturally but awkwardly begun to do this. Thank you for making sense of something that actually makes sense...
Very useful tool for moving around the fretboard with confidence (eventually :)) Thanks Greg; excellent teaching and very clear diagrams to work with.
Thanks for your kind feedback Marion, glad you found this one useful :-)
This has been a real eye opener. I play basic blues but am now switching to jazz and this has opened the door for me. Thanks!
I've been playing for more years than I'd like to admit and have a good grasp of scales but you do have a novel approach that is like another wrench in the toolbox in being fluent playing across the whole fretboard . I admit that I'd been stuck in positions sometimes and this really does help to break out with your observations on the ease of visualizing the basic patterns in different spots .
Hi Greg, I like this approach. I 've done a similar thing with pentatonic scales over the entire fretboard. I'm a scale lover and use the boxes a lot. for me, in the key of D major, the box starting on F# also represents the phrygian mode by changing the tonal center. In doing so for all the boxes, you have phrygian in all 5 boxes without changing any fingering and so forth with Maj, min, mix and dorian. Knowing scales makes it easy to pick up nice little tips like yours today very easy. Thanks
A simple way. One could play melodies all day with this method.
What a relief😅! I loved the first part of the pattern lesson.; it really makes it easy to play the scale and to improvise. I play keyboard and always wanted to see the guitar fretboard as I see the piano keyboard…. And I think I got the point from your lesson. Thank you Greg.
Love you teaching style and pragmatism for navigating the neck. Extremely helpful and logical! Thank you!
Very happy to hear your kind feedback K J! Thanks so much 🙏
I am somewhat new to guitar but have found this way of looking a notes much less confusing plus it makes it easier to understand the intervals.
Awesome John! Great you found this helpful 👍
i love this. its fantastic and makes perfect sense.
Always useful to stress training your ear to recognize these scales I would think.
Ok, I memorized the full fretboard scale. I think I like it, tomorrow I’ll learn your 3 jazz chords!
Your videos have helped me sooo much. Finally starting to wrap my head around playing jazz. As a long time blues player, your methods are exactly what I needed to help me break into jazz
Thanks so much for your kind feedback Jack - I'm glad that these videos have helped you out!
Thank you for connecting the dots. Liked and Subscribed. Off to binge watch your other videos for some more tasty tips. 👍
I think it's fantastic that you can come up with another method to help us see the different scale shapes and all that's good so I'm going to practice this give it a fair shot I added to my repertoire of skill sets and let muscle memory take over
I have been a student and player of classical guitar since the early 70s... I have Aaron Shearer's Scale Book which is almost 300 pages of scales, patterns and studies. The way you present this is awesome and easy to understand. Any yes I do think you are on to something.
I remember Aaron Shearer! Have you ever read through his Classical Guitar Technique Book? Slur, ornament and reach development exercises to your hearts content
I agree whole heartedly with you on this approach as I only started to understand scales/modes by thinking of them as variations of the major scale. Being self taught I kept this to myself as I thought it was probably ‘wrong’.
The flat 3 flat 7 change you showed at the end is exactly where I am headed now as I love the sound of a minor seventh chord but never sure how to play around it. Many thanks. I am now not alone !!
Mate, you are my hero. I truly believe this is the most user friendly explanation for jazz guitar scale soloing I have seen. Looking forward to practising it. Thanks heaps for the PDF`s.
That's very kind of you, Charles. Glad you found this lesson useful!
Really awesome. My brain is unlocked! Not a joke, true
Hi Sandro, glad you found it helpful!
Whoa, learning the music side of playing guitar beyond memorizing tablature has been really confusing and I was about to go home and cry when you finished the first set of patterns and really did just make the concept click in such a simple way that a lot of other things are gonna connect now. Thanks man I appreciate you. Edit: finished the lesson and had yet another lightbulb moment. I think you're my ticket out of that hell where your friends think you're good but you know you suck
Thanks so much Dexter. Yes, learning the fretboard and guitar improvisation in general can seem to be a daunting task when you first start. But just take it one step at a time and be patient, you'll get there! Spend a lot of time with these patterns until they become second nature to you, they will serve you VERY well for the remainder of your guitar journey. Years, even decades!
Get what you can out of these RUclips lessons and consider joining us in the Fret Dojo Academy where you'll find a LOT more lessons like this one.
Great lesson, God bless you Sir. You have opened our hearts and minds to MUSIC
Thank you kindly for listening!
I practice linear patterns (to break out of boxes), so they are not new for me, but explicitly thinking about them as connected one octave segments is a helpful concept. Easier to envision and work trough on the fly than treating a linear run as one long pattern - which is what I tend to do. Actually, I kind of think of linear runs as parts of boxes linked together rather than extending & repeating one octave pattern. I definitely see myself re-imagining loads of scales and arpeggios this way to simplify how I think about them. Thanks!
Re--imaging how we approach a lot of things on the fretboard is an ongoing process for all of us. Learning the scales all on one string really helps as well!
Best jazz channel ever.Keep it up
New to Jazz guitar, but this really does help to understand. Feels great to break out of boxed patterns and this is the first video I've seen that makes it clear. Well done.
Glad you found this helpful Bobby - I appreciate your kind feedback!
Greg, you're a bloody legend!
Thanks for your kind feedback!
most comfortable and comprehensive pattern i've seen will work on this for sure.
Very clearly presented, and it makes sense. Thanks Greg. Another tool in toolbox. I'll add this to using and connecting individual arpeggios, i.e., progressions, or use melodic embellishment, to create an improvided musical statement,
Yes this is a very useful method and can really help tie everything together that you've learnt across the fretboard. Thanks for watching Jerry!
Got this PDF ages ago, printed it but had not practised with the video. Seeing the video again increased my understanding and was able to gel your concept. Thanks again Greg. 🙂
frankly speaking you really explained this to my best understanding cos i'v been using box pattern and was finding it a bit difficult to link it.though i would want you to explain this using all the modes such as Aeonian,locranian etc.Thanks.
Thanks for the feedback, perhaps a future lesson will do just that!
Pretty cool; will also like to see this being practically executed in terms of playing changes.
Great video and great help. I'll be watching more
Glad you found it helpful!
Very usefull.
Another “box“ to work with and get the fretboard under the finger.
Yes good to have a clear system for the fretboard - glad you found this useful 👍
Absolutely excellent !! ....... I'm going to work on that !!
Excellent!
I love this method, I would learn this by comparing the 3 major scales with the Major Ionian scale by comparing the mixolydian, Lydian and Ionian scales together then doing the same 3 minor scales the Aeolian, phrigian and Dorian minor comparisons
Yes learning scales and modes in parallel fashion like that really helps you to hear the unique sound of each mode/scale
Wonderful. Cant wait to work on this. Excellent, clear, concise, doable. Fabulous tutorial.
I think that's very useful Greg. Thanks.
Brilliant Greg. Something to fall back on any time one gets lost doing true on-the-spot improvisation. All the best Alan
Thanks my good friend Papa Voss! Great to hear from you 👍
Excellent lesson, some ideas like these are a mind brusher for Jazz guitarists.
Best method I have seen so far to simplify learning the fretboard. And it is so versatile. Thanks Greg 😀
Really good lesson - clear, concise and elucidating.
Glad it helped!
Hey friend thank you for a great lesson pure logic that is often overlooked this has helped me big time
Happy to help!
This is great! Very powerfull concept! I am starting learn this,Thanks a lot!
Glad it was helpful!
An excellent lesson!
Not only practical but also a way of exercising your mind and fingers in finding notes around the fretboard, rather than rote learning
I’ll be honest … the whole CAGED system....something I’ve avoided
Whilst I learnt, and use, a sort of CAGED system on my guitar, I was also told that it's one of the easiest things to teach and understand incorrectly.
Frank, my late teacher, said that it was never meant for more than having a sort of mental 'map' of available notes over chord grips.
Once you leave the major scale patterns and start to get to harmonic minor or melodic minor shapes, it kinda gets a little bit of an exercise in cataloguing , rather than a collection of USEABLE scale or chord shapes!
I rarely play scales straight up and down from any of my CAGED grips; they're decorated arpeggios as the song and my ear dictates. The only time I play a straight scale or sequence, I tend to prepare in advance and use finger friendly, economic patterns.
Joe Pass was considered the doyen of CAGED, and certainly taught something similar to it, but he used it to visualise chord shapes for comping or chord melody, not for scales
Books like Bill Edwards’ Fretboard Logic series even claim that the CAGED system is the reason the guitar is tuned as it is...a bit chicken before the egg
Sorry I’m digressing 😀
Another good puzzle piece on the way to fretboard fluency
The material sounds so good!
Hey Greg, this is a huge eye-opener for me! Your explanations and graphics are so clear and easy to understand. I just subscribed to your RUclips channel and I’m sure I will take one of your courses very soon!
Thank you so much!. Glad it was helpful!
Hey Gregg,. You opened the CAGE(D) for me. You are great. Thanks for the work u r doin in the community.
Most excellent clarity and understanding expansion relationships. So easy to follow and understand after working with modes memorization and CAGE system. Thank you good sir.
CAGED. Do you know how to use it, if you even know what it is?
Anything we can learn is vauable Greg.
Hi Greg, I’m new to the guitar and jazz guitar especially. Also just discovered your channel. A few weeks ago I was learning the Major scale on the fretboard and saw this pattern, which helped me make sense of the fretboard. I think it was because I was learning piano before I came to the guitar. I like the way you used the pattern to work out the Dorian scale. Makes much more sense. Thanks for sharing this lesson. It is much better to use the fretboard like the piano. 👍👍👍
My 1st instrument is piano, but playing my guitar is great ear training. It changes everything up. I want to know every note I am playing on the guitar, not just memorize chord shapes. So, I moved away from box positions and was developing a system similar to your system. You have helped me move along in this system, as it makes sense to me. Thanks.
You're very welcome Katherine, I am glad you enjoyed the video! Good luck in your guitar journey.
Good job friend, great clarity in your lessons.
I like it. I don't know why I didn't think of it myself: busy reprogramming the muscle memory now.
Enjoyed this great job! Suscribed, found out about this clip via one of your emails. Looking forward to seeing more
As a novice player, I've been learning the scales based on placing the root of the scale on any string and learning the associated intervals given the root of the scale. Similar, but you've given it a bit more polish and structure. You present a nice overview of your framework.
What I've been wondering lately, and you allude to it, concerns the fundamental lack of symmetry in the standard guitar tuning. The standard tuning is very useful because almost all tabs and lessons one finds assumes the player will use it. None the less, tuning the guitar to fourths across all the strings is very interesting because now the same pattern for a scale (or chord) work regardless of which string the root is placed.
Example: In standard tuning, if i have a shell chord shape that spans 4 strings, the shape must change when it moves from the root on the sixth string to moving the root to the fifth string, and it changes again when the root is placed on the fourth string. Tuning the guitar to all fourths, the chord shape doesn't need to change when moving the root from the sixth string, to the fifth or fourth. Similarly the scale pattern doesn't need to change.
Granted the world operates in standard tuning. But fourths seems to simplify playing chords as well as simplifying improvisation. Wondering about your thoughts on the matter.
Hey Dean, Thanks for watching! That's an interesting question I could write on about, but instead, check out my interview with Jazz Guitarist Ant Law who uses this crazy 4ths tuning.
Lydian and Mixolydian are also easily derived from the Ionian. Thank you.....!
I think this is Great !
just what I was looking for.
Thanks Jay. Glad you found it helpful!
Great way do to do Pass style licks- three octaves with similar fingering!! Great way to learn the fingerboard! knowing the fingerboard frees up your playing!
Yes Tom this is great for those Joe Pass licks, it's a cool sound hearing them as they move through each register 👍
14:43 love it get i gonna try it now
Great tips for a struggling beginner!
Glad it was helpful!
Thanks Greg! I’ve just been looking at scales to play. This is very helpful. I’ll use one pattern up and a different pattern back down.
My pleasure Dan! Yes experiment with this system and use it as a springboard for something that works for you 👍
This is a great way to get started with Jazz soloing. I love the out-of-the-box way of re-conceptualizing scales to give us a three-octave range that connects the dots. The bonus was showing us how to adapt this to the modes. Really great work, Greg!
What a clever way to approach this. I think I am going to find this to be a very valuable technique
Learning jazz guitar, I have a tendance to verticalize the fretboard, due to the use of arppegios. It's good to sometime get back to a more technical and efficient way to visualize the fretboard, and your system is very nice for that !
Hi Greg, find the method both useful and practical in terms of (I) learning the symmetry of the fretboard and (II) being able to explore more of the fretboard - both things you mention. Thanks Nick Melbourne
Thanks very much for your feedback - glad you found this video useful!
Hell yeah, Greg! Thanks for making this content. I picked up this pattern from Randy Rhoads playing, but never made the connection you could transfer it to all the root notes across the fretboard. Super powerful and makes scales fun again 😃
Thanks for checking out the video Jamison, yes it's a very effective way to organize the fretboard. Glad you found this useful! 🎸🎸🎸
I think your on to something here. Thanks for making this video.
Thanks for your kind feedback Alan :-)
Hi Greg
I am not a particularly good guitar player . However , I have learned a lot of jazz chords ,Pentatonic major and minor scales . I have Been Frustrated as to how I use this knowledge your fantastic lessons are showing me the way , with practice maybe I will finally start to play jazz guitar . My heroes are Wes Montgomery , Joe Pass as well as Django . Thanks for your lessons 👍🎸
So glad you are enjoying the lessons Jeff! Keep at the jazz guitar - it's fun isn't it?
Thank you Gregg.
Great lesson
Whether you see it as a box or not, it’s just a way to memorize the entire pattern in chunks. The caged system is just fine for learning the fretboard. As you learn the entire footboard, you can color outside of the lines.
That's exactly right. It's just a way to organize the notes but certainly not the only way!
Very nicely done video. I had stumbled over this concept a bit through my own messing around, but somehow hadn't processed the degree to which this could be translated into other scales beyond the major. This showed me the utility of thinking about other modes as simply slight alterations of the same pattern. I guess the next step for me would be thinking about how this approach is then applied when composing/improvising lines over chord progressions.
Gregory, Good job intro lesson!
Thank you Frank! Good luck with it!
Good and simple system for getting more range, I kind of ended up doing this in my playing anyway without really thinking about it, following various trees up and down. The more challenging part for me is how to seamlessly switch trees as the chords change. And as the music is flying by, how do you know quickly enough which tree to swing to? (Maybe that would be called, the "Tarzan Method"???)
Thanks for your thoughts Mark! Easy way is to remember the finger pattern that starts (most) of the one octave shapes, then you can quickly spot the key that you are trying to target as you solo over the progression.
Tremendously Helpful! Thank You so Much
Just right for me thank you
Excellent idea Greg...less info is better! 😎
Glad you think so! Thanks for watching
Great video, now to some practice
Thanks man, great vid
Glad you found it helpful!
@ I’ve merged practicing what you taught here with the 5 positions of walking up the scale on the fret board. I now feel like I’ve connected the whole fret board which is amazing.
That's brilliant!👍
Thank you! Cheers!
I'm so bogged down & bored with playing 12 bar blues & little else that I decided, on the strength of this lesson, to purchase your Beginner Jazz Guitar Course. Here we go.
Congratulations Warren, you'll get a lot out of that one!
Greg - thanks for this. love it. .I think the structure works really well, and it's much simpler to grasp than CAGED (although tbh - I think it might work better as a simplification after you've learned CAGED than a way to avoid it..)...
I think the leap you've made into Arpeggios and modes comes out of not just knowing the shapes within the tree, but obviously having a good sense under your fingers of where the intervals are ...which is probably going to take me a bit longer to get to...... oh and you could have added in how to drop a 4 and 7 to create a pentatonic.
[slightly nerdy point: there's a contrast here with CAGED - where the genius is the same shape = a different mode for a different key - if you pick a different root (eg: C major = D dorian = A minor) vs your scale tree where you keep the root, but change the shape...not better or worse..just different!]...
Thanks for your comments Simon! Yes just to be clear - it's a still a good idea to learn box positions like CAGED, however the tree system is great as it ties all the positions together so you can move through the whole fretboard. But if you ONLY have CAGED then it can be a bit limiting if you don't connect the patterns horizontally on the fretboard. Thanks for checking out the vid!