In this lead guitar lesson, we'll continue to learn about the natural minor scale. The focus of this lesson will be on using one simple shape to cover 11 frets on the guitar. Once you've mastered the shape, you can apply it to the downloadable jam track below the video player.
We'll start by shrinking this scale shape down into to the first 7 notes. To play this shape, instead of moving up to the D string, you'll slide up on the A string to the next note with your fourth finger. It's a good idea to be able to go up and down this scale shape.
An important concept to know for navigating the fretboard is octave centers. It's a good idea to memorize this shape so you know exactly where your octaves are on the guitar. This makes it really easy to immediately know where the root notes of a scale shape are as well.
Using these octave centers, we can apply our 7 note minor scale shape to each octave. When we do this, we get a 21 note scale shape that spans 11 frets. Take it piece by piece and focus on playing each of the three 7 note shapes individually. Once you're ready to combine the shapes, use the slides in the shape to position your hand properly for the next shape in the sequence.
Once you've got the hang of the full scale shape, be sure to download the jam track below the video and practice along. Musical application is key to linking everything together and it will help you to really get this shape under your fingers.
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