How to Play All of Your Jazz Guitar Scales
One of the most common questions I get asked by jazz guitar students (or jazz students in general) is this: “What scales do I need to know for jazz guitar?”
Sometimes it comes in different forms:
- What scale is this song in?
- What’s the best scale for soloing?
- How many scales do I need to learn?
It’s a simple question – and one that sometimes creates wildly overcomplicated answers. It all depends on who you ask. Some teachers are going to give you a very short answer as a solution for the problem right now. A tactic that will help you sound good in one specific situation.
Other people are going to give you some pretty wild answers. And usually a pretty overwhelming list of scales, arpeggios, and licks you need to learn. And don’t forget about playing them in all 12 keys!
Now I know what I’m doing… and these kinds of answers still make my eyes glaze over as I read them. I can only imagine what goes through your mind when you’re new to jazz guitar and you read an endless list of scales to learn (just to get started).
In my experience, it’s usually amateur players or students who just learned about some of these scales themselves who give these kinds of answers. And while they mean well, they usually have the opposite effect on newer students.
I’ve had several students come my way who have always wanted to learn jazz guitar… but it just seemed too complicated. The good news is that they were willing to give it another shot – and it turns out this stuff isn’t rocket science after all.
Learning Jazz Guitar Scales Isn’t Rocket Science
You don’t have to be a genius to play jazz guitar. In fact, most of us aren’t. You just have to know what to do – where to put your fingers on your fretboard in order to make the good sounds.
At the end of the day, you’ll find that jazz guitar isn’t that much harder to play than any other style of music. It just has a few more moving parts – parts that get overcomplicated by well-meaning players.
In this guide, we’re going to take a look at some of the more common jazz guitar scales you’re going to need to know. And the good news is that you might know some of these already. It will be important for you to pay attention to the order of this article.
No two people learn exactly alike – but the order I show the scales in this guide is generally the best order for people to learn in. You’re welcome to jump around as needed, but keep in mind that there’s a logical progression here.
One that will make your life much easier as you learn jazz guitar.
We’ll start with some simple scale patterns that will let you start playing today without getting too deep into the weeds. And will serve as a foundation for all future scale patterns.
As we continue down the list we’ll get into scales that will give you more color, or have some more advanced applications. If you start at the top of this guide and work your way down over time…
… you’ll know all the scales you could possibly need to know for jazz guitar.
Let’s dive in.
The Most Important Jazz Guitar Scales:
Pentatonic Scales
The best place to start is your major and minor pentatonic scales. These are a great way to jump into jazz improvisation.
- They sound good in most situations
- They’re easy to get under your fingers and get up to speed
- You can start playing creatively right away
It’s easy to write off pentatonic scales as being “too simple” or “more of a rock or blues kind of scale.” But ignoring the pentatonic scales would be a mistake.
A mistake that I made myself for many years. I get it. You want to focus on the cool stuff.
But what if I told you that pentatonic scales were your shortest path to learning all the cool stuff?
When you really learn your major and minor pentatonic scale, you’re laying a solid foundation. And that foundation is what is going to make just about every scale you learn from here on out easier to learn.
You see, the finger patterns of the pentatonic scale shape form the basic framework that nearly all of your other scales are built off of. Once you know these scales cold, creating your other scales is just a matter of adding a note here and there.
Easy, right?
This is kind of a disconnect that guitar has with typical music theory approaches. With most instruments (and in basically all music theory classes), the major scale is your foundation.
It’s where our understanding of music theory comes from, and everything else is seen as an alteration of the major scale.
But I’d argue that when it comes to the guitar and your fretboard, the pentatonic scale is the most fundamental thing you need to learn. Hands down.
And all of the other scales are simply adding notes to the major and minor pentatonic patterns. It’s always helpful to learn new things by attaching them to something you already know.
And when it comes to jazz guitar scales, we’re going to take that literally.
Major Pentatonic Scales
Check out our full guide to major pentatonic scales to learn more.
Minor Pentatonic Scales
Learn more about playing minor pentatonic scales with our in depth guide.
It’s important to notice that the major pentatonic and minor pentatonic scales are like mirror images of each other.
You’re not really learning 10 scale shapes right now. You’re learning 5 scale shapes… starting from 2 different notes.
Pick either the major or minor pentatonic scales and learn all 5 shapes. Play with them for a while. And when you’re comfortable, start learning the other set of pentatonic scales.
You’ll be surprised at how much easier the second set is.
Major Scale – The Most Important Jazz Guitar Scale
Once you’ve built up your foundation with the pentatonic scales above, your next logical step is to learn your major scales.
Now I’d understand if you really want to learn these first. If you’re really set on it, I won’t try and stop you. But do go back and learn the pentatonic scales soon. It will make your life so much easier.
The major scale is an essential tool in our musical system. The major scale gives us:
- Most of the melodies you hear every day
- The foundation of our music theory system
- A great starting point for ear training
Learning your major scale shapes is going to help you develop your technique, understand music theory on your fretboard, and make it easier for you to learn and play melodies.
It’s also going to help you play more melodic solos and tell a better story.
Most of the melodies you hear day to day are closely tied to the major scale. In fact, that’s one of the real best reasons for you to learn and practice your major scales: It makes melodies easier to learn and play.
This is an idea that’s so obvious… but I didn’t really understand it until much later than I should have. To me, scales were soloing tools. And melodies are melodies.
Totally separate, right?
Nope. Melodies come from scales. That’s why scales are important.
So learn these melodies inside and out – it will make learning, playing and remembering melodies so much easier. And it will help you play more melodic solos too.
Natural Minor Scale
Once you know your major scale, the next logical thing for you to work on is your natural minor scale. And just like moving from the major pentatonic to the minor pentatonic scale, this isn’t going to be that hard of a leap.
In fact, the finger pattern for your natural minor scale is exactly the same as your finger pattern for the major scale – you just start on a different note. So before too long, your muscle memory you’ve already built up is going to kick in…
… making this scale pretty easy to learn.
Two Scales From One Pattern… Again
It’s another case of two scales kind of being a “mirror image” of each other. You have the major sound starting from one note, and the minor sound if you start the scale from a different note.
So if it’s really just the same finger pattern, why do you need to “learn” the pattern over again as a minor scale?
I’ve experimented with this for years – both in my own playing/way of thinking, and with my students. And here’s what I’ve found:
- It just works better if you learn the scale over again as minor
- It’s not nearly as much work as it seems like it will be
Your existing muscle memory is going to do a lot of the heavy lifting here. The way I have my students think about it is this:
Learning the major scale and natural minor scale separately isn’t 2x the work. It’s 1.1x the work. So just do it and you’ll be better faster.
A lot of the melodies you’re going to learn in minor keys are going to follow this pattern very closely. So take the time to learn your natural minor scales and you’ll have a much easier time.
It will be easier for you to play minor key melodies, and your solos will sound better in minor key tunes.
Before We Go Any further…
There’s an idea that jazz guitar is really complicated – and you need to know tons of scales. But that’s not all the way true.
You can play a lot of jazz, and sound pretty good – only using the 4 types of scales I’ve already mentioned so far. In reality, I’m only asking you to learn 2 finger patterns:
- Each pentatonic scale pattern can be a major or minor key – depending on what note you start on
- Each Major scale pattern can also be a natural minor scale pattern – depending again on which note you start on
- To get from the pentatonic to the major and natural minor scales, you’re only talking about adding a couple of notes – no more than one per string
Once you dig in, it’s a pretty minimal amount of work to get going with jazz guitar melodies and solos. And by really learning the scales we’ve covered so far, you’ll have more tools at your disposal than the average student going into a college music program.
Read that last part one more time. I’ll wait.
If you:
- Learn the scales we’ve covered so far…
- Can play them in all 5 scale patterns…
- Play melodies to songs with them…
- Use them to create melodies in your solos…
You will have more musical tools available to you than most college freshman in music programs.
Not too shabby.
I’d recommend you spend some time and effort working with just the scales covered so far. At least for a while.
Learn melodies, play solos with backing tracks, or run through exercises. Whatever you do, focus on developing just these four simple tools.
Do your best not to be in a hurry to move on (I know it’s hard). If you take the time to develop a good foundation with these shapes, everything else is going to be easier for you.
Now that being said, let’s move on to some of the more colorful scale shapes.
A little more colorful jazz guitar scales:
Harmonic Minor Scale
Your best first option for adding more color to your solos is going to be the harmonic minor scale. It’s just one note different from your natural minor scale, so it’s pretty fast to understand and get under your fingers.
Now to be honest, I really didn’t like using this scale for a long time. Some of the patterns I learned early on were pretty awkward, with a lot of hand shifting. And other patterns had an uncomfortable stretch.
So I did the natural thing and avoided playing it unless I absolutely had to.
But as I got better, I realized that the harmonic minor is a great tool that I was missing out on. Many of the sounds I had in my head from listening to classic jazz recordings started to come out once I started using the harmonic minor scale more.
I developed my own approach to building up the finger patterns – one that makes sense in theory, and keeps things organized under your fingers to make this pattern easier to access.
(There’s still an awkward stretch in there, but nothing’s perfect I guess)
Here’s how you play this scale:
Using your natural minor scale as a starting point, move the seventh note up one fret. Now you have the harmonic minor scale.
If your natural minor scale is solidly under your fingers, it’s almost not like you’re learning a new scale at all. You’re just moving one note in your pattern.
Hint: This is why I told you to spend so much time on the scale shades we covered earlier.
When you’re playing solos in minor keys, the scale‘s going to give you some nice sounds. When I’m playing solos I’ll often use the natural and harmonic minor scales interchangeably.
After all, it’s just moving one note up or down a fret – other than that it’s the same finger pattern you were already using.
Melodic Minor Scale
The melodic minor scale is hands down one of my favorite scales to use for jazz guitar. Probably because it was the first “advanced” sound I learned to use.
The melodic minor scale is also fairly simple to build on your guitar. I played around with a few different ways to play it, but the simplest approach I found was this:
- Start with your major scale finger pattern
- Move the 3 down one fret – everywhere you find it in the scale
- Now you have a melodic minor scale
Melodic minor gives you an interesting sound that you really don’t hear in the other minor scales. Play around with it for an afternoon and you’ll see what I mean.
Once you’re pretty familiar with your major scales, give these patterns a try:
Jazz guitarist John Stowell has a great system for using the melodic minor scale to create altered sounds over chords. I was lucky enough to get a lesson with him early on in my studies, and have him teach me his approach.
If you get a chance, check out John’s book – Jazz Guitar Mastery (Affiliate link).
Symmetrical Jazz Guitar Scales
Symmetrical scales are patterns that have the same interval structure whether you’re moving up or down the scale. Oddly enough, these patterns don’t always look that “symmetrical” when you see them on the guitar fretboard.
In this case, the word symmetrical means that musically speaking, the intervals are all the same.
So don’t let the category keep you up at night. These scales can give you some interesting sounds to play with in your solos.
Diminished Scale
The diminished scale for jazz guitar is an interesting one. And also – it’s a pattern that I had a love-hate relationship with early on.
This scale pattern is technically what we would call and “octa-tonic” scale. Meaning that there are 8 unique pitches played before you hit the root again. Your “normal” scales usually have 7 unique pitches.
Diminished scales are a common tool used for improvising over dominant 7th chords when you want to add more tension. Like on the V chord of a ii V I progression.
This could be considered a more advanced option – you’re looking at a specific scale for just one or two chords in a progression. So there are a few more moving pieces here than picking a major scale for a major key.
And here’s the reason I didn’t like it at first:
The diminished scales are also a little bit awkward to play on guitar as far as positions go. There are basically two different finger patterns, and they both have some tricky shifting going on.
But if you put in the work with these scales, you’ll have a solid tool you can use to start adding more advanced sounds to your soloing.
There is also some confusion around how diminished scales are actually built. Because it’s a symmetrical pattern, there are 2 ways you can look at it:
- Half step, whole step, half step, whole step…
- Whole step, half step, whole step, half step…
At the end of the day, it’s the same scale. But the two different thought processes each have their own uses.
Half step, whole step (or half-whole diminished) is generally an easy way to think about how to play this scale over a dominant 7th chord. Start at the root of the chord, and move up a half step. Then a whole step, and so on until you’re done.
Whole step, half step (or whole-half) is technically the “correct” way to think about the diminished scale. If we take this pattern literally, you would use this for playing over diminished 7th chords.
Half Step/Whole Step Diminished (best for dominant 7th chords)
Whole Step/Half Step Diminished (best for diminished 7th chords)
As I said before, these patterns have some serious shifts going on. But don’t let that scare you. With a little work, you’ll be shredding your diminished scales over dominant 7 chords in no time.
Now there is a cheat I want to share with you as well.
I learned this pattern from a Peter Bernstein solo years ago, and it works really well. Following the finger pattern below, you would simply:
- put your pointer finger on the root note of whatever dominant 7 chord you needed to play
- Play the pattern until you’re no longer on that particular chord
As a bonus, it moves you up and down the neck as you go. So it’s a great way to change positions while you solo.
Whole tone scale
The whole tone scale is another good option for when you want to create more interest or tension over dominant 7th chords.
It creates a nice amount of tension while being pretty safe harmonically. And as a bonus the pattern is fairly simple to get under your fingers…
… even if it’s a little bit stretchy.
This is another pattern you can use to get yourself moving up and down the neck, moving from one position to another.
Chromatic Scale
The chromatic scale isn’t a pattern you’re going to want to use all the time in your solos. At least, not by itself.
At first, your practice of the chromatic scale is going to be an exercise in seeing how your fingers can navigate the fretboard.
You see, the chromatic scale is made up of half step intervals. And it contains every single note in our musical system.
It’s going to be hard for you to create interesting melodies using the chromatic scale alone. But it will help you become a better guitar player. It will help you see:
- How to move across strings using half steps
- Where to find chromatic approach notes in your other scale patterns
These two things are going to help you add a lot more color to your solos, and start playing with notes outside the key. And all without getting too far into the weeds with music theory.
Examples of scales with chromatic passing tones built in:
Blues Scales
Honestly, I hate the idea of a “blues scale.” When you listen to real blues guitar players, you start to understand it’s not a separate scale – but a note that is bent to or from to create a more vocal quality in your playing.
But they exist in theory books, so here you go.
The blues scales are your pentatonic scales you already know – with an “extra” note that you play sometimes.
The major blues scale is pretty much your major pentatonic scale – you just add in a b3 here and there.
The minor blues scale is you minor pentatonic scale – with a b5 added here and there.
Major Blues (Major Pentatonic + b3)
Minor Blues (Minor Pentatonic + b5)
The way to really understand how to use these is to play with them. Focus on the pentatonic side, and see where it sounds good to add in your extra “blues” notes.
Once you’ve made the sounds yourself a few times, you’ll start to notice when your favorite jazz players are using the “blues scale” in their own playing.
Full disclosure, I use this sound all the time – I just never really think of it as a separate thing from the pentatonic scales. It just has an extra note that gets played sometimes.
Bebop Scales
Bebop scales are similar to blues scales in my book. The idea that these are separate scales was created as a way to be able to write them down and talk about them.
When it comes down to it though, we’re really just talking about adding a chromatic tone to a scale you already know.
The major bebop adds a b6 to your major scale pattern.
The dominant bebop adds a 7 to your mixolydian scale pattern (coming up next – but related to your major scale).
The dorian bebop adds a 3 to your dorian scale (also covered in the next section – but it comes from your basic major scale pattern).
Major Bebop (Major Scale + b6)
Mixolydian Bebop (Mixolydian + 7)
Dorian Bebop (Dorian + 3)
If you’re able to zoom out and look at the finger patterns in the diagrams above – you’ll notice that the “bebop note” happens at the same places every time.
So if you learn one bebop scale, you’ve pretty much got all of the bases covered. I’d start with the major bebop.
I don’t really think of these as separate scales. I think some people like to over complicate things. I also want you to know what people are talking about and be able to realize that most of this simply boils down to the basics.
If you can learn to add chromatic notes strategically to your scale patterns, you’ll be just fine.
Going Deeper – Modes and Chord Scales
Modes or chord scales are patterns that appear naturally within your other jazz guitar scale patterns. Your basic major, harmonic minor, melodic minor, and harmonic major scales all contain modes.
The topic or modes is often a complicated one – but it doesn’t need to be. These scale patterns are often presented as essential tools that you need to know for jazz guitar.
And usually, those tools are taught in a confusing way. But in reality, it’s pretty simple – you just have to know how to do the work.
Modes are kind of a tricky spot for me as a jazz guitar teacher. And here’s why:
Lots of students come in wanting to know about modes because they seem like some sort of magic trick. Some special knowledge that’s going to improve your playing overnight.
That’s… not how this works.
The truth is, if you’ve done your work on the basic major scale, harmonic minor scale and melodic minor scale patterns…
… you already have all the tools you need under your fingers to understand modes.
Modes Are Simple
What you need to understand is this: modes come from the same exact finger pattern as your major scale. So you don’t need to learn new patterns, and you don’t need to “understand the theory first.”
You just need to know how to pull the modes out of the jazz guitar scale patterns you already know and use.
So let me show you how to do it. What you’re going to do is practice your major scale pattern. But – you’ll be methodically treating each different note of the scale as a “root” note. One of the ways I talk my students through this is calling the note “home base.”
To play the second mode, you’re going to play with your major scale using the second note (2) as if it were the root note. Don’t change anything else – just stick to the pattern and try to hear 2 as the most important note.
Now you’re playing the “Dorian” mode. Now repeat that process with 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. It really is that simple. It just takes work, and that’s where many people miss out.
The mistake too many people make is they take this piece of knowledge and mistake it for having the skill already.
Practice Makes It Obvious
The trick to playing modes without thinking too hard is simple. In fact, most of this jazz guitar stuff is supposed to be. But it takes work getting these patterns under your fingers ind into your ears.
That’s where the magic is.
Now is this approach a bit of an oversimplification of modes. At least from a theory perspective. But it’s simple to understand, easy to put into practice, and it works.
If you really want to dive into understanding modes, there’s more work to do. From one point of view, modes are simply your basic scales starting from different notes. I think this is the easiest way to get started – and the easiest way to use them.
From another perspective, each mode is a unique sequence of intervals, creating it’s own special sound.
I’m not interested in picking a side on this issue. In fact, I see both of these descriptions as being two sides of the same coin. One isn’t better than the other, and you need both.
I think the simpler approach would be to just learn how to think about them both ways. I’ll show you how next.
In the section below, I’m going to show you two ways to approach modes of the major harmonic, minor and melodic minor scales.
The first set is what I call the “derivative” mode. I’m borrowing this term from Mick Goodrick’s The Advancing Guitarist. It’s a great book for guitar players, and it’s come in handy for me many times.
Derivative means that the modes are coming from a single scale pattern. I’ll be referencing each mode as coming from a different note in the same G major G harmonic, minor or G melodic, minor scale pattern.
Modes of the Major Scale
Derivative (Coming from the same scale shape)
Parallel (All modes with G as the root)
Harmonic Minor Scale Modes
Derivative (Coming from the same scale shape)
Parallel (All modes with G as the root)
Melodic Minor Scale Modes
Derivative (Coming from the same scale shape)
Parallel (All modes with G as the root)
This is the easiest way for you to get started and the easiest way for you to apply this knowledge to playing chord changes down the road.
The second set is parallel you will be starting from each mode of the major harmonic, minor and melodic minor scales
I’ve included the names of each mode within the charts above. But it’s important not to get too hung up on this particular piece of information. Most people will get too focused on the names of the modes – instead of making sure they can actually play them.
Remember this:
- The names of the modes won’t help you play better solos – they’re just labels
- Getting the finger patterns down, and the sounds into your ears will help you play better solos – so always put playing first
A final note on the modes:
Don’t worry about learning any kind of modes until your basic jazz guitar scale patterns are 100% solid.
It’s important to remember to focus on the basic patterns first. If you can play your major scale really well, you can play the modes of the major scale. You just need to be able to reorient yourself to hear different notes as “home.”
The same goes for your harmonic and melodic minor scales.
Once you know these basic patterns on their own really well, you’re all set. It’s just a matter of being able to hear and visualize those scale patterns starting on different notes.
Learning Your Jazz Guitar Scales
At first, it can seem like there are a ton of different scales you have to learn if you’re going to play jazz guitar. And from a certain angle, that’s true.
I mean, this is a pretty long guide with a lot of information in it. But what’s important to remember is that you can do a lot with just a couple of scale patterns. And they’re all related to each other:
- The Major and Minor Pentatonic Scales are mirror images of each other – they are the same finger pattern, but start from different notes in that pattern
- The Major and natural Minor scales are the same way – they are build from the exact same overall finger pattern, and start from different notes within it
And let’s not forget that the pentatonic scales are the frame of just about every other scale in this guide – you just have to add an extra note here and there.
Just Dive In – It’s Not That Hard
Once you dive into it, there really isn’t that much work for you to do. You just have to take it one step at a time.
And if all you ever learn from this article are the pentatonic scales, major and natural minor scales – you’re going to have more tools at your disposal than most college freshman in music school.
If you add the harmonic minor scale to this set of scales, you’re gonna be nearly unstoppable.
Everything else beyond that is just adding to your toolbox and giving you more colors to play with creatively.
So take it one step at a time:
- Grab the simplest scale that you don’t know how to do yet and learn it as well as you can
- Learn it in all 5 scale shapes
- Play it all over the neck
- Do your best to create interesting melodies for yourself
And once you know that one scale, pick another one to work on. The more of these patterns you learn, the faster you will learn them – especially if you go in the order I set up in this guide.
Most importantly – have fun, and keep playing!