Free Printable Guitar Scale Charts

Start learning guitar major scales with these free printable guitar scale charts and guitar lessons. This lesson is designed to boost the skills of intermediate level guitarists.

Note: It's my hope that you'll take the time to read through this guitar lesson before downloading and printing off the guitar scale charts... but for those of you excited to get started, Here's The Link For The Free Printable Guitar Scale Diagrams.

You'll need Adobe Reader (the latest version is recommended) installed on your computer in order to download these PDF files. You can get Adobe Reader here (a new window will open so you can download it without leaving this page).

If you want to open the file in your browser window, just click on the link. However, if you want to download the file to view later, then right-click on the link and choose "Save Target As" or "Save File As." Then select where you want to save the file on your hard drive.

Once you have saved the file, locate where you saved it, and double click to open.

In order to print, open the downloaded file, and select the print option from the menu.

How Do You know If You're An Intermediate Guitarist?

• You know how to strum basic guitar chords to a few songs
• Know the difference between a simple minor and major barre chord.
• You know at least one version of a power chord, and also know the names of the notes along your E and A strings.
• Can do some basic soloing with minor pentatonic scales.

Why learn scales? OK…this is big. I'm actually not a huge fan of learning scales! So why do I have a web page with a bunch of guitar scale charts for you to download? Good question!

Scales are an artificial arrangement of notes in whole steps and half steps. Usually people learn them in a stepwise or "conjunct" manner. This can end up being very mechanical sounding.

Real music doesn't usually work in a "conjunct" way. And even when it does, if it's good and cool sounding music it's built around strong chord tones. The scale notes are really just there on weak beats as stepping stones and to "decorate" strong notes.

The other problem that can happen with learning basic guitar scales is that it's all out of context. A lot of people will at least use a metronome to keep a beat, but there's still no connection to chords or harmony. This can sometimes lead to a weak perception of music or even worse…the erroneous belief that music comes from scales.

Learning how to play guitar scales doesn't automatically mean you'll know how to APPLY them in order to make music.

Guitar scale charts and the free guitar scales on this page can still be useful though... It could even be argued that learning guitar scales is absolutely necessary! Personally, I don't agree with this as plenty of excellent music has been made by guitarists who probably never formally studied scales.

But I do believe that at some point in their development, anyone serious about getting better on guitar should consider spending some Deep Time to memorizing at least the 12 major scales in all forms over the guitar fretboard.

Yes, it's a lot of work! And only for slightly insane people ;-) There are also the forms of the harmonic minor scales and melodic minor scales and the ever so infamous modes of all of these scales. Of course, there are diminished scales and "exotic" scales as well.

But don't fret! That's a joke, get it? :-) It's not as intimidating as many guitar books seem to make it. Help is here. If you go to this How To Play Guitar Scales Lesson it'll give you a strategy on how to learn these guitar scale charts -- in a way that will hopefully make it far less overwhelming.

Benefits of Learning The Guitar Scale Charts

• As long as you connect the scales to chords and rhythm in some way you should be able to stay on track and get the benefit of learning your way around the guitar fretboard.
• It will strengthen your alternate picking technique. Especially if you practice to some kind of beat or metronome. Eventually as you gain experience, your own tapping foot is also a great option to keep time.
• It will give you insight about which fingers to use when fretting and perhaps get you using your pinky for the first time!
• It will help your musical ear develop to some degree. Especially if you practice singing the scales in tune.

Drum roll, please! Here's The Link For The Free Printable Guitar Scale Diagrams.

These are the forms I had to memorize at Humber Jazz in Toronto ( sort of like Canada's version of Berklee )…but I don't really use them anymore as I have much more freedom on the guitar fretboard these days.

You may also encounter "get-rich-quick" schemes preaching that they have some kind of new "top secret" solution for learning scales. Although it may be helpful to investigate various methods, I would strongly caution against thinking there's any kind of "magic" way.

Some ways may work better for you than others at certain times in your guitar playing career. For now, these guitar scale charts are definitely a solid place to get started. In the meantime just keep playing, stay alert and enjoy the journey :-)

Should You Take Lessons?

Nothing beats working with a good live teacher if you have the opportunity. That said, learning on your own at home is a good option for some of you. Learn and Master Guitar is an excellent dvd guitar lessons package created by Gibson that could be a solution.

Jamorama is another high quality dvd guitar lessons homestudy package. Click here to try some free guitar lessons with Jamorama.

Another option for those of you serious about learning guitar at home is a membership site. Jamplay offers a wealth of beginner guitar lessons by a variety of teachers -- you get to choose which teacher fits you best. Click here to find out more about Jamplay.

Guitar Tricks is also a top notch membership site offering a ton of beginner guitar lessons. Click here to find out more about what Guitar Tricks offers.

Important: Remember to make sure you go to How To Play Guitar Scales for very helpful information that can assist you in learning how to practice these guitar scale charts. It also includes a free guitar lesson video.

I hope you enjoyed the information with this lesson and that it's helpful to your quest. If you have any difficulties please contact me with your questions. Thanks for tuning in and tuning up :-)

Dave

Return From Guitar Scale Charts to How To Play Electric Guitar

Return From Guitar Scale Charts to Homepage