Lessons - Bass – A Natural Minor Aeolian Scale Sequence Exercise (Guitar Tab)
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Speed:
1.0x
Chords
For clearance, this contribution is not a meant as a tab, but as a visual representation of the fretboard.
Though all the horizontal lines in this article correspont with the following principle:
G|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| D|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| A|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| E|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
Now lets's start:
First let's start of with a anatomical overview of the A Natural minor (Aeolian) scale on the fretboard:
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A Natural minor Scale note-pattern (parallel of C Major) -G-||---|-A-|---|-B-|-C-|---|-D-|---|-E-|-F-|---|-G-|---|-A-|---|-B-|-C-|---|-D-|---|-E-|-F-|---|-G-| -D-||---|-E-|-F-|---|-G-|---|-A-|---|-B-|-C-|---|-D-|---|-E-|-F-|---|-G-|---|-A-|---|-B-|-C-|---|-D-| -A-||---|-B-|-C-|---|-D-|---|-E-|-F-|---|-G-|---|-A-|---|-B-|-C-|---|-D-|---|-E-|-F-|---|-G-|---|-A-| -E-||-F-|---|-G-|---|-A-|---|-B-|-C-|---|-D-|---|-E-|-F-|---|-G-|---|-A-|---|-B-|-C-|---|-D-|---|-E-| 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 A Natural minor Scale interval pattern (parallel of C Major) -b7||---|-1-|---|-2-|-b3|---|-4-|---|-5-|-b6|---|-b7|---|-1-|---|-2-|-b3|---|-4-|---|-5-|-b6|---|-b7| -4-||---|-5-|-b6|---|-b7|---|-1-|---|-2-|-b3|---|-4-|---|-5-|-b6|---|-b7|---|-1-|---|-2-|-b3|---|-4-| -1-||---|-2-|-b3|---|-4-|---|-5-|-b6|---|-b7|---|-1-|---|-2-|-b3|---|-4-|---|-5-|-b6|---|-b7|---|-1-| -5-||-b6|---|-b7|---|-1-|---|-2-|-b3|---|-4-|---|-5-|-b6|---|-b7|---|-1-|---|-2-|-b3|---|-4-|---|-5-| 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 A Natural minor Scale box-pattern (root on 5th fret of the low E-string) ---||---|---|---|---|-x-|---|-x-|---|-x-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| ---||---|---|---|---|-x-|---|-x-|---|-x-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| ---||---|---|---|---|-x-|---|-x-|-x-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| ---||---|---|---|---|-R-|---|-x-|-x-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
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Now let's begin with the exercises:
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EXERCISE 1 - Going up and down the scale pattern (keep a steady slow beat)
A Natural minor Scale interval pattern, up and down, this is how it looks like in tabs: G|-------------------5-7-9--9-7-5------------------- D|-------------5-7-9--------------9-7-5------------- A|-------5-7-8--------------------------8-7-5------- E|-5-7-8--------------------------------------8-7-5- A Natural minor Scale interval pattern, up and down, this is how it looks like in note names: G|-------------------C-D-E--E-D-C------------------- D|-------------G-A-B--------------B-A-G------------- A|-------D-E-F--------------------------F-E-D------- E|-A-B-C--------------------------------------C-B-A- A Natural minor Scale interval pattern, up and down, this is how it looks like in interval sequence: G|----------------------b3-4-5--5-4-b3---------------------- D|---------------b7-1-2----------------2-1-b7--------------- A|--------4-5-b6------------------------------b6-5-4-------- E|-1-2-b3--------------------------------------------b3-2-1-
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EXERCISE 2 - In groups of 3 (keep a steady slow beat)
This is how 'up' looks like in interval sequence: 1 2 b3, 2 b3 4, b3 4 5, 4 5 b6, 5 b6 b7, and so on
This is how 'down' looks like in interval sequence: 1 b7 b6, b7 b6 5, b6 5 4, 5 4 b3,4 b3 2, and so on
A Natural minor Scale interval pattern (root on 5th fret of the low E-string)
---||---|---|---|---|-b3|---|-4-|---|-5-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
---||---|---|---|---|-b7|---|-1-|---|-2-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
---||---|---|---|---|-4-|---|-5-|-b6|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
---||---|---|---|---|-1-|---|-2-|-b3|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EXERCISE 3 - In groups of 4 (keep a steady slow beat)
This is how 'up' looks like in interval sequence: 1 2 b3 4, 2 b3 4 5, b3 4 5 b6, 4 5 b6 b7, and so on
This is how 'down' looks like in interval sequence: 1 b7 b6 5, b7 b6 5 4, b6 5 4 b3, 5 4 b3 2, and so on
A Natural minor Scale interval pattern (root on 5th fret of the low E-string)
---||---|---|---|---|-b3|---|-4-|---|-5-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
---||---|---|---|---|-b7|---|-1-|---|-2-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
---||---|---|---|---|-4-|---|-5-|-b6|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
---||---|---|---|---|-1-|---|-2-|-b3|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EXERCISE 4 - 'Hopping' or 'Skipping' (keep a steady slow beat)
This is how 'up' looks like in interval sequence: 1 b3, 2 4, b3 5, 4 b6, 5 b7, b6 1, and so on
This is how 'down' looks like in interval sequence: 1 b6, b7 5, b6 4, 5 b3, 4 2, b3 1, and so on
A Natural minor Scale interval pattern (root on 5th fret of the low E-string)
---||---|---|---|---|-b3|---|-4-|---|-5-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
---||---|---|---|---|-b7|---|-1-|---|-2-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
---||---|---|---|---|-4-|---|-5-|-b6|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
---||---|---|---|---|-1-|---|-2-|-b3|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note: you can apply these 4 principles (straight up and down, groups of 3, groups of 4, hopping/skipping)
to any scale pattern you like. As long as you keep the interval pattern correct. But I would strongly
suggest you start mastering the basics first, that is: A Natural minor (Aeolian) figure like shown
above and then only explore more complex Natural minor fretboard patterns when you first are able to survive
a descent improvasation session by using only the figure shown above.