Not exactly what I was thinking of

Scales, scales, scales. They are what makes the world go around. Without them we would have to rely on boring creativity and originality. (Just kidding.)

Having a healthy dose of scales at your disposal is essential to becoming a good guitarist and composer. Scales open up compositional doorways that might otherwise be closed to us by just relying on the typical Major and Pentatonic sounds we are accustomed to.

Today I want to share with you a handful of exotic scales that you may not have ever seen before.

How to Use The Scales

The ultimate use is obviously up to you, but I suggest you try to approach these scales in a few different ways:

1. Learn to play the scale in all positions.
2. Figure out what the triad and 7th chords for each scale degree are.
3. Understand what other chords this scale can work over.
4. Write some music with the scales.

At first these may seem like no-brainers, but you would be surprised how few of us actually do this. But for once I’m not here to chastise and wag my finger at the bad students, I’m here to expose y’all to some interesting sounding exotic scales. Hope you like ‘em!

Leading Whole Tone

Neighboring Tone (Major)

Lydian Minor

CMaj7/F# (Bitonal)

Hungarian Major (Altered)

Six Tone Symmetrical

8 Tone Diminished

Algerian

Pelog (Altered)