E Minor Scale Open Position
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- DESCRIPTION
‘Open Scales’ are scales that use a lot of open strings. The E open scale is the longest open scale we can play on guitar. It’s a key that guitar players love because it sounds really good on guitar. Major and minor!
Let’s learn the E minor open scale using all 6 strings.
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Tomas,
How come an F# is played rather than an F in this scale? Just curious behind the theory.
Thanks in advance!
Hi Wally. The short answer is because the sound of the E minor scale is created using F sharp and not F (natural). If you used F natural it wouldn’t sound minor. Another way to think about it that works for me is learning the interval (distances between notes) and what combination of distances sounds like a minor scale. Watch this: https://realguitarsuccess.com/courses/guitar-theory/lessons/major-scale-formula-gt-2/ even though I’m talking about the major scale the same principle applies to the minor scale. It’s just a different formula of intervals.
Hey Tomas,
That makes sense now, thanks! From what I’m gathering, the interval formula for major scales is WWHWWWH and for minor scales it’s WHWWHWW. Are there other interval formulas for other scales?