Are There Really That Many Scales?
If you’ve ever searched for guitar scales online, it probably felt like opening a firehose.
You’ll see names like Phrygian dominant, bebop, Hungarian minor, double harmonic… and it starts to feel like you need a PhD just to play your favorite song.
But here’s the truth that makes everything simpler:
At the core of it all, there are really just two scales you need to understand first.
The Chromatic Scale: Raw Potential
The chromatic scale includes all twelve notes in music. That’s it, just every available pitch lined up in half steps.
But here’s the thing: the chromatic scale isn’t really something you play through in most music. It’s not a practical scale in the way others are.
It’s more like a container. A full set of possibilities. The raw material that everything else is drawn from.
The Major Scale: Where Music Takes Shape
The major scale isn’t just one of the most useful scales; it’s THE most important one to understand.
Why? Because it’s not just a sequence of notes, it’s a structure. A system. A blueprint.
It defines how chords are built. It explains why melodies work the way they do. It shows you how tension, release, and movement happen in music.
When you truly learn the major scale, not just how to play it, but how it functions, you unlock almost every genre of music you’ve ever heard. Pop, rock, funk, jazz, gospel, folk… they all lean heavily on the major scale’s framework.
And most of the so-called “other scales” you’ll run into? They’re just tweaks or variations of this one.
Why Just Learning Scales Isn’t Enough
This is where most people hit a wall.
Scales are often taught as modifications of the major scale. You’ll hear:
“Flatten the 3rd and it’s minor.”
“Lower the 7th and 3rd and now it’s Dorian.”
“Raise the 4th and it becomes Lydian.”
That’s not wrong, technically, but it’s not coherent, either. Meaning: it doesn’t work unless you understand the full context.
When you alter a scale, you’re also shifting the key center. That means the chords underneath have to change too, or else the scale won’t sound the way it’s supposed to.
If you play a “C minor” scale, but the chords underneath are still from C major, it’s going to sound disconnected. Confusing. Like something’s not lining up. Because it isn’t.
So yeah, you can memorize scale patterns all day long. But unless you know how to support that sound with the right harmony, it’s not musically usable. It’s just theory on paper.
That’s why we always come back to the major scale. It’s the foundation. The reference point. The one structure you can actually build everything else on with confidence.
So What Now?
Lay it all out, one major scale, one string at a time, in detail. So you can see it all across the neck. If you're a beginner, take the Beginner's Journey challenge here. It's FREE! Easy in, easy out.
It’s not about memorizing more. It’s about finally understanding what you’re playing, and having a clear, simple way to move forward with it.
The goal isn’t to learn “all the scales.”
The goal is to learn the right one, and how everything else flows from it.
Play On!
Mike