The diatonic minor scale is very similar to the pentatonic scale that you’re probably familiar with by now. The only difference is that you’re adding the two notes the pentatonic scale leaves out. In the Am example in the video, these two notes -- the ‘color’ notes -- are B and F. In the scale pattern, that’s the II and the VI notes.

If you’re not familiar with what I’m talking about with the II and VI, you might want to checkout my latest lesson on I, IV and V. It’s quite a fundamental one in my opinion, and really helps open up the guitar.

But onward and upward! Today we’re talking about the diatonic scale. Please add this one to your practice routine -- its a very important scale -- more so than the major scale, as the guitar favors the minor. Piano teachers (and most guitar teachers) always start you off with the major scales (most commonly C major), but that’s because piano is geared for that. Guitar isn’t. Guitar is an extremely minor-friendly instrument.

Besides, A minor is the first scale that was ever invented. Not C major.

How do I know that?

Simple. When you start counting your marbles, do you start at 3? Nope, you start at 1.

So, the first scale was simple -- A, B, C, D, E, F, G.

NOT C, D, E, F, G, A, B -- that just wouldn’t make sense, would it?

Anyways, there’s your guitar scale trivia for the day -- here’s the lesson!

Comments or Questions? Leave one at the bottom of the page!

Guitar buying is always fun, and some of you have told me that you don’t yet have a guitar, so I thought I would do a little video on how to buy a used guitar. These tips will also apply to new guitars by the way, but I’ve always loved buying used guitars because you can so often buy a far better instrument used than you would normally be able to afford in your budget if you bought new.

The biggest thing you need to do is to first figure out what you want. Acoustic, electric, classical -- those are just the major categories. Within each it gets really complicated -- do you want a cutaway, no cutaway, if electric what kind of pickups (single coil or double humbucker)… and the list of options goes on, and on, and on.

How to deal with this? Head down to your local music store and spend an hour playing a whole bunch of different guitars. Try to figure out what you like about each one, and see if anything obvious springs out at you.

Once you’ve got an idea of what you’re looking for, then by all means checkout all options available to you. Last fall I bought my first brand new guitar (the Hagstrom Super Swede I’ve used in many of the videos) -- all previous ones were twice-loved. Check the pawn shops, Craigslist, and yes -- check the local music shops too. You never know what sort of deals pop up. Online retailers are great for getting a terrific price -- Guitar Center often advertises that they give you new guitars at used prices, so that’s worth a look as well.

Regarding buying online, my advice would be that you can save a lot of money by doing so, but you really need to know what you want first. If at all possible, find a guitar of the same make and model you’re considering in a store somewhere and try it out. Once you’re satisfied its the one, then see if you can save money online. That’s cool.

Some key areas of the guitar to check: neck, hardware, electronics, body. Also check the intonation and action, and above all, make sure the guitar is something you’re going to love playing. Nothing is more demotivating than a crappy guitar.

Watch the video below for more info on how to check all those things, and if you’re got your own tips, leave them in the comments below.

Ever wondered how to tune a guitar by ear? Well, here’s a cool trick that I use to tune my guitar by ear.

Wherever possible, you should try to get a reference note. If you can hit a note on a piano, or from another guitar, or whatever, that’s great. Just try to make sure the note you work off of is in tune. You can even get a tuning fork and use this method with that.

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If there’s nothing around, that’s cool, don’t worry about it. At least your guitar can be in tune with itself. Knowing how to tune a guitar by ear can really benefit you if you’re playing at a campfire gig out in the boonies!

I use this method when I don’t have a guitar tuner handy, or when I’ve just recently tuned and there’s one string that’s going on the fritz. I can then adjust that string back into tune with the others really quick using the harmonics you’ll see in the video.

Video Problems? Watch How To Tune A Guitar By Ear on Youtube

You might also want to check out a related lesson I did on How To Use A Guitar Tuner.

Here’s a good old classic rock tune for today’s lesson: Fortunate Son. It’s got a great intro riff that will be instantly recognizable by anyone you play this for. Did I mention its also easy-peasy? Most of the riff is built on inverted third intervals (whew that’s a mouthful!). What I mean by that is the root note is on the B string, and they’re adding a third up from that root note (4 semitones), but dropping it an octave, thus inverting it (normally the lower note is the root, but in this case the lower is).

Take a look at the Em7 chord (barred, root on the 5th string -- 7th fret) and ignore the bar part. That is the first formation in the riff, right? The notes that are being played are B (4th string, 9th fret) and G (2nd string, 8th fret). The root note is the G, and we’re in the key of G. If you count up from G 4 semitones (G#, A, A#, B) you hit B. B is therefore a major third of G.

If you can figure out the theory behind this, you can start to see broader applications for the patterns that are being used in this riff (different keys, songs, etc). Let me know if you’d like to know more and maybe I’ll do a whole lesson on this topic.

You can also check out Blues Guitar Secrets as I know that course gets into the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of blues guitar, as opposed to just the ‘what’ which is pretty cool.

One other quick note. If you want to see the video larger, don’t forget you can click the button in the bottom right corner of the video player for full screen. You can also click on the HD for high definition (much better quality picture and sound).

Thus, without further ado, I’d like to present Fortunate Son (drum roll please….)

Leave a comment below and let me know what you think of this lesson. Do you like learning songs & riffs? Prefer something else? Have a favorite song you want to learn? Remember, GuitarTipsWeekly is very much a work in progress and I’m experimenting with different things to see what works best, but in order to do that I need to hear back from you as well.

Unlock Your Guitar -- Blues Guitar Secrets Revealed