Modes please! I would love to hear your take on modes. I think it would help a lot. If modes are too complex for now, how about just learning how to play to a backing track or a drum beat (for the people who are the only person that plays an instrument in their friend group *cough* *cough*)
part 1 : 2:08 part 2 : 6:05 part 3 : 11:24 part 4 : 17:21 part 5 : 22:32 summary, tips, secrets : 27:11 important secrets: 28:02 A THANK YOU WILL WORK.
Or, if you want it even quicker: 1. 26:40 Linear 2. 26:44 Standard form 3. 26:49 One-octave shapes 4. 26:57 3-notes per string 5. 27:03 4-notes per string ;-) Seriously though... these are really awesome tips.
I’ve been playing guitar for about 21 years. Played pretty consistently from ages 14-30. I got really good at doing covers. Playing technical metal stuff note for note but never rally knowing the fundamentals behind it all. Got consumed with work and it sucked out my soul and will to play. Stopped playing for almost 4 years. I decided to go back into it as a beginner to really learn the fretboard, chords, scales, etc. I’ve watched countless lessons and tutorials over the years, and none of them at quite as clear, concise, and efficient than yours. They really do help, SO much.
This is almost my exact story, except that I played violin before guitar and then forgot everything I'd learned about music theory. So now I'm in a rut trying to go beyond where I was years ago on guitar plus the music theory and playing technique that I never got past. It's very frequently frustrating - especially when I listen to all these other players and it seems like if I wanted to ever get there I would have to have played religiously throughout.
@@HerrinSchadenfreude Life happens brother. I still find it hard to pick it up. I know it will be cathartic for me, but it’s like I have this block telling me I shouldn’t be playing. I don’t know how to get passed it. Hope it works out for the both of us.
Same! 41 years old now and feel like I’m starting from the beginning. To all you self taught folk out there, take some lessons!! Or watch Ben lol. You can’t teach yourself something you don’t know even exists
I know this is an older video but, in my endeavor to get past the boredom of a beginner. Practicing the same scales over and over, I found this video. Awesome! You just gave me a new life and new ambition! Thank you so much!
Yes! Finally it’s clicking! Been “reginning” for about a year now and NO ONE has said “you MUST start with the major scale as it’s the mother of all music”! And NO ONE has explained that you really need to learn scales in a liners fashion first, which then makes it MUCH easier to understand how to “link” scales!! THANK YOU!!
I've finally started having lessons after 45 years of sucking at guitar, and this video has helped more than anything I've read or watched so far. I might put my headphones on, and play it on a loop while I sleep.
I have ADD, and have been plucking at a guitar for about 7 years without much progress due to never knowing what to do in regards to learning the scales, and my mind scattering all over the place, refusing to focus and retain information. Especially when all other tutorials have been half baked at best, and my brain struggles to organize things and put it in order. Now I finally get it. This video is amazing, thank you so much.
Dude! Hahaa Idk if you’ll even see this comment, but I just commented something sooo similar a few minutes ago on a video of his I watched right before this one. I’m adhd + asd and after only watching one of his videos my brain was so happy. 😂 It was sooo balanced, keeping my attention the whole time, and the amount of info and the angle in which he gives us the info, it all clicked so nicely. Hell yeah man I love this for you 😂🤘🏽
Everything that I've learned how to do in a traditional way, I applied this type of simplifying approach, before teaching the skill to another person. There is a recognizable human element in making something easier to envision. I so admire this dude for his desire to make this easier for me and others. Thanks Ben, continued success!
There was a guy telling me that learning guitar on UA-cam doesn't work because all the teachers suck and don't teach you the right way to play... He looked suspiciously like my stepdad. Thanks for making my real dad consider noticing me uncle Ben
Whenever I feel too comfortable with my guitar skills, Uncle Ben's always there with the tough love, telling me why I can't shred like Yahweh Mousemeat. Thanks Uncle Ben!
As an intermediate self taught guitar player that doesn’t quite know what I’m doing and likes to noodle over progressions, I think this video just changed my entire outlook! This is great content, thanks for the lesson Ben!
Hey uncle Ben, you speak clearly and describe things clearly. you are perhaps the easiest teacher to understand on utube. you're also entertaining! all in all just great. but you could slow down just a little when you're showing those shapes and stuff. after all man, you got to remember the rest of us, well, "We suck at guitar" cause we ain't listened to our uncle ben enough. I'm 61 and you gotta teach me to shred cause it's on my bucket list and the clocks tickin dude. Peace and keep it up.
Listen, Listen, Listen This is a must.... It took me years to learn this! Gigging for 45yrs plus. I couldn't explain it any better!!! Thank you, Ben!!!!
I really envy young guitar players just starting out learning to play. I'm 35 and started playing guitar at 14. It was 1998 and UA-cam was still years away. I never had access to any lessons like this and magazines from that time really blinded you with lots of theory. The concept of learning the major scale as a sequence of steps and half steps is so simple but really effective - and means you can apply it to different keys really quickly. So much easier than learning fret numbers (which change the moment the key changes). Great video Uncle Ben!
I agree. Im 40 and started playing when i was 16. I dont suck but im jealous of the younger guys who started learning with access to youtube and on line material like this. Most can probably shred the hell out of me. At least with solos. If i had the patience, time and motivation i had back then with the same access to this material id be a famous youtuber myself by now. After all these years im kind of forcing myself to take a step back and learn more theory. Thanks to guys like Ben, Steve Stine, Music is Win and countless others for breaking things down for almost anybody to be able to understand.
Learning music theory and how to read music is exactly why you didn't understand and would have taken much less time than learning by fret patterns. The theory isn't meant to "blind" you.
Bro I’m 47 but started a bit late at the age of 17 (1989). Magazines and tab books was it for me but good luck finding those books back then pre-internet
Started playing bass in1985 at age 10 by copying Steve Harris, Paul McCartney, Geezer Butler from records. Gave my self basic sight reading training and learned the neck. In high school jazz band I started to hear how to walk through changes more complex. Thankfully my ear could hear the intervals. Tablature is not the way to learn guitar. The dot on string chord chart is much better for visualizing the neck. I had a few DCI VHS lessons back then. Mel Bay books, ect. The Jamie Ambersold tapes. Ect. Since the the advent of youtube my knowledge of theory and harmony has increased exponentially. New players have such a valuable resource on youtube such as this fantastic lesson.
This is a great tutorial because I've been playing guitar for about 6 years now and I still can't fully wrap my head around guitar music theory. I'm fully self-taught in guitar and I have come a long way learning really challenging songs and I found it's all about repetition, repetition, repetition ladies and gentlemen. I've been at a stage for a couple years now where I still didn't know how to get better and was almost stuck at my guitar learning level. I learnt general music theory at university (mainly on piano) but I found it hard to transfer that knowledge to the guitar. What you said in this video makes perfect sense to me now and I can finally start applying this knowledge to create my own sequences instead of just learning songs and not really knowing how this riff or solo was created musically or what it means. Learning songs is useful don't get me wrong because you get used to certain techniques but learning this stuff helps you understand why instead of how. I owe you a drink my man because this is one of the best and most easily explained scale tutorials out there on UA-cam by a long stretch. I'd pay literally £30 for a tutor per hour just to show me loads of modes but you my friend did this for free and helped so many people learn the basics including me, keep doing what you're doing and thank you.
I've been playing guitar for 30 years and I've NEVER seen this taught so well. There is no "may actually be" about it, @GrantMecozzi. I 100% agree with you. It IS, without doubt, the most important guitar lesson on. the internet - PERIOD!!! This lesson should be watched by every struggling git player. Ben, you just changed my musical life and gave me the keys to the guitar playing kingdom... You should win a Pulitzer prize for this. Much respect dude... If you've watched this and are reading my comment and don't realize the significance of this lesson - I respectfully suggest you give up guitar...
I've been playing guitar for over 55 years, and I've seen/heard/watched/read from a book, etc., what amounts to everything in this lesson, but I've never heard it tied together in anywhere near this illuminating of a way. Waaaaaay back, LONG before the Internet, virtually every guitar method, whether a book or, nowadays, a video, begins with "learning the Major scale." Most, if not all, take you through the motions of memorizing this, as well as other scales, but they typically fail miserably at teaching you what to actually DO with them! They try like hell, but none of them manage to connect it all in a logical, useful, and intuitive way. Watching this made it feel like the scales have fallen from my eyes (pun totally intended)! This IS the most important guitar lesson on the Internet and, for me, this is the most important lesson via ANY medium. Ever.
As someone who didn’t know shit about music theory for over 20 years, this was the best explanation of doing a major scale on guitar. This immediately opened things up for me in not just speed, but approach. Thanks for the kick ass lesson, Ben. 👍🏼
For a long time I used to think I could get away with knowing only pentatonic/blues scale. But once I learned the major scale I suddenly started to UNDERSTAND how the music theory works (thanks Rick Beato ! The best music teacher on UA-cam), it totally opened my mind. I discovered intervals, modes, I started to build chords everywhere on the neck and move between different keys. Major scale is absolute must for every guitarist. All of the basics of music theory lay within it.
learned more watching this video than in the last 4 days of searching UA-cam to learn scales etc. the epiphany of going up a fret at the B string was phenomenal to my brain. thanks.
Beginning from scratch at 45, my first guitar arrives tomorrow. Been trawling through "beginner" vids looking for an explanation of the fundamentals which are surely vital to grasp before anything else?! Nobody except you explains what I've been looking for- to understand where the scales are before I pick it up - so thank you, you may have just saved me years of frustration & misunderstanding by jumping straight into chords without understanding what they're even based on!
That’s great! And especially if you’re just getting started, be sure to spend the vast majority of your time learning songs! I swear to you, it’ll help you develop at lightening speed. Cheers!
The pocket octaves part was great. I always changed position when landing on a root note to a different CAGED pattern, but when Ben threw in key changes it opened up more doors of thinking. Thank you for the lesson!
Dude, I love you! Out of all of the many guitar teachers I've found here on youtube, you are leagues above everyone else. It makes me so happy I finally found someone that makes sense to me after all these years of searching. You get to the point, do a great job of avoiding confusion, got humor and actually shows tabs in video etc. Just top Notch stuff! Am literally binge watching your stuff now and loving all of it! Thank you for doing this, and please never stop, you rock!
I’ve been playing for 30+ years and I know I suck. I play just good enough to fool people who can’t play. I tried taking lessons many years ago and just couldn’t wrap my head around theory, which proves that my teacher sucked. Your 25 minute video unlocked something I never knew was there the whole time. Granted I still suck but that’s slowly changing. Killer lessons Uncle Ben
Describing the scale as an order of whole and half steps has finally made me understand them, which I never thought I'd ever be able to do, so thank you.
Holy shit dude. I have played for years and have always been more of a “feel” player and struggled with theory. It’s like algebra to me or something. This is the best breakdown of the concepts in a teaching way I’ve ever come across. Huge help. You rock
ive been trying to understand scales especially with how to do them with the pattern istead of down the string, i couldnt understand it for the life of me untill now. this video really helped me. thanks so much
I've been playing for over 10 years and haven't come across anything that breaks this down and connects the "islands" for me. This was so simple to understand. Glad I stumbled upon your videos. I feel like I might be able to learn some theory now instead of just reading and playing tabs forever. THANK YOU!
Best teacher on the internets by FAR. Ive known this lesson and the major scale forever but his explanation is easy to understand and he explains it EXACTLY how I explain it to other people. The way he understands the fret board is a lot like mine. As such, if I need to learn something Ill first check if he has a lesson about it first.
the cool thing is that for every major scale there is a relative minor associated which exploits the same scale pattern. if you take the A major, its relative minor is the F#. Besides the F# minor scale, it is possible to use this very same pattern to construct the seven modes connected to A and the pentatonic scale associated with some of them. Just using the A major keynotes, starting from a different note than A, it is given the following: F#=minor scale. pentatonic. G#=ionian mode. A=major scale/mode. B=dorian mode/pentatonic. C#=phrygian mode, pentatonic. D=lydian mode. E=mixolydian mode. Learning one pattern means to unfold 8 scales with common notes.
After wandering the wilderness of guitar magazine tabs for decades, you have explained a scale in a way that makes some darn sense! I have been set on fire and will be warm for the rest of my life.
18:48 +500 points for explaining the "why"... and another+4000 points for knowing how to show this non-offensively. This is my desert island YT channel. Thank you BE - cheers!
Best guitar lesson i've ever had. I know more now about how the fretboard is connected and can be moved around on, than i ever have. THANK YOU. Subbed the other day.
Hey Ben... I think I ran into you after a White Chapel show. I think it was the one I went to at the Eagles Nest in Milwaukee, Black Dahlia Murder was playing too. I was partying with a couple of the guys after the show in back by the bus and we were playing this game where you throw a bolo type object at a target that had three rods you had to throw the bolo around one for points. It was quite a few years ago so I'm not exactly sure it was you. Anyway... I found your UA-cam channel a couple of years ago and always wanted to ask if one of the guys was you because you look familiar. Keep on keeping on Uncle Ben, your channel rocks!
Hey Ben... I want to clarify my vague question. I guess I am asking if you were doing shows with White Chapel about 12 years ago or so. It was in Milwaukee and the next show was in Ohio then back to Chicago at the Hard Rock. White Chapel invited me to the Hard Rock show because I live in Chicago. Just curious.
Great lesson. I'd like to suggest tone settings to everyone too for a shredding tone. Low: 3 Mids: 5 High: 9 Distortion Chorus modulation Delay 367 MMS Reverb high
This is good stuff..guys like me whove been playing for 25 years, have natural talent, but suck..can really benefit from a no nonsense simple video like this..keep em coming..subbed
I wish there was a way to direct every aspiring guitar player digging through YT for lessons to this very video. This is SO important and you articulate WHY it's so important and the practical applications of this so well. And to top it all of you're doing it for free. You're a damn saint, Ben.
Ben is a fantastic and brilliant teacher. I've been playing 40 plus years and stumble all over what he teaches in a way that the dots are so connected. Thanks Ben for the enlightenment.
I been playing 25 years. I didn't know I already knew all this until you explained it this clearly. I can in one day! Play the way I can in my dreams now. Thanks
The 3 note per string major scale is the first thing my teacher, Johnny Monaco, made me learn then how run up the neck and also the cycle of fifths. After that he said it was a waste to continue paying him since I had chords and stuff down. He threw scales and theory at me and sent me packing lol.
The Ben Eller Commandments 1. Every Note Is Everywhere 2. Play The Ball Where It Lies 3. Learn The Major Scale Inside And Out 4. Always Know Where The Root Note Is 5 W-W-H-W-W-W-H Thank you Uncle Ben. You teach, I learn.
Hi there, What you just explained is why I don't make a big guitar progression anymore; although I am the 41 year old singer and rhythm guitarist of a very small band, who perform old school rock and roll (ZZ top, AC / DC, Triggerfinger, Queen, The Kinks, Airbourne ...). I accidentally watched your video from my bathtub in Belgium at 10pm and ... it's like a whole new world opens up before my eyes. I feel stupid and motivated at the same time :-). A new practice world is coming. I can't express how grateful I am for posting this video. You deserve a noble prize for "Dummy proof guitar teacher of the year". Subscription done!
Thank you Ben,, anything you share is okay 30 minutes is a well invested amount of time**!! Making reference to Allen has finally locked it up, you're the man the mentor, your advice alone will be treasurer for life for me, super appreciate it.
Man, I don't know how much I can thank you for this stuff but you're hands down the best guitar teacher I've ever met and I've tried a few, plus a lot of youtube / online stuff. You literally manage to unpack stuff in minutes that others teach you over the course of weeks and make your head spin. :D Truly the way to go!! I'm a professional in other stuff and I suck at guitar but I spot a talent when I see one, you rock at this! I don't know for how long I suck at guitar if you keep coming up with this stuff!!! :DD As for future content I propose more of this, tools to help you improvise. Anyone can practice shreddin' patterns but unleashing the inner musician, learning your instrument and then being able to play what you hear in your head is the shit. Lotsa love from Finland! -Petri Väätäinen
Awesome, After years of being a Vocalist, who owns electric and acoustic guitars, but is not what you would call a guitarist, I've seen every kinda lesson and tutorial under the sun. But the WAY in which you explained that, I learned more in 1/2 an hour than I have in the last 30 years. So thanks for that man. I really like your honest, no bullshit approach, plus I'm so glad you likened fret numbering to memorising the phone book😊, I detest all that crap. I know you've gotta, 'wax on, wax off' a little, learning anything, but I don't wanna have to memorise the periodic table of elements FFS!! So, quite simply, thanks, and SUBSCRIBED!
Incidentally Ben, as I said, I'm a vocalist, not really a guitarist, please, if you find the time, have a listen to my version of Ain't talkin bout love. I posted a link on your breakdown of that track. But here's the link to my studio channel. ua-cam.com/video/INo6NOsxTwE/v-deo.html
Thank you for both of your videos: major and minors scales which gave me visual explanations and visualization of what I have to do with narrowing scales and how to practice and make connections within.
Been looking forward to this since seeing your Instagram post, even though I know my major scale. What I want to master is how to apply modes in my lead. Now that would be a great post. Practicing to a backing rack is pure gold advice.
A simple starter: Take C Major scale, bang out each mode. Look at what tones stand out from each other scale (usually 1 or 2 notes), and focus those over the corresponding chord. For C major, the 4th mode (F Lydian) has that major 7, and augmented 4th (creates tritone like Locrian's diminished 5th). Focus those 2 tones over an F Major chord played in C Major. Starter example in C Major: Ionian CDEBFGAB (7th), Dorian DEFGABC (6th), Phrygian EFGABCD (2nd), Lydian FGABCDE (4th 7th), Mixolydian GABCDEF (7th), Aeolian ABCDEFG, Locrian BCDEFGA (5th as passing note). Other notes are considered as well, depending on teacher, and usage. Certain chords in key will contain the key notes of each mode, making them give that mode's "sound". Good luck!
I’ve played bass for around 30 years and I have only played by ear. If it sounds good. It’s probably right. It’s like the Eddie VanHalen method. It’s worked for me. So if it ain’t broke. Don’t fix it. Well I’m older now. That theory couldn’t be more wrong. The way you teach is incredible. For my brain. It works incredibly. Thanks and keep it up . You are the best teacher I’ve ever been taught by thanks again. You’re awsome.
Holy sh%t! I've spent the last ~6 years getting serious about finally learning guitar properly and it never even occurred to me how fundamentally important this nugget of knowledge actually is. I'm a 100% serious here. I think this might well be the lightbulb moment that I've been missing. There's a big difference between being able to play guitar and being able to speak through it and I could never quite get to that point. Thank you for this.
I suck at coming up with a daily practice routine to become a well rounded guitar player. I feel like all I do is jump around UA-cam and get bits and pieces. I need a daily practice routine covering rock chords, scales, arpeggios, soloing up and down the fretboard in all keys, transposing..... Help me uncle Ben 👍
Hi Ben! I have been messing about on the guitar for about 5 years, not really knowing what I was doing and never really improving. This video of yours is the first that has made sense to me! You are a magical teacher. You have enriched my life. It takes discipline to unlock true freedom! Thankyou, friend.
Yes he did he also took extra music classes at Pasadena. What the beast know are intervals. If you listen to the solo on. On Fire that run is major Ed will surprise you
Thank you, thank you, thank you . This is just what I needed . This is so easy to understand I can’t thank you enough . I’ll be practising this lesson over and over
Thanks for learning all about the major scale, guys! What do you suck at on guitar that we should talk about next time on TIWYSAG?
You had me at the intro. Basic, quick chord changes without barring all the time. Just my thoughts. Thanks Uncle Ben.
Hmm, what about the intricacies of a Neil Breen film?
In all seriousness, how to take my fingers to slow and lame to speedy weedlyweedlers
Modes please! I would love to hear your take on modes. I think it would help a lot. If modes are too complex for now, how about just learning how to play to a backing track or a drum beat (for the people who are the only person that plays an instrument in their friend group *cough* *cough*)
Ben Eller playing over chord tones I still don’t get it .
That was the best guitar lesson I've ever had. Practical, digestible, inspiring. Been a wankshop fan, but now this is my new favorite.
Clearest explanation of something that my brain has resisted understanding for over 30 years. Subscribed.
Same!
Yeah it makes me realize how little I know about guitar. Guess I will never have that radio hit.
same
Same👍
Word.
Uncle Ben, you bastard! You just taught me more theory in five minutes than I’ve learned in 40 years of playing on my own.
Wow! That's a long time not to know this already.Almost half a century.
This was a major help.
Pun intended
Ahhaha
Dang! Beat me to it! Minor bummer.
fucking minors!
He made it seem to take minor effort
part 1 : 2:08
part 2 : 6:05
part 3 : 11:24
part 4 : 17:21
part 5 : 22:32
summary, tips, secrets : 27:11
important secrets: 28:02
A THANK YOU WILL WORK.
Thank you
grassy ass
@@sharadaprasad9311 no need dude
@@velvetlies8923 lol . i didn't understand what you mean
Or, if you want it even quicker:
1. 26:40 Linear
2. 26:44 Standard form
3. 26:49 One-octave shapes
4. 26:57 3-notes per string
5. 27:03 4-notes per string
;-)
Seriously though... these are really awesome tips.
I’ve been playing guitar for about 21 years. Played pretty consistently from ages 14-30. I got really good at doing covers. Playing technical metal stuff note for note but never rally knowing the fundamentals behind it all. Got consumed with work and it sucked out my soul and will to play. Stopped playing for almost 4 years. I decided to go back into it as a beginner to really learn the fretboard, chords, scales, etc.
I’ve watched countless lessons and tutorials over the years, and none of them at quite as clear, concise, and efficient than yours. They really do help, SO much.
This is almost my exact story, except that I played violin before guitar and then forgot everything I'd learned about music theory. So now I'm in a rut trying to go beyond where I was years ago on guitar plus the music theory and playing technique that I never got past. It's very frequently frustrating - especially when I listen to all these other players and it seems like if I wanted to ever get there I would have to have played religiously throughout.
@@HerrinSchadenfreude Life happens brother. I still find it hard to pick it up. I know it will be cathartic for me, but it’s like I have this block telling me I shouldn’t be playing. I don’t know how to get passed it. Hope it works out for the both of us.
Same! 41 years old now and feel like I’m starting from the beginning. To all you self taught folk out there, take some lessons!! Or watch Ben lol. You can’t teach yourself something you don’t know even exists
I know this is an older video but, in my endeavor to get past the boredom of a beginner. Practicing the same scales over and over, I found this video. Awesome! You just gave me a new life and new ambition! Thank you so much!
Glad to help!!!
Yes! Finally it’s clicking! Been “reginning” for about a year now and NO ONE has said “you MUST start with the major scale as it’s the mother of all music”! And NO ONE has explained that you really need to learn scales in a liners fashion first, which then makes it MUCH easier to understand how to “link” scales!! THANK YOU!!
I've finally started having lessons after 45 years of sucking at guitar, and this video has helped more than anything I've read or watched so far. I might put my headphones on, and play it on a loop while I sleep.
I have ADD, and have been plucking at a guitar for about 7 years without much progress due to never knowing what to do in regards to learning the scales, and my mind scattering all over the place, refusing to focus and retain information. Especially when all other tutorials have been half baked at best, and my brain struggles to organize things and put it in order.
Now I finally get it. This video is amazing, thank you so much.
Dude! Hahaa Idk if you’ll even see this comment, but I just commented something sooo similar a few minutes ago on a video of his I watched right before this one. I’m adhd + asd and after only watching one of his videos my brain was so happy. 😂 It was sooo balanced, keeping my attention the whole time, and the amount of info and the angle in which he gives us the info, it all clicked so nicely. Hell yeah man I love this for you 😂🤘🏽
@@Gothgalactica I'm ADHD + ASD as well.😄
Awesome to see others with the same experience. Kudos again to Ben for being an awesome teacher.
@@WolfieboyMachi Ha! We even find one another in random comment sections 😂✨ I love it 🤘🏽
Everything that I've learned how to do in a traditional way, I applied this type of simplifying approach, before teaching the skill to another person. There is a recognizable human element in making something easier to envision. I so admire this dude for his desire to make this easier for me and others. Thanks Ben, continued success!
Cheers buddy, thank you!
There was a guy telling me that learning guitar on UA-cam doesn't work because all the teachers suck and don't teach you the right way to play...
He looked suspiciously like my stepdad. Thanks for making my real dad consider noticing me uncle Ben
Because its all supplemental its like knowing a a bunch of words of a foreign language but you cant write or hold a conversation
Awesome! thank you, it was a lot to take in and I'm excited to get started. I'll be back
Whenever I feel too comfortable with my guitar skills, Uncle Ben's always there with the tough love, telling me why I can't shred like Yahweh Mousemeat. Thanks Uncle Ben!
Favorite guitar channel. Im gonna watch this video daily until it sinks in totally.
Why You Suck At Guitar is how I found this channel. Glad it's continuing!
As an intermediate self taught guitar player that doesn’t quite know what I’m doing and likes to noodle over progressions, I think this video just changed my entire outlook! This is great content, thanks for the lesson Ben!
Thanks Uncle Ben. Your wild rice is good, too.
Uncle bens rice is amazing
@Chris Kinsella Not to worry, Chris. Mars, intends to change branding to get rid of legacy stereotyping.
Thanks uncle Ben, watched countless videos, but this is the first time l'm able to understand scales properly logically from your video
P M thank you!
Hey uncle Ben, you speak clearly and describe things clearly. you are perhaps the easiest teacher to understand on utube. you're also entertaining! all in all just great. but you could slow down just a little when you're showing those shapes and stuff. after all man, you got to remember the rest of us, well, "We suck at guitar" cause we ain't listened to our uncle ben enough. I'm 61 and you gotta teach me to shred cause it's on my bucket list and the clocks tickin dude. Peace and keep it up.
Listen, Listen, Listen This is a must.... It took me years to learn this! Gigging for 45yrs plus. I couldn't explain it any better!!! Thank you, Ben!!!!
I really envy young guitar players just starting out learning to play. I'm 35 and started playing guitar at 14. It was 1998 and UA-cam was still years away. I never had access to any lessons like this and magazines from that time really blinded you with lots of theory. The concept of learning the major scale as a sequence of steps and half steps is so simple but really effective - and means you can apply it to different keys really quickly. So much easier than learning fret numbers (which change the moment the key changes). Great video Uncle Ben!
I agree. Im 40 and started playing when i was 16. I dont suck but im jealous of the younger guys who started learning with access to youtube and on line material like this. Most can probably shred the hell out of me. At least with solos. If i had the patience, time and motivation i had back then with the same access to this material id be a famous youtuber myself by now. After all these years im kind of forcing myself to take a step back and learn more theory. Thanks to guys like Ben, Steve Stine, Music is Win and countless others for breaking things down for almost anybody to be able to understand.
Learning music theory and how to read music is exactly why you didn't understand and would have taken much less time than learning by fret patterns. The theory isn't meant to "blind" you.
Bro I’m 47 but started a bit late at the age of 17 (1989). Magazines and tab books was it for me but good luck finding those books back then pre-internet
Started playing bass in1985 at age 10 by copying Steve Harris, Paul McCartney, Geezer Butler from records. Gave my self basic sight reading training and learned the neck. In high school jazz band I started to hear how to walk through changes more complex. Thankfully my ear could hear the intervals. Tablature is not the way to learn guitar. The dot on string chord chart is much better for visualizing the neck. I had a few DCI VHS lessons back then. Mel Bay books, ect. The Jamie Ambersold tapes. Ect. Since the the advent of youtube my knowledge of theory and harmony has increased exponentially. New players have such a valuable resource on youtube such as this fantastic lesson.
This is a great tutorial because I've been playing guitar for about 6 years now and I still can't fully wrap my head around guitar music theory. I'm fully self-taught in guitar and I have come a long way learning really challenging songs and I found it's all about repetition, repetition, repetition ladies and gentlemen. I've been at a stage for a couple years now where I still didn't know how to get better and was almost stuck at my guitar learning level. I learnt general music theory at university (mainly on piano) but I found it hard to transfer that knowledge to the guitar. What you said in this video makes perfect sense to me now and I can finally start applying this knowledge to create my own sequences instead of just learning songs and not really knowing how this riff or solo was created musically or what it means. Learning songs is useful don't get me wrong because you get used to certain techniques but learning this stuff helps you understand why instead of how.
I owe you a drink my man because this is one of the best and most easily explained scale tutorials out there on UA-cam by a long stretch. I'd pay literally £30 for a tutor per hour just to show me loads of modes but you my friend did this for free and helped so many people learn the basics including me, keep doing what you're doing and thank you.
Nice. I've been playing guitar for almost a year now, and i just started to learn music theory.
This may actually be the most important guitar lesson on the internet
I've been playing guitar for 30 years and I've NEVER seen this taught so well. There is no "may actually be" about it, @GrantMecozzi. I 100% agree with you. It IS, without doubt, the most important guitar lesson on. the internet - PERIOD!!! This lesson should be watched by every struggling git player. Ben, you just changed my musical life and gave me the keys to the guitar playing kingdom... You should win a Pulitzer prize for this. Much respect dude... If you've watched this and are reading my comment and don't realize the significance of this lesson - I respectfully suggest you give up guitar...
Agree. Delivered with ease.
I've been playing guitar for over 55 years, and I've seen/heard/watched/read from a book, etc., what amounts to everything in this lesson, but I've never heard it tied together in anywhere near this illuminating of a way. Waaaaaay back, LONG before the Internet, virtually every guitar method, whether a book or, nowadays, a video, begins with "learning the Major scale." Most, if not all, take you through the motions of memorizing this, as well as other scales, but they typically fail miserably at teaching you what to actually DO with them! They try like hell, but none of them manage to connect it all in a logical, useful, and intuitive way. Watching this made it feel like the scales have fallen from my eyes (pun totally intended)! This IS the most important guitar lesson on the Internet and, for me, this is the most important lesson via ANY medium. Ever.
As someone who didn’t know shit about music theory for over 20 years, this was the best explanation of doing a major scale on guitar. This immediately opened things up for me in not just speed, but approach. Thanks for the kick ass lesson, Ben. 👍🏼
For a long time I used to think I could get away with knowing only pentatonic/blues scale.
But once I learned the major scale I suddenly started to UNDERSTAND how the music theory works (thanks Rick Beato ! The best music teacher on UA-cam), it totally opened my mind. I discovered intervals, modes, I started to build chords everywhere on the neck and move between different keys.
Major scale is absolute must for every guitarist. All of the basics of music theory lay within it.
I NEVER thought of the pocket octaves thing! I shall go forth and pass this on to others and I shall dub them "Poctaves" ! XD
You had me at the Terry Pratchett quote. Subscribed.
learned more watching this video than in the last 4 days of searching UA-cam to learn scales etc. the epiphany of going up a fret at the B string was phenomenal to my brain. thanks.
Man, you really speak a language that made me understand this SO much more than I ever did before! Awesome teacher
Beginning from scratch at 45, my first guitar arrives tomorrow. Been trawling through "beginner" vids looking for an explanation of the fundamentals which are surely vital to grasp before anything else?! Nobody except you explains what I've been looking for- to understand where the scales are before I pick it up - so thank you, you may have just saved me years of frustration & misunderstanding by jumping straight into chords without understanding what they're even based on!
That’s great! And especially if you’re just getting started, be sure to spend the vast majority of your time learning songs! I swear to you, it’ll help you develop at lightening speed. Cheers!
The pocket octaves part was great. I always changed position when landing on a root note to a different CAGED pattern, but when Ben threw in key changes it opened up more doors of thinking.
Thank you for the lesson!
Dude, I love you!
Out of all of the many guitar teachers I've found here on youtube, you are leagues above everyone else.
It makes me so happy I finally found someone that makes sense to me after all these years of searching.
You get to the point, do a great job of avoiding confusion, got humor and actually shows tabs in video etc. Just top Notch stuff!
Am literally binge watching your stuff now and loving all of it!
Thank you for doing this, and please never stop, you rock!
This is the scale lesson I've been looking for 4 over a decade. Great lesson, thanks uncle Ben!
Thanks Ben! great quick lesson.
How did you know that I suck at guitar, uncle Ben?
Juan Ramz your mom told me last Friday
@@BenEller daaaaaaaaaaaaam son!
@@BenEller oooh fuck
@@BenEller ouch.
That was an unnecessary escalation.
I’ve been playing for 30+ years and I know I suck. I play just good enough to fool people who can’t play. I tried taking lessons many years ago and just couldn’t wrap my head around theory, which proves that my teacher sucked. Your 25 minute video unlocked something I never knew was there the whole time. Granted I still suck but that’s slowly changing. Killer lessons Uncle Ben
Describing the scale as an order of whole and half steps has finally made me understand them, which I never thought I'd ever be able to do, so thank you.
Thanks for spending so much of your time putting this lesson together. It's very good.
I’ve waited a long time for you to give me another reason why I suck. Thanks Uncle Ben!
Holy shit dude. I have played for years and have always been more of a “feel” player and struggled with theory. It’s like algebra to me or something. This is the best breakdown of the concepts in a teaching way I’ve ever come across. Huge help. You rock
Thanks a ton!!! Watch the minor scale video next!
@@BenEller Thank YOU man!! I did and have it playlisted too ha!!
ive been trying to understand scales especially with how to do them with the pattern istead of down the string, i couldnt understand it for the life of me untill now. this video really helped me. thanks so much
I've been playing for over 10 years and haven't come across anything that breaks this down and connects the "islands" for me. This was so simple to understand. Glad I stumbled upon your videos. I feel like I might be able to learn some theory now instead of just reading and playing tabs forever. THANK YOU!
As a new guitar player, this TUTORIAL IS THE BOMB!!! THANK YOU!!
Cool, informative, understandable...thanx a lot, Uncle Ben...again!
Best teacher on the internets by FAR. Ive known this lesson and the major scale forever but his explanation is easy to understand and he explains it EXACTLY how I explain it to other people. The way he understands the fret board is a lot like mine. As such, if I need to learn something Ill first check if he has a lesson about it first.
the cool thing is that for every major scale there is a relative minor associated which exploits the same scale pattern. if you take the A major, its relative minor is the F#. Besides the F# minor scale, it is possible to use this very same pattern to construct the seven modes connected to A and the pentatonic scale associated with some of them. Just using the A major keynotes, starting from a different note than A, it is given the following: F#=minor scale. pentatonic. G#=ionian mode. A=major scale/mode. B=dorian mode/pentatonic. C#=phrygian mode, pentatonic. D=lydian mode. E=mixolydian mode. Learning one pattern means to unfold 8 scales with common notes.
Wow, this is awesome!! Thank you!!
How did Ben know I was sucking at guitar again?
Your finish line analogy makes a whole lot of sense.
"Uncle Ben" .. Show some respect for gods sake
After wandering the wilderness of guitar magazine tabs for decades, you have explained a scale in a way that makes some darn sense! I have been set on fire and will be warm for the rest of my life.
Uncle Ben is my real dad. My step dad couldn't teach like this😂
Maybe he was just a half-step dad 😃
I have been playing 40+ years. This is a great lesson. Kudos to Uncle Ben.
18:48 +500 points for explaining the "why"... and another+4000 points for knowing how to show this non-offensively. This is my desert island YT channel. Thank you BE - cheers!
Excellent. Thanks so much
this is the most useful 30 minutes of music instruction I have ever experienced. thanks ben!
And at 12 minutes out I had a true revelation. I always start from the low string ... thanx Ben, I needed that.
“Accidental Holdsworth”?? 😂
Totally worth losing coffee through my nose!
And the appropriate accompanying image of the master himself seals the deal.
😂🤣😂
From the way you explain things, to the sequence you explain them, to the way your guitar sounds, everything excellent. Thank you Uncle.
Best guitar lesson i've ever had. I know more now about how the fretboard is connected and can be moved around on, than i ever have. THANK YOU. Subbed the other day.
Thanks Ben!!!! This really help me out. I've been playing all afternoon and the fretboard really make so much more sense.
This is one of the most helpful guitar lesson videos I have ever seen.
Although I will have to watch this video several times, this has been the most simple yet explanatory videos I have found. Ty ✌️
Same here thats why Im adding it to a playlist.
Is Major Scale related to Lieutenant Arpeggio?
I'll see myself out now... 😔
Hey Ben... I think I ran into you after a White Chapel show. I think it was the one I went to at the Eagles Nest in Milwaukee, Black Dahlia Murder was playing too. I was partying with a couple of the guys after the show in back by the bus and we were playing this game where you throw a bolo type object at a target that had three rods you had to throw the bolo around one for points.
It was quite a few years ago so I'm not exactly sure it was you.
Anyway... I found your UA-cam channel a couple of years ago and always wanted to ask if one of the guys was you because you look familiar.
Keep on keeping on Uncle Ben, your channel rocks!
No, that would be Captain Crescendo
Yes, you do that, "Dad-joke Donnie"! Haha ha..
Hey Ben... I want to clarify my vague question.
I guess I am asking if you were doing shows with White Chapel about 12 years ago or so. It was in Milwaukee and the next show was in Ohio then back to Chicago at the Hard Rock. White Chapel invited me to the Hard Rock show because I live in Chicago.
Just curious.
@@donniebrook9900 I do not comment much, but was this bolo game called ladder golf? Ayeeeee
Great lesson. I'd like to suggest tone settings to everyone too for a shredding tone.
Low: 3
Mids: 5
High: 9
Distortion
Chorus modulation
Delay 367 MMS
Reverb high
This is good stuff..guys like me whove been playing for 25 years, have natural talent, but suck..can really benefit from a no nonsense simple video like this..keep em coming..subbed
I'm with ya in that comment. 33 years of sucking for me. Wish I would've learned this years ago.
This videos have just improved my understanding of the scale. I wouldn't have done it without it. Thank you!🇵🇬
I wish there was a way to direct every aspiring guitar player digging through YT for lessons to this very video. This is SO important and you articulate WHY it's so important and the practical applications of this so well. And to top it all of you're doing it for free. You're a damn saint, Ben.
Ben is a fantastic and brilliant teacher. I've been playing 40 plus years and stumble all over what he teaches in a way that the dots are so connected. Thanks Ben for the enlightenment.
Just starting to get my head around this so was incredibly helpful thankyou
I been playing 25 years. I didn't know I already knew all this until you explained it this clearly. I can in one day! Play the way I can in my dreams now. Thanks
I suck at guitar because I do not practice enough, but this stuff gives me something to work on. Thanks for the info.!!!!
Ben you do an excellent job explaining whatever lesson you are teaching. Well done my friend and thank you.
For real Ben is a great teacher and player. Most of the time the person is just one of those things.
The 3 note per string major scale is the first thing my teacher, Johnny Monaco, made me learn then how run up the neck and also the cycle of fifths. After that he said it was a waste to continue paying him since I had chords and stuff down. He threw scales and theory at me and sent me packing lol.
The Ben Eller Commandments
1. Every Note Is Everywhere
2. Play The Ball Where It Lies
3. Learn The Major Scale Inside And Out
4. Always Know Where The Root Note Is
5 W-W-H-W-W-W-H
Thank you Uncle Ben. You teach, I learn.
What about a lesson on harmony? We all have a melody lead mentality, how many of us think about soloing over the chords with harmony lines instead?
Hi there,
What you just explained is why I don't make a big guitar progression anymore; although I am the 41 year old singer and rhythm guitarist of a very small band, who perform old school rock and roll (ZZ top, AC / DC, Triggerfinger, Queen, The Kinks, Airbourne ...). I accidentally watched your video from my bathtub in Belgium at 10pm and ... it's like a whole new world opens up before my eyes. I feel stupid and motivated at the same time :-). A new practice world is coming. I can't express how grateful I am for posting this video. You deserve a noble prize for "Dummy proof guitar teacher of the year". Subscription done!
I describe it as a spiral staircase with 12 steps. Take 12 steps and you're back where you started, just one floor higher
Thank you Ben,, anything you share is okay 30 minutes is a well invested amount of time**!! Making reference to Allen has finally locked it up, you're the man the mentor, your advice alone will be treasurer for life for me, super appreciate it.
Man, I don't know how much I can thank you for this stuff but you're hands down the best guitar teacher I've ever met and I've tried a few, plus a lot of youtube / online stuff. You literally manage to unpack stuff in minutes that others teach you over the course of weeks and make your head spin. :D Truly the way to go!! I'm a professional in other stuff and I suck at guitar but I spot a talent when I see one, you rock at this! I don't know for how long I suck at guitar if you keep coming up with this stuff!!! :DD As for future content I propose more of this, tools to help you improvise. Anyone can practice shreddin' patterns but unleashing the inner musician, learning your instrument and then being able to play what you hear in your head is the shit. Lotsa love from Finland!
-Petri Väätäinen
Wow, this is gold! That RAM analogy was also genius
Awesome...yes, please do the same for the minor scale!
I've been playing for 40+ years and this is the first time the major scale has been explained in such an easy-to-understand way. Thank you.
Awesome, After years of being a Vocalist, who owns electric and acoustic guitars, but is not what you would call a guitarist, I've seen every kinda lesson and tutorial under the sun. But the WAY in which you explained that, I learned more in 1/2 an hour than I have in the last 30 years. So thanks for that man. I really like your honest, no bullshit approach, plus I'm so glad you likened fret numbering to memorising the phone book😊, I detest all that crap. I know you've gotta, 'wax on, wax off' a little, learning anything, but I don't wanna have to memorise the periodic table of elements FFS!! So, quite simply, thanks, and SUBSCRIBED!
Incidentally Ben, as I said, I'm a vocalist, not really a guitarist, please, if you find the time, have a listen to my version of Ain't talkin bout love. I posted a link on your breakdown of that track. But here's the link to my studio channel.
ua-cam.com/video/INo6NOsxTwE/v-deo.html
Thank you for both of your videos: major and minors scales which gave me visual explanations and visualization of what I have to do with narrowing scales and how to practice and make connections within.
Been looking forward to this since seeing your Instagram post, even though I know my major scale. What I want to master is how to apply modes in my lead. Now that would be a great post. Practicing to a backing rack is pure gold advice.
A simple starter: Take C Major scale, bang out each mode. Look at what tones stand out from each other scale (usually 1 or 2 notes), and focus those over the corresponding chord. For C major, the 4th mode (F Lydian) has that major 7, and augmented 4th (creates tritone like Locrian's diminished 5th). Focus those 2 tones over an F Major chord played in C Major.
Starter example in C Major:
Ionian CDEBFGAB (7th), Dorian DEFGABC (6th), Phrygian EFGABCD (2nd), Lydian FGABCDE (4th 7th), Mixolydian GABCDEF (7th), Aeolian ABCDEFG, Locrian BCDEFGA (5th as passing note). Other notes are considered as well, depending on teacher, and usage.
Certain chords in key will contain the key notes of each mode, making them give that mode's "sound".
Good luck!
I’ve played bass for around 30 years and I have only played by ear. If it sounds good. It’s probably right. It’s like the Eddie VanHalen method. It’s worked for me. So if it ain’t broke. Don’t fix it. Well I’m older now. That theory couldn’t be more wrong. The way you teach is incredible. For my brain. It works incredibly. Thanks and keep it up . You are the best teacher I’ve ever been taught by thanks again. You’re awsome.
Uncle Ben you the genius of the day. I have to hide from people so you muh only friend.
Holy sh%t! I've spent the last ~6 years getting serious about finally learning guitar properly and it never even occurred to me how fundamentally important this nugget of knowledge actually is. I'm a 100% serious here. I think this might well be the lightbulb moment that I've been missing. There's a big difference between being able to play guitar and being able to speak through it and I could never quite get to that point. Thank you for this.
Same here
Wow! You simplified the major scale learning curve. New suscriber here.
fv3video thanks for watching!
This is by far the best lesson on you tube for learning and understanding guitar scales. Thank you.
This was a great lesson. Extremely practical, regardless of genre
Ben you are the greatest thing to happen to the online guitar community my friend.
awwww shucks, thanks man
You're too good for us. If anyone skips this one they should know why [Name of the Video].
videos like this are why i love the internet and its infinite wealth of knowledge !
I suck at coming up with a daily practice routine to become a well rounded guitar player. I feel like all I do is jump around UA-cam and get bits and pieces. I need a daily practice routine covering rock chords, scales, arpeggios, soloing up and down the fretboard in all keys, transposing.....
Help me uncle Ben 👍
I have literally spent months going over videos trying to understand what you have made so easy to understand. Thank you!
Ben, how did you learn how to play guitar? Were you self taught? or A mix of lessons, and Self taught?
watch the very first episode of FAQ You here on my channel!
@@BenEller I watched the FAQ, and I learned that you too doth detest Nickelback?
@@mk8530 Come on, it's become way too fashionable to detest Nickelback. I happen to really like their music, formulaic as it may be.
Hi Ben! I have been messing about on the guitar for about 5 years, not really knowing what I was doing and never really improving. This video of yours is the first that has made sense to me! You are a magical teacher. You have enriched my life. It takes discipline to unlock true freedom! Thankyou, friend.
Joke's on you Ben,
I don't know any scale!
Oh wait, that makes me suck even more.
Yes he did he also took extra music classes at Pasadena. What the beast know are intervals. If you listen to the solo on. On Fire that run is major Ed will surprise you
The reason people think Ed doesn't know scales he hears tones he knows major is whole whole half whole whole whole half
Thank you, thank you, thank you . This is just what I needed . This is so easy to understand I can’t thank you enough . I’ll be practising this lesson over and over