A lesson on minor scales for guitar beginners. From the Secret Guitar Teacher Site : http://secretguitarteacher.com/youtube/ssb.php?lp_id=974 Video script: Whilst there is really only one Major scale, there are several Minor scales that arguably share a similar level of importance. But the Minor scale that most of us first come across is the Natural Minor Scale. In this lesson we'll take a look at a simple way to play the A natural minor scale. Start by aligning your hand - first finger to the first fret, second finger to the second fret and third finger to the third fret . Now play the note A by playing the fifth string open B is fingered at fret 2 by the second finger and C by the 3rd finger at fret 3. One of the things that makes this pattern easy to learn is that the same fingering pattern is used on the next strings as well... So that's open fourth string for D 2nd finger 2nd fret for E and 3rd finger 3rd fret for F. Then the scale is finished off with G on the open 3rd string and A at fret 2 on the 3rd string played with the 2nd finger. Once you have got used to playing this scale up and down and can easily remember how it goes, try finding a few snippets of popular melodies on it. By way of example here are a couple of Minor key melodies you should be able to hunt down on this scale. However, I think it's fair to say that almost all minor key melodies tend to span more than one octave of the scale so I want to show you how you can expand this scale up into the next octave. So once I reach the A here at fret 2 on the 3rd string I can continue into the second octave by playing B using the open 2nd string, C at the first fret and D at the 2nd fret on this string then open E on the top string followed by F at fret 1 and G at fret 3. Then I can reach the higher A by sliding up to fret 5 on the top string like this. Then you can come down in exactly the same manor. To make sure you maintain your hand position try and make sure you use your 3rd finger to play the G at the 3rd fret on the top string...then your 1st finger will pick up the F at fret 1, open E Dt fret 3 on the 2nd string, C at fret 1, open B then on down to the lower octave. Here's the notation for both octaves...and here it is in Tab... Or if preferred, a grid diagram showing finger numbers. With two octaves of the scale under your belt, you should be able to find hundreds of different popular minor key melodies on this scale... Remember, finding melodies on a scale can be slow work at first, but just spending time hunting them down is great ear-training no matter how successful you are.