Hello, and thanks for coming to this, my third article on anything, ever. I'm going to teach you how to play metal that can, and WILL get people moshing. This lesson encompasses ALL styles of extreme metal, and I know that a lot of people don't like all of them. Deathcore, Nu metal and metalcore in particular have received venom. Keep that sh*t to yourself, and respect that this lesson is for ALL styles of metal. I ask now that you do two things.

1. Respect my tastes, and the tastes of other people who read and comment on this, and

2. Have fun, and skip the parts you're simply not interested in.

These lessons, to describe them as generally as possible, are a sort of a master class on everything I know relating to metal, starting from the most basic of basics to the intricacies of lead playing.

These lessons make HEAVY use of guitar tablature, or tab. If you don't know how to read tab, go and google it. They probably have a lesson on that up on here, somewhere, too. If you don't know, go learn that first, then come back here.


Part eight: The Minor Scale and its Three Forms

The minor scale is a scale derived from the typical Major scale, attained by flatting the 3rd of the scale, the 6th of the scale and the 7th of the scale. So, here, the major scale with the scale degrees listed.

E Major

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8(1)
D-------------------13-14-
A----------12-14-16-------
E-12-14-16----------------


So to achieve the natural minor scale, we flat the third, the sixth, and the seventh note in the scale.

1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7 8(1)
D-------------------12-14-
A----------12-14-15-------
E-12-14-15----------------


The minor scale has two variants on this normal pattern. Most classical schools of thought will tell you that you raise the seventh of the natural minor scale to achieve what is called 'harmonic minor,' or to raise the sixth and seventh of the scale to achieve 'melodic minor.' However, I was taught differently. All three forms of the minor scale are derived from MAJOR.

To achieve harmonic minor, instead of raising the seventh degree of E Natural Minor, you simplhy DON'T FLAT IT when starting from major. Look.

E Major is:

E F# G# A B C# D# E
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8(1)

E Natural Minor is:

E F# G A B C D E
1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7 8(1)

E Harmonic Minor is:

E F# G A B C D# E
1 2 b3 4 5 b6 7 8(1)


In E Major, the seventh is D#. In E Harmonic Minor, where we only flat the third and the sixth notes of Major, the seventh is D#. So why then would you go to the trouble of first flatting three notes then raising one note, when you could just flat two notes and be done?

TO tab out E Harmonic minor so you can get a feel for its sound:

D--------------------13-14-
A-----------12-14-15-------
E-12-14-15-----------------


These are the most commonly used forms of the minor scale, and the easiest to understand. The third form is a little confusing. The melodic minor scale is unique in that it does not play the same ascending as it does descending. When ascending, you flat the third note of major, and do nothing else. However, when you're descending with the minor scale, it is the same as Natural minor. To demonstrate this:

E Melodic Minor

ascending descending
D-------------------13-14-12-------------------
A----------12-14-16----------15-14-12----------
E-12-14-15----------------------------15-14-12-


I personally only find melodic minor to be useful when being played quickly in one position, ascending and descending before going into another line. Most players who use it just use the ascending form of the scale. This is the only form of the minor scale that is different from its ascending form when played descending. And play the scales out as position scales, three-note-per-string scales, etc. etc. Memorize it all across the fretboard.

In general, when you build triads off the minor scale, the notes are taken from the harmonic form. This means that the chord qualities for the minor scale are as follows.

i minor
iio diminished
III major OR augmented (in classical theory, III is major, but the notes form an augmented)
iv minor
V major (the notes form a minor, but in general, V is always major. Experiment with both!)
VI major
viio diminished
viii minor


To achieve the augmented III triad, start with your basic major shape, in this case, G Major.

OR
D-12---0-
A-14---2-
E-15---3-


And raise the fifth up one half step.

OR
D-13---1-
A-14---2-
E-15---3-


It's important to understand that when writing songs or improvising leads, you are never confined to using just one form of the minor scale. If you come up with a lick or riff using harmonic minor, you don't have to stick to harmonic minor for the whole song. Experiment with all three forms of the Minor Scale.


Part Nine: Arpeggio tricks

This is gonna be a short little thing on some neat things you can do with the Major and Minor seventh arpeggios I showed last time. To understand why these tricks work, it's important to understand the anatomy of a seventh chord. Just like with triads, you start with one of your scale degrees and take every other note after the first one from your scale. The only difference is that instead of taking only three notes, we take four. This creates a 7th interval between the root of your chord, and the fourth note you take from your scale. This is why they're called seventh chords. You can continue this all the way up to 9ths, 11ths, and 13ths, before you just start stacking octaves.

To get a major seventh chord, you need to have a major triad and a major seventh interval. A major seventh is when you have a root note, and a note above it that is one half step below the octave of the root note. It sounds extremely dissonant on its own. So, in a D Major 7

D F# A C#

as an arpeggiated barre chord

E-------------------10-
B----------------10----
G-------------11-------
D----------11----------
A-------12-------------
E-10-14----------------
D F# A C# F# A D


To get a minor seventh chord, you need to have a minor triad and a minor seventh. To achieve a minor seventh, flat the major seventh, so that the higher note is one whole step below the octave.

DFAC

as an arpeggiated barre chord.

E-----------5-8-----------
B---------6---------------
G-------5-----------------
D-----7-------------------
A-5-8---------------------
D F A C F A D


Now for the 'tricks.' Frankly, they aren't really tricks, just ways to get more notes into your arpeggios. This first trick is one I love to use with the 5-string barre major-7 shape. I've tabbed a C major 7 at the fifteenth fret to minimize stretching in the left hand.

CM7
E----------------------15h19h20p19p15----------------
B-------------------17----------------17-------------
G----------------16----------------------16----------
D-------------17----------------------------17-------
A-15\14/15-19----------------------------------19---- and repeat


You can do the same thing with the minor seven shape, but it's harder because the slide is two frets instead of one.

Cm7
E----------------------15h18h20p18p15--------------
B-------------------16----------------17-----------
G----------------15----------------------15--------
D-------------17----------------------------17-----
A-15\13/15-18----------------------------------18-- and repeat.


Here's another thing you can do with the seventh shapes on lower frets. This little idea helps you get around the fret board more, too.

DM7
E-----------5/9h10p9-----------------------
B---------7----------10--------------------
G-------6---------------11-----------------
D-----7--------------------12--------------
A-5h9--------------------------------------
D F#A C#F#A C#D C# A F# D

Dm7
E-----------5/8h10p8-----------
B---------6----------10--------
G-------5---------------10-7--- either one, they're both the same note.
D-----7--------------------12--
A-5h8--------------------------
D F A C F A C D C A F D

Some seventh chords as three string arpeggios.
G Dominant or
GM7 Gm7 GMm7 Gm7b5* Go7**
E-------10h14p10----------10h13p10----------10h13p10----------9h13p9----------9h12p9-------
B----12----------12----11----------11----12----------12----11--------11----11--------11----
G-12----------------12----------------12----------------12--------------12--------------12-


Play all of these ideas slowly at first.

*vii in a Major key

**vii in a minor key


Part ten: Exotic scales

This first scale has been in common use in jazz for a while, but it's been incorporated into metal in numerous contexts. Jeff Loomis and Nile frequently refer to this one. I know that ALL the verse riffs to 'Papyrus Containing the Spell to Preserve Its Possessor Against Attacks From He Who Is In the Water' are comprised of this scale. This scale repeats every two positions. It's the diminished, whole-half, half-whole or octatonic scale.


Whole half, three notes per string
E-------------------------------4-5-7-------------
B-------------------------4-6-7-------------------
G-------------------4-5-7-------------------------
D-------------4-6-7-------------------------------
A-------5-6-8-------------------------------------
E-5-7-8-------------------------------------------


Half-whole, three notes per string

E-------------------------------3-5-6---
B-------------------------4-5-7---------
G-------------------3-5-6---------------
D-------------4-5-7---------------------
A-------4-6-7---------------------------
E-5-6-8---------------------------------


All triads from any position in this scale are diminished. In general, it's only used for lead playing.

Next up is the augmented scale. It also repeats every two positions. This one's a bit harder because it constitutes a lot of stretching and a lot of position changing.

Augmented, three notes per string.

E-------------------------------------10-13-14-
B----------------------------10-11-14----------
G--------------------7-10-11-------------------
D-------------7-8-11---------------------------
A-------5-8-9----------------------------------
E-5-6-9----------------------------------------

E-----------------------------------------13-14-17---
B--------------------------------11-14-15------------
G-----------------------10-11-14---------------------
D---------------8-11-12------------------------------
A--------8-9-12--------------------------------------
E-6-9-10---------------------------------------------


All triads from this scale are augmented.

The last 'exotic' scale I'll be showing this time is the whole tone scale. It really only has one position that repeats over and over again. Its name is really all you should need to know before figuring it out on your own, but for easiness' sake,

Whole Tone, three notes per string

E----------------------------------9-11-13-
B--------------------------8-10-12---------
G-------------------6-8-10-----------------
D-------------5-7-9------------------------
A-------4-6-8------------------------------
E-3-5-7------------------------------------


Whole Tone, two notes per string

E---------------------3-5-
B-----------------4-6-----
G-------------4-6---------
D---------5-7-------------
A-----6-8-----------------
E-7-9---------------------


That's it. You can start any of these scales on any note. That's all for this lesson, so thanks for reading and commenting.