Rock / Blues Scales & Modes for Guitar:

The Hexatonic Scale for guitar - 3

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Continuing with the hexatonic scale

If you've already read the previous two pages about hexatonic scales (starting here), then you'll know that I've said there are four forms of hexatonic scale which every blues/rock guitar player should be familiar with.

Those four forms of hexatonic scale are:

• the minor pentatonic with added augmented 4th / diminished 5th
• the minor pentatonic with added major 7th
• the major pentatonic with added minor 3rd
• the major pentatonic with added minor 6th

We've covered the first two of those four scales: the minor pentatonic with added augmented 4th / diminished 5th, which I've called the minor hexatonic sharp 4, and the minor pentatonic with added major 7th, which I've called the minor hexatonic major 7.

So that leaves two more to cover: the major pentatonic with added minor 3rd, and the major pentatonic with added minor 6th. I'll call these last two scales the major hexatonic minor 3rd and the major hexatonic minor 6th.

However, learning these last two hexatonic scales does not require you to learn any new fretboard patterns at all - if you've learned the fretboard shapes for the first two, then you already know the fretboard shapes for the last two - you just need to know that the root notes are in a different place. This is because of the relationship between every major key and its relative minor key.

Major and relative minor

If you read the page about the pentatonic scale, then you'll know that it has two forms - minor and major - and that the fretboard shapes are identical for both, it's just that the root note is in a different place. The same prinicple applies between the 1st & 3rd, and 2nd & 4th scales on our list above. To clarify:

The fingering patterns on the fretboard are the same for both:

• the minor hexatonic sharp 4
• the major hexatonic minor 3rd

The fingering patterns on the fretboard are also the same for both:

• the minor hexatonic major 7
• the major hexatonic minor 6th

On this page, we'll examine the G major hexatonic minor 3rd scale, which you'll see has an identical fretboard pattern to the E minor hexatonic sharp 4.

The pattern of intervals in the major hexatonic minor 3rd scale

The intervals of the major hexatonic minor 3rd scale are as follows: major 2nd - minor 3rd - major 3rd - perfect 5th - major 6th - octave.

G major hexatonic minor 3rd - first position

Compare that with the first position E minor hexatonic sharp 4:

E minor hexatonic sharp 4 - first position

You can clearly see how the fretboard pattern or shape is the same, only the root notes are different (and, of course, the interval between root note and the added orange note is different - E to A#/Bb is an augmented 4th/diminished 5th, aka sharp 4/flat 5, whereas G to A#/Bb is a minor 3rd).

The other positions of the G major hexatonic minor 3rd scale are as shown below:

G major hexatonic minor 3rd - second position

G major hexatonic minor 3rd - third position

G major hexatonic minor 3rd - fourth position

G major hexatonic minor 3rd - fifth position

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