Darren Frate’s Altered Tunings: Major and Minor Scales

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The last few months we have been working on chord voicings in the C-G-D-A altered tuning. In our continuing look at that tuning it’s time to work on some scales. This month we are going to learn the major and minor scales. Like with standard tuning it’s important to be as familiar with all the possible positions that you can use to play these scales. By being able to start the scale at different places on the neck we can avoid limiting our ability to play freely all across the neck.

First up is a C major scale. For purposes of simplicity I’m going to use tab as opposed to standard notation. You see that in this tuning the major scale becomes a symmetrical scale in nature.

A——————————————————————

D———————————-5—–7——9——-10——

G—5——7——9——-10————————————

C——————————————————————

Next up is a C minor scale.

A————————————————-1——-3——–

D————————-3—–5——-6————————–

G—5—–7——8————————————————-

C——————————————————————-

Again practice these all around the neck and find all the different starting points for these scales. Until next time… See Ya.

Darren Frate has written 5 articles in BMM.

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Darren Frate has been playing bass for more than 35 years, including 15 as a teacher.

Frate, who majored in film scoring at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, specializes in electric bass, music theory and ensembles.

He has toured and played with a variety of national acts, including Herman’s Hermits (“I’m Henry the Eighth, I Am”), Dickey Betts from the Allman Brothers (“Ramblin’ Man”), Gary Lewis and the Playboys (“This Diamond Ring”), Mitch Ryder (“Devil With a Blue Dress On”), Ian Hunter (“Cleveland Rocks”), Gerald Levert (“Casanova”), and the Blind Boys of Alabama.

Frate has also recorded several CDs with his own folk and jazz groups.  The latest release by his current group, Velvet Voyage, features legendary jazz guitarist Mike Stern, known for his work with Miles Davis.