Hexatonic Scale building from the Harmonic Minor Scale Part 1

John McLaughlin Hexatonic Harmonic minor Guitar Scales Lesson and Explanation

Hi Guys,

Today, a quick look at creating a 6 note Hexatonic scale from the harmonic minor scale.

This works really well on the guitar as the harmonic minor scale is generally a clumpy and awkward affair in regards to the fingering.

So, if we take a look at the Harmonic minor scale in its classic, stock form, we have:

But, for effective guitar fingering, especially on a clean guitar or acoustic guitar this is not the most fluid way for the fretting hand.

So, what to do?

Well, the key is to break it up in the most Shakti way possible:

Here’s what we will do: We will employ 6 notes only of the scale. These will be: G# A B D E F

This simple 6 note Hexatonic scale gives us an easy 3 notes per string repetitive figure/pattern to alternate pick.

We can now play this across all 6 strings and create a nice line/phrase/scale that is easy to execute, pick and fret.

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