How to Build Scales - Guitar Question

"Walter_Mundstock asked "Hi Guys. First of all, I have joined JamPlay a few days ago and I have to say that you guys do an AMAZING job. I wanted to stay at home to be with my recently born daughter and didn't want to quit having guitar classes... JamPlay met perfectly my needs! Thanks guys! I have been having classes about scales, have been practicing and memorizing them, but I would like to understand a little better how these scales are built. I would like to be able to think about any note and build the scale for that key by myself. An exercise I have been doing is to listen to songs, identify its notes and build the scale by applying the WWHWWWH steps. That usually get me setup with something that seems quite right... Is there a "formula" to build pentatonic and other scales just like I'm doing ? Apart of that, I don't really understand what is the difference among a chromatic scale, diatonic scale and so many others... Please help me understand the context of these scales. Thanks. Walter.""

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This is a video response from Mark Lincoln, one of the many JamPlay instructors. If you have guitar related questions, or are struggling with a topic, we field questions every day from guitarists from around the globe. Learn more about our guitar lessons, and especially our live guitar courses for more information.

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