The Typical Scales

Il y a quatre types de gammes souvent utilisées en manouche:

The diatonic (or natural)

Natural minor (used on a minor or m7 chord), dorian minor (used on a m6 chord) and major (used on a major chord) scales all stem from the diatonic scale. As far as I'm concerned, I mostly use three-note-per-string scales because they're easier to remember and to play over the neck IMO. Actually it's possible to find the ways to play those specific diatonic scales (3 notes per string) applying the following pattern on the neck. This is a very synthetic and visual way to remember. Bear in mind that the pattern shifts one note to the right from the B string upwards. Note the position of the roots for each scale (here in G, D and F for the example).

	En Sol:
	En Ré:
	En Fa:

Besides, this pattenr can be used to easily identify modes. Each coloured note should then be considered as the root and the corresponding mode is played atop.

Harmonic minor scale

Melodic minor scale

Diminished scale

Knowing the patterns for these scales, we can now practice using various exercises that happen to be especially good to warm up, to make the fingers more independent from one another, and to work the different situations when downstrokes are used. See Scales workouts