Hi Eleanor, Reference the pentatonic scale
In a pentatonic scale, only five of the possible pitches within an octave are used. (So the scale will repeat starting at the sixth tone) I would advise using the chromatic scale as there is so much more scope. But even within the pentatonic you can use the same fingerings starting at a different point to be in a difference key.
However. with Chromatic the easiest way to explain is if you have an "F" major at fret 1 then at fret 3 you hsve "G" fret 5 "A" etc so if you learn riffs or whatever in "F" that postion just moved to start at the 3rd fret will put it in "G" and so on.
The Western musical tradition that developed in Europe after the middle ages is based on major and minor scales, but there are other scales that are a part of this tradition.
In the chromatic scale, every interval is a half step. This scale gives all the sharp, flat, and natural notes commonly used in all Western music. It is also the twelve-tone scale used by twentieth-century composers to create their atonal music. Young instrumentalists are encouraged to practice playing the chromatic scale in order to ensure that they know the fingerings for all the notes.
Here is a site where you can learn it....
http://www.cyberfret.com/scales/chromatic/index.php
Hope this is of use to you.
Fenderphil
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