Learn How to Play The Dorian Guitar Scale
The Dorian scale is a really cool scale to learn if you want to expand your pallet of sounds for the guitar. In this guitar lesson we are going to take a look at a Dorian scale shape as well as how the Dorian scale is made.
The Dorian scale has a minor quality to it but it is not quite as dark sounding as the regular natural minor scale. If you do not know your natural minor guitar scale you can check out this page of online guitar lessons.
Here is a diagram for the Dorian scale. Go through it until you have it memorized. Try to pay attention to the way it sounds. It would be great if you could make a recording of a minor chord, let’s say A minor, and play an A Dorian scale over that chord. If you don’t have a way to record some chords you can download some guitar jam tracks to help you practice.
If you already know your minor scale it will be easy for you to understand how the Dorian scale is made. All you have to do to make a minor scale into a Dorian scale is Raise the 6th scale degree one half step. Use an A minor scale as an example. The A minor scale is spelled A B C D E F G. To make the A minor scale into a Dorian scale, just raise the F to an F#. That’s it. This raised 6th scale degree is what gives the Dorian scale it’s unique sound.
Enjoy playing around with the Dorian scale and incorporate it into your playing. Here is a short guitar lesson video on the Dorian scale.
More Guitar Lessons
| Guitar Scale Lessons | Guitar Theory Lessons |
| Major Pentatonic Scales | How To Read Sheet Music |
| Major Guitar Scale Sequencing | Relative Minor Keys |
| Pentatonic Exercise | How Key Signatures Work |
| Dorian Guitar Scales | How To Find The Key Of A Song |