Movable

[jazzpazz]

Hey. Im bit confused about the movability of shapes in guitar. I know you can move all closed chords all around. Can one do that with scales as well? If it works, im also wondering why so many scale systems exist, caged, Berkley, 3nps etc.

And is it same with melodies? Can they be transposed just by starting on a different root? Same can be done with chords as well?

[SoftwareGuy]

You got it; chords, scales and melodies are all movable.

The difference scales come about because the same note appears on difference strings, leading to the option on when to change springs as you move up and down the scale.

[ragman1]

Can one do that with scales as well?

And is it same with melodies?

Certainly, because you can play the same note/s in several different places on the guitar. Bearing in mind that some fingerings have to be modified because of the tuning of the B string, but that's all.

[bako]

Any playable note combination that doesn’t involve the inclusion of one or more open strings is a moveable shape.
Intervals are the building blocks of both chords and scales. Every interval has two viable ways to be played on guitar.
Chord voicing have more fingering restrictions than scales because every time a finger is placed on a note it imposes some limitation on what additional notes can be physically reached. Scales on the other hand being a sequence of single notes has many more viable fingering paths. On guitar, the number of locations to play a unison ranges from 1 for the lowest and highest note to as many 5.

[jazzpazz]

Thanks for answer guys.

I thought I had full control on this. But I tried transposing a melody by simply just moving it, and as I suspected it didn't work when the (tuned in 3rd) B string is involved.

So Im even more confused

[mr. beaumont]

Thanks for answer guys.

I thought I had full control on this. But I tried transposing a melody by simply just moving it, and as I suspected it didn't work when the (tuned in 3rd) B string is involved.

So Im even more confused

When you say "simply by moving it" you mean to a different string set, right?

[jazzpazz]

When you say "simply by moving it" you mean to a different string set, right?

Moving the melody to another string, yes. But in that way melodies aren't moveable then?

[pamosmusic]

Moving the melody to another string, yes. But in that way melodies aren't moveable then?

Theyre movable across string sets as long as it doesn’t cross the G and B strings.

That little change in tuning helps a good deal with making common chords playable but it does disrupt the movability across string sets.

[SoftwareGuy]

Thanks for answer guys.

I thought I had full control on this. But I tried transposing a melody by simply just moving it, and as I suspected it didn't work when the (tuned in 3rd) B string is involved.

So Im even more confused

You can only move things (scales, chords, and melodies) up and down the neck. Not across the neck. The basic reason is that the interval between adjacent strings is not the same. All adjacent strings are a perfect fourth apart, except the G and B strings which are a major third apart...this, I believe, is the root of your difficulty moving the melody.

I hope this makes sense.