Originally Posted by: cdawsonHello Everyone,

My name is curtis, ive been a viewer of the forums for some time now. I used to play about 2 years ago but I never got any farther than just looking up tabs and trying to learn them. I want to learn how to make my own riffs and solos but I have no clue where to start. I would also like to know how scales work and how they work in correlation with chords. If anyone could point me in the right direction it would be appreciated! ThX

Hi Curtis, It's best to start at the beginning with the Motherload, That is the almighty Major scale. Chords are built from notes in the scale. Each note in music has it's own Major scale. Since there are 12 notes in music, there are 12 Major scales. Major scales derive from an interval pattern of Whole steps and half steps that follow any note you start on. A whole step = 2 frets up from the starting note, a half step = 1 fret up from the preceding note. The start note is referred to as the Root note. The intervals are as follows;
Root +W+W+h+W+W+W+h.
Say the Root note is "A" .....the A Major scale would be as follows;
A-B-C#-D-E-F#-G#-A...... The Major scale is a 7 note scale, AKA The Diatonic Scale. The notes are numbered in sequence 1-2-3-4-5-6-7---- the 8th note in the A Major scale repeats from the Root, so the 8th note is referred to as the Octive and the scale sequence repeats in the same order of notes. The # symbol following a note = Sharp. the "b" symbol = Flat (should you see Eb in a certain case, it would mean E flat)
To create an A Major chord you would use the 1st, 3rd and 5th intervals of the A Major Scale. The 1st note is A, the 3rd is C# and the 5th is E, so the notes in a A Major Chord are A-C#-E.
That should get you started.......................