ACOUSTIC GUITAR MAJOR SCALES

A guitar scale is a series of notes in a certain key that make up a melody or harmony to go along with another melody or chord.  In the image above, a C major scale is depicted.  Let me explain what is going on in this image. The rows represent what string you are playing on, the columns represent the frets.  So a C major scale starts on the 3rd fret of the low E string.  The notes in the C major scale, as stated in the previous lesson are C D E F G A B. Those are the only notes we will be playing for this scale.  The grey notes represent the root note, or C.  So when there are multiple grey notes, that means there are multiple octaves in this scale.  An octave is the same note (C for instance) but at a higher pitch.  As you can see above, a C is played on the low E string at the 3rd fret and also at the 5th fret of the D string and third fret of the E string.  The top and bottom strings are the same notes, therefore they are also octaves.  Now more about the scale.  Practice playing this pattern going forward or from the first note to the last, and then backwards, from the last note to the first.  Now that you have that nice and steady, I am about to brighten your day.  

Here is a bit of information that beginners tend not to learn for a long time.  This scale pattern is a movable scale.  That means that you can play this same pattern and play a different scale depending on where your root or beginning note is.  Now you might be confused, but let me make is easier. If you play the same pattern shown above, but start on the 5th fret of the E string or a (D) note, then you will be playing a D major scale,  Same thing goes for frets 1-how every many you have.  The first fret of the E string is an F, so you can play a F major scale, the 2nd, an F#, so you can play an F# major scale. This goes for every fret or note.

Thanks for visiting Asound Academy!

This has been the Major Scales lesson. To continue one, open the Minor Scales lesson.