Most people, when hearing the word scales, get a little sleepy eyed. I understand the feeling; for a long time, I thought them boring as well, but now I find them important to my playing.
Whether you know it or not, scales form the base of all we do in music. They help us determine Keys, Patterns, Chords, and so much more. This lesson on scales is not done on the guitar first, it is more of a brain strain, but like I said before, mind over guitar is the way to success.
Let us start with the C major Scale. If you know it already then great, if not here it is:
C D E F G A B C
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8At some point you will want to memorize it forward and backward. This should be easy if you know the alphabet, and I bet you do! Next we need to add how many steps are between each note/letter.
Steps are counted by adding the amount of frets traveled to reach the next note. Each fret is a 1/2 step, so two frets, naturally equal 1 whole step. Let's look at the C major scale on the B string so we can see the steps easier.
Here are the answers: C and D are two frets apart so we count the distance as 1 whole step. The same goes for D and E, but from E to F there is only one fret so they are a 1/2 step apart. Now for the rest: Whole step (F to G), Whole Step (G to A), Whole step (A to B), Half step (B to C). Do not at this point grab your guitar and see how it sounds because that does not matter, instead focus only on the steps. (On a side note, if you are still itching to play it, when playing leads, we do not use the base scale forms--they are the system to create the lead patterns that take riffs and licks into the useful dimension. But learning the patterns before the scales creates holes in our learning and makes us keep asking, Where do my fingers go?)
*For me I split the scale at the F, making it 2 whole steps, 1 half step - 3 whole steps, 1 half step, but while playing I think of it as 2+1, 3+1.*
Now we need to build our note vocabulary. Let me refer back to the C major scale; C,D,E,F,G,A,B,C. As we saw earlier with steps, there are many frets that would not get played, rather just skipped over. From C to D is 1 whole step (2 frets), but what is the note 1 fret away from C (1/2 step). This note is called a Sharp and would be notated as C#.
Sharps are the notes found when moving up the scale half a step (for us guitarists that means up1 fret) , but what happens if we sharp C#? It simply turns into D. I think of this in terms of measurements: 1/8 inch is equal to 2/16 and 2/8 is equal to a 1/4, both 2/16 and 2/8 would be correct mathematically, but not properly used. The same goes here, C# sharped is never said, but it is mathematically correct.
Flats are the notes found when moved down the scale half a step, so D moved down 1 fret is D flat, notated like this Db. The tricky part is that Db is the same as C#, and is used both ways. Here is a chart to help you visualize it. Notice that F and C do not have flats, and B and E do not have sharps.
Your goal in this lesson is to fill in the chart below by remembering the steps between each note on the C scale. The other major scales use the same pattern: 2 whole 1 half, 3 whole 1 half. Look at the note line above and follow the steps in this E major scale as an example; E F# G# A B C# D# E. First use the line, but try to fill the chart in later by memory. And, by the way, on the chart the scales line up vertical and across--that is how you will know you did it right.
Here are the answers:
C D E F G A B C
*For me I split the scale at the F, making it 2 whole steps, 1 half step - 3 whole steps, 1 half step, but while playing I think of it as 2+1, 3+1.*
Now we need to build our note vocabulary. Let me refer back to the C major scale; C,D,E,F,G,A,B,C. As we saw earlier with steps, there are many frets that would not get played, rather just skipped over. From C to D is 1 whole step (2 frets), but what is the note 1 fret away from C (1/2 step). This note is called a Sharp and would be notated as C#.
Sharps are the notes found when moving up the scale half a step (for us guitarists that means up1 fret) , but what happens if we sharp C#? It simply turns into D. I think of this in terms of measurements: 1/8 inch is equal to 2/16 and 2/8 is equal to a 1/4, both 2/16 and 2/8 would be correct mathematically, but not properly used. The same goes here, C# sharped is never said, but it is mathematically correct.
Flats are the notes found when moved down the scale half a step, so D moved down 1 fret is D flat, notated like this Db. The tricky part is that Db is the same as C#, and is used both ways. Here is a chart to help you visualize it. Notice that F and C do not have flats, and B and E do not have sharps.
Your goal in this lesson is to fill in the chart below by remembering the steps between each note on the C scale. The other major scales use the same pattern: 2 whole 1 half, 3 whole 1 half. Look at the note line above and follow the steps in this E major scale as an example; E F# G# A B C# D# E. First use the line, but try to fill the chart in later by memory. And, by the way, on the chart the scales line up vertical and across--that is how you will know you did it right.
Here are the answers:
C D E F G A B C
D E F# G A B C# D
E F# G# A B C# D# E
F G A Bb C D E F
G A B C D E F# G
A B C# D E F# G# A
B C# D# E F# G# A# B
C D E F G A B C
PS. Congratulations, you just learned the major scales.
PS. Congratulations, you just learned the major scales.
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