Beginners
Learn The Guitar Lesson 2 – The Major Scale
Great to have you back for part two of our 40 part series of
Beginners Guitar Lessons. We hope you have been implementing the tips from
lesson one, where talked about guitar tuning, learning first position notes,
and the chromatic scale.
Beginners
Guitar Lessons Part 2 – The Major Scale
The major scale is a grouping of eight notes used in every
form of modern music. We learned in part 1 of Beginners Guitar Lessons, that
the chromatic scale contains all the possible notes in music, separated by
half-steps.
The major scale is a taken from the chromatic scale, using a
specific formula of steps. If you recall, one fret equals one-half of a step,
and two frets equal a whole-step. Using the following formula, it is possible
to create every major scale, no matter where you start on any given point of
the chromatic scale:
Major Scale Formula: Whole, Whole, Half, Whole, Whole,
Whole, Half (WWHWWWH)
Chromatic Scale: A, A#/Bb, B, C, C#/Db, D, D#/Eb, E, F,
F#/Gb, G, G#/Ab, back to A and infinity.
Excersice – C Major Scale
We’ll use the “C Major” scale as an example. Note that C
major contains no sharp (#) or flat (b) notes. Using the formula, for this
example, we’ll start at the “C’ which occurs on the 5th (A) string, on the
third fret.
Fret the “C” note
with your third finger. According to the formula, we’ll be going up a
whole-step, which would land you on “D”. We’ll use the open 4th (D) string as
our “D” note. The second step in the formula is also a whole-step, which will
bring us to “E”. The “E” we’re looking for occurs when you press the 2nd fret
on the 4th string with your second finger.
The next step in
the formula is a half-step, or one fret. Place your third finger on the 3rd
fret of the 4th string to get our next note, which is an “F”. Cool! You’re
halfway there…so far, we’ve got C, D, E, and F. Take a few minutes and practice
those four notes.
All set? The next
note in “C” major, after CDEF, is the next whole-step in the formula, which is
“G” in this example. The “G” we’re looking for can be found by playing the 3rd
string open…easy enough! After “G”, we’ll need another whole-step, which is
“A”. “A” is located on the 2nd fret of the 3rd string, using your second
finger.
Next, we have
another whole-step, which is “B”. Play “B” by picking the open 2nd string. The
final note in the scale is another “C”, which is one half-step from “B”. Play
“C” with your 1st finger, on the 1st fret of the 2nd string.
You’ve done it! Now play the scale in it’s entirety, saying
the notes as you play them: C,D,E,F,G,A,B, and C. Practice playing the C major
scale forward and backward, saying the notes while you’re playing them.
EmoticonEmoticon