INTRODUCTION:
The beauty of music theory is that it can be quite complex and satisfying to the seasoned musician. Conversely, the basics are very simple and can be used by beginner musicians immediately. This lesson is short and easy to understand, but very important.
Throughout the years I’ve met many guitarists that cannot demonstrate playing a major scale in a given key. They are missing out on the creativity that comes with knowing how to apply major scales in their musical context.
The major scale is “home base” in music theory. It is the most common scale in music and serves as a reference for understanding all other scales. The major scale in its most basic form is as simple as counting to seven with letters:
C – D – E – F – G – A – B
The key of C has always been my choice to teach the major scale since it is comprised of all “natural notes” (having no sharps or flats). Learning the key of C contributes to another important lesson of learning all the natural notes on the guitar neck. Piano players have a much easier time recognizing these notes because these are all the white keys on the piano and the exact same pattern repeats every octave. This is not the case on a guitar. More effort is required to learn where they are. However, the payoff is huge once you learn them.
Jump down to the lesson if you’d like to skip some personal background on the subject.
PERSONAL BACKGROUND:
Before the days of the internet, the first scale that I learned to play was the pentatonic scale after finding some tablature in a magazine. Shortly thereafter, I was ripping triplets down the E minor pentatonic scale at the 12 fret. As far as music theory goes, I had no idea what I was playing but man, it sounded good. Tablature can be beautiful thing since its easy to learn and allows you to skip the basics and get right to the fun stuff. However, tablature doesn’t teach the theory behind the music and so after some time, I hit a learning rut and became bored with what I knew how to play.
I wanted to write my own music but didn’t know how. I knew a few riffs and flashy licks, but could not play a single song all the way through. I couldn’t play “Happy Birthday to You” or even keep a basic bluegrass rhythm. I had no teacher, no guitar friends, and Youtube didn’t exist. So, I purchased a guitar book which introduced me to the world of music theory. I had zero music training so this book was a daunting introduction to the subject, but I read it over and over and over. Forty five pages into this book I learned about the major scale. So after more than two years of owning a guitar, I could finally play a major scale.
The first time I played the major scale, I immediately recognized it from a song I was taught in grammar school named the “Do Re Mi” song. I’m grateful for learning this song as it helped me to understand the mood or characteristic of the major scale which can be described as “happy.” Now as a long time guitar teacher, the C major scale is among the very first lessons my students are taught.
LESSON:
The major scale contains seven notes with the 8th note starting the scale over one octave higher.
You should recognize the major scale as being a familiar sound.
A guitarist can figure out a major scale in any key by sound only, but its important to understand the formula of how to build a major scale. Playing the same C major scale on one string more clearly illustrates the interval pattern that is used build a major scale.
Notice the distance between the notes. The distance from C to D is a whole tone. The distance from E to F is a half tone (also known as a semitone). As you can see, two half tones make a whole tone.
The formula to build a major scale in any key is the same
Whole – Whole – Half – Whole – Whole – Whole – Half
Again, if you change the root note from C to another common guitar key such as G, you would use the Whole – Half – formula to build a G major scale.
APPLICATION:
In the early days of my guitar playing, I recorded a simple loop of two chords (C major and A minor) with a cassette recorder. Then with my new knowledge, I played the C major scale in the open position up and down over these chords. I remember the liberating feeling this gave me as I had just created my own music.
Now its your turn. If you have a looper pedal or a recorder, play a chord progression in C major. Here’s a super popular chord progression:
C – F – C – G
Now all you have to do is improvise playing the C major scale. Once you learn the open position, it’s time to learn all of the natural notes all over the neck. There’s only seven notes each octave.
BACKING TRACK:
If you’d rather not record a loop, here is a backing track video I made. Of course the rhythm, melody, and solo are all built from the C major scale. Try improvising over the chord progression yourself!