Lesson 2: *The Major Scale
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A little prelude. *Before any of this theory will truly help your
guitar playing, you must work to learn where the notes are on your guitar. *You should know that the strings are E, A, D, G, B, E. *And furthermore, you should know what note is located at the 8th fret on the D string. *(BTW- it's A#)
The Major Scale
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The major scale is an arangement of notes beginning with the same note. *This is the note from which all the other parts of the scale are derived. *Because it is so important it is called the Root or Tonic. *Scales always begin and end on their Root. *All major scales follow the same formula.
The Root note is the first note.
The 2nd note of the scale is two half steps up.
The 3rd note of the scale is also two half steps up from the 2nd note.
The 4th note of the scale is only one half step up from the 3rd note.
The 5th note of the scale is two half steps from the 4th.
The 6th note is two half steps from the 5th
and the 7th note is also two half steps from the 6th.
** By the way, a half step is the distance from *C to C# or D to D#, or D# to E. *Just remember, there is no note between B & C or E & F. *Thus it is one half step between E & F.**
Following this simple formula we can derive any major scale we like. *For instance. *A C Major scale begins on C.
C is the root note.
Two half steps up from C (C to C#, C# to D) is D
Two half steps up from D (D to D#, D# to E) is E
One half step from E (E to F) is F
Two half steps up from F (F to F#, F# to G) is G
Two half steps up from G (G to G#, G# to A) is A
Two half steps up from A (A to A#, A# to B) is B
And the last note is C. *So if we put these notes together, we've derived the C Major scale:
C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C
This works for any letter, just follow the formula.
Try A, E, B, D, or F# (this is tricky!)
Remember (no note between B & C or E & F)
check your work against these scales
A Major = A, B, C#, D, E, F#, G#
E Major = E, F#, G#, A, B, C#, D#
B Major = B, C#, D#, E, F#, G#, A#
D Major = D, E, F#, G, A, B, C#
F# Major = F#, G#, A#, B, C#, D#, E# * Now i know I told you E did not have a sharp, it doesn't. *In face E# is the SAME as F, but in a scale we only want to have one note with each letter. *So even though there isn't a pitch between E and F, we're going to use E# because we've already used the letter F for F#. *This is called enharmonic spelling, it's a real pain
Class dismissed! *PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE
