The Major Scale on One String

2-1 The Major Scale as a Reference System▶ Watch the video

The major scale is the foundation of the language of music theory. To visualize it, it helps to step away from the guitar briefly and consider the piano keyboard.

The piano organizes the twelve notes of the chromatic scale into repeating groups of seven white keys and five black keys. The five black keys are subdivided into groups of two and three:

The names of the notes are based on seven letters that range from A to G, which all fall on white keys:

The black keys are named relative to their neighboring white keys, and each one has two names. The black key just to the right of a white key adds a sharp (#) to the white key’s name. The black key to the left of a white key adds a flat (♭).

The small numbers inside the black note circles are scale degrees, which denote the position of each note inside the scale.

It turns out that if you start on a C note on the piano and construct a major scale, it falls entirely on white keys. This means that the key of C Major contains no sharps or flats, which makes the C major scale on a keyboard a great visual reference:

There are twelve possible interval distances ranging from 0 to 11 semitones, and the intervals take their names from the major scale.

Here’s how this chart was constructed:

• The major 2nd, 3rd, 6th, and 7th intervals (abbreviated M2, M3, M6, and M7) are each named after the corresponding scale degree of the major scale.
• The fourth and fifth scale degrees are called perfect intervals, so they are abbreviated P4 and P5.
• A minor interval is created by shrinking a major interval by one semitone. This gives us the minor 2nd, 3rd, 6th, and 7th, abbreviated m2, m3, m6, and m7.
• A perfect interval raised one semitone is called augmented. If flattened, it is called diminished.
• In practice, we can often drop the terms major, minor, perfect, augmented, and diminished. We can simply refer to each interval by the closest larger major scale interval, and add a flat symbol (♭) if it isn’t a major scale interval.

Note that, by default, intervals are measured moving up in pitch, so if we are measuring a downward interval, we have to explicitly say so. So we can say that F is the ♭3 of D, or D is the ♭3 below F.

2-2 The Major Scale on One String▶ Watch the video

It is highly worthwhile to spend some time learning to play each scale along a single guitar string. Working on this skill will make your playing more melodic, and if you ever find yourself trying to play in an unfamiliar tuning, you’ll always have single-string playing to fall back on, since every individual string is just a chromatic scale laid out in a straight line, no matter the tuning.

To start out, you should develop the ability to move up and down within a major scale on one string using only your index finger. To do so, keep track of which scale degree your index finger is on at all times and use the whole-step/half-step construction of the major scale to move from one scale degree to another.

Exercise 2-1: Start with your index finger on any fret of any string. This note will be the root of your major scale (scale degree 1). If you have a Freeze pedal, use it to freeze the root and create a drone. Then, move up the scale along the string as high as you can go, naming each scale degree and playing each note of the scale as you go. Then, from that highest note, descend the scale, playing each note down to the lowest one you can play on that string (this may or may not be the open string). Finally, from the lowest note, play back up to the root. At all times, you must keep track of the scale degree of the note that is under your index finger.

There are 12 possible keys and six strings, which yield 72 variations of Exercise 1. Each day, try doing this on different strings and in different keys. Once it feels comfortable, try playing in time with a metronome. There’s no need to build up a lot of speed, but the metronome will add a small beneficial challenge.

In the video, I demonstrated these two variations:

Exercise 2-2: Using the same one-finger strategy as Exercise 1, move within the scale step-wise, changing direction at random. Feel free to vary your rhythm to make this sound a little more musical, but continue to use only your index finger and always keep track of which scale degree it is on. For an optional added challenge, try skipping over some notes while staying within the scale.

2-3 Three-Note Fragments and Melodic Motion▶ Watch the video

It is useful to break the major scale down into fragments containing three adjacent notes from the scale. Since there are seven scale degrees in the scale, there are seven possible patterns.

It turns out there are only three patterns, and they will be useful throughout the course.

To play one of these patterns, use your index finger to play the lowest note. In position playing, guitarists are taught to assign one finger to each fret. The W-H and H-W patterns work well with that constraint, but you will need to shift or stretch to play the W-W pattern. On the lower frets, it is helpful to angle your fingers relative to the frets to make that stretch comfortable. For purposes of this course, choose whatever finger position feels most natural to you.

For the moment, we will define a melodic sequence as an ordered sequence of notes played inside one of these three-note fragment shapes. We will expand on this definition later in the course. We can specify a melodic sequence by a list of the numbers 1, 2, & 3, which correspond to the three notes in the pattern. A simple ascending pattern is 1-2-3. A simple descending pattern is 3-2-1. A common six-note pattern is 3-1-2-3-2-1. Notice that a melodic pattern does not need to include all three notes: 1-3 is a perfectly valid pattern.

Exercise 2-3: Choose a melodic sequence. Start on any string and any fret, and assign that note to be the root of a major scale. If you have a Freeze pedal, create a drone from the root note. Placing your index finger on that note, play your melodic pattern using Fragment 1 (W-W). Shift your index finger up to the next scale degree and play your melodic pattern using the appropriate three-note fragment. Always keep track of which scale degree is under your index finger. Continue moving up the scale until you run out of frets. Do the same thing descending the scale until you reach the nut.

Practice this exercise with different melodic sequences, on different strings, and in different keys. Once you get the hang of it, practice with a metronome and practice shifting up and down at random.

In the video, I demonstrated this with three example melodic patterns, all starting at the first fret of the B string, a C note. Here are those examples extended across the entire fretboard: