Theory Behind The Major Scale (Demo Page, Some Links May Not Work)
It is important to understand how a major scale
is made up. Remember a tone is a two fret move and a semitone is a one fret move. A major scale is made up of 8 notes, the 8th note being
the octave. Usually books will write the 8 steps of the scale
in roman numerals like this ( I - I - III - IV - V - VI - VII - VIII ).
To modernise this we will just use the numbers 1 to 8 ( 1st - 2nd - 3rd - 4th - 5th - 6th - 7th - 8th notes
of the Major Scale)or just ( 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 ).
Then we place the correct spacing between each of those eight
notes.
We can also call a tone a whole step and a semitone a half step.
Remember: the numbers shown
in the diagram are the
order number (1st, 2nd, 3rd etc.)
Not your finger numbers.
The above diagram shows that the 1st to 2nd
note is a tone apart. The 2nd to 3rd note however is on two different strings
but they are still a tone apart.
As you can see below all three scales would
be A major scales if they were played from the 5th fret.
The root note which is marked by the darker circle is placed
on the "A" note, it's that simple. So when you learn
the shape of a major scale on the guitar, you have learnt
every major scale e.g. ( A, A#, B, C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#,
G, G#, A ). It all depends on where you start the scale from.
This video is to help you practise your major scale. You will start the scale from the 2nd fret, play up and down the pattern then move up one fret and do it all again. This exercise will gradually pick up in speed the further you go up the neck.
