the
c major scale
WHAT IS A SCALE? The first thing
you will need to answer this is a familiarity with the names of the notes used in
music. This is very easy to remember, and incredibly important if you ever want
to have any idea what you're doing. The notes are: E F F# G G# A A# B C
C# D and D#. Just remember the alphabet from A to G, and every note
except for E and B has a SHARP (one of these-#).
Here's a little drill for ya...
First, with your picking hand, pluck the open 6th string, the string closest to
your head. The name of that note is E. That's why it's called the E string. Say
"E" out loud. Now place the first finger of your fretting hand on the
first fret of the same string, and pick it. Now you're playing an F. Say
"F" out loud. Next, slide your finger up one more fret and say
"F sharp", because that's exactly what you're playing. Please refer
now to the note names I underlined above. Do you see what's happening? By
moving up fret by fret you are playing all twelve notes in order. Keep going
and saying the names! When you reach the 12th fret you are back at E, and have
traveled one octave, the distance from any note to another note with the same
name. You can do this from any string. If you do the 5th string, proceed as
follows: A, A#, B, C.... If you do the G string it'll go like this: G, G#, A,
A#, etc. Confused? e-mail me!!
OK, so now that you're acquainted
with that concept you are ready for the next step: Gaining an understanding of
Whole Steps and Half Steps. This is not a difficult task. A Whole Step is what
occurs when you skip one note, and a Half Step is when you proceed to the next
adjacent note. For example, if you were to travel from C to D, that would be a
Whole Step, because you skipped over C#! From B to C would be a Half Step,
because C comes right after the B. Remember that there is no B# or E#!!!
Bearing all of this in mind,
let's now endeavor to construct a C Major Scale. We will use the following
formula: ROOT, WH, WH, HF, WH, WH, WH, HF. Since we are creating a C Major
Scale, we will choose C as the Root note. Here we go...
C-(WH)-D-(WH)-E-(HF)-F-(WH)-G-(WH)-A-(WH)-B-(HF)-C
Notice there are no
#'s!!! C is the only major scale we can say this for. All of the others will
contain Sharps, or Flats (b's). We're not dealing with b's, so don't worry
about those yet. I want you to construct scales in the following keys,
and send me your answers!
1. G MAJOR SCALE
2. D MAJOR SCALE
3. A MAJOR SCALE
4. E MAJOR SCALE
All I'm asking for are the letter
names of the notes in each scale, but it certainly wouldn't hurt to attempt to
figure out how to play them. I will of course be putting them in future
lessons, but spending time figuring out things by myself proved invaluable in
my development on the guitar. Have fun!!
Remember to recite the note names (C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C, C, B, A,
G, F, E, D, C) as you play them. As always, make every note count. Listen to
yourself very carefully, because there is always room for improvement.
FOR THE BEGINNER: At this point, a good practice routine
should consist of 5-10 minutes of LESSON ONE, LESSON TWO AND LESSON THREE,
followed by plenty of time just fooling around with your guitar. That's where
your musical personality will develop. Hope you're having a good time!
"have we gone too far,
or has everyone else not gone far enough?"-toyota corporation