CHAPTER
4

The Major Scale

In This Chapter

• Defining scales
• Constructing the Major Scale
• Learning the 12 major key signatures
• Why guitarists favor certain key signatures
• Playing all 12 Major Scales in open position

Do you ever notice that when we describe things like books or movies or food or music, we often use other books or movies or food or music as comparisons? We might try to portray a new band as being “like the Beatles around the Revolver album period with a bit of Bruce Springsteen,” or something to that effect.

In guitar theory, just about everything comes back to scales and chords. And all the many scales and the wide range of chords that a guitarist can possibly play are always described in terms of the Major Scale. To have a strong, solid foundation in guitar theory, and in music theory in general, you have to know the Major Scale backward and forward.

And again, believe it or not, most likely you probably already do. The Major Scale is the “do re mi fa sol la ti do” that you have heard all of your life, regardless of whether you’ve seen The Sound of Music or simply listened to music in general. Knowing the sound of the Major Scale in your head is the first step to knowing it at any place on your guitar. And, as Julie Andrews might say, that’s “a very good place to start.”

What Is a Scale?

In simple terms, a scale is a set of specific notes. Taking what you learned about notes being a series of musical steps and half-steps into account, this means that a scale is a specific pattern of musical steps and/or half-steps.

Scales are, in fact, almost always given a two-part name, such as the “C Major Scale,” or the “G Minor Pentatonic Scale” or “E Mixolydian.” The first part of the name is a single note, called the root note (or tonic in music theory), which starts and ends the scale.

The second name is more descriptive, such as “Major,” “Minor,” “Pentatonic,” “Diminished,” and so on. And each of these descriptive names is a type of musical shorthand for describing a specific combination of half-steps and steps that make up that particular scale.

DEFINITION

A scale is a specific pattern of musical steps, half-steps, and occasionally larger intervals, beginning with a single note and then finishing when that same note is reached at the end of the pattern.

Scales can begin at any of the 12 possible notes. Suppose I told you to start with the “A” note and then told you that the pattern for the chromatic scale was to move one half-step at a time until you reached your starting note again. You would be able to figure out that the A Chromatic Scale is this:

Doesn’t that look familiar? If you think the A Chromatic Scale is exactly like the fretboard map of the A string shown in Chapter 2, you’d be absolutely correct.

And while there are probably more scale patterns than you can ever hope to remember, they are all described in terms of one scale. And that’s the Major Scale.

Constructing the Major Scale

The pattern of the Major Scale is as follows:

Many guitarists find it helpful to see this process in linear form, with “R” standing for the “root note,” “W” for a whole musical step, and “H” for a musical half-step, like this:

FRET LESS

You will often see the Major Scale written out, both in books and online, as:

This description is perfectly fine as long as you remember to start with a root note before taking the first whole musical step. Otherwise you’ll end up with a scale very different from the Major Scale, both in terms of the notes and the overall sound.

Creating Specific Major Scales

You can put this formula for the Major Scale to the test by starting with any note you’d like and then working through the sequence. Remember that you have 12 notes from which to choose, so there are 12 possible Major Scales.

For example, if you start with C, the next note will be D (a whole step up from C), then E (a whole step up from D), then F (a musical half-step up from E), then G (a whole step up from F), then A (a whole step up from G), and then B (a whole step up from A). Moving a musical half-step up from B will bring you back to C, completing the C Major Scale.

You want to make a mental note that the C Major Scale had no notes with either flats or sharps. It is the only one of the 12 Major Scales where this is the case.

Understanding Key Signatures

Try constructing the G Major Scale. Beginning with G as the root note, the next note will be A (a whole step up from G), then B (a whole step up from A), then C (a musical half-step up from B), then D (a whole step up from C), then E (a whole step up from D), then F (a whole step up from E), and then one more musical half-step takes you back to G, completing the scale.

Now here’s a question: Why did we use F and not G? There are essentially two reasons. First, it’s a musical convention to give each note of the Major Scale its own letter. Since there are seven different notes in the Major Scale and seven different letters used for note names, this makes perfect sense.

But also think about writing music out. If you were transcribing a piece of music in standard music notation and were constantly writing out G and then G, you’d probably drive yourself nuts. Not to mention anyone unfortunate enough to have to read and play the piece!

In discussing music notation in Chapter 3, you got a quick look at key signatures, which are simply flat and sharp symbols placed on the musical staff at the left side of any line of written music. The way the 12 different Major Scales work out, each has its own specific key signature. Aside from the C Major Scale, each of the other Major Scales will have either a number of flats or a number of sharps. A key signature will never have both flats and sharps.

Key Signatures and the Guitar

Because of the instrument’s standard tuning, most guitarists who favor open-position chords tend to play songs that have no flats. Think about the songs you play and the chords that are usually used. Chances are you play C, G, D, A, Am, E, and Em more than most other chords. You might occasionally play Dm or F and it’s undoubtedly rarer still that you play an E or an A chord.

Even if you are comfortable with playing barre chords, you probably still find yourself playing more often in the key signatures of C, G, D, A, and E. This doesn’t mean that you should ignore playing in other key signatures, but it does mean that focusing on these keys and their scales and chords makes the most sense.

Many guitarists actually do play in key signatures like A, E, and even C, but they do so by changing their guitar’s tuning to some type of “lower standard tuning.” For example, in “E standard” tuning, each string is lowered one musical half-step. E becomes E, A becomes A, D is now D, G becomes G, and B is tuned down to B.

HEAR HERE

Lowered tunings are used quite a lot by metal and grunge bands. Many songs by Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Fallout Boy, and Green Day are written for guitars tuned down a musical half-step.

Because each string is tuned down by the same measure of a single musical half-step, any chord played will also be a musical half-step lower. Playing an A chord will now produce an A chord. Playing an E chord will give you an E chord.

Playing the 12 Major Scales in Open Position

Here are all of the Major Scales played in open position on the guitar. They are written out in both guitar tablature and music notation. Starting with the C Major Scale, the example then goes through the keys with sharps (G, D, A, E, B, and F), which guitarists tend to play more than the others. After the F Major Scale, the example starts with the F Major Scale and proceeds through the keys with flats (B, E, A, and D).

For some of the scales, such as E and A, it is possible to play through two full scales without having to move out of open position. For others, such as B and E, you will only be able to play once through the scale while staying within the first five frets of the guitar.

Track 7

Playing the C Major Scale in open position.

Track 8

Playing the G Major Scale in open position.

Track 9

Playing the D Major Scale in open position.

Track 10

Playing the A Major Scale in open position.

Track 11

Playing the E Major Scale in open position.

Track 12

Playing the B Major Scale in open position.

Track 13

Playing the F Major Scale in open position.

Track 14

Playing the F Major Scale in open position.

Track 15

Playing the B Major Scale in open position.

Track 16

Playing the E Major Scale in open position.

Track 17

Playing the A Major Scale in open position.

Track 18

Playing the D Major Scale in open position.

The Least You Need to Know

• Scales are specific patterns of musical steps and half-steps.
• The pattern of the Major Scale is: root, whole step, whole step, half-step, whole step, whole step, whole step, half-step.
• All scales and chords are described musically in terms of the Major Scale.
• There are 12 possible Major Scales.
• Each of the 12 Major Scales has a unique key signature.