When I was first starting out on the guitar I was very shy of scales. They seemed like
a.) Tough to learn and I’d have to memorize everything
b.) Some what pointless at the time because I wanted to learn to play songs.
As I progressed as a better guitar player I came to realize that neither was true. They weren’t pointless, as they taught me some very important musical theory lessons and where notes lived on the fretboard. They also weren’t as tough to learn as I had once thought.
It’s all in the Patterns
If you’ve learned the CAGED system for guitar chords, or have learned how the notes on the fretboard work then you’ll recognize that the guitar fretboard is made up of hundreds of different patterns. The patterns once learned you can apply all over the guitar neck and expand your horizons with a little practice and effort on your part.
The major scale, in any key, follows this same rule and I’m going to introduce you to it right now.
NOTE: I am going to assume that you know what I mean when I say half step or whole step between notes.
The Major Scale Pattern
ANy major scale in any key follows this same pattern starting from the root note:
Whole Step – Whole Step – Whole Step – Half Step – Whole Step – Whole Step – Half Step
The easiest example of this pattern is the C major scale because there are no sharps or flats involved in that scale.
C – D – E – F – G – A – B – C
You’ll note that there are half steps between E and F as well as between B and C which is the exact same locations as in the pattern illustrated above.
I scoured the web looking for the best guitar lessons online to solve this problem for me and when I finally learned this it was a light bulb AH HA moment for me. Once I grasped the power if this I realized that I could
a.) Work out in my head the notes that are in just about every major scale
b.) Drastically speed up my learning of the fretboard and where notes were located
I hope that this has created the same sort of AH HA moment for you.
I’d suggest you go grab your guitar now and sit down and work on figuring out some basic notes to scales using the pattern above.