Building Guitar Scales
Guitar scales are important "tools" musicians use to understand chords, increase speed, develop a good ear, play licks and riffs, transpose keys, improvise, and play lead guitar. As you can see, scales are pretty important and they can help you gain a better understanding of your instrument!
This lesson will focus on the C Major Scale, which is foundational to an understanding of music in general.
Like the A Minor Scale in the previous lesson, C Major uses NATURAL notes (tones). The difference being that you will now start on the letter C (instead of A) and move up alphabetically until you again reach the letter C. But before you begin, let me explain a few more things about guitar scales and how they work.
There are 8 degrees (or tones) in a Major Scale: Notice that the letter name of the 8th degree is C, the same letter name as the 1st degree. The 8th degree of a scale is called an OCTAVE, which simply means eight. The 1st degree is called the ROOT or TONIC and it establishes the Key Note (name) of the scale. The distance from one tone to the next is called an INTERVAL.
CLICK HERE! Major scales always follow a consistant pattern of whole steps and half-steps. Here is the pattern of a Major Scale:
You can see this pattern clearly on the guitar when you play the scale up the neck using only one string.
E|-------------------------------------------- Using your first finger, play the C MAJOR SCALE by following the tablature and moving up the neck along the 2nd string. Notice the series of WHOLE STEPS AND HALF-STEPS as you move up the neck toward the 13th fret. If you play it correctly you will hear the familiar sound:
Remember to use just your first finger as you move along the string up to the 13th fret.
Now play the scale in FIRST POSITION. Remember that "first position" means you will only play notes within the first 4 frets of the guitar. Begin at the ROOT and ascend to the OCTAVE, moving across the strings. It will be harder to see the whole steps and half-steps, but it"s still very easy to do.
Now, starting at the Octave, go down the scale until you reach the Root.
From the C Major scale we can make a C Major chord. 
Major chords have a positive, happy sound when compared to the sad or dramatic sound of minor chords.
An easy way to practice the C Major chord is to start on Am, then move to C and back to Am again. Notice on the chord grids below how the 1st and 2nd fingers are on the same frets and strings for both chords!
EXERCISE: 1. Strum Am. 2. Stretch your 3rd finger over to the 5th string on the 3rd fret. Do not move your other fingers! 3. Strum C. 4. Move your 3rd finger back to the 3rd string on the 2nd fret. 5. Strum Am. Once you feel comfortable moving from Am to C, add the Em chord to the sequence. Try the following chord progression:
ECONOMY OF MOTION- Be sure to leave your 2nd finger down when you move from one chord to the next!
LESSON OBJECTIVE: 1. To learn how to build guitar scales by starting with and memorizing the C Major Scale. 2. Memorize the pattern of whole steps and half-steps needed to make a Major Scale.
3. Be able to associate and play each chord with the correct fingering on the fretboard.
PRACTICE: 1. Play the C Major Scale Ascending. Strum the C Major Chord. Play the C Major Scale Descending. Strum the C Major Chord again.
2. Practice the chord progressions given in this lesson until you are able to change from one chord to the next easily.
LEARN MORE: THE GUITARISTS GUIDE TO SCALES Leave Guitar Scales & Return to Home Page.
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