Guitar · Chapter 18 of 23
Scales on the Guitar
A scale is a ladder of notes. Learn a few shapes and your fingers will know where every tune in that key lives.
Every major scale follows the same pattern of steps: whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half. On the guitar a whole step is two frets and a half step is one, so a scale is a pattern your fingers can learn.
C major in first position
From C on string 5 (3rd fret) up to C on string 2 (1st fret), and on up to G. One finger per fret: finger 1 on fret 1, 2 on fret 2, 3 on fret 3.
Use alternate picking (down, up) or alternate i and m with rest strokes.
G major in first position
Two octaves, from G on string 6 up to G on string 1. F♯ is at the 4th fret on string 4 and the 2nd fret on string 1: use finger 4 and finger 2.
The minor pentatonic
Five notes instead of seven, no wrong notes over a blues. The famous “box” shape for A minor sits at the 5th fret: two notes on every string, fingers 1 and 4 (or 1 and 3). The R marks are A, the root.
The blues scale
Add one note to the minor pentatonic, the flat fifth (the “blue note”), and you have the blues scale. In E, in first position, it sits around the open strings: the sound of Dry Creek Blues.
Remember
- Major scale: W W H W W W H; one finger per fret.
- Minor pentatonic box at the 5th fret for A minor.
- Blues scale = minor pentatonic + the flat fifth.