Practicing Scales is the most
important thing for every beginner as well as expert guitarists. By practicing
Scales guitarists can find the correct way on the fretboard without hitting any
wrong notes, it will also give strength to the fingers. It also helps in
building ear power by which you can recognize the notes by listening them.
So what the scale is? A Scale is a
series of notes that forms a progression between one note & its ocatve. The
Scale can either go up by an octave or down by an octave. There are many
different scales and the history of their development is complex. Any one scale
can be different by others by it's step patteren. The characteristic sound of
any scale is determined by its number of steps, by the order in which they
occur.
Western music divides the octave
into twelve steps, each one being equal to a semi tone. On the guitar one
octave is divided into twelve frets-one for each note. So a semi tone is one
fret & a tone is two frets. All major scales have a semi tone interval
between the 3rd, 4th, 7th & 8th notes. So the pattern of major scale
on single string is two fret, two fret, one fret, two fret, two fret, two fret
& one fret or you can say whole step(two frets or tone), whole step, half
step (one fret or semi tone), whole step, whole step, whole step & half
step (or you can wirte W W H W W W H). The first note of the scale is called
"key" or "tonic" note of the scale. Below is the chart of
major scale in all keys:-
W
W
H
W
W
W H (Note Intervals)
Key
1.
2.
3.
4. 5.
6.
7. 1.
A
B
C#
D E
F#
G# A
Bb
C D
Eb F
G A
Bb
B
C# D#
E F#
G# A#
B
C
D E
F G
A B
C
C#
D# F
F# G#
A# C
C#
D
E
F# G A
B C#
D
Eb
F G
Ab Bb
C D
Eb
E
F# G#
A B
C# D#
E
F
G A
Bb C
D E
F
F#
G# A#
B C#
D# E F#
G
A
B C
D E
F# G
Ab
Bb
C Db Eb
F G
Ab
So if you want to practice C Scale
on the guitar then first you need to find the Key note of the scale which is C
note (you can start from the 8th fret oh Bottom E string). Now as per above
formula go up by two frets and play the note D then go up by two frets (tone or
whole step) which is E note, now go up one fret(semi tone or half step) &
find the note F, now go up two frets & play G note again go up two frets A
note now again two frets & play B note & finaly go up by half step
& play again the tonic or key note. C major scale have no sharp(#) &
flats(b).
Now let's look at the finger position
by which you will play the each note of C scale (you can play as you want but
these positions will let you play easily). Below is the tablature of C scale:-
E-------------------------------------------7-8-10----|
B------------------------------------8-10-------------|
G--------------------------7-9-10--------------------|
D-----------------7-9-10-----------------------------|
A--------7-8-10--------------------------------------|
E--8-10-----------------------------------------------|
If you don't know how to read the
guitar tablature then you can find the guide to read/write guitar tablaure
here.
There are many scales available
which i will cover in the next lessons.