MAJOR SCALE

The most important scale to become comfortable with is the Major scale. It is the familiar 'do, re, mi' scale and is commonly used over major chords and power chords. The major scale is probably the most widely recognized of all the scales, and as such, is an excellent place to begin learning about scales in general. The major scale is essentially no more than a series of whole steps and half steps, played in the following order: W W H W W W H . A half step is moving up one fret and a whole step is moving up two frets.

Reading Scale Charts

Below you will find chord charts. The chart is laid out on a typical guitar fret board. The gray lines represent the frets and are numbered below the fret board. The white lines represent the strings. From the bottom up the strings would be E A D G B E. The yellow and blue dots represent the scale patterns. The blue dots represent the tonic note or the first note in the scale. This is helpful when starting each scale.

Learning Scale In Sections

The best way to learn this scale is to memorize it in sections. The following pictures show the scale in its entirety and then it breaks it up into 5 sections. Try memorizing these scales in 5 different sections. After you become familiar with each section of the scale you will begin to see how each section relates to each other. Try and visualize each section of the scale being pieced together (similar to how puzzle pieces connect to each other). Try playing 8 notes beginning and ending on a blue dot.
C major scale chart
C major scale chart
C major scale chart
C major scale chart
C major scale chart
C major scale chart