Major Scales 101
Andrew Cockburn
Jul 5 2007, 11:55 PM
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Major Scales 101


Introduction

In this lesson we are going to discuss what is probably the most important scale in Western music. The reason that it is so important, apart from the fact that it gets used in a huge proportion of modern songs, is that it is also the foundation of our musical system. We use it as a basis for describing intervals, building chords and specifying key signatures. In most cases, the Major scale is assumed as the norm from which other scales deviate. The only other scale that approaches the prominence of the Major scale is the Minor scale, which is itself derived from the Major scale - which we will look at in a later lesson.

With that in mind, lets have a look at it!

The Major Scale

The Major scale is a 7 note scale, built using the formula: 2 2 1 2 2 2 1

You should be familiar with scale formulae from the previous lessons. Lets have a look at how we would build a scale of G major. Obviously our root note is G, and building up from the formula we get the following notes:

G + 2 semitones = A
A + 2 semitones = B
B + 1 semitone = C
C + 2 semitones = D
D + 2 semitones = E
E + 2 semitones = F#
F# + 1 semitones = G

So there you have it - a scale of G major has the notes G, A, B, C, D, E, F# G, and as usual you can apply this formula with any other root note to get the exact scale that you want.

On the Fretboard

How do we play this on the guitar? Well, sticking with our G Major scale, we can construct 7 different boxes - why 7? Well, if we start with our root note of G on the E string, we can play a scale by moving up that single string, and each place we land can be the basis of a new box. However, for Major scales, a couple of the boxes will only be separated by 1 semitone, so be convention we miss these out, leaving 5 boxes, separated by either 2 or 3 semitones.

Here they are:

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And that in a nutshell is the Major scale!

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This post has been edited by Andrew Cockburn: Oct 11 2007, 05:41 AM


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Posts in this topic
- Andrew Cockburn   Major Scales 101   Jul 5 2007, 11:55 PM
- - AIB234   Hey Andrew I am wondering in respect to soloing i...   Jul 7 2007, 07:57 PM
|- - Kaneda   QUOTE (AIB234 @ Jul 7 2007, 08:57 PM) Hey...   Jul 7 2007, 10:22 PM
|- - Andrew Cockburn   I was about to say exactly the same things, but Ka...   Jul 7 2007, 10:57 PM
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- - AIB234   Thanks theory gurus. Hey Andrew, do you take requ...   Jul 7 2007, 11:28 PM
- - ibanez rocker   nice lesson andrew. i know that you could also thi...   Jul 8 2007, 03:48 AM
|- - Andrew Cockburn   QUOTE (ibanez rocker @ Jul 7 2007, 10:48 ...   Jul 8 2007, 02:12 PM
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- - Travelin' Man   OK....dork Q #1 Even tho you have it exampled as ...   Jul 12 2007, 01:44 AM
|- - Andrew Cockburn   QUOTE (Travelin' Man @ Jul 11 2007, 08...   Jul 12 2007, 01:50 AM
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- - Travelin' Man   Your the best...thanx I thought I would give my b...   Jul 12 2007, 01:55 AM
- - fkalich   good item andrew. i only memorized two of the maj...   Jul 12 2007, 02:04 AM
- - Tinette   OK… so the whole pattern is not simply and only ...   Jul 17 2007, 05:41 PM
|- - Andrew Cockburn   QUOTE (Tinette @ Jul 17 2007, 12:41 PM) O...   Jul 17 2007, 06:03 PM
|- - Tinette   QUOTE (Andrew Cockburn @ Jul 17 2007, 07...   Jul 17 2007, 06:25 PM
|- - Andrew Cockburn   QUOTE (Tinette @ Jul 17 2007, 01:25 PM) O...   Jul 17 2007, 07:54 PM
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- - ch00ch00man   Can someone clarify a nagging bit of confusion? I...   Jul 17 2007, 06:25 PM
- - meandmyguitar   I haven't really studied the scales for very l...   Jul 29 2007, 01:48 PM
|- - Andrew Cockburn   QUOTE (meandmyguitar @ Jul 29 2007, 08:48...   Jul 29 2007, 02:01 PM
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- - meandmyguitar   aaahh now i get it! thanks a lot, you are rea...   Jul 29 2007, 02:15 PM
|- - Andrew Cockburn   QUOTE (meandmyguitar @ Jul 29 2007, 09:15...   Jul 29 2007, 02:26 PM
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- - Iluha   Only one thing I didn't get, when you transcri...   Aug 19 2007, 06:33 PM
|- - Andrew Cockburn   QUOTE (Iluha @ Aug 19 2007, 01:33 PM) Onl...   Aug 19 2007, 08:36 PM
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- - Iluha   Yeah figured as much heheh... thanks Andrew   Aug 19 2007, 08:47 PM
- - Spyle   One thing I don't quite understand with the bo...   Oct 11 2007, 03:42 AM
|- - Spyle   QUOTE (Spyle @ Oct 10 2007, 09:42 PM) One...   Oct 11 2007, 04:16 AM
|- - Andrew Cockburn   QUOTE (Spyle @ Oct 10 2007, 11:16 PM) Act...   Oct 11 2007, 04:30 AM
|- - Spyle   QUOTE (Andrew Cockburn @ Oct 10 2007, 10...   Oct 11 2007, 04:55 AM
|- - Andrew Cockburn   QUOTE (Spyle @ Oct 10 2007, 11:55 PM) Sor...   Oct 11 2007, 05:37 AM
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- - Spyle   Nice   Oct 11 2007, 08:16 PM
- - niklas39   Hi! i want to find all the boxes by myself and...   Feb 17 2008, 11:31 AM
|- - Andrew Cockburn   QUOTE (niklas39 @ Feb 17 2008, 05:31 AM) ...   Feb 17 2008, 01:43 PM
|- - niklas39   QUOTE (Andrew Cockburn @ Feb 17 2008, 01...   Mar 14 2008, 09:35 PM
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- - 4Play   Well, I believe I grasped the concept behind these...   Mar 8 2008, 04:00 AM
|- - Andrew Cockburn   QUOTE (4Play @ Mar 7 2008, 10:00 PM) Well...   Mar 8 2008, 04:14 AM
|- - 4Play   QUOTE (Andrew Cockburn @ Mar 8 2008, 12:1...   Mar 8 2008, 02:19 PM
|- - Andrew Cockburn   Kris has some lessons about breaking out of the bo...   Mar 9 2008, 11:58 AM
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- - Melodicintenions   Wow Andrew you know your Stuff! if I got theor...   Apr 7 2008, 07:58 AM
- - Tsarpf   So I should practice the boxes by starting at the ...   Jul 4 2008, 01:03 PM
- - DeepRoots   That could be a cool way of practising it But th...   Jul 5 2008, 12:24 AM
|- - Andrew Cockburn   I'll also add that if you play the patterns fr...   Jul 6 2008, 02:30 PM
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- - Tsarpf   Ok, thanks alot for both of you.   Jul 6 2008, 06:41 PM
- - wibbers   Hey there, the past week or so I've started le...   Sep 4 2009, 08:41 PM
|- - Matt Warnock Guitar   Hey, That's correct. As long as you know where...   Jan 9 2013, 11:22 AM
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- - anuj2911   thanks for the boxes... i have started to learn th...   Apr 15 2012, 03:24 PM
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