Great to have you back for part two of our 40 part series of Beginners Guitar Lessons. We hope you have been implementing the tips from lesson one, where talked about guitar tuning, learning first position notes, and the chromatic scale.
For beginners guitar lesson two, we are going to learn about major scales and how to play one. Here is both the audio and written version of the lesson… Lets start rocking!
| Beginners Guitar Lessons – Audio Lesson 2 |
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Beginners Guitar Lessons Part 2 – The Major Scale
The major scale is a grouping of eight notes used in every form of modern music. We learned in part 1 of Beginners Guitar Lessons, that the chromatic scale contains all the possible notes in music, separated by half-steps.
The major scale is a taken from the chromatic scale, using a specific formula of steps. If you recall, one fret equals one-half of a step, and two frets equal a whole-step. Using the following formula, it is possible to create every major scale, no matter where you start on any given point of the chromatic scale:
Major Scale Formula: Whole, Whole, Half, Whole, Whole, Whole, Half (WWHWWWH)
Chromatic Scale: A, A#/Bb, B, C, C#/Db, D, D#/Eb, E, F, F#/Gb, G, G#/Ab, back to A and infinity.
Excersice – C Major Scale
We’ll use the “C Major” scale as an example. Note that C major contains no sharp (#) or flat (b) notes. Using the formula, for this example, we’ll start at the “C’ which occurs on the 5th (A) string, on the third fret.
- Fret the “C” note with your third finger. According to the formula, we’ll be going up a whole-step, which would land you on “D”. We’ll use the open 4th (D) string as our “D” note. The second step in the formula is also a whole-step, which will bring us to “E”. The “E” we’re looking for occurs when you press the 2nd fret on the 4th string with your second finger.
- The next step in the formula is a half-step, or one fret. Place your third finger on the 3rd fret of the 4th string to get our next note, which is an “F”. Cool! You’re halfway there…so far, we’ve got C, D, E, and F. Take a few minutes and practice those four notes.
- All set? The next note in “C” major, after CDEF, is the next whole-step in the formula, which is “G” in this example. The “G” we’re looking for can be found by playing the 3rd string open…easy enough! After “G”, we’ll need another whole-step, which is “A”. “A” is located on the 2nd fret of the 3rd string, using your second finger.
- Next, we have another whole-step, which is “B”. Play “B” by picking the open 2nd string. The final note in the scale is another “C”, which is one half-step from “B”. Play “C” with your 1st finger, on the 1st fret of the 2nd string.
You’ve done it! Now play the scale in it’s entirety, saying the notes as you play them: C,D,E,F,G,A,B, and C. Practice playing the C major scale forward and backward, saying the notes while you’re playing them.
Get stuck into our learn the guitar lessons and you’ll be ripping up the fretboard in no time!
Scotty Smith and Matt Mckay
Learn The Guitar Lessons © 2009
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Great to hear Richard, grab yourself an axe and rock on mate! Plenty of guitar lessons to come…and some videos
Really cool Scott I’m going to get a Guitar out and have a go at this. keep it up i think you may be on a winner here, well done.
Great site guys, which I’m plodding through slowly – I know it’s an evolving thing, but any recommendations on where the early focus should be, chords or scales?
My 6yr old daughter is having lessons, so I’ve taken the opportunity to learn how to play properly, something I’ve been meaning to do for nearly 20 years! Thoroughly enjoying it too
Hi Matt,
Great to hear you are enjoying the site and getting stuck into learning the guitar. Man… your daughter is going to be ripping up the fretboard by the time she is in her teens! Its’ great to get your kids started early.
As you are beginning, you will probably be best to start getting your chords down pretty solid. This will do 2 things initially… get some strength into your fingers and also allow you to play some basic songs. That’s what it’s all about when you are starting, you want to be able to enjoy playing, and being able to strum out some cool tunes will keep you interested and make you want to learn more and more.
Work on some open and bar chords, and practice them lots. Find a few songs you can play using those chords and keep up with our lessons at your own pace. Have fun mate.
Hi there,
I’m still somewhat new to the guitar (Bought one last May, and had maybe 2-3 actual months of messing around with it since then), so I’m glad to see more resources like this popping up. It’s great to look back at this stuff and try to pick up some theory that went over my head the first time I was introduced to it. Thank you very much.
Quick note – it looks like you have a typo in the “Major Scale Formula” up above where you list four Whole’s in a row between the Half’s. The abbreviated “WWHWWWH” seems correct. It should be “Whole, Whole, Half, Whole, Whole, Whole, Half”, not “Whole, Whole, Half, Whole, Whole, Whole, Whole, Half”, right?
Great to hear you are getting stuck back into your guitar Garrett, it’s something you can never put down once you pick it up
Thanks for the tip on the typo in the post, all fixed mate.