At this point we have discussed a couple of different ways to look at notes on the neck of the guitar. Either we can look at the notes in terms of tablature, such as A0, B2, D6 etc. or we can view them as actual notes as in standard music theory, such as, D sharp, E, F, and F sharp etc. My advice to anyone starting out on the guitar is to learn as much as you can from both forms of notation. Personally, if given a choice, I simply prefer to use tablature. Unfortunately, tablature doesn't provide us with anything more than a convenient way to notate a pattern of notes that are intended to be played in a specific order. Where more formal references in music theory give us a better handle on why playing this or that pattern of notes over a given chord makes sense, for example. Yet, as we focus on both of these approaches, it is important to realize that no matter how you reference the pattern of notes you are playing, whether it be by way of formal notes or tablature, the patterns we play on the neck quite literally have shape.

Throughout this course, I will be returning back to the idea of shape constantly. Because with a knowledge of tablature and a limited knowledge of music theory, you can milk a lot of great ideas out of the shapes inherent in what you play on the guitar neck. The nice thing is that you don't have to be a musical genius who has been playing for 30-years to take full advantage of these shape based musical concepts. But, before we get too heavy into shapes on the guitar neck, I want to first introduce you to the C major scale.

THE C MAJOR SCALE

If you can say your ABC's, then the C major scale is a simple idea to catch on to. A scale, without getting to technical, is simply a sequence of notes. If we were to play this on a piano, we would only play on the white keys and ignore the shorter black keys. On the guitar, it's a little harder to make this distinction because every fret looks like the one next to it. But, this doesn't matter, because our interest is to use our 13 note pattern and derive the C major scale through a process of eliminating notes and then looking at intervals between the notes that remain. Only, instead of starting our pattern on A, we are going to start on C instead.

C
C sharp
D
D sharp
E
F
F sharp
G
G sharp
A
A sharp
B
C

To construct the C major scale, we simply eliminate all the sharp notes from our pattern above. This is what we get.

C
--
D
--
E
F
--
G
--
A
--
B
C

So, the notes in the C major scale are just

c, D, E, F, G, A, B, C

What is important at this time is to look at the interval structure of this scale.

The distance between C and D is a whole step (or two half steps).
The distance between D and E is a whole step.
The distance between E and F is a half step.
The distance between F and G is a whole step
The distance between G and A is a whole step
The distance between A and B is a whole step
The distance between B and C is a half step.

So, the structure of the C major scale in step wise fashion is,

Whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half

It's a good idea to take the time to get familiar with this interval pattern. Because we will be refering to the C major scale alot in future lessons.

Your homework is to use what you know about the C major scale and construct the C major scale by only using notes on the A string. Secondly, using no more than three notes per string, construct the C major scale using notes on the E string, A string, and D string. You are probably asking yourself, why is he making me do this. And the reason is because exercises like this force you to apply what you have learned. So, challenge yourself and use what you have learned to try and answer these two challenges before continuing to the next lesson.


Corey J. Bray