Major Scale Construction
You may know how to play major scales up and down the fret board, but do you know the theory of the scale, do you understand the interval structure that makes up this common scale.
Often times a player will give no thought to theory at all, but if you are the type of player who wants to understand the ins and outs, and all the theory of what you are playing then this is for you. Let start with the construction of the basic major scale.
First we need to understand a few terms, these are half step, and whole step, commonly referred to minor second and major second respectively. A half step is simply the distance of one fret, while a whole step is the distance of two frets. There for if you were to play the first fret first string and then play the second fret first sting that is a half step, and if you were to go from the first fret to the third fret on the first string that is a whole step. When we use the terms minor second and major second, we are not only talking about distances in frets but in letter names as well. A second is always one letter name away, so if you play a D note then play an E note that would be a second, in this case it would be a major second because D and E are two frets apart, if you play a D then go to an Eb(flat) then that would be a minor second because the distance is only one fret.
The next term we need to understand is scale tone, or scale degree, this is usually represented by the numbers one though seven, sometimes eight, with eight being the octave. The first note of the scale would be one, the second would be two, and so on.
Now that we have some basic terminology out of the way we can get started on the construction of the major scale. A major scale is simply two tetra chords separated by a major second. Now we need to know what a tetra chord is, it is four notes arranged as a major second, major second, and minor second. Thus if you were to start on a C note, go up a major second to D, up another major second to E, then a half step to F, that is the first tetra chord, you would then move up a major second to G to begin the second tetra chord, up a major second to A, up another major second to B, then a half step to the octave C to finish the second tetra chord.
So in the Key of C the notes of a major scale would be C D E F G A B. If we relate this to scale degrees the C would be one, the D would be two, the E would be three and so on. You can play major scales in a variety of ways on the fret board, however one of the most useful ways in understand the structure of the scale is to play it linear, that is along one string without changing strings.
Lets try this by starting on the high F note, first fret, first string. Play the F note then go a whole step then another whole step, then a half step, then a whole step, then you repeat, a whole step, a whole step and a half step. You don't have to even worry about the note names, as long as you follow the whole step half step pattern you can start on any note, play the pattern and you will be playing the major scale in the key of the starting note. A good way to finger the scale to help with the understand of the tetra chords, and the whole step half step pattern is as follows: Play the first scale degree with your index finger, use your middle finger to play the second scale degree, use your pinky finger for the third and fourth scale notes, then shift a whole step, using your first finger, and repeat, index finger on the fifth note, middle finger on the sixth note, and pinky on the seventh note and the octave. This is an easy way to visualize the concept on the fret board.
So that is the structure of one of the most common scales in all styles of music. This becomes the building block of many theory concepts, such as mode and chord construction. Which will be covered in future lessons.
Keep up the good work, you are on your way to becoming a well round musician.