Major Scales For Guitar
In music theory, the Major scale is one of the diatonic scales. It can also be called the Ionian mode and is made up of seven distinct notes, plus an eighth which duplicates the first an octave higher.
In solfege these notes correspond to the syllables "Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti/Si, Do" - the "Do" in brackets at the end being the octave of the root.
In the Aebersold terminology I use throughout the Advanced Guitar Player website, the intervals of the Ionian Mode of the Major Scale are spelt W, W, H, W, W, W, H - Tone, Tone, Semitone, Tone, Tone, Tone, Semitone in British Music Terminology.
The simplest major scale to write or play on the piano is C major. This is the only major scale that doesn't require sharps or flats- It is consequently played using only the white keys on the piano keyboard.
The Guitar Pro Tab image below shows one octave of the Major Scale in Twelve Keys. All scales begin on the low E String of the guitar and start on the lowest note possible.
At the bottom of the page, you'll find links to each of the individual Major Scales - these Guitar Tabs show a
number of different fretboard positions and fingerings for the scales.
The Major Scale has been the basis of so much popular music for so long that you will certainly already be very familiar with the sound textures it implies.
If you would like to hear it more deeply, I suggest you check out the first part of our Ear Training For Guitarists Course - Sight Sing Major Scales. You'll not only improve your musical ear - pitch and interval recognition, in particular - but also find lots of applications for your guitar playing.
Anyway, here's the Ionian Mode of the Major Scale in Twelve Keys. Scroll down for individual Guitar Major Scales.
The Major Scales in All Twelve Keys don't fit in one guitar pro tab image - so scroll down to the bottom for links to Guitar Tabs for Each Individual Major Scale (including Enharmonic Spellings).
Here you have links to the most common Major Scales - including Enharmonic Spellings of the same scale eg. F# and Gb there should fifteen in all.
It's worth pointing out that these Guitar Tabs only provide one possible way of approaching the scales on the guitar fretboard. However, you will find Ionian Major Scales using a variet of fingerings in six positions ascending up the guitar neck.
As I'm a jazz-influenced guitar player, I start all scales in the lowest possible position and my folk guitar background leads me to include at least one fingering of the scale in open position - I believe that it's extremely important to know what open strings you have available to you, particularly when creating advanced chord voicings and when you want to include pedal tones.
Anyway, here are the links to the Major Scales. For more varied exercises, you should check out the Guitar Practice Routines section.
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Scales and Modes -
The Major Scale - Ionian Mode
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Written by Simon Harris
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Thursday, 02 December 2010 10:06 |
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The Ab Major Scale is a Diatonic Scale made up of the notes Ab-Bb-C-Db-Eb-F-G-Ab (W, W, H, W, W, W, H). If you find yourself playing Modal Jazz Guitar, you may here it referred to as the Ionian Mode of G Major.
The guitar tab image below shows the A Flat Major Scale in five positions on the guitar fretboard - for reasons of space the sixth position starting at the thirteenth fret is not shown here but is included in the downloadable guitar pro tab and the pdf file.
The fingering and positions shown are just one of many possibilities so you should experiment with playing the scale in other positions on the guitar fretboard and with other fingerings.
However, as the tablature shows, the way I normally practice a scale is to run up the fretboard 'grabbing' the scale in whatever octave I find it in the closest position possible.
In the case of A Flat Major Ionian, I have shown one option in Open Position and then with my first finger on the Third, Fifth, Seventh and Tenth Frets respectively - these routines give me enough flexibility to find the notes I need wherever I am on the fretboard in real soloing guitar situations.
These Guitar Major Scale Tabs were created using the Guitar Pro 6 Tab Editor and Player.
Click Here To Visit The Guitar Pro Website and Download a Free Trial Copy of the Program
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Last Updated on Thursday, 02 December 2010 10:16 |
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Scales and Modes -
The Major Scale - Ionian Mode
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Written by Simon Harris
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Thursday, 02 December 2010 09:40 |
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The G Major Scale is a Diatonic Scale made up of the notes G-A-B-C-D-E-F#-G (W, W, H, W, W, W, H). If you find yourself playing Modal Jazz Guitar, you may here it referred to as the Ionian Mode of G Major.
The guitar tab image below shows the G Major Scale in five positions on the guitar fretboard - for reasons of space the sixth position starting at the ninth fret is not shown here but is included in the downloadable guitar pro tab and the pdf file.
The fingering and positions shown are just one of many possibilities so you should experiment with playing the scale in other positions on the guitar fretboard and with other fingerings.
However, as the tablature shows, the way I normally practice a scale is to run up the fretboard 'grabbing' the scale in whatever octave I find it in the closest position possible.
In the case of G Major Ionian, I have shown two possibilities in Open Position and then with my first finger on the Second, Fourth, and Thirteenth Frets respectively - these routines give me enough flexibility to find the notes I need wherever I am on the fretboard in real soloing guitar situations.
These Guitar Major Scale Tabs were created using the Guitar Pro 6 Tab Editor and Player.
Click Here To Visit The Guitar Pro Website and Download a Free Trial Copy of the Program.
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Last Updated on Thursday, 02 December 2010 10:20 |
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Scales and Modes -
The Major Scale - Ionian Mode
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Written by Simon Harris
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Thursday, 02 December 2010 09:08 |
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The Gb Major Scale is a Diatonic Scale made up of the notes Gb-Ab-Bb-Cb-Db-Eb-F-Gb (W, W, H, W, W, W, H). If you find yourself playing Modal Jazz Guitar, you may here it referred to as the Ionian Mode of Gb Major.
The guitar tab image below shows the G Flat Major Scale in five positions on the guitar fretboard - for reasons of space the sixth position starting at the twelfth fret is not shown here but is included in the downloadable guitar pro tab and the pdf file.
The fingering and positions shown are just one of many possibilities so you should experiment with playing the scale in other positions on the guitar fretboard and with other fingerings.
However, as the tablature shows, the way I normally practice a scale is to run up the fretboard 'grabbing' the scale in whatever octave I find it in the closest position possible.
In the case of G Flat Major Ionian, I have shown two possibilities in First Position and then with my first finger on the Sixth, Eighth, Eleventh, and Thirteenth Frets respectively - these routines give me enough flexibility to find the notes I need wherever I am on the fretboard in real soloing guitar situations.
These Guitar Major Scale Tabs were created using the Guitar Pro 6 Tab Editor and Player.
Click Here To Visit The Guitar Pro Website and Download a Free Trial Copy of the Program.
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Scales and Modes -
The Major Scale - Ionian Mode
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Written by Simon Harris
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Wednesday, 01 December 2010 08:58 |
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The F# Major Scale is a Diatonic Scale made up of the notes F#-G#-A#-B-C#-D#-E#-F# (W, W, H, W, W, W, H). If you find yourself playing Modal Jazz Guitar, you may here it referred to as the Ionian Mode of F# Major.
The guitar tab image below shows the F Sharp Major Scale in five positions on the guitar fretboard - for reasons of space the sixth position starting at the twelfth fret is not shown here but is included in the downloadable guitar pro tab and the pdf file.
The fingering and positions shown are just one of many possibilities so you should experiment with playing the scale in other positions on the guitar fretboard and with other fingerings.
However, as the tablature shows, the way I normally practice a scale is to run up the fretboard 'grabbing' the scale in whatever octave I find it in the closest position possible.
In the case of F Sharp Major Ionian, I have shown two possibilities in First Position and then with my first finger on the Sixth, Eighth, Eleventh, and Thirteenth Frets respectively - these routines give me enough flexibility to find the notes I need wherever I am on the fretboard in real soloing guitar situations.
These Guitar Major Scale Tabs were created using the Guitar Pro 6 Tab Editor and Player.
Click Here To Visit The Guitar Pro Website and Download a Free Trial Copy of the Program.
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Scales and Modes -
The Major Scale - Ionian Mode
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Written by Simon Harris
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Wednesday, 01 December 2010 08:13 |
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The F Major Scale is a Diatonic Scale made up of the notes F-G-A-Bb-C-D-E-F (W, W, H, W, W, W, H). If you find yourself playing Modal Jazz Guitar, you may here it referred to as the Ionian Mode of F Major.
The guitar tab image below shows the F Major Scale in five positions on the guitar fretboard - for reasons of space the sixth position starting at the twelfth fret is not shown here but is included in the downloadable guitar pro tab and the pdf file.
The fingering and positions shown are just one of many possibilities so you should experiment with playing the scale in other positions on the guitar fretboard and with other fingerings.
However, as the tablature shows, the way I normally practice a scale is to run up the fretboard 'grabbing' the scale in whatever octave I find it in the closest position possible.
In the case of F Major Ionian, I have shown two possibilities in Open Position and then with my first finger on the Fifth, Seventh, Tenth, and Twelfth Frets respectively - these routines give me enough flexibility to find the notes I need wherever I am on the fretboard in real soloing guitar situations.
These Guitar Major Scale Tabs were created using the Guitar Pro 6 Tab Editor and Player.
Click Here To Visit The Guitar Pro Website and Download a Free Trial Copy of the Program.
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Last Updated on Wednesday, 01 December 2010 08:23 |
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