The major scale on the guitar…it’s everywhere

No matter where you look, you can find the major scale on the guitar

We know it’s true that you can Discover the Notes on the Guitar Fretboard Everywhere. So it follows that you can find the major scale on the guitar everywhere too. No matter what key you’re in, you’re never far from that key’s major scale.

Say, for instance, that you are in the key of A. Check the article I mentioned above as well as other articles I’ve written. They show you can find A notes all over your guitar. Pick any of these A notes. You can play a major scale starting from that note and moving either up or down the scale.

And the same is true for all of the other notes too. Anytime you have a note, you have the major scale on the guitar with that note as the root note.

This means with the major scale formula that you learned in Understanding the Major Scale is Foundational Music Theory, you can work out the major scale wherever you are.

Another pattern for playing the major scale on the guitar

We learned to play the major scale on the guitar in my article Easily Master the Major Scale on Guitar. But that article talked about just one pattern to play the major scale on the guitar. There are other patterns all over the neck.

In fact, there is another common pattern that starts on the exact same note as the pattern we learned earlier. The pattern we learned earlier enables us to move through two octaves of the major scale on all six strings within a range of four frets. That can be a handy way to play through a melody or lead guitar line.

But with this other pattern, although it starts on the same fret, you can move up or down the neck. This makes it a very valuable tool for playing interesting melodies and lead lines.

Let’s take a look at how to play this pattern. It’s just one more of several patterns you can use to play the major scale on the guitar.

Work through the major scale recipe to find a new pattern

We’ll work in the key of G major. Start at the third fret of the Low E string. This puts us way down at the low end of the neck, near the guitar headstock.

But by the time you’ve made your way through this scale pattern, you’ll find your way up to fret 8. You’ll have traveled much farther up the neck than you did with the other pattern I’ve talked about. Once you’ve used this pattern to play the major scale on the guitar, you’ll have moved from the low register of your instrument to the higher register.

Use three notes per string for the major scale

So, starting at fret 3 of the Low E string, you have the note G. This pattern uses a consistent three notes per string all the way through the major scale on the guitar.

Instead of just telling you where to put your fingers, let’s work this pattern out note by note. This helps you gain even more solid understanding of the guitar fretboard. Teach a person to fish, and all that…

Following the major scale pattern, we have the root note (G) on fret 3. Then the second note A on fret 5. Finally, a stretch of your pinky to play the note B, the third note in the scale, at fret 7.

We need to move to the fourth degree of the scale–the note C in the key of G. You’re fingers are stretched pretty much as far as they’ll go. Besides, you’ve played three notes on the E string already.

So, it’s time to jump to the A string. We’ve learned that the fourth is always one string above the root note at the same fret. So, play the C note at fret 3 of the A string.

It’s also important to remember you have a half step between the third and fourth notes of the major scale. So if you’d have stayed on the Low E string, you’d have moved only one fret higher. In moving to the next string up, you’ve accounted for that half step. So, the next three notes are a whole step apart from each other (remember, just follow the major scale pattern).

So, following the major scale recipe, play the D at fret 5, and the E at fret 7 of the A string. You’ve now played the first six notes of the major scale on the guitar. Notice the pattern of the first three notes on the E string. It’s identical to the pattern for the second three notes on the A string.

Another pattern for the major scale on the D and G strings

We need to move up to the D string for the next three notes. Which fret do we go to? You’ve already played the first six notes of the major scale on the guitar, so now we’re looking for the seventh note. In the key of G major, the seventh note is F#, so we need to find an F#.

Hopefully you’re getting to the point where you either know or can quickly figure out where each note is on the guitar. Remember the next root note is up two frets from the first root note only it’s on the D string. So that makes fret 5 on the D string the note G–the root note.

If the root note is at fret 5, then one fret down from that must be the seventh note of the scale. So, you’ll start playing the D string at the fourth fret with your index finger.

The root note of the next octave is one fret up at fret 5, and the second note of the scale is the A note at fret 7 of the D string.

Moving up to the G string, you’re looking for the third note of the scale, which is B. How can you easily find it? By now you have a few handy techniques for doing so. For instance, you know that the three is always one string up from the 7 (with the B string exception as usual). So, that puts the three at fret 4 of the G string. Fret 5 then is the C, and fret 7 is the fifth note of the scale, D.

Notice that just as the pattern was the same for the E and A strings, the pattern–although different than the first pattern–is the same for the D and G strings.

One more pattern for the major scale on the B and High E strings

Now, jumping to the B string, you need an E note to continue since that’s the 6 of the scale. You also have several ways to find the note E on the B string. You know from your knowledge of tuning a guitar the E on the B string is at fret 5. The 7 of the G scale is F# at fret 7 of the B string, and back to another A note at fret 8.

Finally, on the High E string, just repeat the pattern you played on the B string to play the 2, 3, and 4 of the next octave. You have all the tools you need to work out why those notes fall on those frets. Notice that once again these two strings–the B and the E–use the same pattern of frets.

You’ve made your way up the neck with the major scale on the guitar

So all you really need to learn is three patterns, each of which is repeated on two consecutive strings to play through three octaves of the major scale and then some.

Well, now you’ve run out of strings, but look how far you’ve come up the neck just by playing the major scale on the guitar. You started at fret 3 on the Low E string, and ended at fret 8 on the High E string.

You’ve run out of strings right in the middle of the next octave scale, and that’s not a comfortable resolution to the scale. You want to stop on the root note again for proper release of musical tension (a subject for a future article).

To get to the root note, you can follow the major scale pattern up the High E string until you reach the next G note way up at fret 15.

Alternatively, you could turn around and go back down the major scale on the guitar until you land back at the G note on fret 8 of the B string.

Conclusion

As you become more familiar with the guitar fretboard, you begin to understand that you can find the major scale–in any key–virtually anywhere on the guitar.

In other articles I’ve talked about how to identify the notes on the fretboard, how to tune the guitar, the major scale pattern, and other important tools that you need in order to play the major scale on the guitar.

A series of three simple patterns repeated across adjacent strings enables you to play the major scale on guitar. Simultaneously you travel from the lower register up to the higher register covering a span of six frets.

Understanding this major scale pattern is a great way to help you navigate to different areas of the fretboard. In doing that, you can achieve different sounds on your instrument.