There are two types of scales:
· Chromatic Scale
· Diatonic Scale
A chromatic scale uses all twelve notes between any note and its octave. That’s fancy talk for saying that it uses every note available, including all the sharps/flats, as the scale ascends. It looks like this:
…See how the chromatic scale is separated only by semitones? No tones are present in this scale. You can look at the chromatic scale as the “Mother” of all scales. It serves as foundation for other scales.
The diatonic scale is what we use to make music. All music can be traced to a scale of some sort. There are two kinds of diatonic scales:
- The Major Scale
- The minor Scale
A diatonic scale has five tones and two semitones. The order of these tones is what gives us the specific Major or minor scale. There are many, many different scales that you can make using various combinations of tones and semitones.
Here is a basic C Major scale:
What pattern of tones and semitones does the above scale have? Let’s see.
By taking a look at the distance between each note, we come up with the pattern:
Tone Tone Semitone Tone Tone Tone Semitone
Congratulations! You’ve just discovered the tone/semitone pattern for a Major scale! From that information, you can create any guitar major scale patterns you want. Here is how guitar scales explained in details.
C Major Scale is one of the easiest and simplest scales to understand because it doesn’t have any flats or sharps.
Here are some variations to play C Major Scale across the fretboard. Below are the guitar scales tabs for C Major Scale guitar positions …
C Major Scale with Open Positions…
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