Play The Major Blues Scales

Scales make up everything we do on the guitar.

No matter what style you play you’ll need to have structure and perform in a key center so that tension and resolution coexist.

With a scale, you create this key center and you’ll be able to visualize the fingerboard and make more sense out of it.

Below you’ll find 6 patterns for a major scale. Three are located on the 6th string and three are located on the 5th string. These forms will allow you to visualize that notes work together in any given key across the entire range of the fingerboard.

Practice all the scales in this course slowly and gradually begin to memorize them. The whole/half step pattern for the major scale is:

W W H W W W H

Sixth String Forms

4th finger form:

E |------------------------------------------2--4--5--|
B |--------------------------------2--3--5------------|
G |---------------------1--2--4-----------------------|
D |--------------2--4---------------------------------|
A |----2--4--5----------------------------------------|
E |-5-------------------------------------------------|

2nd finger form:

E |--------------------------------------------4--5--|
B |-------------------------------------5--7---------|
G |---------------------------4--6--7----------------|
D |-----------------4--6--7--------------------------|
A |-------4--5--7------------------------------------|
E |-5--7---------------------------------------------|

1st finger form:

E |-----------------------------------------------------|
B |------------------------------------------7--9--10---|
G |-------------------------------6--7--9---------------|
D |---------------------6--7--9-------------------------|
A |-----------5--7--9-----------------------------------|
E |-5--7--9---------------------------------------------|

Fifth String Forms

4th finger form:

E |-----------------------------------------9--10--12--|
B |----------------------------9--10--12---------------|
G |-------------------9--11----------------------------|
D |------9--11--12-------------------------------------|
A |-12-------------------------------------------------|
E |----------------------------------------------------|

2nd finger form:

E |-------------------------------------------------------12--13--|
B |----------------------------------------12--14--15-------------|
G |-------------------------11--13--14----------------------------|
D |-----------11--12--14------------------------------------------|
A |-10--12--------------------------------------------------------|
E |---------------------------------------------------------------|

1st finger form

E |———————————————————-14–16–17|
B |——————————————-14–15–17—————|
G |—————————-13–14–16——————————|
D |————–12–14–16——————————————–|
A |12–14–16———————————————————-|
E |——————————————————————–|

Want To Learn More …

Do you cringe with fear when you hear the word “scales”?

From the feedback of surveyed guitarists the common struggles with scales is that they just don’t understand them at all and find it difficult to use them in your playing.

Sounds quite complex and difficult just to begin with and you haven’t even started learning it yet.  With the right guidance you can make learning about scales, easy and improve your playing all at the same time.

That is why we created a course that is tailored to this exact topic.