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The Complete One-Octave Major Scales Guitar Series

Good day everyone, today I’ve put together all the lessons from the “One-Octave Major Scale Guitar Series” into one complete lesson. It doesn’t matter if you start from scratch or if you’ve already gone through all the lessons from the last couple of weeks, now is your chance to pick up your guitar, take this valuable guitar lesson of the one-octave major scale patterns and work on it every day. It will definitely make you a better guitar player.

Guitar students usually first learn two-octave scales, but one-octave scales are the building bricks of those two-octave scales and have their own effective purpose that will serve your playing in many ways.

Why You Want to Learn One Octave Scales

One of the reasons you want to learn one-octave scales is because of their simplicity. By using only one octave it’s easier to see the shape and structure of the scale, the notes within the scale, and the intervals. The scale is more user-friendly, easier to play, memorize and apply around the fretboard.

There’s another great benefit to learning one-octave scales. Once you got them under your fingers it’s only a matter of connecting the dots to lay out two octave and three-octave scales, since they are made up of one-octave scales.

Note: In this lesson you will learn one-octave major scale shapes across the entire guitar neck that will help you understand and own the entire major scale landscape.

Starting from the Root Note

We’re learning the three major scale shape/patterns with the first (root) note starting on the Low E-string (6th string), A-string (5th string), D-string (4th string) and the G-string (3rd string). For each string starting point we have three different patterns, which are all one and the same scale with the same notes, all starting from the same root note.

Tip: Learn and memorize the notes for each string so you know the notes and recognize the key of the scale when you move the scale up or down the fretboard. This will benefit your playing tremendeously now and in the long run.

Effective OneOctave Major Scales and Why!Part III

By Klaus Crow 6 Comments

Today you are ready to take on Part III of the effective one-octave major scales. We’re going to climb up the strings and into the higher regions of the scale. This will make the scale patterns more comfortable to play because it’s easier to reach and press the thinner strings.

Moreover, most guitar solos take place on the highest strings of the guitar, so these scale patterns are crucial to get under your soloing fingers.

Recap One Octave Major Scales

For those of you who just stepped into Part III of the One-Octave major scale series and missed out on Part I and Part II, here are the reasons you want to learn this:

The one-octave major scale makes it easy to recognize the shape, the structure, the notes and the intervals of the scale. One-octave scales are a perfect start for beginners and will create new insights for intermediate guitar players. The major scale is the mother of all scales and is the cornerstone of everything in guitar playing.

Starting from the Root Note on the D-string

Today we are learning three major scale shape/patterns with the first (root) note starting on the D-string (4th string).

Tip: Learn and memorize the notes on the D-string so you can instantly recognize the key of the scale when you want to move the scale up or down the fretboard.

Effective One-Octave Major Scales and Why!Part II

By Klaus Crow 6 Comments

Hi folks, today we’re going to dive into the one-octave major scales Part II. A nice, compact, clear and focused guitar lesson. If you haven’t learned the part I yet, you can check it out here: Effective One-Octave Major Scales and Why! Part I

Reminder Why You Want to Learn One-Octave Scales

Remember, you want to learn the one-octave major scale to easily identify the shape and structure of the scale, the notes within the scale, and the intervals. Moreover, the one-octave scale is easier to play for beginners and opens new doors, breeds new insights and improves the playing of intermediate guitar players.

Starting from the Root Note on the A-string

Today we are learning three major scale shape/patterns with the first (root) note starting on the A-string (5th string).

Tip: Learn and memorize the notes on the A-string so you can instantly recognize the key of the scale when you want to move the scale up or down the fretboard.

Major Scale Fingering

For the major scale examples and tablature below I’ve notated the fret-hand fingering. The numbers next to the notes on the note staff right above the tablature indicates the fret-hand fingers:

How to read tablature? Check out How to Read Guitar Tabs – Tablature

The numbers in the yellow neck diagrams also indicate the fret-hand fingering. The neck diagrams also clearly show what the shape or pattern looks like. Learn to visualize and memorize the shape of each pattern.

Make sure you play the scale shapes using alternative picking. Strictly use alternating down and up strokes. The first note you play is a downstroke, the second an upstroke, the third one a downstroke, the fourth one an upstroke and so on.

Practice the scale in every Key

In the examples below we play the G major scale, but the goal is to learn these scale shapes/patterns in every key. Once you got the scale under your fingers learn the pattern in different keys. Just move the entire scale up or down the fret and change keys easily. Need more help with that? A more detailed explanation on this in Part I

Without further ado..

Enjoy!

MAJOR SCALE SHAPES – ROOT NOTE STARTS ON THE 5TH STRING

G MAJOR SCALE fingering / shape / pattern #4

Effective Speed Building Guitar Licks Exercises

By Klaus Crow 7 Comments

Practicing speed building exercises on your guitar will improve your technique tremendously. The speed exercises will not just make you play faster, but also your dexterity will advance. Dexterity will create flow, easiness and flexibility on all fronts of your guitar playing.

When you practice the exercises for a while you will find that your fingers will feel lighter and move more fluently across the strings and fretboard as you solo or switch between chords. Guitar playing becomes more effortless.

The exercises in this post all have their own challenges that will develop and improve different parts of your technique. Exercise #1 and #5 are your typical 3 notes-per-string super fast lick that sound really awesome once you get them up to speed, but they’re just as nice to practice slowly or at mid tempo, exercise #4 is a nice blues lick, and others will serve different purposes to enhance your skills. Just try each one of them and explore.

Take it easy, take your time, and as always, enjoy the process!

SPEED BUILDING EXERCISE #1 ( A minor )

Below is a nice fast A minor lick scale run that you can play over an A minor chord or harmony / progression (Am – Bdim – C – D – Em – F – G – Am). Start slow, play every single note clean and clear and only increase your speed when you feel comfortable playing at a slow tempo.

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