Major Intervals
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Intervals are the spaces between the notes. For a major scale (do re me fa so la ti do) the intervals are: whole step, whole step, half step, whole step, whole step, whole step, half step.
W W H W W W H
On the neck of the guitar each fret represents a half step, so notes that are separated by one fret- in other words, frets not next to one another but with a fret between them- are a whole step apart.
We can easily play a major scale from any open string! The name of the string will also be the name of the major scale. For instance, an E major scale (EM, EMaj or E with a triangle after it) from the 6th string stats with the open E. Then put your pointer finger on the 2nd fret and play that note. Next put your pointer finger on the 4th, 5th, 7th, 9th and 11th fret in that order. Lastly, put your finger on the 12th fret (the one with two fret markers usually). That is the octave, so you have played all the notes in the major scale! Practice this on all six strings. We don’t have to start at the open string. For instance, we can start at the 3rd fret of the […]
