Hey, music fans! What’s the word for today? Well, the word is: GUITAR MAJOR SCALE! Woop woop!
(Sorry to get all dorky on you but major scales do rock, don’t they?!) CMC here with another mini-journey to your guitar greatness. So take a minute,pull up a chair and take a look. Nothing earth shattering here but if we can add even a hint of new inspiration to your perspiration, that’s a good thing, right? You bet, so let’s dig it, dive in and just do it!
I personally LOVE the major scale the most because it seems to evoke the most bright and happy feelings.
Think Boston or AHA or ABBA ! But for now, lets not get off on a rabbit trail (well, isnt that kind of what the internet is, one giant rabbit trail?) as we are prone to do, let’s focus on GUITAR MAJOR SCALES. Here are a few tips I found from a trusted player and I think they are really excellent. It’s not much but it’ll get you on the road to righteous playing:
1. Take your time, be careful and do it properly. No sloppy playing allowed! Try not to make any mistakes. Practice makes perfect. Go slowly the first few times. Do maybe five, ten or more runs first, slowly. Then gradually, speed up as you feel comfortable, once you feel like you’re getting the hang of it. You don’t want to develop any bad habits that will haunt you later.
2. I’ve said this before and I’ll repeat AGAIN: make sure your hands, wrists and fingers are positioned correctly. No flat, sloppy placement of your fingers on the fret board. Precision is super important. Bend those suckers until ONLY finger tips are on board.
3. Start and stop on the ROOT. Training your hearing, your ears is critical. Start at the lowest pitch and go up as high as you can, then come back down as low as you can on the neck, then back up again.
4. Learn shapes and patterns. It’s critical that you know all FIVE of these patterns but be cognizant of this: learning to make music with them is key. Far more important to be able to solo in ONE shape, than play five up and down, un – musically. (hey, is that a word? It is now!)
