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Now you should have some ability to play Major and Minor Scales, but let's figure out what they really are.
We've looked at comfortable ways to play a scale utilizing the six strings of the guitar to cover multiple octaves and stay in one position on the fretboard, but we also have a horizontal option.
Scales are just a series of notes that raise or lower in pitch in predictable ways. In theory, differences in pitch are described in terms of "steps".Â
The Major Scale and Minor Scale are made entirely out of two kinds of steps: Whole Steps, and Half Steps.
A Half Step corresponds to a movement of one fret.
A Whole Step corresponds to a movement of two frets.
Below, we have the Major Scale played entirely on one string (I used G here, but you can use any string for this!)
If we wanted to describe the Major Scale in terms of steps, starting from the root note we would follow this pattern up the neck:
Whole Step, Whole Step, Half Step, Whole Step, Whole Step, Whole Step, Half Step.
In short, that's: WWHWWWH.
Now let's have a look at the Minor Scale.
Expressed in terms of steps, this is:
Whole Step, Half Step, Whole Step, Whole Step, Half Step, Whole Step, Whole Step.
In short, that's: WHWWHWW.
Take some time to play the scales up and down the strings. Start with the Major Scale, and try playing it forwards and backwards on different strings, and starting from different root notes across the fretboard.
Then, try it again but using the Minor Scale.
The goal here is to learn to work with these scales just like we are with the scale shapes we already learned. We want to memorize the order of the steps as much as possible, so that we are free to move horizontally or vertically along the fretboard!
Every scale, not just the Major and Minor, can be understood through this system of steps and played on one string in this fashion. So, try to remember this concept!
This will also come in handy if you're speaking to a musician playing a different instrument.
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