guitar major scale

Guitar Major Scale

The major scale is the building block of western music and can be referred to by the name Ionian Mode, it is the fundamental scale within music, to which all other scales are compared for analysis.

C Major Scale over C Major Chord

The major scale 'shape' is what you need to grasp here, as the shape is the same for all keys. The red circles indicate a basic C Major Chord - (E Major Shape / from the CAGED System - fully discussed in VisualModalGuitarBlueprint - Version 2), which can be used to play the scale over.

When we stated above that other scales are compared to the major scale, what we are saying is that other scales can be built from each seperate note, as illustrated below.

This is where the modal system is born:

1st Note = Ionian
2nd Note = Dorian
3rd Note = Phrygian
4th Note = Lydian
5th Note = Mixolydian
6th Note = Aeolian
7th Note = Locrian

As an example, if you play from the 3rd note of the scale, this starting note played through the major scale fingering to the same note an octive higher is referred to as the phrygian mode, we are still using the notes of the major scale, but the order of the notes has changed, thus changing the character of the sound.

To discover more about the variations and positions along the neck that are associated with all guitar scales and how the modal system can be extracted - for a limited time you can download a free copy of the VisualModalGuitarBlueprint - Version 1