By: Josip Pesut
Through this article I’ll explain the basics about major scale. It is a fundamental and rudimentary scale in music because everything relates to it. Sooner or later, you will realize that you can’t progress as a guitarist without knowing about this scale.
First, let’s go through some ways you can make the major scale. Of course, if you’re dealing with a C major scale, you may already know that the notes are C, D, E, F, G, A and B, and you should know each of the 12 major scales like that, stone cold.
But, what if you had to say something deeper about it, like, what emotions can you portray with it? Where can you play it on guitar? What other scales can you derive from it? What is it’s relative scale and why? And the most important question, how does knowing that scale benefit your playing? What would you say?
Actually, right now, I want you to write out everything you know about major scale. No matter how well you understand music theory. Once you put all of it on paper, you’ll be surprised how different your view on it will be. And if you don’t know anything about it, write out what you think it could be. Your speculations will be tested later on by new knowledge and information.
How to Build a Major Scale?
Well, there are several ways to do this depending on where you are now in terms of your knowledge. Let’s suppose you know only the chromatic scale (all notes possible on the guitar).
Chromatic scale:
C, C#, D, D#, E, F, G, G#, A, A#, B, C
It’s 12 semitones. There’s a pretty cool formula you can use for figuring this out.
It goes: 2, 2, 1, 2, 2, 2, 1.
What it means is that, if you’re looking for a C major scale, you would go from C note, and then follow the formula. You need 7 tones to build the major scale.
1st tone – C – you already know it, since you’re looking for a C major scale
2nd tone – D – according to the formula, it’s 2 semitones away from C (C, C# > D)
3rd tone – E – it’s 2 semitones away from D (D, D# > E)
4th tone – F – it’s 1 semitone away from E
5th tone – G – it’s 2 semitones away from F
6th tone – A – it’s 2 semitones away from G
7th tone – B – it’s 2 semitones away from A
Now, there’s still one number in the formula, 1, which says that an octave (C note) is 1 semitone away from B.
It’s pretty simple, right?
And it works for all other major scales. If you look for, let’s say, the G major scale, you would have to follow that formula starting from G, which would be G, A, B, C, D, E, F# and then again, G.
It won’t work if you don’t write out the process yourself. You should at least try it.
That’s the simplest way to build a major scale. There are some other ways, but I don’t think you should worry about them quite yet. Rather, write out all the major scales and try to play them on the guitar.
And, how to play them?
Before I say anything else, I’ll say you’re pretty lucky that you play guitar. Why? It would be amazing if you would figure that out yourself. Take a look at guitar neck below.
Guitar Neck
And now take a look at C major scale (C, D, E, F, G, A and B) and G major scale (G, A, B, C, D, E and F#). Extract them from the guitar neck picture. It would be best if you’d start from the 3rd fret of the 5th string (for C major scale) and 6th string (for G major scale). Analyze it… Why is learning scales on guitar much easier than on piano for example?
…Have you analyzed it?
Because you don’t have to change fingering for each key of major scales (this as well applies for all other scales!) Although this shouldn’t play a role once you get to the self-expression stage of playing, it definitely serves you while you’re in beginning of executing and understanding scales.
Here are those 2 scales:
C and G Scales
Pretty cool huh? If you know to play a major scale from C, you can play it from G just by applying the same fingering, only starting on G.
This doesn’t always work however. When the scale reaches the 2nd, B, string, you have to raise everything by 1 semitone (because of the tuning). See how the C major and G major scales look when they’re played an octave higher than the example above, and therefore reach 2nd string:
C and G Scales
You get it, right?
Now, I’ll just give you a thing to work out.
C Major Scale
That’s a C major scale played 3 notes per string across all 6 strings. Give it a shot. Don’t try too fast, because you’ll probably make lots of mistakes and won’t hear how it should go. Play it one note at a time and use alternative picking, meaning that you pick notes once downwards, once upwards, etc. Gradually speed up when you feel you can, but focus on the clarity of every note you play. Make it sound noiseless and neat. Also, make exercises out of it.
For example, the first exercise could be playing the first group of 6 notes, secound could be playing the second group of 6 notes, and then you’d have an exercise on playing those 12 notes together while sounding in the flow. There are plenty of things you can do with this scale if you allow yourself to be creative.
Then take your time and figure out how all other major scales go across all 6 strings. Play them until they’re part of you and then you could…
Naaah, that would too much.
Cheers!
******
Osnove Durske Ljestvice
Kroz ovaj članak ću objasniti osnove durske ljestvice. Ona je temeljna i osnovna ljestvica u glazbi, jer se prema njoj sve gleda. Prije ili poslije ćete shvatiti da ne možete napredovati bez da znate bar nešto o ovoj ljestvici.
Za početak, prođimo par načina na koje možete doći do te ljestvice. Naravno, ako se radi o C dur ljestvici, vjerojatno znate da se sastoji od C, D, E, F, G, A i H nota, a tako bi trebali znati i sve ostale note ljestvica, mrtvi hladni. No što kad bi o njoj trebali reći nešto dublje, poput, koje osjećaje možete s njom prikazati, gdje ju možete odsvirati na gitari, koje ostale ljestvice možete iz nje izvući, koja je njena paralelna ljestvica i zašto, te najvažnije pitanje, kako poznavanje ove ljestvice pridonosi vašem sviranju. Što biste na to odgovorili?
Zapravo, upravo sada, želim da raspišete sve što znate o dur ljestvici. Bez obzira koliko dobro znate glazbenu teoriju. Kada sve to stavite na papire, iznenadit ćete se kako će vam se pogled na nju promijeniti. Čak i ako ništa ne znate o njoj, raspišite što mislite da bi ona mogla biti. Vaše spekulacije će kasnije biti iskušane novim znanjem i informacijama.
Kako dobiti dursku ljestvicu?
Pa, postoje više naćina kako ju dobiti, ovisi gdje se nalazite u poznavanju teorije. Recimo da znate samo kromatsku ljestvicu (sve note po redu).
Kromatska ljestvica:
C, C#, D, D#, E, F, G, G#, A, A#, H (po američkom standardu – B), C
To je 12 polutonova. Postoji jedna fora formula koju možete za ovo koristiti.
Ide: 2, 2, 1, 2, 2, 2, 1.
To jest, ako tražite C dur ljestvicu, onda krenete od C note, a zatim pratite formulu. Trebate 7 tonova za dur ljestvicu.
Prvi ton – C – već ga imate, jer tražite C dur ljestvicu
Drugi ton – D – prema formuli, on se nalazi 2 polutona više od C (C, C# > D)
Treći ton – E – on je 2 polutona više od D (D, D# > E)
Četvrti ton – F – on je 1 poluton više od E
Peti ton – G – on je 2 polutona više od F
Šesti ton – A – on je 2 polutona više od G
Sedmi ton – H – on je 2 polutona više od A
Sada, postoji još jedan broj u formuli, broj 1, koji vam govori da je oktava (C nota) 1 poluton više od H.
Dosta jednostavno, jel da?
To funkcionira i za druge dur ljestvice. Ako tražite, na primjer, G dur ljestvicu, onda bi pratili tu formulu krećući od G note, pa bi dobili: G, A, H, C, D, E, F#, a zatim opet, G.
To baš i ne budete shvatili u potpunosti ako sami ne raspišete i ne razvježbate taj proces. Trebate bar pokušati.
To je najjednostavniji način da se dobije dur ljestvica. Postoji par drugih načina, no mislim da se trenutno ne morate s njima zamarati. Radije raspišite sve dur ljestvice i pokušajte ih svirati.
A kako da ih svirate?
Prije no što išta drugo kažem, reći ću da ste poprilično sretno što svirati gitaru. Zašto?
Bilo bi mi vrlo drago kada bi to sami shvatili. Pogledajte na dijagram vrata gitare ispod.
Guitar Neck
(to je raspisano američkim standardom koji B notu zamijenjuje A# notom, a H notu B notom)
Sada pogledajte C dur ljestvicu (C, D, E, F, G, A i B), te G dur ljestvicu (G, A, B, C, D, E i F#). Izvucite ih iz te slike vrata gitare. Najbolje bi bilo kada bi započeli od 3. Polja 5. (za C dur ljestvicu) i 6. žice (za G dur ljestvicu). Analizirajte ih… Zašto je učenje ljestvica na gitari puno lakše nego na pianu, na primjer?
…Jeste proanalizirali?
Jer ne morate mijenjati prstomet za svaki ključ dur ljestvice (to također vrijedi za sve druge ljestvice)! Iako vam ovo ne bi trebalo igrati ulogu kada dođete do faze samo-izražavanja, no puno vam može pomoći u početku, dok tek učite i savladavate osnove. Evo te 2 ljestvice:
C and G Scales
To je super, jel da? Ako znate odsvirati dur ljestvicu iz C, onda ju znate odsvirati i iz G ključa, tako da samo prebacite prstomet na G notu.
To ne pali uvijek. Kada ljestvica dolazi do 2., H žice, onda morate povisiti sve što svirate za pola tona (zbog štimunga). Pogledajte kako C dur i G dur ljestvice izgledaju kada su odsvirane oktavu više no u prošlom primjeru, pa stoga dolaze do 2. žice:
C and G Scales
Shvatili ste, jel da?
Sada, malo vježbe.
C Major Scale
To je C dur ljestvica odsvirana u obliku 3 note po žici preko svih 6 žica. Pokušajte to odsvirati. Nemojte početi prebrzo, jer ćete vjerojatno napraviti puno pogrešaka pa nećete čuti kako to treba ići. Odsvirajte ju notu po notu i koristite izmjenično istrzavanje, tako da trzate jednu notu prema dolje, a jednu prema gore, itd. Postepeno ubrzavajte kako osjetite da možete, no usredotočite se na čistoću svake note koju odsvirate. Neka zvuče bez buke i čvrsto. Također, napravite si vježbe iz ove vježbe. Na primjer, prva vježba vam može biti sviranje prve grupe od 6 nota, druga vam može biti sviranje druge grupe od 6 nota, pa bi onda mogli imati vježbu sviranja svih tih 12 nota zajedno, a da je sve tečno. Postoji puno stvari koje možete raditi sa tom ljestvicom ako si dopustite da budete kreativni.
Onda si uzmite vremena i skužite kako bi išle sve ostale dur ljestvice preko 6 žica. Svirajte ih dok ne postanu dio vas, a onda bi mogli….
Neee, to bi bilo previše. Uživajte! ;)
