Scales on the Guitar

Let's say we want to play the 6* (F#) major scale on the guitar, we first have to locate a 6* on the guitar, we can do that since we've developed a method for finding notes on the guitar.

Considering the 9* string, we can see that 9* - 3 = 6. But since we can't go any lower on this string, we'll do something equivalent which is to go to the 9th fret (9* + 9 = 18* = 6*).

Now that we're there, we're going to start with our middle finger on that fret, and in our head we are going to consider this as an anchor interval, so in other words this note we are currently fretting will be 0 since 6* - 6* = 0.

Before we continue let's recall the ai's for a generic major scale: 0 2 4 5 7 9 11.

So we've already gotten the 0, to get the 2, all we would have to do is to use our pinky to go up two frets on the 9* string which would take us to the ai 2. Notice that in this process we are no longer thinking about the actual notes but instead we are only considering the ai's.

In order to get the 4, we could continue along the 9* string, but that would require us to shift our hand position, so instead we're going to consider the next string over, that is the 2* string

Since our instrument is tuned in fourths, that means that the 9th fret on the 2* would be 5 semitones higher than the 9th fret on the 9* string, so we would know that the 9th fret on 2* string has the ai 5 (0 + 5 = 5). But recall that we are now looking for the ai 4, since that's the case we can just move one fret back on the 2* string so the 8th fret on the 2* string gives us our ai 4 with our index finger, we can also see that the 5 is on the next fret, so we can use our middle finger for that, and then jump up two frets and use our pink for the 7.

Now that our pinky is holding down the 7, we're going to move to the next string over again, as to not move our hand too much on the neck of the guitar, since we've already figured out that the 9th fret on the 2* string had an ai of 5, then due to our tuning the 9th fret on the 7* string would have an ai of 10 (5 + 5 = 10), so then we can go back a fret to get our 9 using the index and up two frets for the 11 using our ring finger and then finish.

fret: 0th	8th	9th	10th	11th
5*
0*
7*	9 (i)		11 (r)	0 (p)
2*	4 (i)	5 (m)		7 (p)
9*		0 (m)		2 (p)
4*

Since the pattern for the major scale is the same no matter where you start, then we could go ahead and build other scales using the same technique, so for example, if we wanted to build an 11* major scale, then since 6* + 5 = 11*, we can use this exact same construction starting on the 2* string instead of the 9* string.

If we wanted to build a 4* major scale, then we could preform the same thing but two frets back on the 9* string.

For more practice we can try building the scale but instead of going over the ai's in the order of 0 2 4 5 7 9 11, we could do 7 9 11 0 2 4 5 still under the context of our 6* major scale.

Since we're starting on 7 this time, let's put our middle finger on 11th fret of string 2*, we grab the 9 with our pinky, since 7 + 5 = 0, then we'll go back a fret on the next string over (7* string) using our index to get our 11, and then use our middle to get 0, finally using our pinky for the 2.

Since 0 + 5 = 5, then on the 0* string we can get 4 5 and 7 in the same way as we got our 11 0 2, which finishes the scale using this ordering. All in all, it looks like this

fret: 0	10th	11th
5*
0*	4 (i)	5 (m)	7 (p)
7*	11 (i)	0 (m)	2 (p)
2*		7 (m)	9 (p)
9*
4*

This method also works for the minor scale and any other scale you come across