- Scales are a great way to develop finger,
strength, and dexterity.
They also help us to become more familiar
with all the notes on our fretboard.
In this lesson, we'll learn what a chromatic scale is,
understand why the bass is tuned in fourths,
and we'll learn the E chromatic scale in open position.
A scale is an organized sequence of notes
that are played in ascending or descending order.
The chromatic scale is made up entirely of half steps
or one fret and contains all 12 notes
or tones that are available to us in Western music.
Here's an E chromatic scale
played up the E string only ascending.
(upbeat music)
You can play a chronic scale from any note
and simply ascend or descend by half steps
until you reach an octave above or below your starting note.
Let's take a look at how the tuning of our base
helps us play scales.
The E, A, D, and G strings on our base
are all tuned a perfect fourth apart.
A perfect fourth interval is made up of five half steps.
If we play up the chromatic scale five half steps
we land on a perfect fourth.
So from my open E, we can count one, two,
three, four, five, that's our A note
Instead of shifting my hand further up the neck,
I can instead play that same note on my next string,
which is open A.
This idea works the same on every string.
So on my A string, I have A, one, two, three,
four, five half steps to my D note,
which is the same note as my open D string.
On D, we have D, then one, two,
three, four, five, half steps to a G note
which is the same note as my open G string.
This tuning makes it easier to play scales
in a single position,
instead of moving your hand all the way up the fretboard.
Here's what the E chromatic scale in open position
or with open strings looks like and sounds like.
(upbeat music)
You can see that I was able to play 12 notes in the scale
without shifting my hand up the neck.
Let's break down exactly how to play this scale.
First off, we start with our open E string.
Then we have a pattern,
first finger on the first fret for an F,
second finger on second fret for F sharp,
third finger on the third fret for G,
and fourth finger on the fourth fret for G sharp.
We'll play that same fingering on our A string
for open A, A sharp first finger,
then B, C, and C sharp.
Now to our open D, we have D,
D sharp and we'll end on our high octave E
with second finger on our second fret.
Let's try playing the E chromatic scale
in open position together slowly.
We'll flick each note of the scale one time
using quarter notes.
When we get to that E octave
on the second fret of the D string,
we'll hold it for four beats
before repeating the whole exercise
and we'll repeat it a total of three times.
Get ready and I'll count us in.
One, two, ready, play.
E, F, F sharp, G, G sharp,
to A, A sharp B, C, C sharp,
D, D sharp and E, two, three, and again.
(upbeat music)
To open A,
(upbeat music)
open D,
(upbeat music)
and E, two, three, last time.
(upbeat music)
Two, three, four.
Awesome, now you can play the chromatic scale.
Happy practicing, and I'll see you next time.