We're going to talk about music theory. Yehey! Now in particular
the note interval and the C major scale. Now this is a formula for creating
any major scale. You just start with whatever note that you want. If you're thinking music
theory is hard put your fears aside. We're gonna make this easy and fun even though I
might take it a little bit farther but it'll be fun. You got this. Let's do it. Yehey!
The major scale is a series of notes that follows these rules. First of all, there's eight notes,
second it starts and ends on the same note and third there's only one instance of each note
name. So the C major scale starts on C and ends on C. Convenient, huh. Look here. The notes are C D
E F G A B C. Of course I'm thinking for granted you know the musical alphabet just goes from A to
G and then starts over A to G. Now we can number them and you'll see why that's useful later.
We'll start with C that'll be one, D is 2, E is 3, F is 4, G is 5, A is 6, B is 7 and then C
8. We call the distance between notes intervals. A common way to think about a scale
is to consider the interval between each of the notes so it's kind of a formula.
If you put the exact space between the first note and the second note and the exact same
space between the second note and the third note and so on every time you're going to end up with
a major scale. So the formula for A major scale is a whole step, whole step then a half step
then a whole step, whole step, whole step and a half step. In other words, if you start on C
and you apply this formula throughout, you're going to end up with a C major scale.
Now different scales have different formulas so if you use the formula for a minor scale and start on
C you'd end up with a C minor scale. If you use the formula for mixolydian scale and start on C
you'd end up with a mixolydian scale and so on. It's really helpful to learn the major scale first
because everything else can be kind of compared to it and it gives you a good foundation to build on.
And you'll see when I say learn it I'm not talking just intellectually though that's a part of it.
I mean actually listen to it and get that sound in your head so you can
start to hear those spaces, those intervals. Let me show you what it looks like on the guitar.
So first of all to make sure we're on the same page here one fret on the guitar is considered
a half step so this is a C note right here and from C to C sharp would be a half step. Now
two half steps make up a whole step so you guessed it? Two frets. There is a whole step
that's C to D. Now we can apply that formula we talked about and make a C scale. We're gonna
start on the C note. Go up whole, whole, half, whole, whole, half, two whole, half, three whole,
half that's how I remember it. So a whole, whole and now a half one fret, whole, whole, whole,
three whole and then the half again and yes we end up on C which is considered one octave.
Now we don't normally play the scale on just one string. I wanted to show you that
so you can clearly see the intervals. The way I might normally play the scale is in a couple
of different ways but I'll show you a good way to learn right off the start if you're just learning
a C scale. I'll choose the C note up here on the sixth string. It's the same note as here
but that allowed me to use a very common fingering for major scale
so that was one octave from C to C.
Now I'm showing you this even though this lesson is not about how to play a C scale
because it's really important to connect the sound with the intellectual understanding. In
other words the cognitive that's the fancy word psychologists use
in understanding connected with the actual sound because that's how it actually becomes practical
in the world of music. It's that sound. The sound of the major scale and the best way
to learn that is to practice it and listen carefully. Don't just memorize the fingering
and days out watching TV or something. That's why you listen and pay attention to the sound
and you'll memorize that sound over time.
Let me show you the fingering in case this is new to you. I'm on that eighth fret. I'm gonna
use the pinky for 2 frets up that's 10. Now the first finger over here on the fifth string
seventh fret, one fret now that's a half step, whole step pinky. Now over the next string
that's another whole step. By the way, another whole step third finger and then the pinky, right?
We now have played the C scale in one octave and it's helpful to learn the second octave. I
won't go into that now. I'll certainly have another video on that. I do encourage you
to go slow. Play the scale slowly. Listen to what you're doing and of
course get the fingering right. Relax your hand, get good technique while you're at it.
If you are new to the scale and you're finding it difficult just remember a few notes at a time and
then keep adding on so start like this. Stop there and just practice those so you can do it
fairly slow and easy then add some more notes. Not that one. Yes. Right? And then start again
then maybe add one or two more notes. I'm going to go all the way. I'm going faster
than you would normally go then add practice that then starts from the beginning again.
Try and go slow so you get it mostly right not
fast and keep making mistakes because little by little you're programming yourself to actually
do the wrong thing if you keep pushing to where you make mistakes so go slow,
minimize mistakes and then pick up little by little as you get more and more comfortable.
Another way to understand scales is the distance for each note from the root note. In this case
C is the root note. The root note is the name of the scale. C is the root note of a C scale.
So what I mean by that is look at each of the notes after C and see how far it is. This is
the kicking off point to understanding more about chords and chords construction. I won't go too far
into it but let me show you something that you can practice that'll really help you.
Start with the first note the C and the scale and go to the next note.
Now call it the name of that interval. It's called A major second. Yes it is the same as one whole
step but now we're calling each of these intervals by their proper name that we'll use in chords
the major second. Next one would be E C to E that's called a major third. I
won't explain too much why right now just go for memorizing why we'll come later in other lessons.
Now the next one C to C D E F
that's a perfect fourth. Why is it a perfect fourth not A major fourth? I'm not actually
sure. I've heard several explanations and I don't know which one to believe so I won't repeat them.
Next we're going to the fifth
and that's the E note C D. No I'm sorry C D E F C the G is the perfect fifth.
Now the next one is A that will be the sixth then C to B and C to C that's an octave. Oh I forgot C
to B is A seventh. In this case, A major seventh. A major scale is going to be A major seventh. So
the practice is to go one note at a time starting with the first note each time C to D, C to E
and so on but go slow and listen carefully. Listen to the sound perfect fourth
that was C to F, C to G perfect fit that's a great interval to know, perfect fifth dot dot dot.
Yes if you can sing it great but start with the guitar.
Well thanks for joining me. If you found it helpful please give me a thumbs up
and let me know in the comments and if you'd like me to make more lessons on
theory and scales okay I and Marcus having a good time. Let me know in the comments. Now if
you'd like to know more about this particular subject I have a blog post you're going to
love. It goes more into the theory of how to use intervals to create chords and it has an
included downloadable cheat sheet. I've got a link for you coming up right there.