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Diatonic Major Scales

Major scales are the foundation for all facets of music theory, hence the name Major! All other scales (minor, diminished, Augmented, etc.) are just a Major scale with one or more modifications.

Sometimes they are referred-to as Diatonic Major Scales. "Dia" means "to move across", and "tonic" means "tonal center or key center". A major Scale is an association of whole-steps (W) and half-steps (H). A whole-step is moving 2 frets up or down the fretboard starting on any one fret. A half-step is the same concept as the whole-step, except that you move only one fret at a time.

The whole-step and half-step sequence for any major scale is:

W-W-H-W-W-W-H

The diagram on the left demonstrates this pattern up 1 string on the guitar in the key of G Major. The 'key' isn't important right now. Just concentrate on understanding the concept of whole-steps and half-steps, and the pattern of them that makes up the Major Scale. It may be helpful to read the Fretboard Tutorial before trying to understand this.

Since there are only 12 notes in western culture music, there are only 12 Major scales. The notes of all 12 of the major scales, as well as their half-step and whole-step travels are shown in the diagram below.

There are seven fundamental fingering patterns for playing the Major scale on the guitar. It is imperative that you learn them as they are vital for learning all other facets of guitar-playing, including learning chord formations without memorizing overwhelming chord charts. The following diagram demonstrates these patterns.

Note that each pattern is associated with a "mode". I recommend that you check out the Modes Tutorial for a simplified explanation of modes and how these patterns are related to them.

The Chart Guide explains how to read the fingering diagrams.