0:03 hi guys welcome to level five lesson
0:05 five of my beginners guitar course where
0:13 scale now this is the first scale that
0:15 we're learning in this beginner's course
0:17 uh but I don't want it to scare some
0:19 people off sometime people think scales
0:21 and they think of horrible piano lessons
0:23 or something or bad experience as a kid
0:25 this is simply how we're going to end up
0:27 playing Melodies on your guitar that are
0:30 recognizable and using singles strings
0:32 so whether it's electric lead guitar
0:35 solos you want to be playing or acoustic
0:37 Melodies this is the absolute starting
0:39 place when we want to be playing single
0:42 notes on your guitar so scale just means
0:44 sequence of notes and this is the
0:47 sequence of notes we're going to be [Music]
0:54 [Music]
0:57 learning notice I started at the lowest
0:59 note went to the highest note and then
1:02 came back down in order which is exactly
1:04 how we want to practice our scales and
1:07 we can kind of see this as the ABC of
1:09 Music basically we had to learn your
1:11 alphabet at some point when you were
1:13 learning English or whatever language
1:17 you speak primarily and uh this is where
1:18 we're kind of playing catchup and
1:20 learning the musical alphabet this C
1:22 major scale it can be really useful to
1:25 visualize the shape of any single note
1:27 part that you're going to be playing on
1:29 your fretboard before you learn it
1:31 rather than learning in one at a time
1:34 and this one is basically based on the c
1:36 major chord so I'd like you to play a
1:39 standard C major chord that we learned
1:42 at lesson one of this level um now let's
1:43 strum it from string
1:47 five and there's our C major cord so one
1:51 2 3 now straight away when I put my
1:53 fingers in this position you're already
1:55 playing half the notes that are in this
1:59 scale and uh so the middle four strings
2:01 are included in this scale and we only
2:03 have to learn another four so you know
2:05 half the notes already if you know this
2:08 C major chord c major chord c major
2:11 scale same thing really okay and we're
2:13 going to start with that third finger
2:15 the lowest note of your c chord and I
2:17 want you to play that now just with one
2:20 finger down just with your third finger
2:22 down and that's what that note sounds
2:25 like I'm using a pick and resting my
2:27 wrist on the guitar itself and holding
2:30 the P pick between my thumb and my first
2:32 finger but you can use your thumb or
2:35 your first finger if you see yourself as
2:38 more of a finger style guitar player so
2:39 we're going to start on your third
2:42 finger third fret of the a string and
2:45 pick that note we're then going to play
2:49 the open fourth string which is a d and
2:52 the first note we started one was a c
2:54 and from there because we're doing the c
2:56 major scale it just goes around the
2:58 alphabet so
3:00 C next note is [Music]
3:01 [Music]
3:04 D middle finger where it would normally
3:07 go on a C major chord that's an E [Music]
3:09 [Music]
3:13 note third finger on the next fret up
3:16 third fret of the fourth string So
3:18 dialectally Below where the other third
3:22 finger was and that's our fourth note
3:24 and then we
3:28 have 1 2 3 4 of our C major scale the
3:33 note names which are C b d e
3:36 f next note is an open G so it's the
3:38 open third
3:55 g next we're going to place our middle
3:57 finger on the second fret of that same third
3:58 third string
4:00 string
4:03 which is an a note just two notes left
4:04 to go the last one you'll know but we're
4:07 going to play the open B string so
4:10 that's this open second
4:12 string and then finally your first
4:14 finger on that same string where it is
4:21 chord so all of those really slow one
4:23 more time and join in with me if you can
4:25 I will give you time to play it after
4:27 you've watched why I uh put my fingers
4:29 so we have the first notes you're just
4:38 now D open D
4:55 it open third string that's this
4:57 one and I've just played it without any
5:01 fingers down middle mid finger second
5:04 fret of that same third
5:10 string open second string that's a
5:13 b and flat first
5:16 finger on the C note and that's taken is
5:20 from C to C which we'd call an octave
5:22 that's a repetition of the same letter
5:28 name but one is low C and one is high
5:31 C that gives us this eight note scale
5:32 and that's also why it's called an
5:35 octave OCT is eight like an octagon like
5:38 the shape the octagon and it's an 8 note
5:40 scale so we've got eight eight major
5:43 scale tones between the first starting
5:55 there we do need to get used to calling
5:58 these notes by their letter names CDE e Etc
6:00 Etc
6:01 um which is how they're commonly known
6:04 in the UK and America but in other parts
6:06 of the world certainly Continental
6:08 Europe and some parts of South America
6:12 in particular um sulage is more common
6:16 where um we know the not names as DOI
6:18 Etc that's far more common in those
6:22 places and also in Europe and America we
6:24 kind of know instinctively what it
6:28 should sound like when we sing D me so
6:30 that can be really handy even having a
6:31 little sing along to yourself even if
6:33 you don't see yourself as a singer helps
6:36 you get the melodic tones in your mind
6:38 to really internalize this scale rather
6:40 than just physically doing something
6:41 with your fingers you gain the idea that
6:45 the notes start low and end up high okay
6:47 so let's have a go at that now this is
6:50 where we would have do
6:52 do ray
6:55 ray me
6:57 me
7:05 La
7:12 T do back to do again low do high
7:14 do now to play this scale in its full
7:16 form we need to go up the notes as I've
7:19 just demonstrated there and come back
7:21 down as well without repeating any notes
7:23 so it kind of looks like a palindrome
7:25 and it sounds like it as well where we come
7:30 down [Music]
7:33 [Music] as
7:34 as
7:37 that so let's cover just how it comes
7:38 back down and then we're going to play
7:40 the whole thing once
7:43 through from our first finger here on
7:51 note C back in the alphabet B
7:53 B
7:55 A open
7:58 G third finger on the
8:02 f middle finger
8:07 e open D and finally C and we're again
8:10 using the same fingers as we would use
8:13 in our c chord so that the fingers you
8:14 use are really important if you're
8:16 always using different fingers you're
8:18 never going to get that consistency or
8:20 build your hand development up as we
8:22 want and here we're essentially
8:24 assigning your first finger to the first
8:26 fret any notes that happen on the second
8:28 fret happen with your second finger any
8:30 notes that happen on your third fret
8:32 happen with your third finger and that's
8:35 ideal as a concept to take forward so
8:38 from here you want to practice this
8:41 scale going up the notes and coming back
8:44 down in one complete sort of cycle first
8:46 of all and then we're going to do what
8:48 we call cycling it and ideally we want
8:51 to be looking at four times as kind of a
8:54 complete as a complete exercise up and
8:57 down four times without repeating any
8:59 notes is what we're looking for so this
9:00 time time through it's going to be more
9:02 of a demonstration you may want to pause
9:04 it if you want to join in with me but
9:07 just have a go in your own time or pause
9:09 this video and see if it sounds like my
9:13 one and compare and contrast basically
9:14 so we're going to go up from the [Music]
9:19 [Music]
9:26 [Music]
9:28 down and that was one complete round
9:31 notice had didn't play that highest note
9:34 twice I just turned straight back around
9:36 and came back the other way and again
9:38 we're wanting to play this four times
9:40 through so if I give you an example of
9:41 just it twice [Music]
9:50 [Music]
9:52 through and [Music]
9:58 [Music] repeat
10:04 and that's twice through and again we're
10:07 looking for four times through in your
10:11 exercise one final note on single string
10:14 playe in general what can happen is we
10:17 have gaps between the notes quite
10:20 frequently and uh this is just always
10:22 happens with beginners because the
10:24 coordination between your hands isn't
10:27 quite in sync yet and we want it to be
10:29 in sync as much as possible
10:32 so what do I mean by that put simply
10:34 when you first learn this scale it can
10:35 sound a little bit like [Music]
10:40 [Music]
10:42 this where there's a big space between
10:45 your notes and we don't ideally want
10:47 that when we're practicing any single
10:48 note playe unless it's really
10:50 specifically there and in Scales it most
10:52 definitely isn't here's what we're looking
10:53 looking [Music]
10:59 for now not
11:01 I played that if anything intentionally
11:04 slower but there were no spaces between
11:06 the notes and that's the thing that
11:07 you're really trying to improve when
11:09 you're practicing it rather than just
11:12 learning this faster you need to do it
11:14 super slow and get the correct motions
11:16 at this time now of course that can be
11:18 frustrating but to give you something to
11:21 work on to mark your improvement it's
11:23 the spaces between the notes that you're
11:25 trying to reduce rather than playing the
11:28 whole thing just faster so again do it
11:30 purposefully slow
11:33 but make sure there are no
11:35 spaces between the
11:38 notes best way to do that keep your
11:40 fingers down a little bit longer and
11:43 don't lift a finger off until the next
11:45 note is played it's kind of played at
11:47 the same time if we look really
11:49 carefully I'm not taking this finger off
11:51 and then playing the next note I'm going
11:53 to take this finger
11:57 off when I play the next note which
11:59 again takes coordination between the two
12:01 hands and that's the sink that I'm
12:04 talking about so watch
12:08 carefully the finger goes down exactly
12:09 when I'm going to [Music]
12:19 play and not before or after they happen
12:21 at the same time you can be forgiven for
12:22 thinking you have to get there a little
12:25 bit sooner but if you do that or if you
12:27 lift off too
12:30 soon that's where the space comes from
12:31 and that means when you try and play it
12:34 faster there's there's going to be this
12:36 sort of noise in between and that's what
12:38 we want to try and avoid so don't go for
12:41 Speed go for getting the spaces between
12:43 the notes reduced to as small as
12:47 possible and keep uh the tempo around
12:49 the tempo of a ticking clock which would
12:51 be 60
12:54 BPM until the spaces between your notes are
12:55 are [Music]
12:58 [Music] reduced
13:02 and that's how to practice our scale
13:04 correctly as I say that does lead
13:06 straight on to being able to play a
13:09 melody and that Melody would be happy
13:11 birthday is my recommended one with this
13:14 scale and that's on my website as part
13:17 of my major scale Series in the next
13:19 lesson in this course we're checking out
13:22 uh your recommended chord sequences and
13:24 a couple more Melodies that are really
13:26 cool for you to learn with this C major
13:28 scale so I hope to see you there and of
13:29 course we we'll have the practice
13:32 routine after that so uh hope to see you
13:34 in the next lesson in this course or on
13:36 the website where we have loads of songs
13:38 at this level five uh take care of
13:42 yourselves bye for now you can download
13:44 this video and the ebook that goes with
13:46 this entire course by clicking in this
13:48 area here click over there to watch the
13:50 next lesson here on YouTube please
13:52 subscribe if you haven't already and all
13:54 those links are in the description if
13:59 mobile [Music]
