Hang tight while we fetch the video data and transcripts. This only takes a moment.
Connecting to YouTube player…
Fetching transcript data…
We’ll display the transcript, summary, and all view options as soon as everything loads.
Next steps
Loading transcript tools…
The FIRST Scale to learn on Acoustic Guitar - The C Major Scale | Andy Guitar | YouTubeToText
YouTube Transcript: The FIRST Scale to learn on Acoustic Guitar - The C Major Scale
Skip watching entire videos - get the full transcript, search for keywords, and copy with one click.
Share:
Video Transcript
Video Summary
Summary
Core Theme
This lesson introduces the C major scale as the foundational building block for playing melodies and single-note solos on the guitar, emphasizing its connection to the C major chord and the concept of musical "alphabet."
Mind Map
Click to expand
Click to explore the full interactive mind map • Zoom, pan, and navigate
hi guys welcome to level five lesson
five of my beginners guitar course where
scale now this is the first scale that
we're learning in this beginner's course
uh but I don't want it to scare some
people off sometime people think scales
and they think of horrible piano lessons
or something or bad experience as a kid
this is simply how we're going to end up
playing Melodies on your guitar that are
recognizable and using singles strings
so whether it's electric lead guitar
solos you want to be playing or acoustic
Melodies this is the absolute starting
place when we want to be playing single
notes on your guitar so scale just means
sequence of notes and this is the
sequence of notes we're going to be [Music]
[Music]
learning notice I started at the lowest
note went to the highest note and then
came back down in order which is exactly
how we want to practice our scales and
we can kind of see this as the ABC of
Music basically we had to learn your
alphabet at some point when you were
learning English or whatever language
you speak primarily and uh this is where
we're kind of playing catchup and
learning the musical alphabet this C
major scale it can be really useful to
visualize the shape of any single note
part that you're going to be playing on
your fretboard before you learn it
rather than learning in one at a time
and this one is basically based on the c
major chord so I'd like you to play a
standard C major chord that we learned
at lesson one of this level um now let's
strum it from string
five and there's our C major cord so one
2 3 now straight away when I put my
fingers in this position you're already
playing half the notes that are in this
scale and uh so the middle four strings
are included in this scale and we only
have to learn another four so you know
half the notes already if you know this
C major chord c major chord c major
scale same thing really okay and we're
going to start with that third finger
the lowest note of your c chord and I
want you to play that now just with one
finger down just with your third finger
down and that's what that note sounds
like I'm using a pick and resting my
wrist on the guitar itself and holding
the P pick between my thumb and my first
finger but you can use your thumb or
your first finger if you see yourself as
more of a finger style guitar player so
we're going to start on your third
finger third fret of the a string and
pick that note we're then going to play
the open fourth string which is a d and
the first note we started one was a c
and from there because we're doing the c
major scale it just goes around the
alphabet so
C next note is [Music]
[Music]
D middle finger where it would normally
go on a C major chord that's an E [Music]
[Music]
note third finger on the next fret up
third fret of the fourth string So
dialectally Below where the other third
finger was and that's our fourth note
and then we
have 1 2 3 4 of our C major scale the
note names which are C b d e
f next note is an open G so it's the
open third
g next we're going to place our middle
finger on the second fret of that same third
third string
string
which is an a note just two notes left
to go the last one you'll know but we're
going to play the open B string so
that's this open second
string and then finally your first
finger on that same string where it is
chord so all of those really slow one
more time and join in with me if you can
I will give you time to play it after
you've watched why I uh put my fingers
so we have the first notes you're just
now D open D
it open third string that's this
one and I've just played it without any
fingers down middle mid finger second
fret of that same third
string open second string that's a
b and flat first
finger on the C note and that's taken is
from C to C which we'd call an octave
that's a repetition of the same letter
name but one is low C and one is high
C that gives us this eight note scale
and that's also why it's called an
octave OCT is eight like an octagon like
the shape the octagon and it's an 8 note
scale so we've got eight eight major
scale tones between the first starting
there we do need to get used to calling
these notes by their letter names CDE e Etc
Etc
um which is how they're commonly known
in the UK and America but in other parts
of the world certainly Continental
Europe and some parts of South America
in particular um sulage is more common
where um we know the not names as DOI
Etc that's far more common in those
places and also in Europe and America we
kind of know instinctively what it
should sound like when we sing D me so
that can be really handy even having a
little sing along to yourself even if
you don't see yourself as a singer helps
you get the melodic tones in your mind
to really internalize this scale rather
than just physically doing something
with your fingers you gain the idea that
the notes start low and end up high okay
so let's have a go at that now this is
where we would have do
do ray
ray me
me
La
T do back to do again low do high
do now to play this scale in its full
form we need to go up the notes as I've
just demonstrated there and come back
down as well without repeating any notes
so it kind of looks like a palindrome
and it sounds like it as well where we come
down [Music]
[Music] as
as
that so let's cover just how it comes
back down and then we're going to play
the whole thing once
through from our first finger here on
note C back in the alphabet B
B
A open
G third finger on the
f middle finger
e open D and finally C and we're again
using the same fingers as we would use
in our c chord so that the fingers you
use are really important if you're
always using different fingers you're
never going to get that consistency or
build your hand development up as we
want and here we're essentially
assigning your first finger to the first
fret any notes that happen on the second
fret happen with your second finger any
notes that happen on your third fret
happen with your third finger and that's
ideal as a concept to take forward so
from here you want to practice this
scale going up the notes and coming back
down in one complete sort of cycle first
of all and then we're going to do what
we call cycling it and ideally we want
to be looking at four times as kind of a
complete as a complete exercise up and
down four times without repeating any
notes is what we're looking for so this
time time through it's going to be more
of a demonstration you may want to pause
it if you want to join in with me but
just have a go in your own time or pause
this video and see if it sounds like my
one and compare and contrast basically
so we're going to go up from the [Music]
[Music]
[Music]
down and that was one complete round
notice had didn't play that highest note
twice I just turned straight back around
and came back the other way and again
we're wanting to play this four times
through so if I give you an example of
just it twice [Music]
[Music]
through and [Music]
[Music] repeat
and that's twice through and again we're
looking for four times through in your
exercise one final note on single string
playe in general what can happen is we
have gaps between the notes quite
frequently and uh this is just always
happens with beginners because the
coordination between your hands isn't
quite in sync yet and we want it to be
in sync as much as possible
so what do I mean by that put simply
when you first learn this scale it can
sound a little bit like [Music]
[Music]
this where there's a big space between
your notes and we don't ideally want
that when we're practicing any single
note playe unless it's really
specifically there and in Scales it most
definitely isn't here's what we're looking
looking [Music]
for now not
I played that if anything intentionally
slower but there were no spaces between
the notes and that's the thing that
you're really trying to improve when
you're practicing it rather than just
learning this faster you need to do it
super slow and get the correct motions
at this time now of course that can be
frustrating but to give you something to
work on to mark your improvement it's
the spaces between the notes that you're
trying to reduce rather than playing the
whole thing just faster so again do it
purposefully slow
but make sure there are no
spaces between the
notes best way to do that keep your
fingers down a little bit longer and
don't lift a finger off until the next
note is played it's kind of played at
the same time if we look really
carefully I'm not taking this finger off
and then playing the next note I'm going
to take this finger
off when I play the next note which
again takes coordination between the two
hands and that's the sink that I'm
talking about so watch
carefully the finger goes down exactly
when I'm going to [Music]
play and not before or after they happen
at the same time you can be forgiven for
thinking you have to get there a little
bit sooner but if you do that or if you
lift off too
soon that's where the space comes from
and that means when you try and play it
faster there's there's going to be this
sort of noise in between and that's what
we want to try and avoid so don't go for
Speed go for getting the spaces between
the notes reduced to as small as
possible and keep uh the tempo around
the tempo of a ticking clock which would
be 60
BPM until the spaces between your notes are
are [Music]
[Music] reduced
and that's how to practice our scale
correctly as I say that does lead
straight on to being able to play a
melody and that Melody would be happy
birthday is my recommended one with this
scale and that's on my website as part
of my major scale Series in the next
lesson in this course we're checking out
uh your recommended chord sequences and
a couple more Melodies that are really
cool for you to learn with this C major
scale so I hope to see you there and of
course we we'll have the practice
routine after that so uh hope to see you
in the next lesson in this course or on
the website where we have loads of songs
at this level five uh take care of
yourselves bye for now you can download
this video and the ebook that goes with
this entire course by clicking in this
area here click over there to watch the
next lesson here on YouTube please
subscribe if you haven't already and all
those links are in the description if
mobile [Music]
Click on any text or timestamp to jump to that moment in the video
Share:
Most transcripts ready in under 5 seconds
One-Click Copy125+ LanguagesSearch ContentJump to Timestamps
Paste YouTube URL
Enter any YouTube video link to get the full transcript
Transcript Extraction Form
Most transcripts ready in under 5 seconds
Get Our Chrome Extension
Get transcripts instantly without leaving YouTube. Install our Chrome extension for one-click access to any video's transcript directly on the watch page.
