ZIBALDONE: SEGMENTED SCALES
ZIBALDONE: SEGMENTED SCALES
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Learning scales (and notes) can be confusing on the guitar because the same pitch (i.e. C4, Eb5, etc.) appears on different strings & different frets --- Yikes!
Compounding that confusion might the process of learning scale forms in mostly vertical positions (i.e. 1st position at the 1st fret, 5th position at the 5th fret, etc.)
So, a possible solution is to learn scales (and notes) horizontally up each string in segments. Why?:
It's easier to see the 1/2 step and whole step 'recipes' for a scale and key/tonality when moving horizontally
The spacing or 'recipe' for an entire mostly vertical one or two octave scale can feel very abstract when switching between strings
It's much easier to keep track of important scale degrees like the root, 4th, and 5th
The way these segments are organized transfers to muscle memory pretty quickly
Later on, these scale degrees become the bass notes of a future chord or voicing
The segments idea stems from the use of tetrachords on the piano keyboard, Gene Bertoncini's view of guitar strings as 6 stacked pianos (what a great way to look at it), and bass motions as learned through the study of Partimento.
Below are segments of the C Major scale on the fretboard:
The numbers underneath the notes on the treble staff are the scale degrees
The numbers in the tab staff are the fret numbers on the specific string (as usually seen in tablature)
The numbers on the fretboards are the scale degrees, followed by the note names
Fingerings are up to you, but it's a good idea to find a fingering you like for each segment so that:
You can re-use them for other Major keys
The 1/2 step spaces that make up the Major scale become more obvious visually -- and hopefully more useful
(The animated GIFs of the fretboards don't keeping looping, so have to figure out how to fix that -- but if you refresh the page, they will animate again)
'C Major' scale degrees 'Segments' on the 2nd String:
'C Major' scale degrees 'Segments' on the 2nd & 1st Strings:
'C Major' scale degrees 'Segments' on the 5th & 4th Strings:
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