Now that you’ve conquered the Chromatic Scale, which sounds… er… really awesome, we’re going to discuss the Major Scale! The Major Scale is very simple to recognize, because it sounds exactly like the childhood song “Do, Re, Mi”.

The Major Scale is the bread and butter of nearly every guitar player’s arsenal. The Major Scale is made up of seven different notes. No matter what key signature you’re playing the Major Scale in, those notes will always be the same distance apart. That relationship on the guitar is exactly like the childhood song: seven notes, seven syllables — (1)Do, (2)Re, (3)Mi, (4)Fa, (5)Sol, (6)La, (7)Ti.

It’s important to understand that each of the seven notes of the Major Scale has its own Mode. These Modes have strange names, and it’s not vital that you memorize the names at this point. Just remember the Modes exist, and the rest will come as we move forward. Here are the seven Modes of the Major Scale and how to play them.

In the following lessons, we’re going to learn how to play the Major Scale in all its Modes in any key, by using the theory of Three-Notes-Per-String. The reason this method of learning scales is great is because once you remember the very simple formula, you’ll be able to bypass the struggles of learning different finger positions for different keys, and be able to play any mode in any key. It’s kind of like when Neo instantly learned Kung Fu in The Matrix.