Forming patterns using Major scale - position 1 scale patterns & horizontal dyad patterns
Forming patterns using Major scale - position 1 scale patterns & horizontal dyad patterns

In this lesson we are going to look at some major scale movement exercise to help you understand and play the major scale better. This will also help in building your muscle memory.

Contents of the lesson Grouping consecutive notes Dyads of C major Forming harmonic intervals in 3rds Forming harmonic intervals in 3rds Forming harmonic intervals in 5ths References

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Grouping consecutive notes

Grouping notes in this case simply means we go up the major scale while playing groupings of 3 and 4. You probably noticed that every time you start a new group of three notes you alternate starting with an up or a down stroke on your picking hand. This is because there are an odd number of notes in this sequence. This can be a bit tricky at first, but stick with it because it can be a great exercise for your alternate picking. You don’t have to pick every note of this exercise. If you want you can play the entire exercise legato. If you decide to use a more legato approach you will see that sequencing scales like this can be a really good workout for your left hand too.

In the activity below we will be going up the major scale in groups of 3 and 4, the pattern of the notes is given below and try to navigate through them using the c major open position. Here is the scale for your reference :

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Exercise 1

Groups of 3

Tempo - 60 - 120 Bpm

| C D E | D E F | E F G | F G A | G A B | A B C |

Now try playing the above pattern backwards

Exercise 2

Groups of 4

Tempo - 60 - 120 Bpm

| C D E F | D E F G | E F G A | F G A B | G A B C |

Now try playing the above pattern backwards

Exercise 3

Groups of 5 (Additional)

Tempo - 60 - 120 Bpm

| C D E F G | D E F G A | E F G A B | F G A B C |

Now try playing the above pattern backwards

Dyads of C major

In music, a dyad (less commonly, diad) is a set of two notes or pitches that, in particular contexts, may imply a chord. Dyads can be classified by the interval between the notes. For example, the interval between C and E is a major third, which can imply a C major chord, made up of the notes C, E and G. When the pitches of a dyad occur in succession, they form a melodic interval. When they occur simultaneously, they form a harmonic interval.

Forming melodic intervals in 3rds

Now we will be going up the scale in 3rds meaning we will play the 3rd of each note while ascending or descending the C major scale. You can also look at it like playing the same groups of 3 exercises you played above but just skipping the middle. The notes are given below to help you navigate through the exercise :

Exercise 4

Tempo - 50 - 120 Bpm

| C E | D F | E G | F A | G B | A C | B D | C _ | . . .

Forming harmonic intervals in 3rds

Once you get comfortable doing this exercise in the C major open position, we will try to do the same using the one string major scale shapes we had learnt before but 2 strings being played at a time where the interval between the 2 strings are in 3rds:

Exercise 5

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Tempo - 50 - 120 Bpm

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Forming harmonic intervals in 5ths

Now we are going to look at how we can go up the scale using 5th intervals with the one string major scale shapes. This is similar to going up the scale in 3rds but now the difference between the notes is 5.

Exercise 6

Tempo - 50 - 120 Bpm

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