The G Major scale is one of the most common scales in music, but are you playing it the right way on guitar? I’ll show you two essential positions that will unlock the entire fretboard…
The One Guitar Scale You Absolutely Must Learn
Hey there, it’s Ryan with Breakthrough Guitar, and today we’re going to talk about a very common scale that you really should learn. And I’m going to give you a couple of different areas to learn this specific scale on the guitar fretboard. The scale is one of the most common; it is the G Major scale. Let’s Dive Right In.
A Quick Bit of G Major Theory
First of all, our low E string—this one right here closest to me—is our open E, and the third fret is a G. It’s why when we play a G major chord, most of the time we go right there. That’s our G, that’s our starting note.
And an interesting fact about G major is that all of the notes are natural notes except for one: F. Anytime we come across F, it’s F sharp. So we’re literally going G, A, B, C, D, E, F sharp, G, and then it just repeats. But let’s apply that to the guitar.
The Full G Major Scale (Three-Note-Per-String)
This first pattern is a full, three-note-per-string version of the G major scale that spans the entire fretboard.
- Low E string: 3rd fret, 5th fret, 7th fret
- A string: 3rd fret, 5th fret, 7th fret
- D string: 4th fret, 5th fret, 7th fret
- G string: 4th fret, 5th fret, 7th fret
- B string: 5th fret, 7th fret, 8th fret
- High E string: 5th fret, 7th fret, 8th fret
Now, I know you might be looking at that saying, “Well, that’s a lot more notes than just seven, the ones you mentioned.” It’s because we play them multiple times, just in a higher pitch or a higher octave. When I say higher, I mean in pitch—low pitch, high pitch, one of those situations. So when we’re actually playing, we’re starting at G and we’re going G-A-B-C-D-E-F#-G, and then we just repeat again.
A Second Position for the G Major Scale
But what if we’re in this area of the fretboard and we really want to tap into that same scale? I’ll give you a very simple one-octave version of the G Major scale to remember and work on.
We’re going to start on the A string, 10th fret, and I highly recommend you do it with your middle finger. Because we’re going to go from the 10th fret to the 12th fret on that A string, using your pinky will be really, really easy and and much more effective as you see the rest of the scale develop.
- A string: 10th fret, 12th fret
- D string: 9th fret, 10th fret, 12th fret
- G string: 9th fret, 11th fret, 12th fret
With this example, we’re just doing one octave. So we’re going G, A, B, C, D, E, F sharp, and then ending on G again.
So as always, hopefully, this was valuable. Make sure you subscribe and click the alert so that you see all of these videos as they continue to come out, and we will see you in the next video.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What are the notes in the G Major scale?
The notes are G, A, B, C, D, E, and F sharp. All the notes are natural except for F, which is always F sharp. - What is the full, three-note-per-string pattern for G Major?
- Low E & A strings: Frets 3-5-7
- D & G strings: Frets 4-5-7
- B & High E strings: Frets 5-7-8
- Why does that pattern have more than 7 notes?
It’s because you are playing the seven notes of the scale multiple times as you move up into higher pitches, or octaves. - Is there another way to play the G Major scale higher up the guitar neck?
Yes, a simple one-octave version starts on the 10th fret of the A string. - What is the pattern for the G Major scale starting on the 10th fret?
- A string: Frets 10-12
- D string: Frets 9-10-12
- G string: Frets 9-11-12
