C-Major Scale First Position
If you do not know the C major scale on the guitar, or which scale tones overlap with chord tones in the C major chord, then you better take a look at this lesson.
The C major scale, which contains the notes C, D, E, F, G, A, B and C. Notated it looks like this:
You should learn to play this on your guitar. Here is a simple fingering in TAB notation:
--------------------------------
--------------------0--1--------
--------------0--2--------------
-----0--2--3--------------------
--3-----------------------------
--------------------------------
Descending it looks like this:
--------------------------------
--1--0--------------------------
--------2--0--------------------
--------------3--2--0-----------
-----------------------3--------
--------------------------------
Here is the ascending scale w/ letter names for notes instead of fret numbers:
--------------------------------
--------------------B--C--------
--------------G--A--------------
-----D--E--F--------------------
--C-----------------------------
--------------------------------
To help remember the fingering, you should learn the C major chord. The 4 notes from the chord coincide with 4 of the notes from the scale. If you think you’re going to get by without knowing the information on this page, you are sadly mistaken!
