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D Major Scale and Improvisations
I am totally confused about playing the D Major Scale and I suppose it is called doing improvisations. Can anyone help me with rhyme or reason of this and how in the world do I learn it. I would like to know if there is a pattern to it or is it just watching Tony and copying him. I suppose any fretboard assistance would be greatly appreciated. I have completed 30 Days to play and am now on the second week of the Weekly Challenges. Trying to play Old Man this week and am now very confused.
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6 Replies
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Unfortunately the answer to your question involves getting into music theory and might confuse you even more. There’s a trick on the fretboard that might make things simpler again so I’ll give you a bit of theory and then give you the trick afterwards.
All Major Scales are made up of 7 notes:
The Formula for major scales is always:
W – W – H – W – W – W – H (where W is a whole step and H is a half step)
or: TONE – TONE – SEMITONE – TONE – TONE – TONE – SEMITONE
whole step is 2 frets and half step is 1 fret
The root of the scale is the first note, and that’s what we call the scale
So for the D major the root is D:
D w E w F# h G w A w B w C#
Here’s the little trick:
Now for how you can play it of the fretboard without knowing any of the above and just memorizing this pattern on 3 strings. But you have to start on the top 2 strings for this to work, otherwise the pattern would shift on the B string since it’s tuned to a 4th instead of a fifth.The pattern is you play 2 notes then drop to lower string play 3 notes and drop again to play 2 more notes – that makes 7 notes just like all scales have. *
start with middle and play:
– m – p drop
i m – p drop
i – r pif you memorize this pattern you can use it for all 12 major scales, all you need is to find the root and go from there: middle pinky – drop, index middle pinky drop, index ring pinky
For the D major you can start on the 5th fret of the A string. you start with middle and use pinky for the next note (skipping the fret your ring finger should be on. Hope this makes sense! You have to maintain your fingers in the same fret through the whole scale. Then the formula will work.
* if you play the final note to complete the octave then there are 8 notes, sorry for the confusion. In the D major we go up another half step and play D again (an octave higher than the first D)
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This reply was modified 4 weeks, 1 day ago by petelanger.
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There is a mistake above that I wanted to correct:
I wrote: “otherwise the pattern would shift on the B string since it’s tuned to a 4th instead of a fifth.”
In standard (EADGBE) tuning each string is tuned to the fourth above the previous string, with the exception of the B string that is only the 3rd (G-A-B) above the G. The high E is the fourth (B-C-D-E) again.
I used the wrong interval and also the wrong article. I said “a” fourth which could be interpreted as 1/4th. It isn’t that, it’s not a fraction but indicates order as notes come after each other in a specific order: A is the fourth note after E.
On the guitar each string is 1/2 of an octave higher than the previous string.
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This reply was modified 4 weeks, 1 day ago by
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Here is a TAB representing what I described. I’ve labelled the notes with the finger placements i m r p.
The 1st line is C major, second G major and the 3rd line is D major.
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Hi Crystal, Pete explained how the major scale was derived. But in case you were wondering about the improvisation aspect, it is about coming up with musical phrases that sound good to you. By using the scale any of the notes will sound ok, but some will sound better. I personally find it difficult and not particularly enjoyable. I don’t plan to write any music and will not be soloing while someone else plays. For me, the only benefit I find is becoming more accurate with the pick, which helps in playing the things that I like. I tend to spend very little time actually trying to improvise, but use the scales for tempo and pick accuracy. Don’t get hung up with it, there is plenty more to learn and enjoy.
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Hi Crystal as @JTSchrock says dont stress over improvising but dont give up on it either. It took me probably over a year of TAC wednesdays before it started to click. Keep on drilling those scales for now and as per @petelanger ‘s excellent theory class, pay attention to those spaces between notes as per the major scale formula, and specifically what they sound like. These spaces are also known as intervals, and are fundamental in learning how to improvise and solo over a chord progression. Theres about a dozen common intervals, ie spaces between two notes, but for now focus on the two found in the major scale ie full step (two fretts apart) and half step (one frett apart) With lots of repetition you will be drilling the patterns into your brain, but even more importantly imo training your ear to know what notes sound good together and what notes sound good with any particular chord. Ear training is an absolute must and it starts right away with scales and intervals. And like Tony says “if it sounds good, it is good”. And i would just add if it doesnt sound good, move up or down a fret and see what happens. Go slow and like John says you might find just a few notes within your scale that sound good to your ear. Let the notes ring out and listen carefully to the backing track and when the chord changes try another note. And dont worry when a particular week of challenges are beyond your scope or skill set like maybe Old Man. Some weeks are harder than others. Just do your best and then move on. Main thing…dont stress, celebrate the small wins, be easy on yourself ,keep it fun and rock on. Learning guitar is hard and Rome wasnt built in a day. Hope this helps and if you have any questions keep asking.
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You can print out each tabbed lesson at the right hand bottom of each video lesson.
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