I first learned these patterns at jazz school but later rediscovered them in the Aaron Shearer Third Supplement – Classical Guitar Technique -Scale Patterns (Buy it at Sheet Music Plus). They are fundamental patterns that don’t involve any stretches over multiple frets as you might see in jazz books like the Leavitt Berklee book or National Guitar Workshop Jazz books.
Learning your scale position patterns enable you to read music in any position without having to focus on every single note. I like to use the analogy to reading English. When you first learn to read you spell out each letter of a word, such as R-E-A-D but eventually you learn to read the whole word all at once. Even new words we have never seen rarely need to be spelled out letter by letter. Because we learned the patterns. The same is true in music. If you know your scale patterns well enough you should be able to play through scale passages in music by simply using the next few note in your well-known scale fingerings. Plus, for you improvisers out there, this is indispensable for improvisation and fretboard knowledge in general. Next week I’ll be making a post on how you can turn these patters into all your modes.
DOWNLOAD THE SCALE PATTERNS:
C major & G major position patterns (FREE PDF)
- The reason for having two keys here is because some of the patterns end up being in very high positions. With the duplication you can see the same patterns in multiple positions.
- Try to remember the patterns as follow: “2nd finger starting on string 5” (as in the example below)
Just in case anyone is confused with the notation, here is an example:
Directions:
- The “5″ with a circle around it indicates the “fifth string”
- The Roman Numberal “II” indicates “2nd postition (first finger plays the 2nd fret, second plays the 3rd etc…)
Further Directions:
- The double sided arrows indicate squeeze-shifts: an expansion or contraction of the basic finger per fret rule.
- When in doubt, follow the fingerings and use your ears…it must sound like a major scale!
If you need further instructions leave a comment. I might be able to make a video if you’d like.
Cheers,
If you want further study on this topic I would recommend the following book. The patterns are similar, if not the same, but the book includes sight reading practise on every single scale pattern. It’s by far the most comprehensive scale book for classical guitar.
Buy it from SheetMusicPlus: Third Supplement – Classical Guitar Technique -Scale Patterns (Buy it at Sheet Music Plus)
or from Amazon:
