Lessons - Guitar – C Major Ionian Scale Sequence Exercise (Guitar Tab)
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Chords
For clearance, this contribution is not a meant as a tab, but as a visual representation of the fretboard.
Though all the horizontal lines in this article correspont with the following principle:
e|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| B|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| G|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| D|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| A|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| E|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
Now lets's start:
First let's start of with a anatomical overview of the C Major (Ionian) scale on the fretboard:
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C Major Scale note-pattern -E-||-F-|---|-G-|---|-A-|---|-B-|-C-|---|-D-|---|-E-|-F-|---|-G-|---|-A-|---|-B-|-C-|---|-D-|---|-E-| -B-||-C-|---|-D-|---|-E-|-F-|---|-G-|---|-A-|---|-B-|-C-|---|-D-|---|-E-|-F-|---|-G-|---|-A-|---|-B-| -G-||---|-A-|---|-B-|-C-|---|-D-|---|-E-|-F-|---|-G-|---|-A-|---|-B-|-C-|---|-D-|---|-E-|-F-|---|-G-| -D-||---|-E-|-F-|---|-G-|---|-A-|---|-B-|-C-|---|-D-|---|-E-|-F-|---|-G-|---|-A-|---|-B-|-C-|---|-D-| -A-||---|-B-|-C-|---|-D-|---|-E-|-F-|---|-G-|---|-A-|---|-B-|-C-|---|-D-|---|-E-|-F-|---|-G-|---|-A-| -E-||-F-|---|-G-|---|-A-|---|-B-|-C-|---|-D-|---|-E-|-F-|---|-G-|---|-A-|---|-B-|-C-|---|-D-|---|-E-| 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 C Major Scale interval pattern -3-||-4-|---|-5-|---|-6-|---|-7-|-1-|---|-2-|---|-3-|-4-|---|-5-|---|-6-|---|-7-|-1-|---|-2-|---|-3-| -7-||-1-|---|-2-|---|-3-|-4-|---|-5-|---|-6-|---|-7-|-1-|---|-2-|---|-3-|-4-|---|-5-|---|-6-|---|-7-| -5-||---|-6-|---|-7-|-1-|---|-2-|---|-3-|-4-|---|-5-|---|-6-|---|-7-|-1-|---|-2-|---|-3-|-4-|---|-5-| -2-||---|-3-|-4-|---|-5-|---|-6-|---|-7-|-1-|---|-2-|---|-3-|-4-|---|-5-|---|-6-|---|-7-|-1-|---|-2-| -6-||---|-7-|-1-|---|-2-|---|-3-|-4-|---|-5-|---|-6-|---|-7-|-1-|---|-2-|---|-3-|-4-|---|-5-|---|-6-| -3-||-4-|---|-5-|---|-6-|---|-7-|-1-|---|-2-|---|-3-|-4-|---|-5-|---|-6-|---|-7-|-1-|---|-2-|---|-3-| 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 C Major Scale box-pattern (root on 8th fret of the low E-string) ---||---|---|---|---|---|---|-x-|-x-|---|-x-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| ---||---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-x-|---|-x-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| ---||---|---|---|---|---|---|-x-|---|-x-|-x-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| ---||---|---|---|---|---|---|-x-|---|-x-|-x-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| ---||---|---|---|---|---|---|-x-|-x-|---|-x-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| ---||---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-R-|---|-x-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
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Now let's begin with the exercises:
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EXERCISE 1 - Going up and down the scale pattern (keep a steady slow beat)
C Major (Ionian) Scale interval pattern, up and down, this is how it looks like in tabs: e|--------------------------------7-8-10--10-8-7--------------------------------- B|---------------------------8-10----------------10-8---------------------------- G|--------------------7-9-10--------------------------10-9-7--------------------- D|-------------7-9-10----------------------------------------10-9-7-------------- A|------7-8-10------------------------------------------------------10-8-7------- E|-8-10--------------------------------------------------------------------10-8-- C Major (Ionian) Scale interval pattern, up and down, this is how it looks like in note names: e|----------------------------B-C-D--D-C-B--------------------------- B|------------------------G-A--------------A-G----------------------- G|------------------D-E-F----------------------F-E-D----------------- D|------------A-B-C----------------------------------C-B-A----------- A|------E-F-G----------------------------------------------G-F-E----- E|--C-D----------------------------------------------------------D-C- C Major (Ionian) Scale interval pattern, up and down, this is how it looks like in interval sequence: e|---------------------------7-1-2--2-1-7--------------------------- B|-----------------------5-6--------------6-5----------------------- G|-----------------2-3-4----------------------4-3-2----------------- D|-----------6-7-1----------------------------------1-7-6----------- A|-----3-4-5----------------------------------------------5-4-3----- E|-1-2----------------------------------------------------------2-1-
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EXERCISE 2 - In groups of 3 (keep a steady slow beat)
This is how 'up' looks like in interval sequence: 1 2 3, 2 3 4, 3 4 5, 4 5 6, 5 6 7, 6 7 1, and so on
This is how 'down' looks like in interval sequence: 1 7 6, 7 6 5, 6 5 4, 5 4 3, 4 3 2, 3 2 1, and so on
C Major Scale interval pattern (root on 8th fret of the low E-string)
---||---|---|---|---|---|---|-7-|-1-|---|-2-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
---||---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-5-|---|-6-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
---||---|---|---|---|---|---|-2-|---|-3-|-4-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
---||---|---|---|---|---|---|-6-|---|-7-|-1-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
---||---|---|---|---|---|---|-3-|-4-|---|-5-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
---||---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-1-|---|-2-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EXERCISE 3 - In groups of 4 (keep a steady slow beat)
This is how 'up' looks like in interval sequence: 1 2 3 4, 2 3 4 5, 3 4 5 6, 4 5 6 7, 5 6 7 1, and so on
This is how 'down' looks like in interval sequence: 1 7 6 5, 7 6 5 4, 6 5 4 3, 5 4 3 2, 4 3 2 1, and so on
C Major Scale interval pattern (root on 8th fret of the low E-string)
---||---|---|---|---|---|---|-7-|-1-|---|-2-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
---||---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-5-|---|-6-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
---||---|---|---|---|---|---|-2-|---|-3-|-4-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
---||---|---|---|---|---|---|-6-|---|-7-|-1-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
---||---|---|---|---|---|---|-3-|-4-|---|-5-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
---||---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-1-|---|-2-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EXERCISE 4 - 'Hopping' or 'Skipping' (keep a steady slow beat)
This is how 'up' looks like in interval sequence: 1 3, 2 4, 3 5, 4 6, 5 7, 6 1, 7 2, and so on
This is how 'down' looks like in interval sequence: 1 6, 7 5, 6 4, 5 3, 4 2, 3 1, 2 7, and so on
C Major Scale interval pattern (root on 8th fret of the low E-string)
---||---|---|---|---|---|---|-7-|-1-|---|-2-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
---||---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-5-|---|-6-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
---||---|---|---|---|---|---|-2-|---|-3-|-4-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
---||---|---|---|---|---|---|-6-|---|-7-|-1-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
---||---|---|---|---|---|---|-3-|-4-|---|-5-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
---||---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-1-|---|-2-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note: you can apply these 4 principles (straight up and down, groups of 3, groups of 4, hopping/skipping)
to any scale pattern you like. As long as you keep the interval pattern correct. But I would strongly
suggest you start mastering the basics first, that is: the C Major (Ionian) figure like shown
above and then only explore more complex Major fretboard patterns when you first are able to survive
a descent improvasation session by using only the figure shown above.