:syngates:Yo Family!

For this months #AOTM we are partying with the one and only, Fishbone, for their masterpiece of groove and chaos that is, The Reality Of My Surroundings.

This is yet another band that was introduced to me by The Rev. Unlike others, I instantly fell in love with this one and was quickly drawn to this record above their others. That’s saying a lot because to me, they’re all brilliant.

Fishbone is an all African American funk, punk, ska, heavy rock band from LA that like Avenged, formed in high school as friends and even two brothers, bassist John Norwood Fisher and drummer Phil “Fish” Fisher. These two musicians are nothing short of brilliant to me.

This record is is the culmination of insane feel, vision, and ambition, colliding at a Big Bang level with amazing songwriting and production. This album is as eclectic as it gets while somehow maintaining an unmistakable continuity.

John Bigham and Kendall Jones’ guitar solos are chaotic but soulful, melodic but expressive. These two can shred as hard as they can groove.

Favorite tracks-

Fight The Youth: Their opening track epitomizes probably my favorite genre of music when executed well, Funk Rock. It’s heavy, it grooves, the solos are insane, and the songwriting is rad.

So Many Millions: Not the best song melodically, in fact, it’s quite out there but this a notable mention simply for the drum groove. Incredible.

Housework: This song is what Fishbone does best. This song is fucking fun. Funky, high energy, and a genius tag “Do the housework” with dare I say, a slightly Synyster vibe???

Pray To The Junkie Maker: This is a classic. Angelo Moore’s vocal is absolutely perfect. The songwriting and lyrics are brilliant. Reggae with a twist.

Everyday Sunshine: Uplifting, brilliantly written, and perfectly executed. The group vocals throughout only complement and never convolute. They essentially have 3 main vocalists in Angelo Moore(sax), Chris Dowd(keys and bones), and Kendall Jones(guitar). They complete the track with a gospel style double time where they trade vocal lines. “Dirty” Walter Kibby(trumpet) contributes a couple grunts and screams as well. Fantastic stuff Dirty Walt, we love you!

Those Days Are Gone: Nobody but me likes this song.

Sunless Saturday: An absolutely flawless closer. Fabulous energy and writing. One of my favorite solos of all time concludes this track and it happens to be a trumpet solo. It’s epic, a touch sad, but leaves you with a sense of hope.

Really looking forward to your thoughts on this wild ride I invite you to take.

All my love,

SYN
:syngates:

I just found this video of John Mayer talking about your expectations in the music industry. He says some very interesting things like 'if you want to be a pop star say you want to be a pop star' and things like that which is pretty interesting because I personally am more inclined to not say that even tho I would love to reach as many people as I possibly can with my music while actually enjoying making the music of course.
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Ah, where do I begin? This will be long.
My family vacation this year was up on the Oregon Coast. We decided to drive instead of flying to see some of the sights along the way, including a lot of the beautiful coastline, the Golden Gate Bridge (I did a lot of work travel to San Francisco, but my wife and kids had never been there) and, well… look what happens be to along that coast? Huntington Beach.
“What if?” I thought. I decided I needed to find out. I made contact with Syn about a month ago to put the feelers out there. He was totally open to a visit and suggested I reach out again a couple days before the trip to see if his schedule would allow for a visit. I mostly kept it to myself, being a realist – I still considered it very much a long shot. I hoped that all my efforts and input here on the site would help, and Syn had definitely called me out a few times for them, so I didn’t feel like it would be an anonymous fanboy-type ask. After that first contact, he genuinely seemed open for a visit.
I told my wife Lisa about it a couple days ahead. As expected, she had very little idea who Syn was, or who Avenged Sevenfold is. She’s a pop-music fan, through and through. In fact, when she told my daughter about it on the phone, she said “We might be meeting the guitar player from Sevendust.”
Star was not enthused.
As we were getting close to Huntington Beach, I reached out again, and Syn called me back right away. His day was pretty packed, between a meeting that would not see him get home until about 4:30, to dinner with his family and in-laws. He was gracious enough to make time for us. It was about this time that my daughter got wind of the fact that this was SYNYSTER GATES from AVENGED SEVENFOLD and not “some guy from SEVENdust,” like she thought. She started freaking out a little, and made it clear to my wife that there was a REALLY BIG-ASS DIFFERENCE. In retrospect, I’m glad she didn’t know correctly before then, because I don’t think I could have dealt with Star’s fangirl freak-out for the whole 7 hour drive.
Anyway, he sent me a push-pin for a park to meet him in. He would take the dog (“Pinkly!”) for a walk and meet us there. His time was limited, but I was super-impressed and grateful that he was genuinely going out of his way and inconveniencing himself to meet us. There is literally no way he could ever do this for any fan, or even any member of the site here, who happened to be passing through town. I definitely felt very fortunate.
Huntington Beach traffic on a nice day is a nightmare. This time, it was MY fucking nightmare, because I didn’t want to delay or inconvenience him any more than necessary, and I was dreading the “Dude, I’m sorry, but I gotta go” phone call. It never came. We pulled into the parking lot of a nice park. As I was pulling in, I spotted Syn and Pinkly just getting there. I rolled the window down and said hey, then parked.

As we got out of the car, Brian (switching to calling him Brian now, because it seemed everyone he knows “in real life” calls him by his given name, and it seemed wrong to use “Syn” outside of a music-related venue or situation). So as we’re getting out, Brian is just real approachable, and so I just treated him like many other “internet friends” that I meet in real life – handshake and a hug and “hey man, great to meet you, thanks for coming out.” He was all smiles and introduced himself to the family, then introduced Pinkly (who is ADORABLE, by the way).

He asked a bit about each member of the family and our vacation plans, and then invited us over to sit down at a park table. He took Pinkly off the leash, telling us he’s old (13) and more than a little deaf. Pinkly wandered a bit, and then settled in the grass behind Star, who LOVES all dogs dearly. Brian was only ever distracted from our visit by making sure Pinkly was safe and near. He gave us his full attention and acted like there was literally nothing more important in his life in those moments than visiting with us.
He spent a good deal of time telling my family how awesome I am, and how much of a huge help and influence I am at this school – which, as you might have guessed, scored me UNLIMITED COOL DAD POINTS. Thank you, kind sir!

He asked me if I had a favorite album, and I told him honestly – The Stage. From the crazy opening lick to the ending spoken word with Dr. Tyson, I was absolutely head over heels in love with the album – I pointed out how much I loved that they took SO MANY “out there” chances, and that – for me, at least – they all just WORKED. I told him that the lyrical content – which I’m not usually big on – hit home for me, as well.
Then he asked me if there were any weak spots for me in the catalog, and honestly again, I said that I felt like HttK was an amazing collection of great SONGS that didn’t make for my favorite album – that if I had shuffle on, and anything from that album came on, I thoroughly enjoyed it, but that I just never listen to it front to back like I do with most albums. He understood where I was coming from and listened intently and enthusiastically to everything I had to say, and I probably rambled a bit (I’m prone to that, I know – I’m doing it now, no doubt, as well).

We talked about Matt’s voice and recovery (a much bigger deal than expected, and Matt’s doing fantastic), and then I asked about the new album. That’s all I’m really going to say about that, because it was here, talking about that, that Brian was most excited and most animated, and at some point, he will share that with all of you. It’s simply not my place to take that joy of sharing away from him. I will say, he excited me for the album, and for Matt’s voice, and the direction overall. I doubt he shared anything “secret” with me, but still – I don’t feel like it’s my place to take that from him. He will post in here or give an interview when he’s ready.

We took some pictures, and let him go without keeping him too long. I’d been expecting 5-10 minutes, and I think we were somewhere between 30 and 45 minutes – I wasn’t keeping track, but it was unhurried and we covered a lot of ground. We took pictures, and he even pulled my wife in for a picture, which she didn’t expect or seek (I mean, he’s not Madonna, you know?). Wife and daughter both commented later that he “smelled fantastic,” so I need to find out what cologne he was wearing . Everyone found him gracious, respectful, and very NICE and KIND and GENUINE. Pinkly is a happy and friendly little guy, too.

All in all, it was an amazing visit, and more than I ever hoped it would be. I made a post about it on my personal FB and IG, and a few aggregates re-posted the IG stuff, which made me stop and think, and also kind of made me feel bad. I guess I’m still a little naive about some things online (which kind of surprises me), and I certainly never stopped to think something like that might happen. My FB is fairly locked down, so I knew that would not be a problem there, but I’m newer to Instagram, and I’ve never had something like that happen there, and it made me feel off – I certainly wasn’t intending to “use” Syn for likes or shares or anything like that, and that others would just take my personal memories and repost them like that gave me pause.
It made me stop and realize, if nothing else, that while many of us do (or have in the past) chased fame, and considered the “ups” of being famous, we don’t often look at the downsides. Syn is lucky (and smart) in that he is surrounded by family and local friends in his hometown that he’s known all his life. People outside the entertainment machine who keep him grounded and real, in a world where everyone you meet is more likely to be a vulture who only wants to take from you, without regard for consequence. I certainly don’t think he’s lonely, but it gave me a brief perspective into how someone famous could definitely feel that way, and I found it unsettling. Imagine meeting new people – every day – and having to default to the assumption that they only want FROM you, without any real care FOR you. That he can remain so grounded, humble, affable, and giving of himself in the face of that makes it all the better.
I’ve heard said many times that one should never meet their heroes or idols, for they will always be disappointed. I am here to tell you personally from my own experience that if you are presented with the opportunity to meet Syn/Brian, you can do so safe in the knowledge that the guy we see posting and commenting in here is exactly the guy you meet. In fact, from now on, I expect everything he writes here, I will read in his voice in my head. If it were possible to think more of him, I certainly do after meeting him, outside the “world” of entertainment and music and all that. We never even talked guitar.
TL;DR: If you get the chance to meet Syn, do it. You won’t be disappointed. He kinda fuckin rules.

There are duplicate pics, and multiple shots, so here’s the gallery:
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I know many of you follow me on my Instagram page or even my band's page, so you all already know. But for those of you who don't... here's a brief story:

Almost 4 years ago I signed up on this school, and I was pretty shitty but I had one big goal in mind, and that was to release music and improve on guitar. As my penchant for improving on this school came, I made a fuck ton of friends along the way. My guitar skills grew, these friendships grew, and many of you donated to help with my studio time. A lot of shit got in the way like blizzards closing roads down, a pandemic, not being able to find a drummer, engineer getting sick multiple times, not being able to find a male singer, and so much more.
Through all of this, you guys continued to believe in me, my singer, our band and our vision. Not once did I get a snarky message like "Come on it's been long enough". You all understood and still supported.
@Alicia Willis ,there was one night you messaged me after I promoted Bill's newest masterclass thing and you said "Hey honey, your followers haven't had an update in 3 months. When are you going to put that energy into your band?"
We took your words to heart, and not even two months later we found a producer, got our male singer, I handed the reigns of being an admin to you, focused like a fucking mad lady, hired an artwork team, got logo and merch designs done and released our single.
I guess you could say, speaking on my own behalf, is that when you messaged me that I realized people DID actually care and were still waiting. Believe me, when people believe in you, you work 10000x harder.

If you haven't heard yet, our newest single "Purgatory" is out on all major platforms now.

Also, my band's instagram is https://www.instagram.com/officialunknownband/ if you care to give a follow for our future releases

There are a few people I'd like to personally thank...

@Brian Haner Sr. - I texted you but I'm still saying it here. From the moment you told me to change how I held the pick all the way up the night you hung out with my singer and I and talked music for hours, you have helped us so much. Thank you for watching over us and believing in us

@Syn Gates - You and your dad both for launching this site. This literally was where our dream and goal could finally take off. It's weird looking back at the journey I've had on your school and where I am now. Thank you for your encouraging talks, your wisdom, being a great friend and believing in us and for setting us up with Nick.

@Millie Imber - You worked like a fucking MAD lady taking photography shots, staying up all hours of the night discussing artwork/logo/font design with us and working so amazingly with the other girls on the creative team. You helped bring our vision to life more than we ever thought. Love you so much!

@Kye Feher - For being a crazy lady and getting down and dirty for the most insane shots! Also for believing in us, being such a huge fan and a great friend. And for taking the golden shot for our upcoming t-shirt design! You have been true since day one. So glad to have you on our creative team!

@RoaringRowanThunderBender - You have been so supportive with our endeavors. And we can't thank you enough for joining in with the other girls and being our website designer and MY personal assistant through all of this craziness. I love you so much, and we look forward to working with you intensely in the future!

Also to all who donated, and shared our progress, showed support and never gave up. We love you guys. Here's to the future....

If I can do it... you can do it.

~Jak Angelescu

In this lesson we dive into more difficult legato exercises.

Hello GUYS!

I hope you are doing well

I am very interested to learn Shepherd Of Fire solo. For advanced players and for those who know how it's done, can you please suggest me what techniques should I learn to help me play this, what techniques are actually used in this solo? I gave myself a challange to learn this till the end of the year so I want to start correctly. Any advices will be very much appreciated. YO THANKS!

Well, this was sure a lot of fun! (No we don't announce the winner here so if this bores you we are so sorry)

We really wanted to kick the year off with a bang. Last year sucked. And so far this year is sucking. So our team tried to make it not suck by issuing the biggest contest of the year. We've been poking around on the site and realized the contest brought a LOT of new students to the site! Many of you posted your very first riffs, posted your very first questions, and more. So with all of this, if you think the winner is the real winner you're sadly mistaken.

We're gonna feel a little selfish and say we're the real winners here because we feel we accomplished something we really didn't intend to. We just wanted to make one hardworking student very, VERY happy. But not only will this happen, ALL OF YOU made US in turn, VERY VERY happy. Pat yourselves on the back.

We'd really like to thank the following people who helped make this happen:
@Alicia Willis for answering a billion questions while we sipped on margaritas at our timeshare condos in Maui (hey we can dream, right?)
@alexj For posting up the little doohicky at the top so students could be reminded every time they logged on
You, the students for putting so much effort into it
@Radu-Cristian Perde For making extra humorous content we could hijack so we could be lazy for the day
@Jak Angelescu and @Jamie London for brainstorming this wild idea and organizing it

And of course the entire team behind the SGIG page for pushing this to the limits, and beyond.

We'd like to take this time though to talk about why we DID choose the winner we chose...

You see, we had a little trick up our sleeves. Although we wanted you to do stuff with a lesson and all of that other goodness, what we were REALLY looking for was a personality that jumped out with passion. But we didn't want to say this because we wanted the students to be real. We wanted to see YOU, and who YOU really are. It didn't matter how fancy your video edits were. It didn't matter how complex your composition was. It didn't matter if you were like Radu and popped out 0-3-5 on the cello/standing bass. We wanted to see passion. And we found it.

We cannot wait to announce our winner tomorrow! Thank you all so much for participating!

Keep shredding!

~The SGIG Team

In this lesson we introduce the Power Chord and concentrate on the right hand technique called Palm Muting.

Hey y’all !

Its not goodbye, our Queen is still here and likely now we will get much more of her love, affection, and perhaps gnarly growls

But,I wanted to ask you all, what was your favorite Jak moment ? Let’s take a little time to reminisce on how this amazing human being made this community fucking great !

For me, it’s always been her caring attitude. I came to this school knowing absolutely nothing (I still know nothing but that’s besides the point )
She was the FIRST person to push me to post more and show my progress when I felt like I had nothing to show, just as she did for so many of the other beginners just starting their guitar journey.

Also, she coined the phrases: “Dominik? Fuck that guy”, “Captain Ed”, “My kittens”, and so on and so forth....

Idk about y’all, but I’m kind of ready to see her really let loose in these comments and forums because she’s got some wicked comebacks !

let’s make her day and share our fav stories !

A look at the notes that make up a Major scale in the key of C. (C D E F G A B)

This user has deleted their account.

Hey guys! You may have noticed that the site was down for a bit. We were performing site maintenance and upgrading the forum software. We believe we've caught the majority of the bugs that were caused by this update, but if you see anything that looks weird or isn't working properly, post it here and we can get it fixed!

What’s up everyone?? We are beyond ecstatic to let you know that a brand new Synyster Gates amp is coming down the pipeline! There’s just one issue... It needs a name, and that’s where YOU come in!

Starting November 2nd, we’re going to be opening this up to LEGENDARY members to submit their amp name ideas in a private Legends thread. The following week, all students will be able to vote on which name they like the best. Finally, on November 16th the contest will come to an end and the winner will be announced!

Besides getting to name the new amp, the winner will also be receiving a FREE AMP!!!

If you’d like to take a shot at naming and winning the amp yourself, you can upgrade your account to LEGENDARY here: https://syngates.com/account/upgrades

3-1-3 - A minor

Melody & Motif

Hello everyone, I'm here posting just the ideal amp settings for a typical A7x song ranging from gain, mid, treble, bass, presence, master volume, pedals, reverbs, eq graphics. Everything. If anyone has obtained an identical sound from any album whatsoever, I'd love to hear about it.

Hello everyone just wondering if anybody knew what the picking pattern to the solo in Scream is? I play it down up down and then up when playing the second string and then down up down etc but I'm not sure if this is the way Syn plays it.

Ooookaaayyy…
First off, BIG thanks to Calvin for trying to do this in my absence and Hector for taking over the live feed. You both are extremely wonderful. I’m a little confused as to why no one did Calvin’s task but regardless if it’s me or someone else who decides to issue a homework challenge, we should all show support and jump on the bandwagon.
I’ll try…
Lesson 10 is very important to grasp the basic concepts of soloing over chords so here it goes.
Beginners: Find a three chord progression and demonstrate what your “6 Magic Notes” would be over those chords. Be sure to name the chord AND the corresponding notes.
Intermediate: Write a riff using the 6 magic notes over a chord progression of your choice. For example, if you were to do a basic jazz ii-V-I progression, choose a backing track that features this progression in your key signature and perform that riff each time the chords change.
Advanced: Compose your own Etude using ONLY the six magic notes a straight backing track. For example, don’t do something where the chords change every other count. Something a little more straightforward. Think “Betcha Can’t Play This” column in the guitar magazine.
++++++++++++++ALSO!!!++++++++++++++++
If you post your work here and want access to the tutorials I’ve done, let me know! As I stated on my Instagram my tutorial work is strictly for those who are active with the lessons here. It’s my way of saying “Great job, you earned it” to those who put so much work into their craft.
Tutorial List
1. Scream
2. Shepherd of Fire
3. Nightmare
4. Hail To The King
5. Buried Alive
They are not ALL completed yet. But I’m working on getting them all finished.
PLUS!
Please join me THIS SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16th at 3pm CST to demonstrate your homework, welcome a new student, AND I’ll be having a guitar talk with Rowan and discussing her guitar insight and some valuable points we both share about guitar and beginners. Only those who have performed the homework or want to show off what they learned in a LESSON will be permitted to go live.
Love you all! We track bass and vocals next in the studio!
Jak

In this lesson we go over two important alternate picking exercises that will help you sync your right hand to your left.

Whaddup Folks....its me again...

I just had to share this video on the circle of fifths its so amazing. I know PGs lesson was amazing too! But this is even more hacks that come witht the circle of Fifths!

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Enjoy!

What's up $ynners?! We all appreciate how patient you have been while the team has worked diligently to bring you this new and improved school. Of course, there are DOZENS of new features to improve your learning experience. Feel free to snoop around, poke around and explore. If you have any questions please drop a comment below! I'll be doing a tutorial on the new website very soon!
Also, please stay tuned for the badass blues series by Papa Gates!

1. Topics of discussion

In this lesson, we will discuss modal scales. So, get on the square and on the level, and let's go.

2. Modal scales explained

Modal scales (or modes) are some special scales that follow different rules than regular major and minor scales. The easiest way to understand them though is in relation to a major scale.

Let's consider the C major scale. The notes of it are, in order, C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. However, what would happen if we played the same notes, but started on D? We would get D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. In other words, we get a scale that kind of looks like a D minor scale, but isn't, because the regular minor scale formula does not apply to it.

The scale we just got is called a D Dorian scale. Dorian scales are formed by playing the notes of a major scale, starting on the second note of that particular scale.

The same process can be applied for all the other notes of the scale, including the root note. That's right, the major scale itself is a modal scale. It's called the Ionian mode or Ionian scale.

Since there are 7 different notes in a major scale, we have 7 different modal scales as a result:

• Ionian scale - it's basically the major scale (for C major, that would be the C major scale: C, D, E, F, G, A, and B)
• Dorian scale - formed by playing the notes of the major scale starting from the second note (for C major, that would be the D Dorian scale: D, E, F, G, A, B, and C)
• Phrygian scale - formed by playing the notes of the major scale starting from the third note (For C major, that would be the E Phrygian scale: E, F, G, A, B, C, and D)
• Lydian scale - formed by playing the notes of the major scale starting from the fourth note (For C major, that would be the F Lydian scale: F, G, A, B, C, D, and E)
• Mixolydian scale - formed by playing the notes of the major scale starting from the fifth note (For C major, that would be the G Mixolydian scale: G, A, B, C, D, E, and F)
• Aeolian scale - formed by playing the notes of the major scale starting from the sixth note (For C major, that would be the A Aeolian scale: A, B, C, D, E, F, and G); note that this is basically the relative minor scale for the C major scale
• Locrian scale - formed by playing the notes of the major scale starting from the seventh note (For C major, that would be the B Locrian scale: B, C, D, E, F, G, and A)

Remember the 7 positions of the major scale? Well, by playing each and every position of it, you're basically playing the modes for that major scale:


3. Modal scale formulas

Much like how major scales and minor scales have formulas based on the tonal distance between notes. so too do modes. Let's take a look at them:

• Ionian scale: W-W-H-W-W-W-H
• Dorian scale: W-H-W-W-W-H-W
• Phrygian scale: H-W-W-W-H-W-W
• Lydian scale: W-W-W-H-W-W-H
• Mixolydian scale: W-W-H-W-W-H-W
• Aeolian scale: W-H-W-W-H-W-W
• Locrian scale: H-W-W-H-W-W-W

As per usual, W stands for whole step, which means 2 frets on your guitar, while H stands for half-step, which is 1 fret on your guitar

4. Around the fretboard

The 7 ways of playing major scales from above are not the only way in which you can play these little creatures. In another thread, we talked about the CAGED system for major scales. And guess what, since modal scales make use of the same damn notes the major scales makes use of, once you figure out the CAGED system forms for the major scales of your choosing, those shapes are the same ones you can use for the modal scales as well.

The only difference is where we consider the root note to be. And of course, what is the C form for the C major scale will have a totally different name for one of the modal scales. Honestly though, unless you're planning on taking some musical course designed by the musical equivalent of Sheldon Cooper, I wouldn't worry about the correspondence. Just make sure you use the correct CAGED forms based on your selected major scale.

And if by accident you hit a note outside of those, hey, you're adding color to your playing by adding chromatic tones.

Anyhow, here's the CAGED system forms for the C major scale. I also included the chord shape used to determine the name of the form:

C form


A form


G form



E form

D form



That about covers it for this one.

1. Topics of discussion

In this thread, we're going to discuss the CAGED system for major scales. So, let's get on the square and on the level.

2. The CAGED system chord shapes

So, the name CAGED system originates from the 5 open chord shapes (or forms) used in its name: C, A, G, E, and D. let's take a look at them:


These shapes can be used to play any chord you might think of by moving up and down your guitar. Here is the C chord played using those 5 forms:

E|--0------3------8-----8-----12---|
B|--1------5------5-----8-----13---|
G|--0------5------5-----9-----12---|
D|--2------5------5-----10----10---|
A|--3------3------7-----10---------|
E|----------------8-----8----------|

Basically, when someone tells you they play the A chord using the C form, it means that they are using the form of the open C chord, but instead of playing it as you see above, they play it like this:


E|--9---|
B|--10--|
G|--9---|
D|--11--|
A|--12--|
E|------|

The same rule is applied for the other shapes as well. Hence why such chord shapes are known as movable shapes, because you can change the chord you're playing by moving up and down your instrument and using the same shapes.

3. Arpeggio

An arpeggio is obtained by playing the notes of a chord individually rather than together. Let's play the C chords from above as an arpeggio:

E|--------------0---| E|--------------3---| E|-----------------8---| E|-------------------8---| E|----------------12--|
B|-----------1------| B|-----------5------| B|--------------5------| B|----------------8------| B|------------13------|
G|--------0---------| G|--------5---------| G|-----------5---------| G|-------------9---------| G|--------12----------|
D|-----2------------| D|-----5------------| D|--------5------------| D|---------10------------| D|----10--------------|
A|--3---------------| A|--3---------------| A|-----7---------------| A|-----10----------------| A|--------------------|
E|------------------| E|------------------| E|--8------------------| E|--8--------------------| E|--------------------|


4. The CAGED system for major scales

In the examples above, we focused on playing the notes that were part of the chord shape. This time around, let's try adding notes which are still part of the chord, but not part of the chord shape. For example, let's try adding some extra notes around the open C form:


See how instead of playing only the notes from the shape, we also added some extra notes on the low E string and on the high E string? Now, let's take it an extra step further and insert the missing notes of the C major scale, which for this example would be D, F, A, and B:


And that's how you get the C form of the C major scale, using the CAGED system. Let's check out the forms for the other ones as well:


Next up, the G form:



Let's move on to the E form:


Finally, the D form:


Now, that about wraps it up. Get to playing and see you in the next poll.

1. Topics of discussion

In this thread, we're going to discuss major scales and how to play them on the guitar. This request came from @Kim La . So, let's get on the square and on the level.

2. Steps, half-steps, and frets

Much like how you can measure the distance between cities in kilometers or miles, so too can you measure the distance between notes in steps and half-steps. These bad boys are also known as tones and semitones or whole tones and half tones.

A half-step is the smallest tonal distance between two notes. On your guitar, that is basically the distance between two consecutive frets on the same string. A step consists of two half-steps, which as you can see translates to two frets on your guitar.

3. Major scale formula

Major scales consist of 7 different notes, which follow the following formula:


W stands for whole step while H stands for half-step. And what we have in the formula is the distance between two consecutive notes of the scale, in ascending order.

In other words, the difference between the first note and the second note is a whole step, the difference between the second note and the third note is also a whole step, and so on.

Since there are 7 distances there, one can conclude that a major scale has 8 notes. Then why did I say 7 earlier? Because, while there are in fact 8 notes, one of them is repeated. The note that is repeated is the first note, which is also played at the end of the scale, an octave higher than the note that started the whole thing.

4. Figuring out the notes of a scale

When it comes to a standard tuned guitar, these are the notes you can play on each string:



If we are to play the notes of the C major scale, then by applying the formula above, we would get C, D, E, F, G, A, B and we would end on C again. Kind of like this:



Of course, there are many other scales for you to choose from. It would be highly indicated to study the lesson the Papa Gates has on the Circle of 5ths in order to gain an even easier way to figure out the notes of each scale.

5. The CAGED system forms for major scales

The CAGED system is based on 5 chord forms. The name of the chors are in the name of the system and they are of course the basic forms of the C, A, G, E and D chords, which look like this:

|--0----0----3----0----2--|
|--1----2----0----0----3--|
|--0----2----0----1----2--|
|--2----2----0----2----0--|
|--3----0----2----2-------|
|------------3----0-------|

If we are to play the C chord using all these shapes, it would look like this:

|--0----3----8----8-----12--|
|--1----5----5----8-----13--|
|--0----5----5----9-----12--|
|--2----5----5----10----10--|
|--3----3----7----10--------|
|------------8----8---------|

In order to successfully play major scales using the CAGED system forms, you need to learn the shapes of the root chord of the scale (the chord formed on the first note), using these movable shapes. Afterwards, you just add the missing notes of the scale which are located on the frets you're not using to play the chord. Let's look at the C form for example:



Let's move on to the A form:


Next up, the G form:


The E form is next:


Finally, the D form:


6. The 7 positions of the major scale

Papa Gates has a wonderful tutorial on this. Basically, the 7 positions of the major scale is a concept referring to you playing a major scale in 7 different ways, starting on a different note each time:


That should wrap everything up.

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