1:7 The Chromatic Scale

There are a total of 12 different notes, letters A-G and five additional notes that are described as sharps or flats. We'll look later at the musical alphabet, but for now lets say that the Chromatic Scale is a scale that includes all 12 notes. You would play the chromatic scale on a piano by playing all the keys, white and black. On this scale, each interval between notes is called a half step. Likewise, each fret on a guitar is a half step, so you could play the chromatic scale by simply moving up or down a single string, playing each fret as you go.

But the great thing is, there's no need to move all the way up the neck. Remember the 5th fret tuning method? Once you get to the 5th fret on the 6th string, you've got an A. Hey! There's an A on the 5th string too! So lets play it like this...

Play the 6th string open. This is an E. Now use finger 1 on the 1st fret for the next note. Then finger 2 on the 2nd fret, and on up to the 4th. Then skip down to the 5th string and repeat. Notice that on the 3rd string you won't play the 4th fret.

The scale chart and the tab version are just two ways of showing the same scale. On the tab, however, the numbers are to show which fret, not which finger.

I hope you find this scale useful. Don't get discouraged if you can't do it well. If you play it a little every day, you'll steadily improve.