Module 1: FoundationsLesson 5beginner⏱ 60 min + 15 min daily for four weeks

First scales: chromatic and major in position

Play the chromatic scale and the major scale in one position with one finger per fret, learn the whole-step/half-step formula on a single string, and build the two movable major-scale fingerings with a metronome routine and strict alternate picking.

Why scales, and why in position

A scale is not music, but it is the raw material of every line you will ever play and the fastest way to put the fretboard under your fingers. Jazz players practise scales for two reasons: to learn where the notes of each key live without looking, and to train the hands to move through them evenly at any tempo. Both goals need position playing: the hand sits still, each finger owns one fret, and the notes come to you instead of you chasing them up the neck. This lesson gives you the chromatic scale (every note, which trains the hand) and the major scale (the parent of nearly all jazz harmony, which trains the ear and the map), each in one position, with the metronome routine that makes them stick.

If you have not yet done the technique lesson and the note-name lesson, do those first; this lesson assumes one-finger-per-fret and that you can name the notes you play.

What a position is

A position is named after the fret under the index finger. In position V, finger 1 covers fret 5, finger 2 fret 6, finger 3 fret 7 and finger 4 fret 8, on every string. Two stretches extend the position without moving the hand: finger 1 can reach back one fret (fret 4 in position V) and finger 4 can reach up one fret (fret 9). The thumb stays behind the neck, roughly behind fret 6, and does not move. The rule for every scale in this lesson: the hand never shifts; only the fingers move.

The chromatic scale in position

The chromatic scale is all twelve notes in order, one fret at a time. Played across the strings in one position it is the direct continuation of the chromatic exercise you already know, with one change: because adjacent strings are tuned five frets apart (four between strings 3 and 2), four frets per string leave a gap at every string change. To fill it, the index finger stretches back to play the extra note on strings 5, 4, 3 and 1. Here is the chromatic scale from A in position V, covering a little more than two octaves.

\tempo 60
.
\ts 4 4
:8 5.6{lf 1} 6.6{lf 2} 7.6{lf 3} 8.6{lf 4} 4.5{lf 1} 5.5{lf 1} 6.5 7.5 | 8.5 4.4{lf 1} 5.4{lf 1} 6.4 7.4 8.4 4.3{lf 1} 5.3{lf 1} | 6.3 7.3 8.3 5.2{lf 1} 6.2 7.2 8.2 4.1{lf 1} | 5.1{lf 1} 6.1 7.1 8.1 :2 r |

Play it descending too (reverse the fingers on each string: 4-3-2-1, then the stretch note with finger 1). Say the note names as you go; you will discover that the chromatic scale is the whole fretboard-note lesson in one position. Move it to position VII and position III next week.

The major scale: whole steps and half steps

The major scale is seven notes built from a fixed pattern of whole steps (two frets) and half steps (one fret). The table below gives the seven degrees and their notes from C (with the twelve-note chromatic scale for comparison); the quickest way to hear and see the step pattern is to play the scale on a single string, where every whole step is a two-fret jump and every half step a one-fret move. The steps are marked above the notes in the example that follows.

\tempo 72
.
\ts 4 4
:8 3.5 5.5{txt "W"} 7.5{txt "W"} 8.5{txt "H"} 10.5{txt "W"} 12.5{txt "W"} 14.5{txt "W"} 15.5{txt "H"} | 14.5 12.5 10.5 8.5 7.5 5.5 :4 3.5 |

Do this on the low E string from fret 3 (G major) and on the D string from fret 3 (F major) as well. The fret pattern is identical, which is the whole point: the major scale is a shape, and the shape can start anywhere. Playing it on one string is not a performance fingering (the hand shifts constantly), but it makes the step pattern visible in a way no diagram can.

Fingering 1: root on the 6th string

Now the same notes in one position. The first movable fingering puts the root under finger 2 on the 6th string. For G major that is fret 3, so the hand sits in position II (finger 1 at fret 2), and the scale covers two full octaves without a single shift.

\tempo 60
.
\ts 4 4
:8 3.6{lf 2} 5.6{lf 4} 2.5{lf 1} 3.5{lf 2} 5.5{lf 4} 2.4{lf 1} 4.4{lf 3} 5.4{lf 4} | 2.3{lf 1} 4.3{lf 3} 5.3{lf 4} 3.2{lf 2} 5.2{lf 4} 2.1{lf 1} :4 3.1{lf 2} | :8 2.1 5.2 3.2 5.3 4.3 2.3 5.4 4.4 | 2.4 5.5 3.5 2.5 5.6 :4 3.6{d} |

The fingering has a pattern worth memorising in words: 2-4 on the 6th string, 1-2-4 on the 5th, 1-3-4 on the 4th, 1-3-4 on the 3rd, 2-4 on the 2nd, 1-2 on the 1st. Because it contains no open strings, it moves: slide the whole shape up three frets and finger 2 lands on Bb at fret 6, giving Bb major in position V with exactly the same fingers.

\tempo 60
.
\ts 4 4
:8 6.6{lf 2} 8.6{lf 4} 5.5{lf 1} 6.5{lf 2} 8.5{lf 4} 5.4{lf 1} 7.4{lf 3} 8.4{lf 4} | 5.3{lf 1} 7.3{lf 3} 8.3{lf 4} 6.2{lf 2} 8.2{lf 4} 5.1{lf 1} :4 6.1{lf 2} | :8 5.1 8.2 6.2 8.3 7.3 5.3 8.4 7.4 | 5.4 8.5 6.5 5.5 8.6 :4 6.6{d} |

Fingering 2: root on the 5th string

The second fingering puts the root under finger 2 on the 5th string. For C major that is fret 3, again in position II. It covers one octave plus a sixth before the position runs out, with one upward stretch of finger 4 on the 2nd string.

\tempo 60
.
\ts 4 4
:8 3.5{lf 2} 5.5{lf 4} 2.4{lf 1} 3.4{lf 2} 5.4{lf 4} 2.3{lf 1} 4.3{lf 3} 5.3{lf 4} | 3.2{lf 2} 5.2{lf 4} 6.2{lf 4 txt "stretch"} 3.1{lf 2} 5.1{lf 4} 3.1 6.2 5.2 | 3.2 5.3 4.3 2.3 5.4 3.4 2.4 5.5 | :1 3.5 |

In words: 2-4 on the 5th string, 1-2-4 on the 4th, 1-3-4 on the 3rd, 2-4-stretch on the 2nd, 2-4 on the 1st. Like the first fingering it has no open strings, so it moves: finger 2 on fret 8 of the 5th string gives F major in position VII, finger 2 on fret 10 gives G major in position IX.

Why learn two fingerings? Because a tune's chord roots fall on both the 6th and the 5th strings, and you want the scale of the moment under your hand without a jump. With the two shapes, every major key is available in at least two places on the neck below the 12th fret. The scale finder shows both fingerings in any key.

Making the scale musical: thirds

Running a scale up and down trains the fingers but not the ear. The first melodic pattern every jazz player learns is the scale in thirds: play a note, skip one, come back. It appears in countless lines and it teaches the string crossings that straight scales avoid.

\tempo 60
.
\ts 4 4
:8 3.6 2.5 5.6 3.5 2.5 5.5 3.5 2.4 | 5.5 4.4 2.4 5.4 4.4 2.3 5.4 4.3 | 2.3 5.3 4.3 3.2 5.3 5.2 3.2 2.1 | 5.2 3.1 2.1 5.1 :2 3.1 |

When the thirds are clean, invent a second pattern of your own (for example, four notes up from each scale step) and apply it to the Bb and C fingerings. Patterns, not scales, are what turn into vocabulary.

Alternate picking through scales

Keep the rule from the technique lesson: down on the beat, up on the "and", without exception. In eighth notes that gives down-up-down-up regardless of where the string changes fall. Scales are the place where this gets tested, because a 6th-string-root fingering changes string after two notes on some strings and after three on others, so sometimes the string change happens on a down-stroke and sometimes on an up-stroke. Do not "fix" this by doubling a stroke; let the hand keep swinging and let the pick land on whichever string is next. This is the motion that lets you play fast lines later without thinking about the right hand at all.

When you move to triplets (three notes per click), the alternation continues across the beat: down-up-down, up-down-up. Count aloud so you know which stroke lands on the click.

The metronome routine

Practise each fingering with this sequence, in this order, at one tempo. Only when every step is clean do you raise the tempo, by 4–8 bpm.

1. Quarter notes (one note per click): tone, evenness and fingering. Say the note names.
2. Eighth notes (two per click): alternate picking, down on the click.
3. Eighth-note triplets (three per click): the hardest step; the string changes land in new places.
4. Sixteenth notes (four per click): only when the triplets are clean. If they are not, go back to step 2 at a slower tempo.

Start at 60 bpm. Sixteenths at 60 are eighths at 120, which is a comfortable medium-swing tempo; when you can play all three scales this way, you are ready for the arpeggio and improvisation modules. Keep a tempo log; the practice plans page has a template, and the metronome has the triplet and sixteenth subdivisions built in so you can check your placement.

\tempo 60
.
\ts 4 4
:4 3.6 5.6 2.5 3.5 | :8 5.5 2.4 4.4 5.4 2.3 4.3 5.3 3.2 | :8 5.2{tu 3} 2.1{tu 3} 3.1{tu 3} 2.1{tu 3} 5.2{tu 3} 3.2{tu 3} 5.3{tu 3} 4.3{tu 3} 2.3{tu 3} 5.4{tu 3} 4.4{tu 3} 2.4{tu 3} | :16 5.5 3.5 2.5 5.6 3.6 5.6 2.5 3.5 5.5 2.4 4.4 5.4 2.3 4.3 5.3 3.2 |

Quiz