How to Make Major Scale Fretboard Stickers

The fretboard is a fantastic location to learn scales.

It may not be the first thing you learn when taking guitar lessons, but the major scale is one of the most important and foundational aspects of all music. Learning how the scale is structured will allow you to better understand every key you play, as well as how to construct both songs and solos in each of those keys. Using the highly visual space of the guitar's fretboard, the elusive scale will soon seem logical and natural.

Things You'll Need

• Guitar
• 1/8 inch dot stickers
• Pen

Instructions

1. Write the numbers 1 through 8 on 1/8-inch dot stickers. There are eight notes in the major scale, each of which is often referred to as its numeric sequence within the scale, with the notable exception of the first and eighth. Because the first begins the scale it is often referred to as the "root." The eighth is often called the "tonic" because of the way the note resolves in tonality the ascendancy of the scale. For the purposes of better conceptualizing the scale's development, number these "one" and "eight."

2. Place the first sticker on the third fret of the E string -- the lowest, thickest string. In this case, we are placing the scale in the key of G, but once you've learned it here you can move it to any other key by beginning at any other fret and duplicating the number of frets between each note.

3. Place the second sticker on the fifth fret of this string.

4. Place the third sticker on the second fret of the next string up. While on this string, place the fourth sticker on the third fret, and the fifth sticker on the fifth fret.

5. Place the sixth sticker on the second fret of the next string up. Then, place the seventh sticker on the fourth fret on this string, and the eighth on the fifth fret. You should now have a generally box-like shape between the stickers.

6. Play each note in the order of the stickers, and you have a major scale.

Tips & Warnings

• Place the stickers on the fretboard while the strings are still on. Because the beginner will not always know the exact distance between the strings, this will help to make the placement of stickers more accurate.

• Because the tuning of the B (fifth) string is different from each of the other five strings, only start this scale on one of the two lowest strings. This will avoid having to transpose any notes that land on the B string.

Resources

• Guitar for Beginners: Home Page