Bass Guitar Major Scales: A Comprehensive Guide
Greetings, bassists! A few months ago we began exploring some basic music theory concepts that we’ll use to dive into the next key area:
The major scale.
What is it? What does it sound like? What does it look like? Find out with this guide to the major scale for the bass guitar.
Let’s get started!
What Is A Scale?
Before we get into the major scale, let’s define what a scale is in general.
A scale is a sequence of notes with a distinct pattern of intervals between each note. The majority (if not all) music we listen to is based off of a key signature, which is derived from some sort of scale.
The Anatomy Of A Scale
Looking back at the definition of a scale above, there are two main components to a scale: the notes and the intervals between them that determine the scale type. So in a C major scale we have “C” as the root note and “major” as the scale type.
Notes
Scales don’t contain all twelve notes in our western music system (besides the chromatic scale) – in a major scale, for example, only seven out of twelve notes are present, and in the context of a song it establishes which notes are pleasing to the ear and which ones are not.
The Root Note. The root note is the first note in a scale. A scale can be based off of any note – just choose your root note and proceed in alphabetical order.
For example, any sort of A scale would start on the note A:
Any sort of C scale would start on the note C:
And so on.
Scale Degrees. Each note of a scale represents a degree, aka the order in which the notes appear in the scale as they relate to the root note.
We’ll keep sticking with the note C as our example for now. In a C major scale, we have:
- C: 1st (Tonic)
- D: 2nd (Supertonic)
- E: 3rd (Mediant)
- F: 4th (Subdominant)
- G: 5th (Dominant)
- A: 6th (Submediant)
- B: 7th (Leading Tone)
- C: 8th (Tonic)
Intervals
Each type of scale has a different interval pattern. Major scales, minor scales, and modes have either a half step (H) or a whole step (W) between each note.
Okay, let’s pause and make some observations:
- Notice when we reach the end of the alphabet, we start over with the note A.
- When moving through the notes of a scale in alphabetical order, you’re ascending in pitch. Reversely, working your way backwards through the alphabet will descend the scale in pitch.
- Our starting note is the same as our ending note, only the ending note is an octave higher. This means that even though there are eight notes shown above there are technically only seven different notes in this scale.
- Every note of the musical alphabet is represented only once. In a G major scale, for instance, you would never see it written like this: G A B C D E Gb G. G-flat and F-sharp are the same note, so F-sharp is the correct spelling since we don’t have the note F represented. The correct spelling of a G major scale looks like this: G A B C D E F# G.
What Does A Major Scale Sound Like?
Whether you know it or not, you’ve definitely heard a major scale at some point in your life.
Don’t believe me? How about this?
Skip to 2:09 to hear Julie Andrews sing an ascending major scale. It’s no coincidence that both “do re mi fa so la ti do” and the major scale contain the same number of notes/syllables – each syllable represents a scale degree.
As mentioned above, the intervals between each note of a scale determine what type of scale it is. The major scale is made up of half steps (H) and whole steps (W).
Let’s go back to our C major scale.
Whether you choose C, D, A-flat, or whatever for your starting note, as long as you apply the same WWHWWWH interval sequence you’ve got yourself a major scale.
What Does A Major Scale Look Like?
A major scale can take on many different visual forms. For this section, we’ll use the D major scale to learn how it pertains to the bass guitar.
The Musical Alphabet
D E F# G A B C# D
Interval Sequence
WWHWWWH
Fretboard (Notes)
Fretboard (Scale Degrees)
Fretboard (Finger Positions)
Hint: this is the major scale finger position. If you memorize this pattern, you can play any major scale just about anywhere on the fretboard (see below).
While this one is most common, there are other major scale finger positions as well. Alternate finger positions will give you access to different parts of the fretboard. Take this into consideration when practicing and writing your own basslines!
Notation (With Key Signature)
Notation (With Accidentals)
Bass Major Scale Tab
G | – – – – – – – – – – – 4 – 6 – 7 – |
D | – – – – – 4 – 5 – 7 – – – – – – – |
A | – 5 – 7 – – – – – – – – – – – – – |
E | – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – -|
Recap
Okay, let’s wrap this up! In this post we learned:
- A scale is a sequence of notes.
- The first note of a scale establishes the root, and the intervals between the notes give the scale its identity (major, minor, diminished, etc.).
- If you memorize the major scale finger position, you can play any major scale just about anywhere on the fretboard.
- The interval pattern in the major scale is WWHWWWH.
Questions, comments, concerns? Leave a comment below – I’d love to hear your feedback. As always, thanks for reading! Stay tuned for more music theory-based content in the near future.
