To begin, you must first understand the Major scale - how it sounds, how it's played, and how it's constructed. The major scale is the basis for nearly everything we hear in Western music, which is why it is so important.

See the Ws and Hs in the image above? Those refer to whole steps and half steps. A half step is the smallest subdivision generally used or available to you on a piano. So if you envision a piano, a half step is the distance, or interval, between any key and the next key, white or black, above or below it.

On a guitar, a half step is the distance of one fret.

A whole step is two half steps. Again, on a piano, this is the distance between any successive white keys, except between E and F, and B and C.

The major scale is defined by the formula of whole and half steps shown above. Memorize this: W, W, H, W, W, W, H.

You’ll see very soon that the origins of “musical direction” lie in this imbalanced formula. Not all scale degrees are equal.

Click below for a PDF intro to the major scale.

I strongly believe you will make faster and more lasting progress exploring on your own.

Take the major scale concepts you’ve learned and start the scale on different notes using the formula outlined in the PDF. Try different fingerings.

Learn the names of the notes. The C major scale is the “white keys” on the piano - C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C. A half step above any of those is sharp (#); a half step below is flat (b). So a half step above F is F#, and a half step below is Fb.

Learn the Solfege syllables associated with each scale degree of the major scale: Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti, Do. We’ll explore these further in later sections.

Learn the intervals in the major scale starting from the first scale degree:

• 1 to 2 - Major 2nd (one whole step, or two half steps)

• 1 to 3 - Major 3rd (two whole steps, or 4 half steps)

• 1 to 4 - Perfect 4th (W, W, H)

• 1 to 5 - Perfect 5th (W, W, H, W)

• 1 to 6 - Major 6th (P5 + W)

• 1 to 7 - Major 7th (Octave minus H)

• 1 to 1 - Perfect Octave (same note, one “cycle” higher, 12 half steps, 6 whole steps, etc.)

These intervals describe the distance between any two notes, not just starting on the 1st scale degree. For example, the interval between the 5th and 7th scale degrees in major is a major 3rd (two whole steps).

Between scale degrees 2 and 4 are a whole and half step. That interval is not specified above, so we need more vocabulary. To preview, it’s a minor 3rd, and that name comes from the minor scale.

Click below for a video exploring the major scale.

Now let’s alter the Major tonality to create the Minor tonality. It has a different sound.

To get the Natural Minor sound, take the 3rd, 6th, and 7th degrees of the Major scale and flat them. That is, move them down a half step (one fret). Your pattern of half and whole steps is going to change.

So are the syllables these notes take. Instead of Mi, La, and Ti in Major, flatting these makes them Me, Le, and Te (all rhyme with “day”).

The tone “Te” does not have the same “pull” to the tone “Do” as “Ti” does in Major. Sometimes you’ll keep “Ti” in minor to achieve this effect. This is Harmonic Minor.

The intervals in minor are as follows:

• 1 to 2 - Major 2nd (one whole step, or two half steps)

• 1 to 3 - Minor 3rd (one whole + one half step, or 3 half steps)

• 1 to 4 - Perfect 4th (W, H, W)

• 1 to 5 - Perfect 5th (W, H, W, W)

• 1 to 6 - Minor 6th (P5 + H)

• 1 to 7 - Minor 7th (Octave minus W, in natural minor)

• 1 to 1 - Perfect Octave (same note, one “cycle” higher, 12 half steps, 6 whole steps, etc.)

Notice that the perfect intervals do not change between major and minor. They don’t have a major or minor quality to specify. When you do widen or narrow them by a half step they are called “augmented” or “diminished” respectively.

Click below for a video demonstrating Minor Scale construction.

So far we’ve been dealing with the note “C” as our starting point for both the major and minor scale. You can start on any note, and when you do so, you are changing the “key” of the scale.

When we change key, a few things remain consistent:

• The pattern of whole and half steps that define major and minor, i.e. the formulas, stay the same. This means you can start on any note (say, D), and the next note of the scale will be a whole step away (E), and the note following that another whole step away (F#). Next, a half step (G). Hopefully you’re seeing in this example how the first three intervals (whole, whole, half) remain intact even though we’re starting on a different note.

• The solfege syllables will be the same, just moving Do to whatever pitch you choose to define the new key. In our D major example, D becomes Do, E becomes Re, F# becomes Mi, G becomes Fa, etc.

So what changes?

• The absolute pitches within the scale change. You can’t play in D major while the rest of the band plays in C major - you’ll be playing different notes.

• The spellings change - the simple major scale is no longer C, D, E, F, G, etc. but D, E, F#, G, A (in our example).

Because the relative distances between the notes remain consistent when just changing key, you’ll notice that on guitar the fingerings of these scales in different keys can be identical if you move up or down the fretboard to access the new key. For example if you have a fingering for C major starting on C at the 3rd fret of the 5th string, you can move that to the right two frets, starting on D at the 5th fret on the 5th string, and play the exact same fingering for a completely correct D major scale.

However, as you advance, you want to be able to fluently move between keys, and just moving your hand left and right does not allow you do access the full musical potential of your ideas. It is too mechanical.

Instead, practice each key individually. You can derive all of them using the formula we have been discussing, and doing this yourself will ingrain the sounds and fingerings in your head and hands far better than any canned patterns. The exercises presented in this section can be transferred to all keys as well, and many ask you to move between keys. Practicing this way will quickly get you familiar with the fretboard as a unified system, rather than a set of discrete moveable fingerings. If you want to play jazz music fluently, this process is a must.

Try the following exercises to build awareness of the fretboard.

1 - Diatonic 3rds, 4ths, 5ths, etc.

Pick a major or minor tonality and a starting note within that scale. Ascend a 3rd (i.e. skip a note) then repeat, starting on the next note up. Try it with other intervals. Try ascending and descending intervals, and moving up and down successive notes. Then alternate ascending and descending. See how fluid you can make this sound.

2 - Connecting different keys

Pick two major keys (say Ab and F, or C and Ab as in the video). Start moving up the major scale in one key in eighth notes for four or eight beats, then continue for the next four beats in the other key, using the next available note in the new key as you transition. Go up and down as smoothly as possible. Try this in minor.

3 - Diatonic Arpeggios

Instead of simple intervals, try consecutive triads and seventh chords played through the major scale. Then add approach notes. Adam Maness has a good video on this concept.

4 - Scale Segments

Pick a scale and note within it to start. Play up two notes from that point, then return to the next highest note and play up two notes from there, etc. So, C, D, E, D, E, F, E, F, G, etc. in C major.

Now try to do it with 4, 5, and 6 note sequences. For an added challenge, practice playing these as 8th notes and triplets in time. You’ll see they start on different parts of the beat as the sequence gets displaced.

5 - Cycle 2, 3, 4, etc.

Cycle “x” refers to playing triads or 7th chords rooted on successive notes of a scale “x” degrees apart, keeping as many notes constant as possible. For example, cycle 3 in C major triads is C maj [C, E, G], E min [B, E, G], G maj [B, D, G], B dim [B, D, F], etc. Check out this video, and an update here showing a better way to do Cycle 2.

Note that cycles 5, 6, and 7 are just cycles 4, 3, and 2 in reverse.

Try this in minor and other keys you are trying to get more familiar with.

For all of these, start with a relatively narrow range and work in different registers. Once comfortable, start expanding the range. The goal is to have a complete conception of the key across the entire instrument you can move freely through without thinking about specific positions and patterns.

Click below for a demonstration of these ideas.

The point of solfege syllables is to associate syllables you speak with relative pitches in a given tonality.

We will be using a “moveable Do” system, which essentially associates the “Do” syllable to the tonic - or home - note of whatever key you are in. Scale degree 1. Then Do can move for any key change.

The syllables Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti represent the major scale. These were introduced in the previous section. Practice playing the major scale while singing the above syllables. Then practice the exercises presented in the last section singing these syllables along with your playing.

There are three practical benefits to practicing solfege:

• Sight singing: if you can look at a piece of music and mentally assign the solfege syllables to it, and you have relative pitches connected to those syllables via your ears, then you should be able to sing that music on sight, or at least know how it is going to sound.

• Transcribing: if you hear a piece of music and can assign the syllables to the notes you are hearing, it is fairly straightforward to write those notes down, since you know what pitch they are relative to your home key or Do.

• Ear Training: just by interacting with music this way, you will strengthen your ear and find yourself “playing what you hear” far more frequently. You’ll also like what you’re playing a lot more. One approach to improvisation is to imagine yourself an audience member, and play what you’d want to hear next. Far easier to do this if you have fortified the connection between your ears and fingers.

Bottom line: practicing singing and hearing these scale degrees - and naming them - will help your ears immensely, which leads to all sorts of practical benefits as a musician.

Click below for a demonstration.

As described in the previous section, Natural Minor is derived from Major by lowering the 3rd, 6th, and 7th scale degrees by a half step each. Mi, La, and Ti become Me, Le, and Te (all rhyme with “day”).

You may keep Ti so you have a leading tone that pulls strongly up to Do. This is Harmonic Minor.

Melodic Minor keeps both La and Ti the same as major. In fact the only difference between Melodic Minor and Major is the lowered 3rd. Melodic Minor has a lot of different uses, but for the current purposes it allows the use of Ti while smoothing out the “gap” between Le and Ti that happens in Harmonic Minor.

The clearest and most recognizable demonstration of the melodic minor sound comes from the tune “Greensleeves” or “What Child is This?” - think of the lyric “…babe the son of Mary”: Me, Re, Do, Ti, La, Ti, Do, Do. Notice how that sequence includes Me (as in any minor tune) along with Ti and La, normally major sounds.

Practice singing the following.

Natural Minor: Do, Re, Me, Fa, Sol, Le, Te, Do

Harmonic Minor: Do, Re, Me, Fa, Sol, Le, Ti, Do

Melodic Minor: Do, Re, Me, Fa, Sol, La, Ti, Do

1 - Try singing the following exercises to reinforce the relative pitches attached to solfege syllables in your ears:

• Do, Re, Do, Mi, Do, Fa, Do, Sol, Do, La, Do, Ti (and reverse it)

• Do, Re, Do, Me, Do, Fa, Do, Sol, Do, Le, Do, Te (and reverse it)

• [Do, Mi, Sol] [Re, Fa, La] [Mi, Sol, Ti] [Fa, La, Do] (etc., and in minor)

2 - Try simple melodies replacing the words with proper solfege:

• “Twinkle Twinkle” (Do, Do, Sol, Sol, La, La, Sol…)

• “Happy Birthday”

• “Greensleeves”

• “Over the Rainbow”

• Etc.

3 - Sight Singing

Start by singing melodies that are written as solfege syllables. Then move on to standard notation, and sing those notes as solfege.

The more familiar you get with solfege, the more complex melodies you can learn to sing using the syllables. The system includes the full range of chromatic tones, or all the possible notes within the octave. We’ll introduce each of these in context across the website, but if you want to explore further, you can check out this video and plenty of others on YouTube from singers who are much better than I am.

But ear training does not start and end with solfege. Another thing you’ll want to be doing constantly is transcribing, or figuring out tunes by ear. Everyone has a different method for doing this, but in addition to a lot of other benefits, you’ll always be strengthening your ear.

Write down what you hear or not - it’s fine to go straight to playing. I do think taking the time to transcribe to written notes accurately gets you deeper into the listening exercise and closer to the music. But you don’t always have time for that.

Another fun exercise is to play your instrument without the “attack” - that is do everything you normally do to play, but don’t make a sound. On a guitar this means hovering your fingers over the strings/frets, moving as though you’re playing, but without picking or otherwise making noise. Replace the attack with your voice, then check yourself by playing back normally. Do this with increasingly long phrases.

Both of these ideas will help you build a direct connection between pitch and the physical sensation of playing different notes on your instrument.

In our solfege constructions of the major and minor scales, we’ve used the 7 familiar syllables from “The Sound of Music” and altered three of those to get the natural minor sound.

• Mi lowered to Me (natural, harmonic, and melodic minor)

• La lowered to Le (natural and harmonic minor only)

• Ti lowered to Te (natural minor only)

When we start talking about harmonic functions, however, or adding color to various tonalities, we will need the entire chromatic scale. That is, all notes within the octave separated by half steps. The note between Do and Re, or between Fa and Sol, for example. What do you call those in solfege?

The answer depends on whether you are raising or lowering a tone of the major scale.

• If you are lowering, the result is a syllable that ends with “e” (“ay”) or “a” (“ah”)

• If you are raising, the syllable ends with “i” (“ee”)

Here is the chromatic scale written with all accidentals written as ascending versions of their major scale starting points:

Do, Di, Re, Ri, Mi, Fa, Fi, Sol, Si, La, Li, Ti, Do

Here as descending versions of their major scale starting points:

Do, Ra, Re, Me, Mi, Fa, Se, Sol, Le, La, Te, Ti, Do

For now, it is enough just to know these exist. As you transcribe, analyze, and sight sing more complex material, you’ll need to use these syllables. The distinction between ascending and descending alterations is important for harmonic function. We’ll talk more about that in later sections. Meanwhile, this is worth a watch.

As you get started on your ear training journey, it helps to have a mental library of tunes that contain (ideally, start with) all of the possible intervals you’ll want to recognize. For example (interval is the first of the tune unless specified):

Minor 2nd (half step)

• Jaws theme

• Fur Elise

• Stella By Starlight

• My Romance

Major 2nd (whole step)

• Happy Birthday

• Marry Had A Little Lamb

• You Are Too Beautiful

Minor 3rd

• Alone Together

• So Long, Farewell

• America the Beautiful

• Misty

(cont’d on next panel…)

Remember, first interval unless otherwise specified:

Major 3rd

• I Loves You Porgy

• Someday My Prince Will Come (Sol to Ti, on the lyric “…his castle…” at 1:00)

• Ideofunk (melody starting at 0:40)

• Son of a Preacher Man (Do to Mi, on the lyric “…was a preacher’s son…” at 0:12)

Perfect 4th

• All the Things You Are

• Someday My Prince Will Come

• On My Own (start of main melody at 1:40, after intro)

• Dazed and Confused (first two notes on guitar, 0:04)

• Son of a Preacher Man (Do to Fa, on the lyric “…when his daddy would visit…” at 0:13)

Tritone

• Maria (Do to Fi, from “West Side Story,” when he starts singing at 0:34)

• O Tannenbaum (Fa to Ti, on the lyric “…nella…” within “risplendi nella notte” at 0:33)

Perfect 5th

• Twinkle Twinkle

• Baba O’Riley (the “Teenage Wasteland” song, The Who - ascending P5 starts the intro synth line, Do to Sol, AND the descending guitar riff from Do to Fa at 0:42)

• Day Man

• The Way You Look Tonight

(cont’d on next panel…)

Remember: first interval unless otherwise specified:

Minor 6th

• Tomorrow (from “Annie!” on the lyric “…sorrow…” at 0:23)

Major 6th

• Days of Wine and Roses

• It Came Upon a Midnight Clear

• My Way

Minor 7th

• Sweet Emotion (opening bass riff!)

Major 7th

• I Love You (this classic Cole Porter tune uses two descending major 7ths in its theme, first from Sol to Le, then Mi to Fa)

Octave

• Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Technique should never be the primary focus of your solos or compositions, but it can enable you to play what’s in your head convincingly, with good time feel and sound quality. So it makes sense to train.

Here are some basic exercises to unglue the fingers of your left hand. I’d recommend interspersing some dedicated technique practices with a metronome alongside more musical practice. Always focus on playing in time.

Start at low volume (quantity, not loudness). It’s really easy to overdose on these exercises and get hurt. Like any physical exercise, you can build up to higher levels of endurance over a period of time.

Start slow. It is important to focus on accuracy and train good habits. I’d also posit that one key to solid time is the ability to maintain a specific tempo with long duration between reference points. Most direct way to practice that is with a very slow metronome, so think of “playing slow” as building not only clean technique but also great time feel.

Click below for PDF.

The most important thing to keep in mind regarding the left hand is efficiency. This means two things - 1) as little movement as possible and 2) as little tension as possible.

Things to practice:

• As you change chords, keep as many fingers in place as you can between the chords.

• As you play lines, lift your non-fretting fingers off the strings keeping them as close as possible to the strings. Do this slowly at first. Finger independence will help.

• Watch your posture - are you introducing unnecessary tension?

• Play and hold a note - slowly release pressure from your fretting finger until the note starts to buzz or stop ringing. Find the point of minimum pressure required to play a cleanly ringing note without buzzing. Practice playing your lines with that minimum pressure.

• Practice playing as quietly as possible, then as loudly as possible, paying attention to two things:

  • Minimizing tension in both hands

  • Maintaining accurate time - most people tend to speed up when they play louder

See the video below for examples of the above.

In order to play fluently in a wide variety of contexts, you need to have good command of the picking hand. I’d focus on two aspects of right-hand technique: attack and patterns.

Attack

First and foremost, you need to be able to create a good sound out of one note. There is too much to cover on this topic, but the point is to pay attention. How loud are you playing? Can you play fluently at different volumes? Are you snapping the strings or pushing the pick gracefully through them? What angle are you holding the pick at and is this constructive to your sound?

Patterns

I recommend that guitarists work on multiple approaches to picking patterns so they can deal with a wide variety of material. Yes - that means learning to alternate pick and economy pick.

See the video below for some exercises to help ensure you have your bases covered on picking.

Playing with good, solid time is the most important factor to sounding good. There are two parts of “time feel” that you need to focus on: accuracy and feel.

Accuracy is simply playing in time - are you consistently hitting the beats you intend? Are you subdividing the beats accurately, not speeding up or slowing down, playing with and not fighting against your bandmates? Try the following to assess and enhance your accuracy:

• Metronome click on every beat - first, try practicing everything with the metronome clicking on every beat, getting used to the discipline of always playing in time.

• Click on 2 and 4 - set the metronome to half the tempo of whatever piece your playing and play with the clicks on 2 and 4. This gives you more responsibility to keep time between beats, as well as introduces the idea of hearing an emphasis on 2 and 4, which is common in jazz music.

• Click on 2 or 4 (or 1 or 3 for that matter) only - giving you even more responsibility.

• Click on the “and of” any of the 4 beats - this is very hard, but worth the effort as it does a lot for your accuracy as well as “feeling the and,” again a fundamental principle in jazz music.

In the last section we discussed some metronome techniques primarily directed to improve accuracy, but you may have noticed at least a couple of them also had a feel component.

Beyond ensuring that you are faithful to the beat, time feel also encompasses all of the nuance in sounding good. This includes where you place accents, the relative lengths of a pair of swung 8th notes, how much sustain you use, where you start and end your phrases, etc.

This is a lot to pay attention to, and while there are exercises that can help you focus on one area or another, the best way to address this concept of feel is the following 3-step process:

1. Listen obsessively to great players. This helps you build up the concept of what good time feel really is. As you listen pay attention to different parts of the recording - the phrasing, the spaces, the accents, the swing, as well as the various instruments individually. Then sit back and enjoy the whole thing. Let it seep in.

2. Transcribe and learn a few solos and play them back with the record, trying to match what the soloist is doing along all the dimensions mentioned above.

3. Record yourself soloing and listen critically to where you sound “off” compared to professional musicians. Are you rushing or lagging at certain points? Playing corny, overly swung 8th notes? Playing too much or too “hard”?

Doing these things for a month (but really, make this a lifetime habit) will make a huge difference in your playing. Note that you can’t really do “3” effectively until you’ve established a standard of “decent” via “1.” “2” helps you better execute to that standard. “3” is that harsh reality (esp if you get someone else to give you feedback) that tells you where you need to focus and should hopefully be extremely motivating.

Just ask.