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The Basics of Music Theory – Part 1 (The Chromatic Scale)
No matter what level you attain at any skill, the basics always seem to need review. Therefore, whether you are new to the guitar or not, this series will hopefully help you understand or remind you of the importance of theory. As this is a guitar-focused blog, the theory will obviously have a bent toward how most guitarists see theory on the guitar. Let’s begin with the chromatic scale.
The Chromatic Scale
The chromatic scale is made up of twelve ascending or descending half steps. A half step on the guitar is equal to each fret. When you play a note on the first open string and then hold your finger down to play the note under the first fret, then you have just played a half step. This is called an interval and we will discuss those more in the future.
A good way to practice this chromatic scale to get it into your head is to continue the idea mentioned above. Play each successive note on a single string all the way to the twelfth fret. Then return again. You just played an E-chromatic scale. Remember, the lowest note you played was the first degree of the scale (1). This is also known as the root of the scale. In the example below, you will notice that the C is the root of the given scale and is the first (1) degree. D in the scale is the second degree (2). D# in the scale is the sharped second degree (#2) etc.
Enharmonic Equivalents
Each note in the chromatic scale has a letter and degree number. Notice in the example above that some notes have a sharp (#) or a flat (b) sign behind them. The top line is ascending and therefore it has sharps (sharp means to raise by a half step) and the second line has flats (flat means to lower by a half step). As a rule, the scale degrees have the sharp and flat signs listed before the number instead of after. This means that a note can have more than one name or has an enharmonic equivalent. In this C chromatic scale, there are five pairs of enharmonic notes as seen below.
| C# | and | Db | or | #1 | and | b2 |
| D# | and | Eb | or | #2 | and | b3 |
| F# | and | Gb | or | #4 | and | b5 |
| G# | and | Ab | or | #5 | and | b6 |
| A# | and | Bb | or | #6 | and | b7 |
The spellings of the enharmonic will depend on a number of different criteria. It will relate to the key you are playing in, whether you are ascending or descending, the other intervals involved, and ease of sight reading. To improve your reading skills, you might want to check out my book, Sight Reading Mastery: A resource for all guitarists.
Your next step is to proceed to The Basics of Music Theory – Part 2 (Intervals & the Major Scale)
Basic Guitar Theory Scale Primer and Intervals (PDF)
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Whether you’re a beginner or looking to solidify your foundational knowledge, this guide is designed to help you master the essential elements of guitar theory.
Interested in going further? Check out Music Theory for Guitarists: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know But Were Afraid to Ask or Alfred’s Essentials of Music Theory: A Complete Self-Study Course for All Musicians. Also, if you are looking for a beginning guitar to apply this theory on, then check out our 10 Best Beginning Acoustic Guitars post.
Featured Photo by Marius Masalar on Unsplash
I have two degrees in guitar performance and was privileged to study under Aaron Shearer, Tom Kikta, David Skantar, Ken Karsh, Tim Bedner, and currently Christopher Berg. Outside my editorial work on this blog, I teach full-time across many genres including classical, jazz, blues, rock, funk, and metal.
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