Major Scale Patterns
Each of the previously mentioned CAGED method chord shapes has a corresponding major scale pattern, that include all of the notes played in the different chord shapes.
The most common of these patterns is the fourth one, the root notes being the ones that are filled in. The root notes are where you start the scale, the key of the scale depending on the root note started on. Although the 4th pattern (E chord shape) is the most common, while the other patterns are helpful if the root note is not always on the low E string.
Scales are essentially what melody lines are created from. Try listening to your favourite songs and identifying which key it is in by which notes in the scale are used. Take the most familiar pattern (number 4) and try and find the key of the song. Looking at our first lessons, we can see that once you find the key, you can find which chords are in the song, and in no time flat you should be able to identify either the melody line, or the chord progression.
Practice some solo improvising using the notes in the scale patterns over its corresponding chord or a simple chord progression. Sometimes you can stay in the same scale pattern throughout a chord progression, while other times you might need to switch scale patterns to the corresponding chord.
The best way to practice these scales is just to play them over and over and over and over again. Work on hitting each note cleanly before ever trying to build up speed.
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