C major scale in open position: tab for beginners
The C major scale in open position, from the C on the A string to the C on the B string and back. It's the first scale to know: the chords most songs start from sit right here, and the scale ties the notes you play to the chords you already know. Good for learning the note names and clean fingering around open strings.
Opens in the player looped and counted in, with the metronome on, and speeds up 5 % every 2 loops to 120 bpm. No account or microphone needed.
- Goal tempo
- 120 bpm
- Starts at
- 72 bpm
- Length
- 2 bars, looped
- Tuning
- E standard
How to play it
Fingers 1, 2 and 3 for frets 1, 2 and 3; each note rings until the next.
Start with the 3rd finger on the 3rd fret of the A string, which is C, and play up through the open strings and the first three frets to the C at the 1st fret of the B string. Then come back down to where you started.
Use the 1st finger for the 1st fret, the 2nd for the 2nd and the 3rd for the 3rd. Let each note ring until the next one sounds, which on the open strings means not touching them by accident with a fretting finger.
Mistakes to watch for
- Muting an open string with the underside of a finger that's fretting the string above.
- Playing the open strings louder than the fretted notes.
- Hesitating at the string changes, which breaks the even eighths.
A speed plan
The player starts at 60 % of the goal and plays each tempo twice before stepping up:
- 72
- 78
- 84
- 90
- 96
- 102
- 108
- 114
- 120
That's 16 loops and about a minute before you're playing at 120 bpm. If it stops being clean on the way, stop the ramp there and loop that tempo until it is. With a microphone or an audio interface you can record while you play instead: Demiurg checks every loop and steps up only after two clean ones in a row, and back down after a poor one.
Questions
How fast should I play C major, open position?
The goal is 120 bpm in eighth notes, which is 4 notes a second. Start wherever every note is clean: the player begins at 72 bpm. Signed in, you can set a goal of your own, slower or faster, on the Exercises page.
What are the notes of the C major scale?
C, D, E, F, G, A and B, with no sharps or flats. In this position they're the 3rd fret of the A string, the open D, 2nd and 3rd frets of the D string, the open G and its 2nd fret, the open B and its 1st fret.
What should I learn after this?
The same scale higher up the neck, like G major, three notes per string, or the A minor pentatonic, box 1. A minor uses the same notes as C major, starting from A.