One of things that guitar teachers can take for granted is the importance of major scales. Not only are major scales the gateway to music theory, but they also help develop finger independence. Moreover, major scales are good warm-up exercises as well as essential to developing a player’s ear.
When introducing major scales to students my preference is to use those in open/first position. This is because if students are sight reading (or at least naming notes) playing scales will help to reinforce learning the notes in this position.
Above is an example of a C major scale – take note that the information for that scale is dense: 1) The scale is written in both standard notation and tablature. 2) Above the notation are the left hand fingers to use when playing each note. 3) In the middle the notation and tab staves are the names of the notes (ascending only). I like to include as much information as possible so that students can easily reference back to whatever information they need.
