Major Scale Sequences and Patterns

The Major Scale - Sequences - 2

This lesson has been revised and published in THE INFINITE GUITAR. Info >>>

Diatonic 5ths

Ex.9) Intervalic 5ths sequence - Tons of string skipping going on in this intervalic 5ths sequence:

Ex.10) Intervalic 5ths sequence (variation 1) - Same as sequence Ex.5 utilizing 5ths rather than 4ths:

Ex.11) Intervalic 5ths sequence (variation 2) - root followed by a diatonic 5th, but rather than continuing the pattern from next consecutive note (D in this case) we skip the note and play the interval from the third note (E) before returning to the second note (D):

Ex.12) Group of 5 sequence - The first five notes of the scale followed by the next five. You will notice that the "group of 5" sequence played using eighth notes will rub rhythmically against the common time meter of most songs. Again, something I like:

Ex.13) Group of 5 sequence (rhythmic variation) - Sometimes the "group of sequences" work best applied using the same rhythmic figure as the number in the group. Since the notes are grouped in fives, see if you can play each group of five notes over one beat. This is difficult to do so it may help to verbalize the rhythm by verbalizing a five syllable word. One I use for five is; "opportunity" OP-POR-TU-NI-TY. Just tap your foot and say opportunity to each beat and you'll be verbalizing a 5 over 1 rhythm. As the following sequence is basically the same as the previous one using a different rhythm, I've only notated one measure:

Diatonic 6ths

Ex.14) Intervalic 6ths sequence - The string skipping thing is getting out of hand:

Ex.15) Group of 6 sequence - The most natural way to play this sequence would be using triplets but any rhythmic figure will work fine:

Diatonic 7ths

Ex.16) Intervalic 7ths sequence - You have a big jump on the last beat of the second measure, over two strings:

Ex.17) Group of 7 sequence - If your tempo is slow enough, try this sequence using seven notes per beat. Rhythmically it sounds like this; "a new opportunity" (A-NEW-OP- POR-TU-NI-TY):

Arpeggios

Ex.18) Diatonic triad arpeggio sequence - Now that you have most likely got your 3rds and 5ths down it is probably a good time to bring up triad arpeggios. As triads are simply made up of 3rds and 5ths, all you have to do is play a diatonic 3rd and 5th interval from every consecutive note in the scale you'll get all the diatonic arpeggios from the scale. Try it:

Ex.19) Diatonic triad arpeggio sequence - Similar in theory as the previous exercise except the 3rd is placed last and an octave above the 5th, Ex: 1 - 5 - 3. This technique is sometimes called octave displacement. These triad arpeggios are similar to the type Eric Johnson uses:

Ex.20) Diatonic add9 arpeggio sequence - If we include the diatonic passing tone between the root and 3rd before playing the 5th, we get an add9 arpeggio that John Coltrane used quite often:

I think I've given you about all you really need for now. There are countless more sequences to learn and you have the tools to figure them out for yourselves now. Remember, all the sequences in the world will not make you a great soloist but practicing them will help build your technique and ears. Ultimately you should be able to forget them and be left with complete technical freedom.