HARP-STYLE MAJOR SCALES IN STANDARD TUNING
This month’s guitar exercise includes a couple of simple major scales in standard tuning, played “harp style.” If you’ve never heard of this technique, the idea is to play so that no two consecutive notes are played on the same guitar string while holding each note as long as possible. Hear audio example.



Pictured here are two different major scales (the first in the key of Bb; the second in C), each shown with and without the harp-style technique. Compare the sound of each, and note the use of open strings. For the harp-style examples, be sure to hold fretted notes for as long as you can. The resulting sound of strings ringing into one another in close intervals lends some cool tensions that aren’t typically available with the more standard approaches to scales. For the harp-style example in Bb, try breaking the notes into three groups. The first three notes are playable with one fretting-hand position, which can then be moved one string higher to grab the next three. Approach the last two notes carefully (because fretting them at the same time requires a pretty big stretch)—if you can make the last Bb sound while the A is still ringing, you’re doing it right.

The C example was a little more difficult to arrange for harp-style guitar—the notes don’t fall on the fretboard as conveniently as in the Bb example—so I’ve included a couple of hammer-ons. Try playing the first three notes as one group, then see if you can get the F note to ring out through the rest of the line.

If you’d like to brush up on your other major scales in standard tuning, check out our brand-new “Major-Scales Lesson.” To find out more about harp-style guitar playing, there’s also “Harp-Style Guitar in D A D G A D Lesson,” which tackles the subject in a cool alternate tuning, complete with an arrangement of “Whiskey Before Breakfast” and video examples by Acoustic Guitar contributing editor Doug Young. Both articles are new this month and available at acousticguitar.com.

FEATURE LESSON
FINGERSTYLE LESSON WITH MARTIN SIMPSON
Learn how this fingerstyle legend applies his chops to arranging traditional and contemporary songs. With video. [More]

THE BASICS
MAJOR-SCALES LESSON
Learn how to play and craft melodies from Western music's most popular scale. With audio. [More]

WOODSHED
HARP-STYLE GUITAR IN DADGAD LESSON
Learn to combine a popular alternate tuning and a cool trick of sustain for glorious musical results. With video. [More]

PRIVATE LESSON
MIKE DOWLING
The consummate songwriter, teacher, and guitarist talks about adding excitement to simple progressions. With audio examples and the Lick of the Month. [More]

BERKLEEMUSIC.COM SPRING TERM BEGINS APRIL 6
Less than a week remains before spring classes begin at Berkleemusic.com, the online extension of the Berklee College of Music in Boston. The school offers genre-specific online guitar classes in blues, jazz, funk, and classic rock, as well as chord and scale primers, and less guitar-centric topics like songwriting, music theory, and desktop music production. Enroll now and check out John Mayer’s Berklee Clinic, an exclusive video series in nine episodes in which the star discusses songwriting, soloing, and studying at Berklee. berkleemusic.com

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