Chromatic scale
Every note, no exceptions, each a half step from the next. It’s not a scale for making music; it’s the number one tool for loosening up your fingers and learning the neck.
What it is
The chromatic scale contains all twelve notes: C, C♯, D, D♯, E, F, F♯, G, G♯, A, A♯, B, then C again. Between two neighboring notes there’s always a half step, which is one fret on the neck. No special starting note, no major or minor color: it contains every other scale.
On guitar, it’s the easiest one to find: you play every fret, one after another.
High E at the top, just like in tab.Neck seen from the front, headstock at the top: low E on the left, just like a chord diagram.
One finger per fret
The basic fingering: your hand covers four frets, one finger per fret. Index on the 1st fret, middle on the 2nd, ring on the 3rd, pinky on the 4th. On each string you play the four frets, then move to the next string. Strings are tuned five half steps apart (four between G and B), so this pattern skips one note at each string change, except between G and B. It’s a finger exercise; to get every note, add the open string (frets 0 to 4).
What it’s for
- Warming up and building finger independence. Four fingers taking turns while the picking hand alternates: it’s the basis of every warm-up. The exercises are in the chromatic scale part of the warm-ups.
- Learning the neck. Say each note out loud as you play it, and you’ll quickly learn where the sharps and flats are. See also Notes on the fretboard.
- Connecting two notes in a solo. A chromatic passing note between two notes of your scale adds tension, as long as you don’t stop on it: that’s the idea behind the blue note of the blues scale.