the f# major scale

By now the hours you've put into practicing your scales should be starting to pay off. Your technique should really be starting to pop. Your reward? Another scale to memorize. And of course by memorize I mean to forcefully pound it into your bones. We assemble the F# scale from the Chromatic Scale:

A A# B C C# D D# E F F# G G#

Following the formula Root-W-W-H-W-W-W-H, we end up with F# G# A# B C# D# E# F#. Yes, I just said E#. It's really an F, but we have to call it E#, because all scales must be alphabetical for the sake of key signatures. I provide a much more detailed explanation here.
Here is the diagram for playing the F# Major Scale, the last major scale you'll be learning here. Remember that this is all going to pay off big. There are a handful (and I mean a handful) of guitarists who never learned most of this stuff, and are amazing. The other 99.6 percent of us had to work very hard and commit a bunch of scales to memory. Statistically say that you most likely fall into the latter category, so take your medicine. This is another moveable scale, just like the B Major from back in the day.

As with other moveable fingerings we've done, I want you to practice this in different positions, being mindful of what key you're in. For example, practice this starting at the fifth fret, which will result in a different fingering for the A Major Scale than you learned back in Lesson Twelve. Move it back to the fourth fret, and you would have an Ab Major. Move it to the eighth fret and you'll get a two-octave version of your C Major Scale. Of course, I want you to continue to practice all of your fingerings, and not get discouraged when they get jumbled up in your mind. Remember to locate, isolate, and annihilate.