C major scale, position 1

Position 1 of the C major scale runs from fret 5 to fret 9: 18 notes, 3 on the low E, 3 on the A, 3 on the D, 3 on the G, 3 on the B and 3 on the high E. The root is on the low E string, the G string and the high E string. The chord that lives here is C’s G shape — 6 of the position’s notes are the chord, haloed above; the rest are the scale around it. Tap a note to hear it; the root picker moves the position to any key, and ‹ › walk to the next position up the neck.

All five, and how they connect →