to start things off we're going to take a look at the mode that matters the most and that is the ionian mode also known as the major scale this is going to be the parent scale to everything we're going to do throughout the course first let's check out a fingering here in the seventh position just to get something for you to get your hands on so what i have here is i'm going to play c major scale starting on my second finger as i play the scale though i'm going to call out the scale degrees so let's do that and i'll explain why this is going to become very important so we're going to start off here with the root but we're going to call it first or 1. then we have the second degree third degree fourth degree fifth sixth seventh now we're going to come here to what we of course would call the octave but i'm going to continue to call it the root or first or one so root or one so one two three four five or fifth either one is going to be cool six or six seven and then once again we get back to one so the fingering let's just make it flow a little bit so we can hear it in context so there's a good solid fingering for you to get your hands on the major scale if you don't have any to practice to get started and get the sound in your head the reason why i'm focusing on the degree aspect is because what's going to happen is every time we introduce another mode or scale after this i'm going to give you the formula that formula is going to be derived or compared to this the major scale that one two three four five six the scale degree formula so if i give you a new formula let's say mixolydian where the formula is one two three four five six flat seven that means compared to this scale parallel major comparison what we're gonna do is lower the seventh degree so it's important that you understand the concept behind why these numbers are being assigned to the notes so that's the scale formula and we'll use parallel major comparison to introduce all the scales from here on in now let's get to work let's make the major scale do what it's going to do and what i have to show you in order to do that is i have the three styles of music set up in these jam tracks where i'm going to play the major scale over those tracks and show you how it works and how you can approach playing major scale melodies we're going to start out with a country vibe oh country rock vibe more like think like the eagles and then we're going to try out something over straight ahead vamp jazz wise and then we're going to try out um playing a major scale over a little bit more of an uptempo modern rock type of feel so let's start out with the more relaxed alt country vibe and take it from there