Thursday, March 19, 2026
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How Do Bluegrass Musicians Use The Major Scale? – Guitar Theory Lesson


No transcription or “how to play” videos this week! Enjoy a little bit of major scale theory.

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#Bluegrass #Musicians #Major #Scale #Guitar #Theory #Lesson

Originally posted by UC1jEI1YY5DFd4SUCRDt5nUg at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuvDYmF-_4Y

20 thoughts on “How Do Bluegrass Musicians Use The Major Scale? – Guitar Theory Lesson

  • As a beginner, this lesson speaks to exactly the gap in knowledge that I've had about this. I have a hard time inferring the "why" from online lessons that abstract that part away in the rush to get people playing music. Obviously that's still helpful, but it doesn't raise my comfort level with the guitar. This sort of stuff does. Thanks!

    Reply
  • Love this. I wonder if it's worth trying to actively work on internalizing this to apply it to improvisation by starting slow and being conscious of note choices with all that in mind, or if it's one of those things that you just pick up intuitively with experience

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  • Love your work, Marcel! One explanation for the G on beat 4 of bar 16 working might be that the G and A notes are running up to the target note of B on beat of bar 17. In this case the "wrong note" is justified as it's tension is released when the target B, a very strong note of the G chord, is reached. I was told by by a teacher once that sometimes you need to sit back and look at the overall intention of a line and not try to justify each individual note 🙂

    Reply
  • Why does playing with a downstroke or upstroke (5:06) affect stability? Doesn't the note still sound the same no matter which direction the string was struck?

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  • When you conclude at the end , we shouldn’t be just noodling with the major scale, I am confused. All the notes in turkey in the straw are all in the g major scale are they not? Unless you mean we shouldn’t be just noodling in the pentatonic major scales.

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  • Hi Marcel, I love your lessons, in this one I am confused a bit. In your conclusion you say we shouldn’t be just noodling with the major scale , but all the notes in turkey in the straw are in the g major scale are they not?……(Unless you want us to think about the pentatonic scale for each chord) but still every note in this song is in the G major scale.

    Reply
  • Another awesome lesson!! Very helpful! I'm thinking seriously about signing up for skype lessons with you.

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