Choose a note collection

Two routes through the same octave

The first climbs every fret. The second leaves some pitches out. Both use the same steady spacing between attacks; listen to the different distances between pitches.

The collection and the phrase are different things

A scale names an ordered collection of pitches, often shown from one tonic to its octave. A melody chooses from a collection, repeats notes, jumps, rests, and gives them rhythm.

Section 2 taught you to place attacks and silences. Keep that skill: a scale played as an unbroken staircase is only one possible use of its notes.

Which phrases use only notes from C major?

Find the collection on a real string

Find C D E F G A B on the B string, using frets 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, and 12. The same seven pitch classes appear elsewhere on the neck.

Use C at B-string fret 1 as your anchor; find D at 3 and E at 5, then continue by sound and spacing.

Does a major-scale melody have to visit every degree in order?

Takeaways

• A note collection is material for music, not a compulsory finger exercise.
• Use the rhythm you already learned to turn a collection into a phrase.