Ugh, why does my strumming hand miss strings … all the time!
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If you use the scale diagram for the major scale pattern 1 with the scale degrees notated and color the 3rd and 5th scale degree along with the red colored Root note, then the E shaped barre chord is obvious. Also if you have the 3 scale degrees of the major scale colored in the major scele pattern 1, then you also have an arpeggio note pattern (movable) for that scale pattern. 
All of this became clear last week when I did an exercise of coloring (by hand) the 3 triad notes all over the neck for the 5 CAGED major chords beginning with the C chord:
All Major scale 1 3 5 notes for each of the CAGED major chords
The neck diagram for the G chord shows the notes for the E shaped G barre chord in the 3rd fret clearly visible and you can visualize the G major scale pattern in the same frets.
(Correction: key scale note should be key scale degree)
At first I thought that this was introduced too early since it goes with the grade 4 major scale maestro lessons, but then I remembered that this is useful to know for the lesson on chords in keys in grade 3 module 20. The lesson is called “Chords in Key - Theory-free”, but later it says that you can gain more understanding by looking at the Theory course, which is this lesson.
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Hi Teachers and fellow students,
This question relates to Major Scale Pattern 1 (Module 3).
At 15:30 in this video Justin mentions that the Chords in the Key of G are:
G Am Bm C D Em
Why?
This is something that I do not yet understand - and I need to: It is a huge missing piece of the puzzle for me.
I realise that he says it is going to be discussed in an upcoming lesson but can someone please let me know, specifically, where I this information can be found. That way I will know not to go past that point without fully grasping the concept.
Thank you all in advance,
Dan
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Hello @Citizen2674 Welcome to the community Dan. I hope you’re enjoying theory.
Chords in a key is taught in module 4.2.
Take your time and it will all fall into place.
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Thank you for the prompt response. Considering that I first started playing guitar over 25 years ago, I would say I have been taking my time
I will steadily work my way through and I am sure I will take a great leap forward at some point.
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A lot of this confused me until the latter part of the video with barre chords and the root note. Essentially put your middle finger anywhere on the 6th string. The shape is then sort of mentally planted over it. So two frets up from G major would be A? and Then we would use finger 4 two fret up on B? As in the scale ‘ABCDEFG’ However a major scale goes WWHWWWH. SO it wouldn’t follow without sharps? There’s still plenty I don’t understand I think I am missing fundamental info about scales and their uses.
edit: Also you can hum a major scale in the sound of the typical ‘Do Re Mi etc’. It’s not specifically the word ‘do’ or ‘re’ it is the sound of the scale?
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Hi Andrew,
Yes, that’s a correct way of looking at the fingering in pattern 1.
You got the major scale formula right. However, if you take G major as an example, you will find that it indeed has a sharp in it, i.e. F#. Only the C major scale (and its relative minor, A minor) contains no sharps or flats.
That’s right, the “do re mi fa sol la ti do” used in solfege is the major scale. The point of it is that it’s not tied to a specific root note. Rather, it’s a general pattern where “do” can be any note depending on the vocal range of the singers (it’s used most often in relation to vocals).
As for scales in general, I suggest you to check out Justin’s related lessons in the Beginner Grades, especially these ones:
https://www.justinguitar.com/guitar-lessons/open-e-minor-pentatonic-scale-b2-803
https://www.justinguitar.com/guitar-lessons/c-major-scale-b2-905
And then work your way through the lessons.
This lesson is also worth checking out:
https://www.justinguitar.com/guitar-lessons/when-not-to-learn-scales-sc-104
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hi, sorry if this was discussed. in this lesson, the major scale pattern 1 is a bit different the the C major open scale we learned a lesson or two ago. are those patterns supposed to be different? the 5 string seems to be different between the two. I just trying to understand if they are both major scale patterns, is it that one is. open major and one is not open? Thank you for clarifying.
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Yes they are different, the C major scale you learnt is a C shape scale in the CAGED System the G major scale is a E shape from the CAGED System.
The reason Justin teaches the C major scale in the beginner course is it is the only shape that can use open strings without modifying the scale.
It’s also known as pattern 3
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Hi guys, I was studying the major scale lessons yesterday and was wondering about the F major pattern 1 scale. If the root note is on the 1st fret of string 6 (F), where are the number 1 fingerings? It turns out (as I expected) that the number 1 finger placements are simply played as open (unfretted) strings. I grabbed my trusty old acoustic and found this actually is the case. Thanks Justin for helping me think outside the box!
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Outside the box and off the edge. These shapes are movable up and down the neck.
You have found now that F major is the lowest possible position to pattern the entirety of Pattern 1. If you attempted to play the E major scale with Pattern 1, you would need notes at fret number -1 which doesn’t exist.
There are five major scale patterns. Each can be lowered down the fretboard to a point where the complete pattern requires one or more open strings, beyond which it breaks down and one or more notes are lost entirely.