Learning Guitar Scales
A tutorial I put onto You Tube explaining the basics of learning guitar scales. This lessons explains what scales are and how you should use them. The tutorial begins by explaining the names of the notes used in western music and then explains how to put these notes together to form scales and chords.
I have been really practicing scales recently as many people have told me of the importance of this… and from what you have said here that seems like good advice.
I have a question though as I read in one guitar book that constant repetition of a scale pattern is, whilst important, not what I am supposed to be doing, but instead applying that pattern to the instrument as a whole to gain a better understanding of the way the scale moves across the whole guitar neck. I wonder how to learn a pattern back to front, but then change it to move it to a different set of frets that the pattern originally taught.
Am I missing something?
@ Rich,
I think the best way I have heard to learn scales is on a single string, then adjacent strings then scales patterns. here’s how it goes.
1. Single string.
Use the E major scale as an example and the 6th string of the guitar. Play each note of the e major scale moving up the fret board but only playing the 6th string. Say the name of each note out loud as you play it. Repeat this until you can play at a decent speed (80 bpm) is a good speed to aim for.
Once you reach this target play the same scale but this time say the intervals number out loud as you play (i.e E is 1, F# is 2 and so on). Once you have mastered this, repeat, but say the note name and interval as you play (i.e E &1, F# & 2 etc.).
By the time you’ve done the above you should know the E major scale inside out on the sixth string.
2. Adjacent strings.
Once you have mastered single strings it’s time to learn on two strings.
You will use the 6th and 5th string for E major. Play the first three notes of E major scale (E, F# and G) on the 6th string, then play the next 4 notes (A, B C# D#) on the 5th string. When you play the notes make sure you say the names and interval number out loud every time.
Next move up the neck and repeat. What you’re aiming for is to play all the notes of the E major scale up and down the neck using these two strings. It’s is really important to always say the notes and intervals out loud so you can associates sounds with notes and fingerboard position.
3. Once you have done the two exercises above you need to learn scales patterns. This involves playing the E major scale using only notes on the first 3 frets. Once you have mastered that learn to play the scale using all the notes on the first six frets and so on up the fret board.
By the time you have finished the above exercises you will know the e major scale inside out and it’s time to start using it.
A song is normally in E major if the first chord is E major. The other chords will probably be A and B7.
Try find a song you like in E major with a solo and learn the solo keeping in mind the notes of the scales. Pay attention to what notes work together.
Once you can play the solo try changing it around and playing different notes from the scale. This is trial and error stuff and it’s the best way to learn what works and what doesn’t.
If you keep learning different solos after a while your mind will automatically know what works and what doesn’t for the E major scale and you will start to play the cool combinations of notes without thinking.
This all sounds like a lot of work for one scale but once you have mastered one scale the others will comes a lot easier.
Hopes this helps
Thank you for the video. I think this lesson is well presented. I know students don’t always understand why practicing major guitar scales are important.
@Dave Long
Thanks for the tip. Those are really helpful on how to learn guitar, especially for the beginners. Learning guitar scales involves a lot of trial and error,and your post explains the details well, encouraging beginners to continue learning despite encountering many errors in their daily practice.
@rich
Keep it up and good luck!
How I did in the past when learning guitar scale is that I learned the blues pentatonic scale. I got to learn it from one of the guitar books. Then I started listening to more blues and tried to create my own feelings when soloing over those blues songs. Eventually, after numerous soloings, the feelings and emotions came out naturally and when that happens, you know you have made it.
This is a really good video for beginners that I can truly appreciate. I’ll admit, I don’t know my guitar scales very well.
I’ve always composed by ear and by progressions that I’ve heard before. But I now realize that in order for me to be better at improvisation, I really have to know where the notes are in scales.
Good video!
your guitar lessons are indeed good and frutful.Kindly keep up your good service.
Thank you.
Practicing scales is something that many guitarists unwisely ignore. Yet, it is the absolute best way to develop finger technique and to gain a solid understanding of the major and minor modes that all western music is based upon. Your video presents this in such a clear and easily understood way – a boon for anyone wanting to become better at playing guitar.
I agree, scales are very important for guitarists. Unfortunately many beginners give up before they experience the joy of being able to play a short solo on a scale.