The Importance of Scales (Guitar Lesson)

Chapter 1: (06:26) Scales The Importance of Scales

Note: The following information pertaining to the importance of scales is taken from Lesson 4 of Matt Brown's Phase 2 Rock Series.

Practicing scales helps develop four basic skill sets that are essential to all musicians.

1. Practicing scales enhances technical ability. Playing scales is an excellent way to monitor your hand posture (both right and left). Through repetitious practice of scales, speed can very gradually be increased. How do you think players such as Kirk Hammett or Dimebag Darrell can play such fast lines? They spent several years of diligent practice working on their scales.

2. Practicing scales is the best practice for being able to perform melodic content musically. When playing scales, they must be interpreted as a series of resolutions passing from one note to another. If you do not practice your scales musically, your solos and melodies will not sound musical.

3. Playing scales increases your knowledge of the fretboard. In order to improvise effectively in a given tonality, you must be able to play the scale horizontally and vertically across the entire neck. In the course of a solo, you don't have time to sit and figure out where the next pentatonic box is. This must all be memorized through practice in advance. In order to play any written repertoire such as a classical piece or a jazz chord solo, one must know all the scale patterns that the piece contains. Knowledge of scales is also essential to writing songs. Without a total knowledge of all the different scales and sounds available, how do you expect to write music that doesn't all sound the same?

4. Scales are the basic building blocks of music. Consequently, almost all important music theory concepts are derived from scales.

The Major Scale

The most important scale in Western music is the major scale. It is used most frequently when composing chord progressions and melodies. Numerous other scales such as the modes of the major scale and the major pentatonic scale are derived from the major scale. In addition, chord formulas and other scale formulas are often based on the basic formula for the major scale. Consequently, the major scale is the first scale that guitarists should study.

Note: For additional music theory information pertaining to the major scale, check out the major scale section in JamPlay's Scale Library. This library can be accessed through the "Teaching Tools" button located on the left hand side of the home page.

Guidelines for Practicing Scales

1. Always play scales musically. Hear the notes within a scale as a set of melodic resolutions.

2. Play in time with a metronome to monitor rhythm and progress.

3. Always ascend and descend when playing any scale. Remember Steve Eulberg's scale mantra: "what goes up must come down."

4. Begin and end scale patterns on the lowest root note whenever possible. This gives the scale a definite sense of beginning and ending.

5. Always alternate right hand fingers. Use fingers I and M, M and A, and I and A when practicing any scale.

6. Practice all scale patterns in all 12 keys. Refer to the circle of fifths to ensure that you have not left any keys out. A diagram of the circle of fifths can be found under the "Supplemental Content" tab.

7. Practice scales with both free strokes and rest strokes.

C Major Scale (1st Position)

Note: Tablature and standard notation to all scale patterns discussed in this lesson can be found under the "Supplemental Content" tab.

Watch at 00:42 as Danny demonstrates a one octave C major scale played in first position. Memorize this pattern and practice it as part of your daily warm-up routine.

Segovia Scale Patterns

Guitar legend Andres Segovia developed a set of major scale patterns that are specifically geared towards classical guitar. In this lesson, Danny demonstrates two common major scale patterns developed by Segovia.

A. C Major (Two Octaves with Position Shift)

The first pattern that Danny demonstrates features a position shift. The scale begins in second position. Within a position each fretting finger carries out a specific job. Second position spans frets 2-5. In this position, the first finger frets all notes at the 2nd fret. The middle finger plays 3rd fret notes. Notes at the 4th fret are played by the ring finger. The pinky frets notes at the fifth fret.

Once the note B is reached at the 4th fret of the third string, the position shift occurs. The scale now shifts to fifth position. The second octave of the scale begins with the note C played at the 5th fret of the third string. Remember to shift back into second position when playing the descending form of the pattern.

Note: This fretboard pattern can be transposed to any major key.

B. G Major (Two Octaves in Second Position)

Similar to the last pattern, this pattern can be transposed to all 12 keys. To play this pattern in the key of C major, begin the pattern with the C root note located at the 8th fret of the sixth string. Unlike the previous pattern, this pattern features no position shifts.

Creating a Practice Schedule

By now, Danny has shown you several important technical exercises. For most people, it will be impossible to fit all of these exercises into each daily warm-up session. For this reason, it is necessary to lay out a weekly practice schedule. Allot a specific amount of time for each exercise. Practice a few exercises each day. Make sure that all important exercises are practiced at least once within the span of the week. For additional information on creating a practice schedule, refer to Matt Brown's 1st Rock lesson as well as the 7th and 8th lessons from his Phase 2 Jazz Series.

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