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What to do with Scales

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(@arapozo)
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Joined: 18 years ago
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I've been reading a lot about how scales are important and that you should learn them. So i have started learning the major scale, i have one of the patters learned at a decent speed, so i ask now, what do i do with it? I just dont know what to do with a scale, i haven't read on what to do with them, everytime i see a tutorial, it just lists the diferent shapes of it, not what to do with it.
So, that's my question, what do i do with a scale?
Thanks.


   
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(@Anonymous)
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I'm sure others will give better answers than this, but here goes anyway! :)

My understanding is that learning a scale means you (should!) now know where certain notes are on the fretboard, and their relationship to one another in terms layout, sharps, flats, what goes with what etc.

The main advantage I can see for this is when doing improvisation and playing solos. Knowing what notes are where should help you to create clean sounding solo's based on where notes appear in a scale.

Pete


   
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(@fretsource)
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Joined: 18 years ago
Posts: 973
 

Scales have several uses, They are good models for practising over to improve your technique, (fluency, speed, coordination etc.) as well as improving your ability to recognise melodic patterns by ear. They can also be used for creating music, by rearranging them into musical phrases to be played over chord progressions. The major scale, especially, is very useful for helping you understand how chords are made and how chords and keys relate to each other.


   
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(@alangreen)
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Joined: 22 years ago
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The most obvious use for a scale is to produce a melody.

Then you use them to produce solos

Then you use them to decide what chords you're going to need to use, depending on what key you're in.

They're great warmup exercises too.

And they help you learn the fretboard - so if I asked you to play a two octave scale of D Major you'd be able to play it in two different positions on the neck, wouldn't you.

Best,

A :-)

"Be good at what you can do" - Fingerbanger"
I have always felt that it is better to do what is beautiful than what is 'right'" - Eliot Fisk
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(@noteboat)
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Joined: 21 years ago
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Scales are just a way to organize pitches.

You've got this chord progression chugging along, and you want to make a solo. You've got between 43-49 different pitches available on your guitar... but just picking tones at random probably won't sound good.

Some notes will be really jarring against the chord, others will blend right in. So you pick a scale where all of the notes (for beginning soloists) or most of the notes (for more advanced folks with a good sense of melody) match with the chords.

Now the scale tones relate not only to the chords - they relate to each other as well. So by choosing tones from within a scale, you give your solo a basic sense of organization; paying attention to the 'shape' of the melody you creat reinforces this.

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(@pkrider)
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Joined: 18 years ago
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Underneath every chord is a scale. The notes of the chord is the arpeggio. While noodling thru your scale, if you begin and end your run on a note within the underlying chord you will sound OK. Learning to phrase, in my opinion, is about experimenting which notes of the chord (arpeggio) to stop or pause as you move back to the root of the phrase (the root note represents what key you're in). In a major scale, the major chord is ALWAYS the first, third, and 5th note of that scale. Start your lick on the root (the first note of scale), noodle your way to pause on the 3rd note, run up to the 5th note for a pause, then bring the phrase home by noodling back to the root. The essence of lead guitar IMHO.

PK


   
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(@wes-inman)
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Those were all great replies.

I think what confuses many is that you usually learn a scale in order. So when you learn the C Major scale, many assume you have to play it C D E F G A B C in order. But this is not the case at all, although at times you do run straight up (or down) a scale in order .

I compare scales to the alphabet. We learn the alphabet in order A B C D E F G....

But that is not how we use the alphabet is it? Of course not. And musicial scales are the same. As was said earlier, scales give you the notes that properly belong to certain chords or keys. So if a song is in G Major, you know the notes of the G Major scale will sound good against that chord progression in that key.

But just as you use the letters of the alphabet in many various orders to spell different words, you use the scale notes or tones in any order you choose to create your own melodies.

If you know something better than Rock and Roll, I'd like to hear it - Jerry Lee Lewis


   
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(@fishrmann)
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Great post Wes - I like that analogy a lot!

One can only play scales straight up and down so many times before going crazy!


   
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(@ak_guitar)
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Joined: 18 years ago
Posts: 48
 

I have a related question that I'm hoping someone could expound on. When reading “Fretboard Logic”, I had basically the same question. I know enough theory to understand the relation of the major (or minor) scale to the chord progression as others have explained. But how are you supposed to utilize the five basic patterns (CAGED) outlined in “Fretboard Logic”? It's fairly clear to me the usefulness of the five movable chord patterns, but I fail to see how the scale patterns get applied. The book is no help whatsoever in telling you WHY learning these scales is important and how to APPLY them. Any insight?

Praise the LORD with the harp; make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre. Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy. For the word of the LORD is right and true; he is faithful in all he does. Psalm 33:2-4


   
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(@noteboat)
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Just as five barre inversions let you play a chord all along the fretboard, using five scale forms lets you play a scale using all the notes on the neck.

I'm not a big fan of the CAGED system overall (although I do use some aspects of it) because it treats the guitar as a pattern-based instrument. It is... but it's also a musical instrument, and knowing patterns doesn't really assist understanding how music works. That said...

In the key of C, you'll play the C form scale in open position. That gives you the notes on frets 0-3. The D form scale gives you notes on frets 2-5. The G form scale gives you the notes on frets 5-8 (with one stretch to 9 or reach back to 4). The E form scale gives you frets 7-10. The A form scale gives you frets 9-12.

Since each scale overlaps with at least a few notes, you now have all the C notes in the entire fretboard.

The shortcomings of CAGED scales aren't as bad as those of CAGED chord voicings - you'll miss about half the possible scale fingerings (on some chords you'll miss 95% of the voicings!). You miss things because when you get right down to it, it's not about learning fingering patterns, it's about learning the notes

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