Category: Guitar Scales

May 10, 2011

7 Reasons Why You Should Learn and Master Guitar Scales

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Whether you’re just getting started on guitar or have been playing for years, if you are like most people, your biggest problem on guitar is getting enough time to practice.

With your limited time you want to get as much enjoyment as you can out of your guitar practice sessions.  And of course, you want to improve your guitar playing as quickly as possible.

But let’s face it.  With limited time it’s not so easy.

You’ve heard that you should learn to play guitar scales, but let’s be honest…you would rather play your favourite guitar songs instead of playing boring old guitar scales.

So is it really worth investing some of your limited practice time into learning and mastering guitar scales?

Let me start by asking you this: “Why did you decide to learn to play guitar?”

Now I don’t have to be a mind reader to answer this. Pretty much everyone that decides to learn to play guitar does it because they want to play their favourite songs.  In my 20+ years of teaching I have yet to meet anyone that wanted to learn to play the guitar to only play scales and chords.

So if your main reason for learning to play guitar is to learn songs, then you’ll be interested in anything that makes it easier to learn songs and play them better.  And if you could learn songs faster that would be the icing on the cake.

Now here are 7 compelling reasons why you will probably want to start investing a bit of time into learning and mastering guitar scales…

1. When you play guitar songs, the riffs and licks actually come from scales.

That’s right.

When you play those single note lines in a song they are really just rearranged notes from guitar scales.  So if you already know how to play the scales that are used in the riffs, you will learn those parts of the song much faster.

2. When you know how to play the most common guitar scales, you will learn to play guitar solos faster.

A guitar solo is simply a guitar melody that is created from one or more guitar scales.  If you already know how to play the scales, all you have to do is learn the order that the notes are used.  This makes it much easier to learn guitar solos.  When you know the scales you already know half of the guitar solo!  You just need to learn the order that the notes are used in song.

3. Would you love to be able to pick up the guitar and jam with some friends?

Just imagine being able to create your own guitar solos and make it look easy.

How do you do it?

Guitar solos are built from scales.  If you know your scales and which chords go best with them, you can create cool guitar solos.

4. When you practice guitar scales you will improve your guitar technique.

There are many different ways to practice guitar scales─some more effective than others.  Generally though, the more varied your practice approach to scales, the better your technique will become.  And of course, as your technique improves you will begin to learn guitar songs faster and faster.

5. Learning guitar scales improves your overall understanding of music.

This is a biggie!  The more you learn about music, the faster you will learn new things in music.  So as you learn more about music you will be able to learn songs faster.  Also, as you learn more about music, you’ll have more tools to use for writing your own songs.  So you’ll find writing songs will be easier too.

6. As you learn guitar scales, you will learn arpeggios faster.

When you learn and master guitar scales, you will “see” arpeggio shapes within scale forms.  An arpeggio is simply the notes of a chord played one-by-one.  Often these notes are played in quick succession with sweep picking.  Arpeggios are used in guitar riffs and guitar solos.

7. When you master guitar scales, you will see chord shapes within scale fingerings.

This will make is easier to create guitar solos.  You will be able to see the actual chords that you can use the scale over.  Here is an example:

Below you will see an A minor chord.

Now here is an A minor scale.

Notice how the notes in the A minor chord are found in the A minor scale fingering.  This means you can use the A minor scale to create a guitar solo over top of the A minor chord.

The black notes in the above A minor scale form show the notes in an A minor barre chord.

Now I could go on.  There are actually many more reasons why it’s worth investing some of your practice time into guitar scales, but I won’t get into that here.

Even with these 7 great reasons to learn guitar scales, most guitar players still find learning scales to be about as exciting as watching the grass grow.

The main reason for this is that most guitarists learn scales by rote─they practice scales forwards and backwards over and over and over again.

Learning guitar scales this way is as hard as trying to drain a swimming pool with a soda straw!  You can do it, but who wants to take that long?

There is a better way to learn and master guitar scales.

You’ll learn how to do that in The World of Scales: A Compendium of Scales for the Modern Guitar Player.

In the World of Scales you will discover the most effective ways to quickly learn, master and understand guitar scales.  You’ll also learn some really fun ways to practice and apply guitar scales.   And of course, as you improve your scale mastery, you will learn songs faster and faster.  You can learn more about this proven method here: How to Learn and Master Guitar Scales.

October 14, 2010

5 Things You Do Not Know About Guitar Scales That You Should

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Today we will look at 5 things you probably don’t know about guitar scales that you should.

Have you ever wondered why some guitar scales are called one thing in one scale book and called something completely different in another book?

What gives?  Who is right?

This brings us to the first point that most guitar players don’t know:

There is currently no standard or uniform system used throughout the world to identify scales by name. Whether you ask two musicians in the same band, or someone on a different continent, you may get completely different names for the same scale!

Some scales are pretty straight forward—they have only a few names.  For example, the Minor scale is also called the Aeolian mode or scale.  This scale is also sometimes called the Ancient Minor Scale.

Then there are those scales with many names.  For example, the Mixolydian b9 b13 scale is also known as: Phrygian Major, Phrygian Dominant, Spanish, Hejaz and it is also known as the Gypsy scale.

I am sure you will agree that this creates quite a bit of confusion when talking about guitar scales.  In fact, this brings up the next 4 things about guitar scales you probably don’t know…

How are Scales Named?

A scale can be named many different ways.  However, scale names are usually determined by:

1.  The geographical region in which the scale is typically used, or found.

2.  The geographical area one lives in.

3.  The institution(s) and or teachers with whom one has studied.

4.  The number of notes in the scale.

What is the Best Way to Understand Scale Names?

You need to learn the mechanics behind scales.  When you understand how scales are constructed and work, you will find it much easier to understand even the strangest of scale names.

When you know how scales are put together, not only will scale names make sense, but also most importantly, you will see many applications for each scale.

Scale Name Tip

Now here is a tip that will help you identify certain guitar scale synonyms.

When you look at some scale names, you will see things like b2 and b6, etc.  What you need to know is the following are interchangeable in scale names:

2 = 9

4 = 11

6 = 13

This means the Mixolydian b13 scale can also be called Mixolydian b6.  A Lydian #9 scale is also known as a Lydian #2 scale.  A Mixolydian #4 could be called Mixolydian #11.  A Locrian Natural 2 scale can be called a Locrian Natural 9 scale.

This article just scratched the surface of the mechanics behind scale names. To learn how to make total sense of guitar scales and modes and apply them to your guitar, check out the ultimate guitar scales resource. Visit  GuitarAccelerator.com now to turbo-charge your playing with your mastery of guitar scales.

September 9, 2010

How to Add Variety to Your Guitar Solos with a Cool Japanese Minor Pentatonic Scale Part 2

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In my last post we began our look at the Hirajoshi scale.  Today will dig deeper into this scale…

We have already looked at the basic scale fingering for the Hirajoshi scale and how the scale is constructed.  In case you missed it, here is the link:

How to Add Variety to Your Guitar Solos with a Cool Japanese Minor Pentatonic Scale Part 1

When you first learn a new guitar scale it’s important to practice the scale forwards and backwards. This will help you to get the basic scale shape under your fingers.  Once you can play the scale ascending and descending, it’s time to work on some additional patterns to help you further master the scale.  As you learn more patterns, you’ll start to get some melodic ideas for your solos.

Let’s take a look at the Hirajoshi scale in 3 note groupings.  All you do is play the scale 3 notes at a time.

So first you play the first, second and third notes.

Then you play the second, third and fourth notes of the scale.

Next you play the third, fourth and fifth notes, etc.

Harijoshi Scale in 3 Note Groupings

Next, practice the scale in four note groupings…

Hirajoshi scale in 4 note groupings

Once you’ve worked your way through these patterns, you should start to feel comfortable with the scale.

Now you’re ready to start to improvise with the scale.

Below you will find an mp3 recording of a chord vamp that you can use to practice soloing on top of.

This vamp uses only two chords: A minor 7 and D minor 7.

You can download the simple mp3 vamp to your mp3 player and then solo away! You could also record yourself playing these two chords and then start to experiment with the scale.

Here is the download link for the mp3 track –>

Hirajoshi scale vamp mp3

(To download, just right click on the link and select “Save Target As…” or “Save Link As…”)

The first thing I would recommend that you do is play the scale forwards and backwards with the vamp playing in the background.

Here is the tab for the vamp:

Next play the scale in groups of 3 and 4 notes against the vamp.  Once you’ve done this a couple of times you will start to get the sound of the scale in your head.  This will make it easier to create guitar solos.

It’s Time to Create Your Own Guitar Solos

The best way to do this if you are new to soloing is to start really simple.

Start with a 2 or 3 note phrase.  All you do is find a combination of 2 or 3 notes that you like and create a musical phrase from them.  Once you have your phrase or motif, repeat it over the entire vamp.  Now come up with some sort of an answer to your first motif.  Again, keep it really simple—just two or three notes is all you need.

Now you will have two motifs—sort of a call and response type of thing.

Have fun with these two and start to vary them up a bit.

Change up a note or two.

Experiment with different rhythms and you are on your way to creating a cool guitar solo.

Also remember that the Hirajoshi scale is simply a natural minor scale that has its 4th and 7th notes omitted.  This means where you would normally use a natural minor scale, you have the option of using the Hirajoshi scale for some variety.

In other words, you can create a solo that’s in A minor and then for a little spice you play a melodic passage from the A Hirajoshi scale.

For more cool scales you can use to add variety to your guitar solos check out The World of Scales: A Compendium of Scales for the Modern Guitar Player.

In my last post we began our look at the Harijoshi scale. Today will dig deeper into this scale…

We have already looked at the basic scale fingering for the Harijoshi scale and how the scale is constructed. In case you missed it, here is the link:

How to Add Variety to Your Guitar Solos with a Cool Japanese Minor Pentatonic Scale Part 1

When you first learn a new scale it’s important to practice the scale forwards and backwards. This will help you to get the basic scale shape under your fingers. Once you can play the scale ascending and descending, it’s time to work on some additional patterns to help you further master the scale. As you learn more patterns, you’ll start to get some melodic ideas for your solos.

Let’s take a look at the Harijoshi scale in 3 note groupings.

All you are doing is playing the scale 3 notes at a time.

So first you play the first, second and third notes.

Then you play the second, third and fourth notes of the scale.

Next you play the third, fourth and fifth notes, etc.

Harijoshi scale in 3 note groupings

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