* . *
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact
Saturday, July 12, 2025
Earth-News
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    How you can see new movies early – Yahoo

    Unlock the Secret to Watching New Movies Before Everyone Else!

    Immersive sports and entertainment venue Cosm set to build its 5th location in Cleveland – WKYC

    Cosm Reveals Exciting Vision for Its 5th Immersive Sports and Entertainment Venue in Cleveland

    Monumental Sports & Entertainment’s Samantha Brady on the Power of the RSN’s Direct-to-Consumer Streaming Service Monumental+ – Sports Video Group

    Samantha Brady Reveals How Monumental+ is Transforming Sports Streaming with Direct-to-Consumer Access

    Moses Singer Welcomes Entertainment and Intellectual Property Partner Frederick Bimbler – Yahoo Finance

    Moses Singer Expands Team with New Entertainment and Intellectual Property Partner Frederick Bimbler

    Longhua District and Max-Matching Entertainments, supported by RWS Global forge strategic partnership to develop international IP-themed entertainment complex – Amusement Today

    Longhua District and Max-Matching Entertainments, supported by RWS Global forge strategic partnership to develop international IP-themed entertainment complex – Amusement Today

    Government whip to withdraw Entertainment Complex Bill on July 9 – Nation Thailand

    Government whip to withdraw Entertainment Complex Bill on July 9 – Nation Thailand

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    Stallion Uranium Provides Update on Technology Data Acquisition Agreement – GlobeNewswire

    Stallion Uranium Announces Exciting Progress in Technology Data Acquisition Agreement

    2025 WE Local Prague Recap: Inspiring Women in Engineering and Technology – Society of Women Engineers

    2025 WE Local Prague Recap: Inspiring Women in Engineering and Technology – Society of Women Engineers

    SMPTE Opens Early Bird Registration for Media Technology Summit – TVTechnology

    SMPTE Launches Early Bird Registration for Exciting Media Technology Summit

    Google Fiber puts Nokia network slicing technology to the test – Fierce Network

    Google Fiber Puts Nokia’s Network Slicing Technology to the Ultimate Test

    Kaseya Extends Community Investment with Addition of Technology Marketing Toolkit – Kaseya

    Kaseya Extends Community Investment with Addition of Technology Marketing Toolkit – Kaseya

    AI and the Trust Revolution: How Technology Is Transforming Human Connections – Foreign Affairs

    AI and the Trust Revolution: How Technology Is Transforming Human Connections – Foreign Affairs

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    How you can see new movies early – Yahoo

    Unlock the Secret to Watching New Movies Before Everyone Else!

    Immersive sports and entertainment venue Cosm set to build its 5th location in Cleveland – WKYC

    Cosm Reveals Exciting Vision for Its 5th Immersive Sports and Entertainment Venue in Cleveland

    Monumental Sports & Entertainment’s Samantha Brady on the Power of the RSN’s Direct-to-Consumer Streaming Service Monumental+ – Sports Video Group

    Samantha Brady Reveals How Monumental+ is Transforming Sports Streaming with Direct-to-Consumer Access

    Moses Singer Welcomes Entertainment and Intellectual Property Partner Frederick Bimbler – Yahoo Finance

    Moses Singer Expands Team with New Entertainment and Intellectual Property Partner Frederick Bimbler

    Longhua District and Max-Matching Entertainments, supported by RWS Global forge strategic partnership to develop international IP-themed entertainment complex – Amusement Today

    Longhua District and Max-Matching Entertainments, supported by RWS Global forge strategic partnership to develop international IP-themed entertainment complex – Amusement Today

    Government whip to withdraw Entertainment Complex Bill on July 9 – Nation Thailand

    Government whip to withdraw Entertainment Complex Bill on July 9 – Nation Thailand

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    Stallion Uranium Provides Update on Technology Data Acquisition Agreement – GlobeNewswire

    Stallion Uranium Announces Exciting Progress in Technology Data Acquisition Agreement

    2025 WE Local Prague Recap: Inspiring Women in Engineering and Technology – Society of Women Engineers

    2025 WE Local Prague Recap: Inspiring Women in Engineering and Technology – Society of Women Engineers

    SMPTE Opens Early Bird Registration for Media Technology Summit – TVTechnology

    SMPTE Launches Early Bird Registration for Exciting Media Technology Summit

    Google Fiber puts Nokia network slicing technology to the test – Fierce Network

    Google Fiber Puts Nokia’s Network Slicing Technology to the Ultimate Test

    Kaseya Extends Community Investment with Addition of Technology Marketing Toolkit – Kaseya

    Kaseya Extends Community Investment with Addition of Technology Marketing Toolkit – Kaseya

    AI and the Trust Revolution: How Technology Is Transforming Human Connections – Foreign Affairs

    AI and the Trust Revolution: How Technology Is Transforming Human Connections – Foreign Affairs

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
Earth-News
No Result
View All Result
Home Entertainment

How should you learn guitar scales – and why should you bother?

July 21, 2023
in Entertainment
How should you learn guitar scales – and why should you bother?
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Home

Features

Guitar Techniques

Musician playing acoustic guitar on dark background

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Using scales to make music is more than just choosing the right one. But how does one go about practicing scales, and should you bother?

Using my favourite analogy, if music is a language then scales are alphabets. With our English alphabet we can make words from many languages, though each will have quirks particular to its dialect. Other languages are narrower in use, the Mkhedruli language of Georgia for instance, which can be understood in much more limited areas. 

In music, the major scale can be used in many different styles and ways, whereas a more exotic scale like the Phrygian Dominant is usually used in a specific situation. Bear with me while we take it a step further…

If you become fluent in English, does it mean you can speak French or German, which uses (mostly) the same letters? No, it’s the combinations of letters that changes, and the pronunciation. Some scales fit well in a specific style and others in a more general sense, but people who master one style often find it leaves an ‘accent’ when they try to play others. 

The point is that the words matter the most. You can’t travel somewhere new and start saying the alphabet. Yo learn words and phrases and with them you would be communicating. In music, the words are the licks and phrases. Play a blues lick and people know you’re ‘speaking’ blues. But play a minor pentatonic up and down, and it could be anything.

Yes, the analogy has holes when you keep prodding it, but it’s a great way to develop your strategy for learning music. When I was the admissions guy at The Guitar Institute, some young dude would come in and show that they knew all the scale patterns… but couldn’t make music if their life depended on it. And I met others who knew no scales at all, but knew a handful of licks that they could use well. They were making music!

So, licks and phrases – learn them! Great poets use the same words we all use, they just put them together in more beautiful ways. If they made up their own language nobody would understand it. Egdhtg hdgft wrreyu chzhn. Get my point?

So why would guitarists practice scales at all? Well, there are a few good reasons. To understand the grammar of the language, it will help to know the alphabet. Learning scale patterns will help you change and manipulate licks, extend them, be curious with them. It’s study, for the mind, more than the fingers.

If you want to express ideas you hear in your musical imagination then practicing scales can help build a map for your fingers to find the sounds that you hear. I would recommend using the major scale for this, paying attention to the sounds and intervallic relationships in the scales. 

But exploring in this way is more like improvising within a framework of a scale, and exploring, trying things out, and listening. But I know you see people playing scales up and down with a metronome. I did that for years too, but if I could take all those thousands of hours back and focus on making music instead, I would, in a heartbeat.

If you want to practice scales in a way that might help you make melodic statements, I recommend practicing scales in intervals

Using a metronome can be very helpful for developing the synchronicity of your two hands, and can help (to a lesser extent) with the mapping and mental pattern development. It can also help develop your time feel and subdivisions. But if you want to practice scales in a way that might help you make melodic statements, I recommend practicing scales in intervals. 

Melodies generally follow chord tones, and chord tones are (mostly) stacked in 3rds. If you practice playing scales in 3rds you are training yourself to play more melodically, naturally finding the chord tones and extensions of the names you land on. You’re training your fingers, mental maps and musical imagination. But practicing only that would probably make you a very tedious player. So I’d advise also exploring 4ths, 5ths, and melodic sequences. 

When I practice scales there are days I start with one run up and down a scale pattern. Then I go in 3rds (usually four times) then a couple of times on 4ths and 5ths to encourage my fingers to head to less common intervallic jumps. Then I’ll often explore a melodic sequence, a number sequence applied to a scale. 

Number the degrees of a scale starting with 1 on the root and going up as high as you can in that pattern. A melodic sequence like 1-3-5-7-6-5-4-3 is good – it ascends a diatonic arpeggio and descends the scale. Then I’d do the same pattern starting on the 2nd scale degree – 2-4-6-8-7-6-5-4, then from the 3rd etc.

Another favourite is reverse alternate 3rds, so the numbers would be 1-3, 4-2, 3-5, 6-4 – going up a 3rd, up to the next scale tone and then down a 3rd, up a scale step, etc. There are a bunch of other common sequences on my website if you get stuck for ideas.

Melodic patterns are IMHO the best way to explore scales. I still hold that learning licks and phrases provides the most benefit, but working on scales feeds your fingers, brain and musical imagination. Have fun!

Thank you for reading 5 articles this month*

Join now for unlimited access

US pricing $3.99 per month or $39.00 per year

UK pricing £2.99 per month or £29.00 per year 

Europe pricing €3.49 per month or €34.00 per year

*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription

Join now for unlimited access

Prices from £2.99/$3.99/€3.49

All the latest guitar news, interviews, lessons, reviews, deals and more, direct to your inbox!

Justin Sandercoe – aka JustinGuitar – is one of the world’s foremost guitar tutors. His learning platform, JustinGuitar, was founded in 2003, and its launch on YouTube in 2006 quickly made Justin’s lessons some of the most popular on the web. Today, JustinGuitar has over 1.5m subscribers on YouTube, and the website is home to over 1,300 free video guitar lessons. Tommy Emmanuel, Mark Knopfler, Steve Vai and Brian May are among the A-list names who recommend Justin’s guitar courses.

>>> Read full article>>>
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source : GuitarWorld – https://www.guitarworld.com/features/how-should-you-learn-guitar-scales

Tags: entertainmentGuitarLearn
Previous Post

Korg Nu:Tekt TR-S Power Tube Reactor and HD-S Harmonic Distortion review

Next Post

Session guitar pro explains why he played a used $99 Squier Strat from Guitar Center on a chart-topping album

Pope prays for conversion of those who don’t ‘recognize the urgency’ of caring for creation – OSV News

Pope prays for conversion of those who don’t ‘recognize the urgency’ of caring for creation – OSV News

July 12, 2025
New, non-profit in Baldwin County aims at helping fund forensic science related investigations – fox10tv.com

New, non-profit in Baldwin County aims at helping fund forensic science related investigations – fox10tv.com

July 12, 2025
Major Gifts Transform Marine Science at William & Mary and VIMS – Virginia Living

Transformative Major Gifts Propel Marine Science Breakthroughs at William & Mary and VIMS

July 12, 2025
CatanaGroup Launches SEATY: A New Floating Lifestyle Concept – Cruising World Magazine

CatanaGroup Unveils SEATY: Dive Into the Ultimate Floating Lifestyle Experience

July 12, 2025
Readers, we need your help picking the best high school football team – Tulsa World

Vote Now for the Ultimate High School Football Champion!

July 12, 2025
An economy in India lifted by women – The Christian Science Monitor

An economy in India lifted by women – The Christian Science Monitor

July 12, 2025
How you can see new movies early – Yahoo

Unlock the Secret to Watching New Movies Before Everyone Else!

July 12, 2025
Why it’s a rough time to be a health insurer – Axios

Why it’s a rough time to be a health insurer – Axios

July 12, 2025
State Department is firing more than 1,300 staff on Friday – CNN

Over 1,300 State Department Employees Face Layoffs This Friday

July 12, 2025
Southland Conference and Spiideo Partner to Bring Cloud-Based Replay and Video Technology to Seven Sports – Sports Video Group

Southland Conference Partners with Spiideo to Transform Replay and Video Technology Across Seven Sports

July 11, 2025

Categories

Archives

July 2025
MTWTFSS
 123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
28293031 
« Jun    
Earth-News.info

The Earth News is an independent English-language daily published Website from all around the World News

Browse by Category

  • Business (20,132)
  • Ecology (717)
  • Economy (740)
  • Entertainment (21,627)
  • General (15,847)
  • Health (9,777)
  • Lifestyle (747)
  • News (22,149)
  • People (742)
  • Politics (750)
  • Science (15,958)
  • Sports (21,238)
  • Technology (15,724)
  • World (723)

Recent News

Pope prays for conversion of those who don’t ‘recognize the urgency’ of caring for creation – OSV News

Pope prays for conversion of those who don’t ‘recognize the urgency’ of caring for creation – OSV News

July 12, 2025
New, non-profit in Baldwin County aims at helping fund forensic science related investigations – fox10tv.com

New, non-profit in Baldwin County aims at helping fund forensic science related investigations – fox10tv.com

July 12, 2025
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

Go to mobile version