How To Play Guitar Scales

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It would not be fair to talk about how to play guitar scales without also talking about which scales to play and why you should play them. Scales are just a series of notes played in a certain order. Each of the many collections of notes will sound entirely different from the last one as you begin to hear more and play more.

Scales are the basic elements used by guitar players for improvisation. They can stick with one scale or use notes not included in the scale they started with or they can mix scales. There are series of notes used by guitar players which are derived from scales. These are called riffs and licks. A riff is a series of notes that is repeated throughout the song, for example Peter Gunn or Smoke On The Water, and a lick is a set of notes which forms part of a guitar solo. A guitar player copies or learns a few notes from another guitarist’s solo and uses it as part of his own solo by changing the note values and otherwise fooling with it till he makes it his own.

If you know some guitar scales inside out you will do well at improvising and writing guitar solos. You will develop a sense of what to play and when to play it. Another function of guitar scales is to give a lead guitar player something to get him started when he is on stage and he suddenly chokes. He can begin on the root note of whatever key he is in and play a minor pentatonic to get him back improvising again.

Your guitar playing technique improves if you learn scales. Here is where we mention how to play scales. You can play scales using all up or down strokes with the pick or you can alternate your up and down strokes. You can also use hammer ons and pull offs to play your scales, and as your knowledge of the guitar grows, you will probably be going to start learning some guitar tapping techniques. These will be learnt with your knowledge of scales. You can also use string bending and sliding to reach from one note to another. Remember to use your metronome as you practice scales. Start with the metronome on a low speed and build up as your technique gets better.

Learning how to play guitar scales is one of the best ways to learn guitar. Practicing scales helps you to build up the muscles in your fingers and hands. It also helps your hands and fingers become familiar with the guitar. Many guitar players break up their guitar practice time into sections of about twenty minutes each focusing on scales, chords and playing songs.

When you set about learning how to play guitar scales, do not learn a lot of scales all at once. Start with one. The A minor pentatonic which you can play with a bar at the fifth fret is a good start . . .

——————–5——

—————–5-8——–

————-5-7————

———5-7—————-

—–5-7——————–

-5-8————————

If you enjoy playing blues here are some other scales you can learn. I have written them out in the key of C . . .

The major scale C D E F G A B
The minor pentatonic C Eb F G Bb
The major pentatonic C D E G A
The blues scale – C Eb F F# G Bb
The mixolydian mode C D E F G A Bb
The dorian mode C D Eb F G A Bb

This video guitar lesson is on scales . . .