By Stephen Bass


Learn Guitar Scales

The guitar is one of the oldest musical instruments of the world. The acoustic instrument which made its entry in the west, has gained popularity throughout the globe. The guitar has been an all time favorite instrument of musicians of all ages.

Learning to play the instrument is exceedingly easy. Learning to play starts when you learn guitar scales. A scale is nothing but the sounding length of a string. Since the guitar is a stringed instrument, a person should have a thorough knowledge of handling the strings on the guitar. In order to produce sound, it is essential to learn the concept of scales. There are different types of scales. Major blues scale, minor blues scale, pentatonic scale and modified blues scale are some of the widely prevalent guitar.

Playing begins with understanding the concept of guitar scales. Mastering the art, of playing the guitar lies in gaining an in depth knowledge of guitar scales. In days gone by, it was essential for an individual to seek an admission to one of the many music academies, in order to learn guitar.

These days one does not necessarily need to go to a music school, unless they want to gain a qualification. There are several websites that teach the art of playing guitar. A person need not spend energy in going to a school. Rather, that energy and time could be utilized in learning the guitar. Online guitar courses help an individual to learn the guitar scales whilst still being at home. Most of these courses are available free of cost, because they have been created by artists exclusively with the intention of contributing to music. All of these websites have an embedded video too in order to demonstrate the usage of guitar to the learners.

It is mandatory for a beginner to learn guitar scales, since they lay the foundation to playing guitar. There are fundamentally seven scale degrees that have to be applied while playing guitar. An extensive and deep knowledge of guitar scales will help an individual compose his or her own music. Major and minor guitar scales form the backbone of western music. The major and minor scales stand as indicators in helping the ears of the player understand when something goes not to plan.

These scales help the player keep track of the melody. Initially, it is difficult for a player to master fingering of these scales. However, in due course, it becomes easy. Guitar scale notes are available for all level of learners. For beginners, there is basic scale course. For experts, there is an advanced scale course.

In order to render rhythmic music, the player has to have knowledge of connecting normal guitar chords with guitar scales. Learning to play guitar is no more a dream. Resources are readily available in plenty of places in order to learn guitar scales. It is up to the intelligence of individuals to utilize them. If you have a passion for guitar and are interested in contributing to the world of music, learn to play guitar, today!

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By Kate Sherry


I remember when I was little and first learning to play the piano, all I learned for the first 'many' lessons were scales. Oh! how I hated practicing scales! I seemed to be going to lessons for weeks and weeks and still couldn't play a song, not even a simple song.

Years later when I decided to learn to play the guitar, scales were one thing I knew I would have to do but at least after the first lesson and only being shown two chords, I was able to play a tune. Okay "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" is not the most exciting tune, but Hey! it was a song that I could practice and even sing along to.

That made all the difference when I was told I would have to learn scales and practice them, I was quite happy to do it.

What is a scale?

A scale is a group of notes, these notes are played in an ascending and descending run. There are many scales, each one has different note patterns these being unique with characteristics and qualities.

The guitar is not more exciting than the piano when it comes to practicing scales. Like the piano, the idea is to strengthen the fingers and improve the fingers ability, to travel through the notes on the strings. It also helps with the co-ordination, the hand-eye and getting comfortable with the musical instrument.

Like the piano there is a basic scale and that is where we all start. Even the top guitarists started there. The basic scale on the guitar is called the chromatic scale. On the piano it is C.

To start playing this scale:-

Play the sixth string 'open'

With the hand you will be using on the fret board, using the index finger on that hand, place it on the first fret on the number six string and press down. Pluck the string.

With the middle finger on the second fret, press down the sixth string and play that string again.

Use the ring finger and press down on the third fret, play the sixth string one more time.

Now it's the little finger's turn and the fourth fret to be pressed and play the sixth string again.

Keep going with these steps for the rest of the strings.

How does that feel? Exciting...not! but you are on your way, as you have just played your first scale on your guitar. So get practicing, see how long it takes you to be running up and down your fret board and that scale zinging along.

You will learn other scales as you keep practicing, like the Major Scale and the Minor Pentatonic Scale, maybe a little more exciting but you need to get that Chromatic Scale and virtually make it your own, then move ahead with the others.

You are not just going to learn scales, as your lessons progress you will learn notes and chords and will be able to play songs, not just Row, Row, Row, Your Boat.

Please don't try for too much too soon, there are many basic songs that you can learn to play on the guitar, these songs have a note, chord structure that is easier for beginners learning the guitar.

A couple of these are

Blowin' in the Wind
Man on the Moon
Leaving on a Jet Plane

There are plenty of others too, just Google easy guitar songs. Remember as I said earlier, the top guitarists all practice their scales, it is just that after years and years of practicing they can make them sound not like scales. That's something to aim for.

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By Craig Bassett


To start off this guitar scales practice tip, let me ask you a quick question. When was the last time you learnt a guitar scale to mastery? What I mean "to mastery" is this...

• You can play the scale anywhere on your fretboard.
• You know exactly what each note of the guitar scale sounds like.
• You can see the scale over your entire fretboard.
• You have memorized the notes and scales degrees of the scale. And you can see these notes and scale degrees over the entire fretboard.
• You can solo using the guitar scale without having to think.
• You have a large vocabulary of licks that you can play using the scale.

I'm guessing that you probably said something along the lines of "Never". And that's fine! Most guitarists never completely master the guitar scales that they learn. They just learn scales on a very superficial level.

And that is the number one reason why they struggle to use scales in a musical way when they improvise solos.

Try this experiment for a minute. Start talking about a subject that you know a lot about. It could be about anything. There are no rules! Pretend that you are explaining the subject to a friend. Keep on doing this for a few minutes. After you have finished, please read the rest of the article.

So what did you notice as you did it? Did you notice how you were thinking about the IDEAS that you were trying to convey and NOT the actual words themselves? I can almost guarantee that you didn't think about the spelling of all of the words that you said. If you did, you would find it impossible to speak fluently...
Why is this? Why are you able to use those words without having to think?

You have imprinted those words into your brain so much that now you don't consciously have to think when you use them. You spent countless hours learning, practicing, and mastering those words when you were young. Now you can use those words without thought. And do you know what?

It MUST be this way with the guitar scales that you learn!

You need to learn them so well that you don't have to think when you play them. It must become as easy as tying your shoelaces. Sure...you might think about the IDEAS you want to convey when you solo, but you don't want to be thinking about the scale itself. If you do, then fluent and creative improvisation will be impossible.

So what's the answer? It's pretty simple. Keep practicing that scale until you don't have to think when you play it! If it takes a month...great! If it takes six months...no problem! Just stick at that one scale until it has been totally mastered.

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