The Purpose of Scales

For a modern guitar player scales serve a few definite purposes. I think that it is important to establish the purpose of scales before we consider how to practice them. I have listed those purposes in no particular order.

Establishing the sound of a certain key/scale
Understanding theory
Knowing the notes on the fretboard
Technique
A framework for improvisation

These are the things that proper scale practice will give you. It seems to me that often the practice of scales is done in a very ineffective way simply because guitar players do not understand, or simply do not consider all of the reasons behind scale practice.

My own experience helps to reinforce this. I have spent a great deal of time learning scales in a completely ineffective way. I eventually quit playing scales altogether other than to warm up my hands. Still, I thought that I knew my scales. I mean I could tell you the notes in any scale or any mode. When I wanted to learn to improvise at a proficient level I found that I had to learn my scales all over again. As it turns out I only thought I knew my scales.

I see the same problems in guitar students that come to me. They think they know their scales. But if you ask them to improvise over a simple chord progression you start to see the trademarks of ineffective scale practice. When attempting to change scales they usually have to go back to the root of the chord and most often back to the root on the low E string. Or if you let them play a scale up and down in a box shape and then randomly stop them on any given note top ask them the name of the note chances are they will struggle.

Perhaps this is the place to mention the common pitfalls that lead to the kind of ineffective practice that will get you nowhere.

Very often as we are just beginning to learn to play guitar an instructor will give us a scale pattern to memorize that looks like a little box that crosses all six strings. I’m sure that 99% of you know exactly what I am talking about. We are told to play it memorize it, and we do. We go home a practice that little box scale until our fingers hurt. We memorize the pattern and eventually play it so much that we can whip through it like lightning. Then we are given other box patterns and we learn those in the same way. And after a while we can play many box patterns of scales all over the neck. But rarely do we ever pay attention to memorizing the notes in each scale. Rarely are we taught the purpose of the individual notes in fleshing out the sound of the scale, or the relationship of the different scales to each other and the harmonies that we will encounter. This method of practice helps us to establish some technique but it doesn’t really teach us everything that we need to know in order to successfully use scales in our music.

I will discuss my thoughts on each of the different purposes of scale practice. But first one important note about practicing in general. It is my beleif that how you practice is far more important that how much tme you practice. How you focus during your playing and what you focus on is more important than what you actually play. In other words, if you are running through some scales in front of the television then you aren’t getting nearly as much out of your practice as you would if you concentrated on the different areas that are mentioned below. Repetition is important, but focus is more important. In other words, goofing off for an hour in front of the TV is far less useful than ten, or even five, minutes of focused and concentrated practice on an area of weakness.

Establishing the sound of a key or scale.

A scale is meant to be a palette of certain colors that when used properly can convey through melody a wide number of emotions. Think of a painting from Picasso’s “blue” period. Would those paintings have had the same effect if they had been painted red? Definitely not. A painting using only red, orange, yellow, and green will have a different emotional feel than a painting that uses only blue, purple, and green. In the same way a major scale sounds different from a minor scale. A Lydian scale sounds different than a Mixolydian scale but the difference is more subtle. When playing a scale you should try to establish what the scale sounds like to you. Is it bright and bold, or is it dark and mysterious? Listen to the overall sound of the scales as you play them. It shouldn’t take much time to tell your minor scales from you major scales from you dominant scales.

A practical way to really get inside the sound of the scales is to sing the scales as you play them. I recommend this for everything that you play; scales, tunes, etc. Get into the habit early. Another thing that I try to do is to sing the note name of the scale. In other words I will actually say, “ Bb, C, D….” and sing it in pitch. This practice is very useful when learning a scale, but obviously when practicing for speed it doesn’t work. Still, no matter how quickly you play a passage you should always know what notes you are playing.

Once you get into the habit of doing this try singing the notes before you play them. Then see if you are right. The goal of all this practice is to be able to hear what you are going to do before you do it. Otherwise you end up playing something without really knowing what its going to sound like. Some of the best improvisers that I know sing everything that they play.

Understanding Theory

Scales are the building blocks of music. Knowing these building blocks will give you the tools to unlock many doors. You may be thinking, “I just want to improvise, why do I need to know the theory behind the scales?” With some obvious exceptions, most professional players know their theory well. They at least know the theory that is directly applicable to their instrument. In certain styles such as Jazz knowing theory is essential. Knowing your theory helps you to know why you can get away with playing a Bb over a G7 chord and why you shouldn’t play Eb over a Bbmaj7 chord.

There is so much information to learn in order to be a proficient musician. Fortunately, music theory ties all of this information together and makes the work considerably less daunting than it seems.

In order to get the most out of your scale study it is helpful to think about scale intervals as you play them. When running across the strings horizontally think about how far apart each note is. Is a D note a minor or major second away from and Eb? Also think about the intervallic relationship to the root of the scale. Is the E natural a major third or a fourth away from C? What about Ab?

Knowing the notes on the fretboard

For an improviser this is an incredibly important skill. I’m not talking about being able to figure out the notes on the fretboard. I mean really knowing them and not having to think about it. When the chords are changing every second (or faster) you don’t have time to think.

Practicing scales slowly and saying the names out loud will help to solidify your knowledge of the fretboard. So will reading and studying melodic sequences. It is surprising just how helpful sight reading can be to a number of seemingly unrelated skills such as improvising.

A few other methods for memorizing the fretboard can be found elsewhere.

Technique

You would think that this would be one area where a lot of guitar players are developing properly due to all of the emphasis that is placed on technique and specifically speed. However it seems that students (and occasionally myself) are often so concerned with playing scales quickly that they actually are hindering thier technical development. Instead of developing the technique and accuracy that will eventually make them as fast as they could ever want to be they focus on playing fast now and develop bad habits. I know this from my own personal experience.

This situation develops from two different habits. Impatience, and lack of focus. I really try to impress upon my students the importance of slowing down and doing things right. It is often very hard for new students to focus on all of the different mechanics of playing scales properly. This is why it is so important to slow down and do it right.

There have been a million books written on technique. That is not the scope of this article. However all the technique books in the world won’t help you if you don’t slow down, focus and use a metronome.

A certain world famous violin prodigy who can play with speed and accuracy that would amaze even the most jaded listeners attributes much of his success to playing through his pieces at the slowest speed that he can possible bear. Those who have heard him practicing swore he was a brand new beginner, until he took the stage. The process of playing slowly quite literally burns the information into your brain and muscles. This increases accuracy and confidence.

Pushing yourself to play fast can have unexpected consequences. If you play with tension in your hands your speed will actually decrease, and you risk causing an injury that could shorten your playing career.

So, good technique comes from these things; focus, patience, good posture, repetition, practicing with a metronome, and playing with minimal tension.

A framework for improvisation

Notice that I didn’t say, “All that you need to be a good improviser.” Scales and effective scale practice can give you the necessary tools to be a good improviser. However, just because I have a hammer doesn’t mean I’m a good carpenter. There is a lot more to becoming an accomplished soloist that playing through scales. Still, it’s pretty difficult to be a carpenter without any tools.

Improvisation is sort of the litmus test for how well a musician knows his or her scales. Improvisation requires that all of the previously mentioned concepts have been chewed, swallowed, and digested. Practicing scales in an ineffective manner will virtually assure that you will make little to no progress at improvisation.