Help with scales

[Lorenzo89]

Ok, I've been learning only tehnicque things and not theory until few months ago.
I have learnd some basics of scales from web pages, mostly thigs like C D E F G A B C is a "C Major scale"...
Now Im interested wich is the good way to expand my playing in let's say C Mayor and not ony playing it in that one Octave?
Should I practice W W h W W W h formula through the whole neck or what?

Thank you!

[BassChuck]

Originally Posted by Lorenzo89

Ok,Should I practice W W h W W W h formula through the whole neck or what?

Not a bad idea. The WWhWWWh formula will give you a major scale based on whatever note you start on. Of course there are other scales.... many other scales and each will have its own formula of W and h, and each will have its own sound and application musically.

All of this information is available from many sources and I know you'll get a lot of direction here for that... so let me start by pointing you to www.jazzbooks.com. There is even a free download that has lots of great information.

Have fun.... its a great trip.

[Lorenzo89]

Thanks!

[jazzbo]

Click my signature, and check out Pacman's sure-fire scale practice method, stickied to the top of General Instruction

[Mazatleco17]

So I have a question with scales, lets say I want to play an A major scale (open A string and then follow the "formula" WWhWWWh, now if I start on the E string fifth fret which is also an A note and follow the patern, Is that also an A major scale?

[CapnSev]

The WWhWWWh thing never worked for me. I remember the fingerboard patterns that correlate to certain scales. For example: The major scale is always the same pattern, no matter the starting point on the fingerboard, whether the starting note is on the B, E, or A string.

[WhiteKnuckles]

Originally Posted by Mazatleco17

So I have a question with scales, lets say I want to play an A major scale (open A string and then follow the "formula" WWhWWWh, now if I start on the E string fifth fret which is also an A note and follow the patern, Is that also an A major scale?

Yep.

That's the beauty of it...that pattern will always be the Major scale of whichever note you start with. Move to the 7th fret on the E, play the pattern, and you have the B major scale. Play it on the A-2nd fret or the 14th, D-9th fret and so on....it's all B major.

This is a great link for scales and chords.

[playinpearls]

i just started studying this, i found for me the best thing to do is to go here: www.studybass.com and look at the scale, chord printer.

I select the scale i want ( after picking favorite easy songs)and set it up so it looks good to me (size wise)
then i hit print screen, and paste it into microsoft paint. I crop the scale out of the rest of the page, and then paste it onto a word document. then print it out, when i have all the scales i need.

then i play to the songs i chose to get the keys...

i uploaded mine for the ones i wanted to study...enjoy!

had to convert to pdf to upload....but word works great!

[WhiteKnuckles]

Originally Posted by CapnSev

The WWhWWWh thing never worked for me. I remember the fingerboard patterns that correlate to certain scales. For example: The major scale is always the same pattern, no matter the starting point on the fingerboard, whether the starting note is on the B, E, or A string.

Ditto. Granted the Whole/Half thing is something I see subconsciously, but the fingering pattern is how I know where to go.

For Lorenzo...here's another thing you can do. Start taking the Whole and Halves, backwards one space.

WhWWWhW

hWWWhWW

WWWhWWh

WWhWWhW

WhWWhWW*

hWWhWWW

Now you've just played all your modal scales. Ionian or major, was what you started with, then I just showed you Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian (*Minor), and Locrican.

[MarkTAW]

Each A is always an A, each B is always a B.

All of the A's on the fretboard are the root of the A scale. All of the B's are the 2nd note in the A major scale. All of the C#'s are the 3rd note in the A major scale.

[Mazatleco17]

Beautiful, thank you guys for answering my question now I need to practice and get some lessons