How exactly do I use scales?

[mattsbass]

I have been memorizing scales everyday now for the past few months but honestly I have no clue how to use them.

Can anyone elaborate?

(Sorry I'll add more tommorow. I am too tired right now haha)

[Jake of Bass]

Not again! *facepalm*

Honestly, the question you're asking is likely to generate more debate than helpful replies. It's just the way it seems to work around here...

Do you know much about chords? What kind of scales have you been practising?

Have a read of this, the basic concepts are explained pretty clearly:

http://www.studybass.com/lessons/bas.../about-scales/

Originally Posted by mattsbass

I have been memorizing scales everyday now for the past few months but honestly I have no clue how to use them.

Can anyone elaborate?

(Sorry I'll add more tommorow. I am too tired right now haha)

It's simple all you do is start at the bottom and go to the top and then back down again, as fast as possible. It helps if you scream at the same time.

[JtheJazzMan]

theyve got something to do with western harmony, cant remember what

who needs details

in all seriousness youre probably playing them just up and down. they can move step wise or arpeggio movement, in groups of notes. try some different ways and make them MUSICAL

Play them as fast as possible.

See here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHQYmnA-jbk

This is what you should aim for. The faster you can play, the better musician you are. It's that simple. Once you know a scale, rinse it as fast as possible then move on to the next one. Try and play as many different scales as you can as fast as you can, and then people will know not only how fast you can play them, but also that you know more than one. When you're playing a scale, don't mince around going 'up, down, up, down, lah lah' - Go to the top, or go to the bottom - just get on with it!

Gurning, screaming and sweaty palms will help.

If you want to play a scale REALLY fast, then you might want to leave out the boring notes along the way. This is called an arpeggio. Arpeggios are even more impressive than scales, but again, remember to play them as fast as possible.

If you start from a different place than 'the start' in a scale, you have a mode. Mode means your in a certain mode - like being in "super pursuit mode" if you're knight rider's car. Modes in music are useful for showing that you understand emotions. There are seven emotions, and hence there are seven modes.

1. Lydian - airy fairy elf lovely
2. Ionian - everything makes sense today
3. Mixolydian - feeling kindy cheeky, firm and fruity
4. Dorian - duh, am I lethargic or just cool?
5. Aeolian - the women are crying
6. Phrygian - orcs and goblins
7. Locrian - will-o-the-wisp, at one with the amoral nature spirits

There are other scales which are even more complicated and these are for 'complex emotions'. A complex emotion is like a combination of the ones above - for example Melodic Minor 'everything makes sense today but the women are still crying' or Lydian flat 7 'my elf is cheeky'. This is high level stuff so make sure you master the basics before you move on. Using complex emotions gives your playing even more depth.

By rinsing a good variety of scales, you can be both a good musician and a true artist, painting vivid pictures with emotionality. Always check you are allowed to play a scale by consulting this diagram http://www.apassion4jazz.net/jazz-chords-scales.html. There are no wrong notes, but at the same time, some notes are wronger than others. You might hear things like - "Sometimes the wrong note is the right note and sometimes the right note is the wrong note. Ah...." This is called ambiguity.

Below is the wrongness continuum. It is a sliding scale from obviousness to wrongness.

Obvious - - -> - - - Clever - - - -> - - - Wrong

Aim for the middle. This means a scale that comes lower down the list on the chart.

Example for scale choice over a Imaj7 chord (see chart)

Ionian (obvious, duh) -> - Lydian (clever, vg star) - > - Harmonic Minor (wrong, oh dear)

Hope this is helpful.

[ras1983]

Originally Posted by afromoose

...The faster you can play, the better musician you are. It's that simple ...

I don't know if you're joking or being serious, but if it's the latter then I have to disagree. Speed does not make someone a good musician. It's just that many good musicians can play fast, but playing fast isn't what makes them a good musician.

A good example is the first clip you posted. The guitarist didn't spend all of his solo shredding.

Originally Posted by ras1983

I don't know if you're joking or being serious, but if it's the latter then I have to disagree. Speed does not make someone a good musician. It's just that many good musicians can play fast, but playing fast isn't what makes them a good musician.

A good example is the first clip you posted. The guitarist didn't spend all of his solo shredding.

I know I really like his playing actually it just makes me laugh because it goes so fast it's ridiculous. I can just imagine all those people dancing and then being like 'what the hell???'

I was being silly with my post.

[ras1983]

Originally Posted by afromoose

I know I really like his playing actually it just makes me laugh because it goes so fast it's ridiculous. I can just imagine all those people dancing and then being like 'what the hell???'

I was being silly with my post.

I thought as much which is why I said I wasnt sure if you were being serious

[Darko74]

here ya go!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmexN...eature=channel

[trust24]

I asked this question when i first started two. As have most people hense the stupid replys. I think bassically just learn them and it helps you improve on knowing where stuff is on the fret board ect and when you start learning chords it helps with that too coz the chords are made up from various notes in the scales

[El Bajo]

Pack up that scale book and put it in a drawer. Go to a music shop and find a good book on bass chord and appregios. Study that. Several months later dig out the scale book and you will understand them a lot better.

By all means use them as warm ups but don think they are the most importantthing to learn because when your actually in a band section, you just wont really use them because you'll go by feel and sound anyway. Its just good to know what sclaes to play over a chord so that you know what your options are.

Go chromatic, works everytime.

[Jake of Bass]

Originally Posted by afromoose

I was being silly with my post.

What I find even more ridiculous is that you have to point that out to people!

[Ron Plichta]

Tough crowd......

But seriously, scales are part of the progression in understanding music theory. What you're doing right now is rote memorization, which is good, but not the complete purpose of scales.

Find a decent theory book and learn about intervals. Once you understand intervals, you'll see how scales are derived. Then you'll learn how chords are constructed using (ta-da!) notes from the various scales. And then you'll understand how modes are constructed.

The big picture of all this is to get to the point where you can understand what musicians around you are doing and you can pick the RIGHT notes to play. Example - you're playing a jam where the guitarist is playing dominant 7th chords. By knowing interval theory and scales/modes, you'll know that a major scale doesn't necessarily work because it has a "normal" 7th note where a dominant 7th chord has a flat 7th. So what can you do? Play a mixolydian mode which is pretty much a major scale with a flat 7th and you'll sound great.

That's where scales can benefit.

[cire113]

Dudes ill answer your question in on sentence, make music with em....... feel a mood play that way ...

[mattblissett]

Knowing the notes of a scale helps with chord progressions, improvisations, solo pieces and such. Knowing them as patterns is only half the battle, knowing the notes in a scale gives you the freedom to play anywhere on the fretboard. Please do not get hung up on them too much - there are a lot more intangibles to be considered

[E2daGGurl]

I'm guessing that if you're just playing the major scales ( you didn't say that you were doing all the possible scales ) and not simultaneously memorizing the note names and positions, it's pretty useless.

But, if you're doing two other things - remembering the notes AND reading the notes on a chart, then you're really making progress. By now, you should be able, therefore, to read any transcribed bass line - an enormous help.

But, if instead, you only know the note names, that is still very helpful. If what you're saying is that you've simply learned to start anywhere on the fretboard and use the WWHWWWH intervals to make a scale, memorizing only the first note (which is what a lot of people do), then you're not really doing much that I'd find useful. On many non-stringed instruments, learning the fingering to all the scales doesn't involve this convenient system that keyboardists and string players use, so scale practice is more useful.

If you're playing in a band or orchestra, scale practice can help get in tune and warm-up (hence the idea that scales are important). Vocalists use scales to see how their range is doing that day.

But to me, the more important thing was memorizing each note on the fretboard by letter name and position on the bass clef. Then, learning the non-major scales was important. I'm still very much working on that, but for me, learning arpeggios has been even more important than scales (learning them, inverting them, messing around with them in general). So maybe it's time to move away from scales and learn chords?