How far can I get with my scale shapes?

btrag · #1 08-30-2005, 04:56 PM

This is sort of an offshoot of the thread asking about applying scales to music. So, I know my scale shapes very well. They've been committed to muscle memory. I know the following scales: major, minor, blues, pentatonic maj and minor. My practicing consists of solely creating little riffs and basslines based on blues progressions based off these scales. So, where do I go from here? Are there other "essential" scales to learn? Should I try to learn how to play these scales all over the neck (ah! I can't use the scale shapes as a crutch!)

beavrangers · #2 08-30-2005, 05:10 PM

You should learn the scale patterns as many ways as possible on the neck. Also, you could look into learning the minor harmonic and minor melodic scales, they arent that difficult.

Peter Ferretti · #3 08-30-2005, 05:41 PM

I think that the modes come in handy a lot in jazz, sometimes in rock based settings, I dont play a lot of rock. They are amazingly helpful though, you really should know them.

**WillPlay4Food** · #4 08-31-2005, 09:15 AM

Make sure you can do all the scale types over 2 octaves or more. Also, make sure you're comfortable with scales even when your index/middle finger isn't on the scale root.

burntgorilla · #5 08-31-2005, 12:14 PM

Try to memorise the scales in terms of their degrees - it's not actually that difficult, though it seems it at first. Take it slowly and get each one committed to memory, so you don't get confused. Then, if you know the degrees, you should be able to get the notes in each key, so then you can play all over the place on the neck.