Scales and such (please help)

[projectapollo]

I am also intermediate and have discovered in the last year of COVID practice that getting my chord shapes down has really reduced the need for scales and allows me to shift around the fretboard much more easily. I don't play chords but use the chord tones in fills, motion, pick-up notes, and motion to the next target. Learning the chord shapes in various inversions is super helpful. I used to play with my left hand more or less in a fixed position as my comfort zone for the associated scale. Now I shift around like I know what I'm doing.

 

[misterCRUSH]

while he doesn't give you the scales outright (you can find those on google), he elucidates how and when to use them, including the modes. The name of the book is "The Improvisors Path" by Damien Erksine. It's a great book with lots of information and tips. I have been making music for 44 years and I still learned a fair amount from it.

 

[Michael Milner]

Listen to (and if possible, "lift" and transcribe) some of the bass lines from your favourite players and you will hear what scales are being used and their practical application.

 

[Valvehead]

Play along to random music you don't know that's on radio or tv, see how far you can take jamming to songs you do not know.
You will be amazed at how much of it is similar after a while. You will be able to jam in no time.

Soloing - many players who seem to play solos spontaneously have been practicing their triads and runs for hours on end, nobody ever sees the amount work involved in that. This is something to worry about later. First jam to stuff you don't know. It is fun!

 

[retslock]

Hello I would like to ask for some help! I would say I’m an intermediate player by now, I can play some Primus, Chili peppers and a lot of Jamiroquai. I just CANNOT figure out scales and it is holding back my potential.. I know the major and minor scales but I don’t know how to use them! Every single video I watch doesn’t really help.. I would like some help with this please... I AM DESPERATE. Any suggestions or tips at all will be greatly appreciated!!

Scales become very useful when you stop thinking of them as scales and start thinking of them as chord elements. Triads and arpeggios are where they really get to be helpful. Practice two octave arpeggios ascending and descending and you’ll gain a much greater familiarity of the neck and an understanding where you can go over a given chord because each step of the scale is the root of a chord built on that scale: C = c, e, g - Dm = d, f, a - Em = e, g, b. etc...

 

[skycruiser]

Hello I would like to ask for some help! I would say I’m an intermediate player by now, I can play some Primus, Chili peppers and a lot of Jamiroquai. I just CANNOT figure out scales and it is holding back my potential.. I know the major and minor scales but I don’t know how to use them! Every single video I watch doesn’t really help.. I would like some help with this please... I AM DESPERATE. Any suggestions or tips at all will be greatly appreciated!!

If you play a lot of RHCP then you should be well versed in the use of the pentatonic scale! Who needs those other ones...

 

[MichelD]

One trick I learned and this is about modes, as Marty Koff above indicates, is that if you know the C major scale you know the A minor scale too using the same notes, only starting on A instead of C.

I used to play a bit of electric guitar and I found that you could wank on that A minor for days if you got someone to play the chords to "All along the Watchtower."

 

[Matty Koff]

One trick I learned and this is about modes, as Marty Koff above indicates, is that if you know the C major scale you know the A minor scale too using the same notes, only starting on A instead of C.

I used to play a bit of electric guitar and I found that you could wank on that A minor for days if you got someone to play the chords to "All along the Watchtower."

That chord progression is used all over the place..and I will likely end up using it at some point myself lol. So, not that I'm some educated musician or anything, but, having hung out with and spoken to and played with some over the years you're referring to the relative minor.

Here's a decent read. (more notes for the OP) Note - A to C on the E string is spread over 4 frets.. this works for the major scale in any key. Relative minor of Cmaj is Am, Bmaj is G#m or , A#maj or is Gm etc. There's a chart provided on the link below that says it better than I can.

Relative Minor Scale and Relative Major Scale | Simplifying Theory

I've been getting back into the guitar slowly but surely since I bought a Strat last year. I prefer the bass, but I've done some of that wailing on the A within the last month lol. Prior to that the only time I was picking it up was to try and explain rhythms I'd like to hear to certain songs with band members.

 

[MichelD]

That chord progression is used all over the place..and I will likely end up using it at some point myself lol. So, not that I'm some educated musician or anything, but, having hung out with and spoken to and played with some over the years you're referring to the relative minor.

Here's a decent read. (more notes for the OP) Note - A to C on the E string is spread over 4 frets.. this works for the major scale in any key. Relative minor of Cmaj is Am, Bmaj is G#m or , A#maj or is Gm etc. There's a chart provided on the link below that says it better than I can.

Relative Minor Scale and Relative Major Scale | Simplifying Theory

I've been getting back into the guitar slowly but surely since I bought a Strat last year. I prefer the bass, but I've done some of that wailing on the A within the last month lol. Prior to that the only time I was picking it up was to try and explain rhythms I'd like to hear to certain songs with band members.

Further to that I played lead briefly in a band and on songs like "Can't you see" by the Marshall Tucker Band I found I could create pretty good solos simply using the G Major pentatonic scale. Which just happens to be the same notes for the blues scale in the relative minor of E.

 

[Sean Hughes]

Try this scale. I am a beginner BTW. Pinky on the root note of the major scale on the E string; index (2), ring (3), and pinky (4) fingers on the A string; index (5) and ring (6) fingers on the D string; index stretched down one fret (7) and index (octave) on the G string. The root and octave are comfortably positioned. You can go higher to the 9 and 10 or easily go below the root to the 6 or even the 5 with a two fret stretch or slide.

Ah, I just reread your original post, and you had said you already know the scales, but want to know how to use them. Well here's a beginners point of view.
1. I pick an interval from the scale such as 8, 5, 2, 6, 3, or 7.
2. I figure out what note of the scale this is for every chord.
ex. Key of A (ABC#DEF#G#A): the 2 of A chord is B; 2 of Bm chord is C#; 2 of D chord is E; 2 of E chord is F#; 2 of F# chord is G#
3. I practice playing the root, the interval, the octave, the intervals octave through a progression.
I let myself do whatever I want as long as I hit root or octave of each chord when it hits.
ex. A chord starts and I play the A on the second fret of the G string, then the B above it, then the B below it then the A and so on until the let's say E chord where I play an E then an F# above or below and E octave.
4. Once that's firmly in place, then I add in scales and arpeggios.
e. I start on the A note of the A chord go to the 2nd interval B, then ride the scale down to the B below, using scales to link things up. When I practice, I play more scales than you might if someone were singing or soloing over you; I pull back a bit when it's the real thing, but I am prepared.

I am truly a beginner. Have been playing for a year and a half. And I don't know if this approach sounds good or not, but it sounds good to my beginner ears.

 

[Hisler]

Ah, I just reread your original post, and you had said you already know the scales, but want to know how to use them. Well here's a beginners point of view.
1. I pick an interval from the scale such as 8, 5, 2, 6, 3, or 7.
2. I figure out what note of the scale this is for every chord.
ex. Key of A (ABC#DEF#G#A): the 2 of A chord is B; 2 of Bm chord is C#; 2 of D chord is E; 2 of E chord is F#; 2 of F# chord is G#
3. I practice playing the root, the interval, the octave, the intervals octave through a progression.
I let myself do whatever I want as long as I hit root or octave of each chord when it hits.
ex. A chord starts and I play the A on the second fret of the G string, then the B above it, then the B below it then the A and so on until the let's say E chord where I play an E then an F# above or below and E octave.
4. Once that's firmly in place, then I add in scales and arpeggios.
e. I start on the A note of the A chord go to the 2nd interval B, then ride the scale down to the B below, using scales to link things up. When I practice, I play more scales than you might if someone were singing or soloing over you; I pull back a bit when it's the real thing, but I am prepared.

I am truly a beginner. Have been playing for a year and a half. And I don't know if this approach sounds good or not, but it sounds good to my beginner ears.

This is great! Thanks man

 

[Benjamin Earl]

This link will take you to a crash course for the method I use. It shows a step by step method to learning how to use scales. Let me know if you have any questions. Learning All Scale Positions / Relative Modes

 

[Hisler]

This link will take you to a crash course for the method I use. It shows a step by step method to learning how to use scales. Let me know if you have any questions. Learning All Scale Positions / Relative Modes

Awesome thanks man! I’ll let you know how it goes!

 

[BassChuck]

Every bass line you know is related to a scale. See if you can find that relationship.
Hint: not all the notes of a scale will be used in a bass line, sometimes just a couple.
Play that scale. Move it to another place on the bass. Play that scale. Once you have the sound in your ear of that scale, find a different fingering that gives you the same notes. There's lot of information to help you learn all the scales. Always look for the relationship of the bass line to a scale. Hint: there are a lot of different scales, and each of them has a different sound. Learn those sounds. Keep exploring, but alway use your ears to find the sound.