# Advice on practicing major scales on guitar



## mozilla2004 (Nov 1, 2020)

Hello

I'm a novice guitar player. Early on (many years ago) I played some cover songs that were mostly rock/metal for a couple of years as hobby/downtime. I stopped playing for 20 years. A month or two ago, I learnt the concept of music notes, how there's something like A, A#, B, C, C# etc... F#, G, G#. Since then, I've been trying to memorize exactly which natural note is which fret (i'll worry abotu memorizing positions of flats and sharps later). I got a lot of good advice from people here on guitarscanada.com forum.

Last week, I learnt there's something called a major scale, which is defined as Whole Note (W), W, Half note (H), W, W, W, H. I saw videos on YouTube saying it is important to practice scales. So I decided to do so. For a single major scale, let's say the C major scale, I'd try to get use to different shapes - eg. going across the width of fretboard ,then going along the length of fretboard on a single string, then combinations between strings, and try from different starting fret position. Then I repeat this for the other scales.

What I want to know are as follows:

- I saw some videos saying as you're playing the scales, you should read out the note you're playing. I liked this when doing C major scale because it's re-enforcing my ability to identify which fret is which note, as well as helping me remember what the "sound" of particular notes is (I don't have perfect pitch). However, I'm having trouble saying out the notes for any major scale that has flats/sharps in them because each note is pronounced with two syllables. It just sounds so awkward to sing/say out a two syllable word when i'm playing a single note, especially if I go fast. How do people get around this problem? If I avoid pronouncing the syllable "sharp" or "flat", I'm worried i'll eventually confuse A with A Sharp.

- Aside from developing finger muscle memory for these scales, is there something else I'm supposed to pay attention to? Is there some "cool thing" that I'm going to realize later that I'm not even anticipating today?

Any other insight/feedback would be appreciated!!


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

Learn the patterns and recognize the interval differences and you should be in pretty good shape.


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## Alex (Feb 11, 2006)

I can't provide with direct guidance other than don't be afraid to discard recommendations as well as taking some in. We all learn differently and I'm more comfortable with numbers that two syllables for example.

On your 2nd query - breaking down the scales to make it sound like music is key. learning the 5 pentatonic shapes for each key for example, is a good start. I was recommended these two learning tools over 15 years ago: Don Mock's DVD The Blues From Rock to Jazz and the book Chords & Progressions for Jazz & Popular guitar. I was working out the Don Mock DVD last week after a hiatus of 5 years and I still find it very useful. Basic understanding of theory (harmonizing a scale) and learning which pentatonics to play within a scale. The Chords and Progressions book is also key: your soloing is only as good as your chord knowledge (which Don Mock emphasizes on that as well and shows the chord structures).

One other option that I really like is Frank Gambale's online school. he has a way of simplifying complex stuff and getting the message across. A solid educator in my book and AWESOME player. There are also some teachers on this board like @dolphinstreet who have solid chops and theory. good luck.


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## bw66 (Dec 17, 2009)

Saying the names of the notes certainly does have value when playing scales, particularly with the C major scale as you are learning the notes on the fretboard. And yes, it gets awkward when you are adding sharps and flats, but there is no rule saying that you have to go fast while saying the notes. My advice is that you practice saying the notes and work on playing at faster tempos, but not at the same time. As pointed out, the intervals are probably the more valuable bit of knowledge, so saying the degree of the scale as you play also has great value, so instead of saying C - D - E - F - G - A - B - C, say (or better yet, sing) 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 1. So while the note names will change with each scale, the degree numbers will stay the same.

Hope that makes sense. Hope it helps!


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## Distortion (Sep 16, 2015)

learn you bar chords and fill in the blanks.


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## Stephenlouis (Jun 24, 2019)

I say the notes, more often when I think about scales in my head than when I play. When I play( practice scales) I call the root out. as I move through multiple 7 notes.


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## Hammerhands (Dec 19, 2016)

Here’s something, you only use a letter once. So in C Major it’s CDEFGABC, and A Major is ABC#DEF#G#A. You can call C Major 0 Sharps, and A Major 3 Sharps. As long as you are in A Major, those 3 sharps are assumed, F# is just F, if you wanted to play F natural, you would say F natural.

The sharps are accumulated FCGDAE, the flats are accumulated BEADGC. You can come up with mnemonics for those. For sharp keys, you add all the sharps up to the one before the key name, E Major is F# C# G# D#. For the flat keys, you go one past the key name, Eb is Bb Eb and one more Ab.

You can shorten F# to “sharp”, if need be, as long as you remember it is F#.

Scales, when practised as scales, tend to make you think linearly...up the scale, down the scale. Try to bounce around the scale, move up the scale, jump and move down. Be unpredictable.

And don’t just keep playing notes, stop sometimes. That’s another pitfall when you start learning scales.

The most important relationship is the note to the chord, and when you play scales as scales, you can forget that. I think that’s why people use modes so much, because they are sort of the chord and the scale wrapped up together.

So don’t lose that important relationship or you‘ll end up learning modes. When you jump up, pick a certain note in the chord, maybe a strong note, the root or the fifth.


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## cboutilier (Jan 12, 2016)

mozilla2004 said:


> Hello
> 
> I'm a novice guitar player. Early on (many years ago) I played some cover songs that were mostly rock/metal for a couple of years as hobby/downtime. I stopped playing for 20 years. A month or two ago, I learnt the concept of music notes, how there's something like A, A#, B, C, C# etc... F#, G, G#. Since then, I've been trying to memorize exactly which natural note is which fret (i'll worry abotu memorizing positions of flats and sharps later). I got a lot of good advice from people here on guitarscanada.com forum.
> 
> ...


I don't worry as much about the names of the notes. If I want to call anything out, it is the scale degrees. I'm a math teacher, so I'm pretty good at counting to 7.


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## Griff (Sep 7, 2016)

Pretty interesting question. I would counter with a question of my own - are you aiming to learn to play guitar? To learn music? Or both?

As someone who learned music on piano first, and has studied some theory (although it was a long time ago), I find learning to play guitar is best described as 'patterns'.

By that I mean to say that I wouldn't worry too much about which fret on which string is what note. Rather I think it would be good to know what key you're playing in, where do you set up to play those patterns.

As an example, for major scales I play the following pattern:

-1-3---------‐-----------------------------
--‐----0-1-3-----------------------------
-----------------0-2-3-------------------
--------------------------0-2-3----------
-----------------------------------1-3-----
‐----------------------------------------0-1

This is F major, but this whole pattern just shifts up the fretboard as you go (so add 2 to each number above to get G major). This way, you see the relationship between strings while playing in the major.

Hopefully this makes sense.


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## mozilla2004 (Nov 1, 2020)

Wow, so much great advice here for me to try!!

I have a couple of follow up questions:

1. I don't know what my "goal" is yet with guitar. Basically, in the past 6 months, I've been very fond of a few classical pieces from Beethoven, Bach, Paganini many of which are played on either piano or violin. So I want to play them on my guitar (I don't want to learn piano because I travel a lot and don't want to carry a piano with me every day, and violin seems too technically challenging). Additionally I want to develop enough musical theory and talent to appreciate what makes something great. But as I'm learning, I'm getting distracted by other opportunities...for example, when playing scales, sometimes I accidentally stumble on some really nice sound riffs....that completely surprised me...because 20 years ago, any time i try to improvise it sounded completely terrible and I thought it was impossible for me to be a musician... So I'm just curious what else I'll discover in my musical journey that will steer me off in directions I never anticipated

2. I've seen a lot of people mention pentatonic scale, tutorials / online lessons that have the word Blues, Rock, Jazz in them etc... At the moment, it's the classical stuff that sounds really cool to me, because a) it sounds very heavy metal like which I can identify with more and b) as a lay outsider, it sounds like "so much is happening" and lots for me to analyze. Would studying things like pentatonic scales, stuff related to blues, rock, jazz be the proper entry point to me understanding/playing the more classical stuff like the Mozarts, Lizst etc...?


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## bw66 (Dec 17, 2009)

mozilla2004 said:


> Would studying things like pentatonic scales, stuff related to blues, rock, jazz be the proper entry point to me understanding/playing the more classical stuff like the Mozarts, Lizst etc...?


No. Once you have the major scale more or less sorted, you would probably want to start looking at the various minor scales followed by the modes. To me, that would be your best bet for both classical and metal. I would also start looking into arpeggios (broken up chords) within the scales.


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## Alex (Feb 11, 2006)

mozilla2004 said:


> Wow, so much great advice here for me to try!!
> 
> I have a couple of follow up questions:
> 
> ...


For what you are trying to accomplish, @bw66 recommendation is the way to go. If you want to do rock and jam with people, the blues rock path is a good option.

I highly recommend that you take lessons. Write down what you are trying to accomplish, interview (FaceTime, Skype) a few teachers and take it from there. Finding the right fit is not always easy but doing a bit of legwork has worked for me when taking a few guitar lessons and more recently drum lessons. You will definitely take something away with lessons. All the best.


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## SWLABR (Nov 7, 2017)

mozilla2004 said:


> - Aside from developing finger muscle memory for these scales, is there something else I'm supposed to pay attention to? Is there some "cool thing" that I'm going to realize later that I'm not even anticipating today?
> 
> Any other insight/feedback would be appreciated!!


A cool thing I discovered, is how many Metal guys solo using the Major (and minor) scale. Some of their runs, especially string skipping scales come up a lot! 

Dedication is the key though, stick with it. 

I said that more for myself than you... I really should practice more than I do.


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## dolphinstreet (Sep 11, 2006)

For me, the most useful skill to develop is the ability to hear and see the intervals (or scale degrees) - numbers from 1-13. Learn the sound of them, and when you are learning scale patterns, make SURE you also learn the intervals (numbers). You should practice hearing and finding minor and major 3rds, 5ths, minor and major 7ths, etc. Take a look at musictheory.net - Lessons and then you can also practice this at musictheory.net - Exercises and this awesome site is FREE.


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## Jokeybird (Dec 10, 2020)

Everyone learns differently, but for me, an intervalic approach was the key. I only focused on a single octave span to keep the playing field small. So that would mean evolving how you view that W-W-H-W-W-W-H pattern, and learn what the intervalic relationship is. Root, Maj 2nd, Maj 3rd, Perfect 4th, Perfect 5th, Maj 6th, Maj 7th. That's a major scale, and that sequence of intervals is the constant truth. 

For me, learning all other scales, modes, chords is just a matter of understanding how they differ from that constant truth. Mixolydian is the exact same sequence of intervals, but the 7th is minor instead of major. Lydian has the augmented 4th. 

If you can see / understand the intervals, and most importantly, understand how they relate back to the root (the tonal centre), you can play anything. 

In my personal experience, while the learning curve is initially quick and you get instant satisfaction, learning scale shapes and patterns was ultimately a trap, and just boxed me in. Intervals liberate.

Good luck!


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## Dorian2 (Jun 9, 2015)

Here's a couple of quick suggestions for practicing the Major scale. Most have been posted about already.


start with a single octave, starting in a different key. I'd suggest the keys of C, G, and F. Play the scale starting on the same note on each of the first 4 strings (E, A, D, G)
Once comfortable with the 1 octave, start learning the 2 octave Major scale. Starting on the E string, learn the C, F, and G Major scale starting on each note of the scale. This means you'll need to learn the 2 octave fingers using the standard fingerings and the 3 notes per string fingers.
Once reasonably comfortable with the 2 octave scale, start the scale in specific patterns. Melodic 3rds is a typically good place to start at this point. You can also do patterns like this.

If 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 are the notes of the scale, some helpful "extra patterns" are.

1231, 2342, 3453, etc.
1234, 2345, 3456, 4567, etc

Keep in mind that this short write up is actually a lengthy progression of time in the real, guitar learning world. You'll be referring to it for probably the rest of your playing days. I started this stuff at 15 and I still practice it and refresh my memory now. I'm 51. This is only the tip of the iceberg BTW. 

You can find all this info relatively quickly and easily with google.


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## Dorian2 (Jun 9, 2015)

You can layer it through the 5 notes of the Pentatonic you know already also. Major scale is just 2 notes away.


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## cboutilier (Jan 12, 2016)

Dorian2 said:


> You can layer it through the 5 notes of the Pentatonic you know already also. Major scale is just 2 notes away.


That's what I've mostly done. Learned the penatonic positions, and then what notes to add/remove to them to get to other scales.


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## nman (Sep 14, 2019)

I love to demonstrate scales to my students. I loop a one chord rythym or play a youtube backing track, then jam the minor pentatonic, major pentatonic, major, and minor scale of the key, calling out where I am as I go. The listener is always impressed...then I teach each of the scales, key of A, provide diagrams and go from there. Then we go to harmonizing the scales, learning which chords fit a given key, which helps among other things, with creating and copying songs. With a Teacher and practice, all of the above is only moderately challenging but very rewarding.


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