Guitar scales – the magic ingredient which every guitarist should know
It is amazing to think of all the people who, whether playing the guitar or not, don’t know what the guitar scales actually are. I can think of very few disciplines in which a sequence of pre-determined notes pave the way for the “right sound”. And this is precisely what the guitar scales are – a collection of notes that have been put together through time, which determine a certain sound or genre.
The guitar scales have therefore made playing simpler, shifting the emphasis away from innovation (creating the music) to execution. In other words, provided you learn the sequence of notes you will be, in effect, given a short cut to performing a good sound.
Like any discipline there are a few tips to give here which you will be well advised to [private_bronze] follow:
- When learning the scales start with the major ones such as C and G. There will be plenty of time to go after the minor ones at a later stage, but you would get the most bang for your buck when mastering the most commonly used ones first, the pentatonic scale for example. If you choose to learn guitar online you will find that this part becomes greatly simplified.
- Take your time and ensure that you learn each note beautifully. Avoid short cuts at all costs at this first phase. Every note must be well rounded and controlled. Use your fingers to feel the strings so you really get a feel for your’e playing, as this will also “force” you to play the notes properly with taking unnecessary shortcuts. This discipline will put you in good stead later on when combinations become more complex and you learn to play more than one genre and it is one of the most effective learning modes that exist.
- Some people say that learning the guitar scales is like learning to speak. What do I mean by that? when I speak I don’t have to think about spelling the letters of the words I say, and the same should be true for the guitar scales. The sequences should be fluent and automatic, a level of mastery that will come very handy when you begin to improvise, as I’m sure you will.
One of the reasons novice guitar players fail, or don’t reach their full potential, is that they lose paience with the basics and attempt to “go for glory” in a short space of time. This seems to be a common thing – I have found the same to be true in writing, sports and amny other disciplines which lack a rigid mandatory qualification. My advice is simply don’t do it.
Time spent at the nascent stages of learning is an investment that will reap rewards many times over. The most important advice I would provide is remember to enjoy what you do – it is most likely that you are learning the guitar because you want to, and not because you have to.
So don’t rush, take your time when learning notes or frets or any other part of this wonderful instrument and you too can learn to play guitar like a pro. And who knows – you may just feature in one of the many guitar posters out there !
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