Learn Guitar Scales

Learn Guitar Scales: The Key Element in Soloing

When you learn guitar scales you are doing nothing more than learning a template for note progression.  This is why there are so many different scales and why they have different structures.  To learn guitar scales you just need to realize that there are certain templates for each type of scale and learning them is nothing more than remembering where they fall.  A major scale is going to follow a specific progression just like a minor scale will.  Picking out scales and becoming familiar with the way they sound to other notes and chords being played is the key to soloing.  This does not mean you will not be able to play lead without understanding these elements but they will give you a better grasp of why what you are playing sounds good with what someone else is playing.

To learn guitar scales you will need to practice them over and over again to get the feel for them.  You can use a previous article that was listed entitled “Learning Guitar Notes: The Recipe of Music” to help get a better understanding of note progression.  Note progression is the way notes fall down and this is the guideline that a scale will follow to make it what it is.  When you play an open C chord you are hitting the strings on the guitar that make up a C scale.  One of the greatest and easiest things about the guitar is the way everything is linked together.  This is why people who can read music can play just about anything because music is a language.  Once you know the language it never changes no matter what instrument you play.  When you learn guitar scales on a guitar they are the same on a sax, piano, clarinet, tuba, or whatever.

This is why the need to learn guitar scales is so evident because they are vital to understanding how music works.  This is not to say you are not going to be able to play without knowing them because of course you are.  There are many guitarists who only know a few scales and have no problem playing leads and rhythm.  However, this does not mean the need to know them is not there because the more you know about music the better musician you are going to be.  If you want to learn guitar scales they can be found in just about any instructional guitar book or on the Internet.  Once you know a few the others fall into place.

To learn guitar scales you will just need to make sure you have an understanding of note progression and you will be on your way to ripping leads to just about anything anyone can play.  The different styles of music will call for different scales but again, they are interchangeable and can be mixed and matched to go with anything.  You can even learn guitar scales just by fiddling around on your own and make your own as you go along.  While there is a certain formula to follow these are not hard and fast rules.