Scale Questions ??????

[fresnojohns]

I have a question that I have been wanting to ask. Now that I am on this forum, I hope I can get an answer. Since I have got back into playing, and from sites like this I am starting to get better at scales. I have a small pocket type scale book that has I would guess at
least fifteen different scales. Here is my question. Maybe a few of you no matter your skill leval have wondered this to.
Pretty much many guitar players use the Minor Pentatonic all of the time. Then they will use the Major Pentatonic by playing the same fingering by moving the pinky finger down. Such as A Minor Pentatonic starts with 1st finger, then slide down to F# second fret and do the same fingering.

Here is the question?

Is using a regular Major or Natural Minor out of the question for playing blues or rock or country????? You actually gain
two more notes in the scale. Or even a standard Blues Scale, which is a Minor Pentatonic adding a flatted 5th note. I am
not talking the Major or Minor Blues as its I believe eight notes.

I picked up a book last year that took forever to get called The Nashville Scale System. All it shows are 3 note per string
scales. Its shows many scales but not any Pentatonic scales at all.

So the question is, should I only know the Pentatonics ???? Or is it wise to use maybe a Blues scale or Natural Minor.
Doing long runs up the fret board connect easier on the scales with more notes. Any help answering this would be great.
I am not putting down Pentatonics at all. So do I only need to know the two??????

Fresnojohns

[Brian]

John, there are a gazillion different scales … but honestly, I think if you understand both the major pentatonic scale and the minor pentatonic scale…. you can play just about anything. That’s all I really know if it means anything.

[fresnojohns]

Brian,
Thank you. After watching you do some demos, it really opens stuff up. After all, you can spend years and years on stuff.
I think in the old days people like Lonnie Mack and B B King didn’t worry much on that. They just played. Thanks…….John

[Brian]

I think you hit the nail on the head. I’ve never worried about what I “should” know – just want I “want” to know. The goal for you should be to be able to play what you want… so if you want to learn how to play blues, focus on imitating blues artists to learn how they do it. The guitar can totally overwhelm you if you let it.. because it’s so versatile – so just focus on learning some basic songs at first… and then branch out. The best way I’ve learned is to just play along with other songs. So put on your favorite CD or the radio or whatever and pretend you’re sitting in with that band / artist… and see what you come up with. You’ll be surprised how quickly that will advance your playing.

[Author]

Posts