Looking for Scales to Practice

[Darryl V]

I’m looking for a list of scales that I should be working on. I know scales are referenced in various lessons. Is there a page or place I can go to where all the scales are listed. I’m wanting to start working through them during my practice time. Thank you.

[Mark P]

Hi Darryl,

Don’t know where you are in your guitar journey but Brian uses the pentatonic scales quite often in his lessons. If you go to the main lesson page and click on “Courses” you will see the Lead Guitar Course. At the beginning of the lead course Brian has introductory pentatonic scale videos.

Mark

[sunjamr]

Good question, Darryl. Here’s some food for thought:

Here’s the list you asked for:

1) Major scale
2) minor scale
3) modes are optional

BB King said he never practiced scales in his life. So how did he learn to play so well?

I’ve been playing for almost a decade now, and I think I practiced scales for less than one hour total. That is, UNLESS you consider playing licks using the notes of the pentatonic scale to be practicing scales. Rather than sitting around playing major and minor scales (key doesn’t matter, because the positions are all relative), I found it a lot more fun to just start learning the blues-style lessons, which usually include licks in several pentatonic positions.

I guess people who are very fast learners and good at rote memorization might profit from sitting around running the major and minor scales up and down the neck. But to me, it’s more fun to just start learning stuff that sounds good. After all, I still like to impress my wife and family.

Sunjamr Steve

[charjo]

Darryl,

I think many of us at Active Melody have come to regard scales as not something to be seen in isolation. The idea to keep in mind is that where there’s a scale, there’s a chord and where there’s a chord, there’s a scale. Chords are created from intervals in a scale. From one major scale you can create 7 basic chords that are “diatonic” ie. that fit the key.

Brian did a series of lessons, EP 556-559 where he related each CAGED chord shape to all the scales, arpeggios and triads that could be found within that chord shape. This is, ultimately, what you need to understand to become more advanced.

Check out those lessons, if not to learn the material right away, at least to see how the guitar fretboard works and how scales fit into a bigger picture.

The other point I would add is, if early in your journey you can learn to identify intervals, ie. a major 3rd, 5th etc. around a root note, you will be able to create any scale you like, anywhere you want by only knowing what unique intervals define that scale or mode.

John

[Michael K]

“The other point I would add is, if early in your journey you can learn to identify intervals, ie. a major 3rd, 5th etc. around a root note, you will be able to create any scale you like, anywhere you want by only knowing what unique intervals define that scale or mode.” <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<THIS

I put off learning scales and intervals for a very long time and feel it unlocks understanding music in general. It also allows you to communicate ideas with other musicians effectively. I wish I would have learned it all when I was in high school back in the 80’s, but instead I was confused by the whole thing and we didn’t have the internet and all the stuff young players have nowadays for learning. I was more interested in drums at that period of time but there was a lot of percussion equipment that relied on knowing basic music theory like the bells, vibraphone, and orchestra chimes that would have been very easy to play had I known what I know now.

I’m still blown away with the knowledge that as long as you can locate your root notes, you can pick any one of them and play any scale ascending or decending by virtue of the basic scale formula or by knowing the basic patterns associated with each scale type.

Major: Root, Whole, Whole, Half, Whole, Whole, Whole, Half (octave)
From that above formula, you can calculate every other scale from it’s formula based off the major scale.

Natural Minor: 1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7

Major Pentatonic: 1 2 3 5 6
Minor Pentatonic: 1 b3 4 5 b7

Beyond that all you really need is to know where the blue notes are for both the major and minor pentatonic scales are.

The major pentatonic blue note is between the 2 and 3 (flat 3).
The minor pentatonic blue note is between the 4 and 5 (flat 5).

If you really want to open your self up a bit, learn each of these scales on each string. I just started doing that, and it’s not hard to do if you already know the formula.

Minor pentatonic is just 1 b3 p4 p5 b7 (1.5, W, W, 1.5, W)
Major pentatonic is just 1 2 3 5 6 (W, W, 1.5, W, 1.5)

b=flatted note
W= Whole Step
1.5= One and a half whole steps or 3 semi-tones

Don’t focus on the actual notes in the scale as much, just look at the intervals (space between notes) in sequence from any root note on the fret board.

Once you know those scales, you make up licks or copy other players lick within the scales. Two or three licks can be varied here or there to make up an entire solo piece or melodic line.

Pentatonic pattern #3 is one of the ones I avoid playing licks on. Better to just slide up to pattern #4 where there is easier to play licks in. Or slide down to Pattern #2. Still have to know that pattern, but using it more as a bridge to get to adjacent patterns.

[Author]

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