Scales made cool.

[Elliottman]

So ive just started scales, i felt i needed to as people regard them so highly.

First one ive learnt is a basic Blues scale. Now its great when you get it down, play it back and forth. But i mean you would never just play this over the top of a song would you? So what can you do to make scales sound abit more impressive?

Recordings?

[mlb1399]

You have to mix it up and play things within the scale that sound good to you. Just don't play the scale from beginning to end throughout a song. Try and match some of the notes within a scale with what chord is being played.

If someone is playing a G, C, D chord progression start your note run with the note of that chord. Make sure you throw in some hammer on's and pull off's or the occassional bend to liven it up a little bit.

Code: Select all

E:----------------------
B:---------------------
G:--------------3/5---
D:--------3h5---------
A:--3--5--------------
E:---------------------

[ekoositk]

Use your scales to improvise, find the key of the song and say its the key of Gmaj (same scale as Eminor, metallica uses this scale quite a bit) the trick is you want to start on the g and end your licks on a g. Use hammer ons, pull offs, slides, bends, and trills. Use whatever to make it interesting. You gotta remeber rome wasnt built in a day and it takes time to develop your improv skills

[gumbomadness]

also, its good to FALL OUT OF KEY when you solo. In blues.. sometimes you can use chromatic notes (every note in order.. such as C C# D D# E) etc.. to add to the feel.
Jazz especially falls out of key.. in the improvisation that is. They do it because when you come BACK into key it creates this feeling of completion. Very awesome when used effectivley.

Try falling out of key.. certain things will work really well, others wont.
What you do, is create your own bag of riffs in one key.. and just know that you can shift them around *NO MATTER WHA*T to fit whatever song you want (as long as the genres match and such)

Eventually, you WILL have an arsenal of attacks under your belt .. ready to whip out at will.

Its not just about the scales, its about those little dittys you create with them, learn your scales, and while learning them, make up shit..
eventulaly, i promise, you wont believe whats coming out of you.

Also, use your chord progression to guide your solos..
i advise listening to guitar solos, I.E. john mayer, trey anastasio... etc... try copying a riff that stands out..

i dont mention tim because he is a little more advanced.. but try him too.. much of tims things are technique heavy, but yuou have a fret board and fingers just like him--so anything is possible.

Its all about learning from the masters.. its not copying.. its borrowing..
just like apprenticeship in colonial times..
things are taught, and passed on.. you wont come out being a great soloist if you dont have a role model or people you aspire to be like.. or take there best traits from.

Hang in there with your scales..
also..
another little technique if you find yourself playing the same riffs over and over..

try AVOIDING the main note of the scale.
For example.. if you are soloing against Lie In Our Graves (key of D), if you AVOID the D ... meaning.. dont play it at all.. skip over it.. play around it..etc..
you will be FORCING yourself into a mode .. you will sound more unique.. and you will force yourself into new shapes and you'll find cool things you never heard before.. promise.

After you do that, you can ofcourse hit the D whenever you like, with those few new things under your belt for later on..

Oh ya.. try bending notes in your scales. Certain things will sound good bent in blues.. but then in a pretty song like LIOG, it will sound horrible.

Explore, expiriment, determine, conclude.. and use everything you've learned the next time around-- thats what guitars are all about.

WOOO blabble.

[dmbguitar718]

<3 gumbo.

you give some awesome advice.

[GSR]

Good thread, thanks guys. I gotta get my bass to school...

[ekoositk]

also, its good to FALL OUT OF KEY when you solo. In blues.. sometimes you can use chromatic notes (every note in order.. such as C C# D D# E) etc.. to add to the feel.
Jazz especially falls out of key.. in the improvisation that is. They do it because when you come BACK into key it creates this feeling of completion. Very awesome when used effectivley.

Try falling out of key.. certain things will work really well, others wont.
What you do, is create your own bag of riffs in one key.. and just know that you can shift them around *NO MATTER WHA*T to fit whatever song you want (as long as the genres match and such)

Eventually, you WILL have an arsenal of attacks under your belt .. ready to whip out at will.

Its not just about the scales, its about those little dittys you create with them, learn your scales, and while learning them, make up shit..
eventulaly, i promise, you wont believe whats coming out of you.

Also, use your chord progression to guide your solos..
i advise listening to guitar solos, I.E. john mayer, trey anastasio... etc... try copying a riff that stands out..

i dont mention tim because he is a little more advanced.. but try him too.. much of tims things are technique heavy, but yuou have a fret board and fingers just like him--so anything is possible.

Its all about learning from the masters.. its not copying.. its borrowing..
just like apprenticeship in colonial times..
things are taught, and passed on.. you wont come out being a great soloist if you dont have a role model or people you aspire to be like.. or take there best traits from.

Hang in there with your scales..
also..
another little technique if you find yourself playing the same riffs over and over..

try AVOIDING the main note of the scale.
For example.. if you are soloing against Lie In Our Graves (key of D), if you AVOID the D ... meaning.. dont play it at all.. skip over it.. play around it..etc..
you will be FORCING yourself into a mode .. you will sound more unique.. and you will force yourself into new shapes and you'll find cool things you never heard before.. promise.

After you do that, you can ofcourse hit the D whenever you like, with those few new things under your belt for later on..

Oh ya.. try bending notes in your scales. Certain things will sound good bent in blues.. but then in a pretty song like LIOG, it will sound horrible.

Explore, expiriment, determine, conclude.. and use everything you've learned the next time around-- thats what guitars are all about.

WOOO blabble.

very explanatory, chromatic passing tones can be used alot, as he said.
but remember have fun with it. practicing technique gets old after an hour or two but improv will bring you back to life. if you get bored try another scale http://www.looknohands.com go to advanced guitar and pick a scale (theres a dot you can click so you can see the note names instead of intervals)

[Elliottman]

Thanks for all the advice guys, ill take it into account. Im gonna start learning more chords too, i really want to push on with the guitar but i always put things off. I really need to start putting some time in!

[fatjack]

<3 gumbo.

you give some awesome advice.

not for a beginner though, i think you may have thrown a little too much at him at for a first timer, gumbo.

and something that has yet to be mentioned is rhythmic feel. you can know all your scales up and down the neck, but if you dont have good timing and execution, you wont sound good.

if you dont have a metronome, i suggest you get one and practice with it. try doing different patterns with it just ascending and descending the scale (i.e quarter notes, eighths, sixteenths and so on). THEN start working on creating licks.

its hard for people to understand that good improvising isn't something you just "get." it takes hours of tedious practice to build good technique before you can even think about phrasing (this is something i've realized recently for myself). god didn't just shine a light on charlie parker and he could suddenly solo. that cat practiced for 16 hours a day, just doing scales and patterns up and down in different keys. yes, it may take away some sort of romantic notion of music, but its what necessary to be a good player

[gumbomadness]

<3 gumbo.

you give some awesome advice.

not for a beginner though, i think you may have thrown a little too much at him at for a first timer, gumbo.

and something that has yet to be mentioned is rhythmic feel. you can know all your scales up and down the neck, but if you dont have good timing and execution, you wont sound good.

if you dont have a metronome, i suggest you get one and practice with it. try doing different patterns with it just ascending and descending the scale (i.e quarter notes, eighths, sixteenths and so on). THEN start working on creating licks.

its hard for people to understand that good improvising isn't something you just "get." it takes hours of tedious practice to build good technique before you can even think about phrasing (this is something i've realized recently for myself). god didn't just shine a light on charlie parker and he could suddenly solo. that cat practiced for 16 hours a day, just doing scales and patterns up and down in different keys. yes, it may take away some sort of romantic notion of music, but its what necessary to be a good player

agreed..its sort of funny to imagine people like charlie parker playing things like mary had a little lamb.

btw fatjack, have you ever tried to play Au Privave by Parker? Hot damn thats a hard melody (timing wise).

[fatjack]

<3 gumbo.

you give some awesome advice.

not for a beginner though, i think you may have thrown a little too much at him at for a first timer, gumbo.

and something that has yet to be mentioned is rhythmic feel. you can know all your scales up and down the neck, but if you dont have good timing and execution, you wont sound good.

if you dont have a metronome, i suggest you get one and practice with it. try doing different patterns with it just ascending and descending the scale (i.e quarter notes, eighths, sixteenths and so on). THEN start working on creating licks.

its hard for people to understand that good improvising isn't something you just "get." it takes hours of tedious practice to build good technique before you can even think about phrasing (this is something i've realized recently for myself). god didn't just shine a light on charlie parker and he could suddenly solo. that cat practiced for 16 hours a day, just doing scales and patterns up and down in different keys. yes, it may take away some sort of romantic notion of music, but its what necessary to be a good player

agreed..its sort of funny to imagine people like charlie parker playing things like mary had a little lamb.

btw fatjack, have you ever tried to play Au Privave by Parker? Hot damn thats a hard melody (timing wise).

not yet, but im sure i will

[NJPearce22]

Practicing little walk up things help a lot too:

Code: Select all

e|---------------------------------------------3---3-6-8-6-
B|-------------------------------------3---3-6---6---------
G|---------------------------3-5-3-5-6---6-----------------
D|-------------------3-5-3-5-------------------------------
A|-----3---3-4-5-4-5---------------------------------------
E|-3-6---6-------------------------------------------------

In that pattern I walked up three and then went down one. Up three down one...and so on. You can change the number of up/down in any scale like that to help practice and get used to them faster.

[ericwormann]

Thanks for all the advice guys, ill take it into account. Im gonna start learning more chords too, i really want to push on with the guitar but i always put things off. I really need to start putting some time in!

If you're interested in learning how to use a blues scale effectively, listen to more Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Their stuff doesn't deviate too far from blues scales.

[gumbomadness]

stevie ray for the blues dog. .. and if you want to start with easier licks start with maybe buddy guy, and bb king...
or download a John Mayer TRIO*** live show.