My method for practicing scales

[i like tictacs]

I see alot of talk around here about scales, and practice them and learn them and whatnot. Well I also see alot people playing/practicing scales from root to root, and to be honest this doesn't really help you much when in an actual playnig situation. you want to be able to utilize all the notes in that scale in a given position on your fretboard, not just root to root. a little theory/scale construction knowledge is needed here, so bear with me. so this is what i have been doing. say we are practicing a c major scale. don't just start on C on your third fret A string and go... CDEFGABC...try starting on your E string. Either the open E or first fret F will work. play all the notes in the key of C starting with the open E, in the first position, or with your index finger on the first fret. so we go

E: E F G
A: A B C
D: D E F
G: G A B
B: C D (skip the open B string)
e: E F G

and so on. now, when you need to pick a note from the C major scale for whatever you are playing, you are familiar with all the notes in this scale/key/whathaveyou and you can use them at your disposal. don't just do this for c, do this for all the scales you know in all the keys you can. also, practice this all over the fretboard, not just down low. you will notice there are always three patterns, and three patterns only, which will help alot once you get going.

so if we did this for an A scale, we would start

E F# G#
A B C#
D E F#


and so on...

get me?

[dmbguitar718]

Good stuff. Kinda like the stuff I'm doing with my guitar teacher.

[DMBFan63]

by three patterns, do you mean.. say on an E scale on just the E string. it goes 0-2-4-5-7-9-11-12
hmm..this is the part I wanted to try and explain, but can't quite explain it. Major scales.. they'll always either be 1 note followed by no note and then 2 notes(picture a fretboard) or 2 notes followed by no note then 1 note or 1 note, no note, 1 note, no note 1 note..

I just confused people unbelievably with my rambling

[i like tictacs]

by three patterns, do you mean.. say on an E scale on just the E string. it goes 0-2-4-5-7-9-11-12
hmm..this is the part I wanted to try and explain, but can't quite explain it. Major scales.. they'll always either be 1 note followed by no note and then 2 notes(picture a fretboard) or 2 notes followed by no note then 1 note or 1 note, no note, 1 note, no note 1 note..

I just confused people unbelievably with my rambling

just try doing that up and down the fretboard, you'll see what i mean.

[DMBFan63]

by three patterns, do you mean.. say on an E scale on just the E string. it goes 0-2-4-5-7-9-11-12
hmm..this is the part I wanted to try and explain, but can't quite explain it. Major scales.. they'll always either be 1 note followed by no note and then 2 notes(picture a fretboard) or 2 notes followed by no note then 1 note or 1 note, no note, 1 note, no note 1 note..

I just confused people unbelievably with my rambling

just try doing that up and down the fretboard, you'll see what i mean.

I know exactly what you mean.. I was just trying to further explain what you said about the 3 patterns that you mentioned. I'm much for lead, but I can do it if I really need to, so I know my scales pretty well

[Speenis]

E: E F G
A: A B C
D: D E F
G: G A B
B: C D (skip the open B string)
e: E F G

and so on. now, when you need to pick a note from the C major scale for whatever you are playing, you are familiar with all the notes in this scale/key/whathaveyou and you can use them at your disposal. don't just do this for c, do this for all the scales you know in all the keys you can. also, practice this all over the fretboard, not just down low. you will notice there are always three patterns, and three patterns only, which will help alot once you get going.

so if we did this for an A scale, we would start

E F# G#
A B C#
D E F#


and so on...

get me?

Feel free to do the other scales.

[Grandpagotgame]

I see what you are saying, thanks for the advice.

[GuitarGuy305]

Modes are a great thing.

[i like tictacs]

E: E F G
A: A B C
D: D E F
G: G A B
B: C D (skip the open B string)
e: E F G

and so on. now, when you need to pick a note from the C major scale for whatever you are playing, you are familiar with all the notes in this scale/key/whathaveyou and you can use them at your disposal. don't just do this for c, do this for all the scales you know in all the keys you can. also, practice this all over the fretboard, not just down low. you will notice there are always three patterns, and three patterns only, which will help alot once you get going.

so if we did this for an A scale, we would start

E F# G#
A B C#
D E F#


and so on...

get me?

Feel free to do the other scales.

i'm not sitting here and writing ten or so scales in 12 keys

[jellyfish]

It all looks chinese to me.

[Speenis]

E: E F G
A: A B C
D: D E F
G: G A B
B: C D (skip the open B string)
e: E F G

and so on. now, when you need to pick a note from the C major scale for whatever you are playing, you are familiar with all the notes in this scale/key/whathaveyou and you can use them at your disposal. don't just do this for c, do this for all the scales you know in all the keys you can. also, practice this all over the fretboard, not just down low. you will notice there are always three patterns, and three patterns only, which will help alot once you get going.

so if we did this for an A scale, we would start

E F# G#
A B C#
D E F#


and so on...

get me?

Feel free to do the other scales.

i'm not sitting here and writing ten or so scales in 12 keys

Come on, pleaaaaaaaaase? This is the first thing I have ever been able to understand about scales. If not, thanks for the help so far.

[mlb1399]

Here are a few more

In G:
e: E, F#(2), G(3)
B: B, C(1), D(3)
G: G, A(2),
D: D, E(2), F#(4)
A: A, B(2), C(4)
E: E, F#(2), G(3)

In D
e: E, F#, G
B: B, C#, D
G: G, A,
D: D, E, F#
A: A, B, C#
E: E, F#, G

In E
e: E, F#, G
B: B, C#, D#
G: G#, A,
D: D#, E, F#
A: A, B, C#
E: F#, G#

Something that has helped me is learning a certain formation of patterns that fit within the scale for instance:

In C:
e: 0, 1, 3
B:0, 1 ,3
G:0, 2
D:0, 2, 3
A:0, 2, 3
E:0, 1, 3
If you notice the relationships between the frets you can just move everything over 1 fret to go to the next key following the same pattern.

In C#
e:1,2, 4
B:1,2,4
G:1,3
D:1,3,4
A:1,3,4
E:1,2,4

In D
e:2,3,5
B:2,3,5
G:2,4
D:2,4,5
A:2,4,5
E:2,3,5

and so forth

[mlb1399]

Another easy pattern to remember for minor pentatonic scales is:

F minor Pentatonic Scale
e:1,4
B:1,4
G:1,3
D:1,3
A:1,3
E:1,4

So move everything over 1 fret and you have F#, then G

G min Pentatonic Scale
e:3,6
B:3,6
G:3,5
D:3,5
A:3,5
E:3,6

[jellyfish]

Another easy pattern to remember for minor pentatonic scales is:

F minor Pentatonic Scale
e:1,4
B:1,4
G:1,3
D:1,3
A:1,3
E:1,4

So move everything over 1 fret and you have F#, then G

G min Pentatonic Scale
e:3,6
B:3,6
G:3,5
D:3,5
A:3,5
E:3,6

Do the numbers "3", 5" mean what fret to hit on that string?

[mlb1399]

Do the numbers "3", 5" mean what fret to hit on that string?

Yes sir.