Should I Learn Guitar Scales?
The answer is both yes and no. The truth is, we could go our entire lives without learning a single scale; but here are some reasons why scales aren’t just for the super nerdy. So, we have all had those guitar lessons, in our formative years, where scales were a seemingly necessary evil; part of our lessons were given over to charts, fingerings, diagrams and all kinds of mathematical voodoo. In that moment our guitar learning experience was instantly divided into fun stuff (Yey!), and academic stuff (Bah!). ‘But I just wanna Rock!’ you’d say, and your teacher would impart that same old wisdom about scales being a vital part of your development … you know the rest. This is really where scales developed their ‘bad rap’ amongst us guitar players; scales felt like school - learning the grammatical rules and conditions of the musical language before we had nailed that most prized dream riff and solo and, without ever really understanding why we were doing so. If your heart is set on shred guitar domination, with dreams of flying around the neck at eye watering speeds; then scales, as a means of creating the ‘right’ places to put your fingers, are an all important step on the learning curve. Equally, if you yearn to improvise guitar solos like the best players in history, scales are a tool with which to grow your vocabulary.
But what if you don’t dream of creative wizardry, or technical showmanship; what if you just wanna ‘rock out’ with your favourite songs and ‘not geek out’ with guitar geometry? Perhaps there are some things to consider when asking yourself ‘Do I need scales?’.
1. ‘Ah, I see what you did there!’ ….
Now, I know it is a debate as old as the first power chord, but the fact is that the biggest names in rock & roll history know (or knew) their scales; from Angus Young to Jimi Hendrix, from BB King to Kerry King. You can’t escape it! Whilst it is, however, true that many players built maps of scales, licks and ‘things that work’ for their musical situations, purely by ear; they all arrived at the same place - a simple language of notes on the fretboard which helped them communicate.
With this in mind, it stands to reason that understanding the same scales found in 99% of Jimmy Page’s solos means that you and he speaks he same language. A pretty cool prospect!
Where this becomes truly useful is having the ability to instantly recognise a riff, lick or solo from the song with which you are learning - finding it all falls into a familiar scale shape. Imagine that, your fingers already ‘know’ where they are going, and suddenly all the parts of that song fit under your fretting hand as if you have played them a thousand times before!
Knowing your scales often makes you feel like you are already half way prepared to learning the song, riff or lick you have set out to master. Call it a head start!
You will find that, not only will songs (and their guitar parts) become easier to master the first time around, but your repertoire becomes so much easier to remember!
You will also be able to learn by sight - recognising the ‘DNA’ of a guitar part and copying it just by watching the players fingers! In this day and age of video guitar lessons this cant be a bad thing!
2. The key ingredient
With scales come chords, and the two are inseparable best friends. The key of a song simply sums up which chords and scales are close buddies. If you get a whiff of the chords (and that goes for power chords too!) a particular song uses, and can fit them all into a common key, the chances are you will find that the solo will fit the notes from its buddy scale.
And the reverse is often true also - find a scale that fits over the song and you have a good chance of knowing the chords in advance.
Relax, depending on the style of music your are into, us guitarists tend to favour a handful of keys, so learning them all isn’t essential.
The key also depicts the intended mood or emotion of a guitar part. This is where the Modes come into things …. And that’s another blog all together!
Now we’re cooking!
3. How many scales does one guitarist need?
This kinda brings us back to those experiences of ‘formal’ guitar tuition - you remember - learning more scales than you knew what to do with! Shapes and patterns that were memorised and stored away in your brain and fingers as simply ‘scales I can play’, without any real use for them. And this is really where many of us became turned off from the notion of ‘studying’ scales shapes and harmony.
As with anything else on the guitar, scales are an almost endless world of combinations and sounds; so let’s consider what you actual need - Laying down reams of Hungarian scales is not going to help you in your quest to master that ZZ Top anthem!
Much of this depends on the music you surround yourself with; if your guitar world is of the classic rock leaning then you’re going to see your humble minor & major pentatonic scales popping up to say ‘Hi’ along with our old friend the blues scale plus a liberal scattering of your basic minor scale too.
If metal is your thing, then take the above and mix in a good knowledge of harmonic minor scales and more exotic and classical sounds such as the minor modes. Equally, you are not going to survive very long in the jazz guitar world without a heavy dose of modes, melodic minor and diminished scales.
If you are a budding bluesman you may be surprised to find, as you develop your skills, your old ‘one size fits all’ blues scale doesn’t fulfil every task; a base knowledge of diminished and tweaked pentatonic scales and modes become your bread and butter.
4. Learn what you’ll use
Much like the above point, if you decide to get some more scales under your digits, try and stick to the scale shapes, positions and types which you find in the music you love. Strive to reach a point where you ‘recognise’ the sight, sound and feel of the music you are learning as belonging to a familiar scale shape or pattern (even if you cant remember the name or attached musical theory).
If you find that every song you learn feels like a new and unfamiliar mountain to climb then its ‘signature’ scales are going to give you a much needed running start. Once you begin to develop an intuition as to which scales and key your choice song is using, then you are cruising!
It’s a simple equation - learning riffs, licks and solos in less time = more time to rock out = more fun and less guitar related headaches!
Scales certainly do make our lives easier. They inevitably save you from reaching for the tablature every time you want to get a foothold on learning or remembering that killer song! How far you take them and to what ends you use them is up to you.