Top Five Reasons To Learn Guitar Scales

To learn guitar scales is an invaluable asset for any lead or rhythm guitarist. Scales provide the basic building blocks in which music is constructed. As a guitarist, understanding and applying a few basic scales can allow enormous growth as a musician.

Learning guitar scales and applying them is important to create a sense of mood with your music. Scales will also be very important in the context of any lead guitar playing, as they are the backbone to guitar solos. They will also define the genre and sound that you are looking to create.

Have you ever wondered why certain songs make you feel happy, while others elecit a feeling of sadness? The notes in scales affect the mood in music. For example, to create a happy feel, the major scale is often used. On the other hand, the natural minor scale can portray a sad feel to a song. So when listening to music it is important to understand that the scales used will have a emotional effect on the listener.

To know and learn guitar scales is especially important in lead guitar. For example if you’re interested in improvising a guitar solo, you must know which notes are contained in the musical backing piece and the key that the piece is in. By knowing the scale that fits the piece of music, this allows you not to think so much about what notes work, but more importantly, how to express yourself by using the notes that you know fit perfectly. By having a framework in your head of what notes are available to you when improvising a guitar solo – you can create a better solo in much less time and never hit a wrong note. By knowing the appropriate scales, this will make your playing effortless and unlock your creativity.

To learn guitar scales will allow you to fully explore and understand different genres of music that you may be interested in. For example you may love to play the blues. In this case your playing depends upon whether you can apply the most common scales for this genre of music – ie, the minor pentatonic, major pentatonic and blues scales.

To create a specialised sound we first must use a specific scale. For example, we can create a Spanish or flamenco sound by using the gypsy scale or phrygian mode. If your playing is focused to a certain type of music, it is best to start learning the scales that correspond to that genre before learning other types of scales.

Learning guitar scales can be an enjoyable exercise if practised correctly. I recommend to learn guitar scales with a backing track, to not only make the learning process fun, but also to promote creativity. It doesn’t have to be a painful experience!

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