I've really been enjoying this course so far. I am currently on fundamentals 2 and learning the scales. To be quite honest, I am not enjoying this, simply because I don't want to sit here and memorize a boat load of scales. I guess I would really like someone to explain to me why memorizing these scales is so important. Thank You!
Scales
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Originally Posted by: jecheg99I guess I would really like someone to explain to me why memorizing these scales is so important. Thank You!
There are 2 primary reasons we learn to understand & play scales when we learn a musical instrument.
1. Melody is the fundamental attribute of music. A melody is a single note line that is most typically built from a key signature, in other words a scale. This is ear training.
2. Playing single note lines in time is a valuable physical skill. Playing scales, or melodies is the best possible way to learn this skill because it is a way of building your physical skills along with your hearing & conceptual skills.
Eventually you can use scales & single note lines to connect chords, play embellishment lines & play lead solo lines.
Hope that helps!
# 2
# 3
Originally Posted by: jecheg99I've really been enjoying this course so far. I am currently on fundamentals 2 and learning the scales. To be quite honest, I am not enjoying this, simply because I don't want to sit here and memorize a boat load of scales. I guess I would really like someone to explain to me why memorizing these scales is so important. Thank You!
I'll add to what Chris had alreay said.
Something to be mindful of when developing on guitar is the difference between memorizing and learning.
Versus something like math wherein as a child you learn multiplacation tables and the like by memorizing, with guitar, you don't so much want to memorize scales as to learn the shape and what that scale means. First and formost, it is your map of the fretboard. Knowing what is in key and outside of a key at any location on the fretboard will help you understand songs you're learning and when you're to the point when you start playing stuff you make up on your own, knowing what fits in key will help.
Sure, there are a number of different scales like the Major scale, Pentatonic and Mixolydian, Aeolion and so on. It seems all crazy and a bit overwhelming at first. 'I may never use a certain scale, why do I need to know it?'
You will actaully use some part of any of those scales at some point. You just may not need it right now.
When I was learning scales so many years ago, I basically got a sheet of the scales and zero context about them as to when and why they were used. Eventually I started learning by ear what did and did not fit. Nontheless, I had a ittle bit of a chip on my shoulder about all the theory as to when and why to use a scale. Very, very dumb on my part and to a smaller extent, I pay the price today because I lacked certain knowlege that somethime bites me these days.
If you simplify scales this way; they are simply Lego blocks that connect together to form the roadmap around the fretboard. That's all.
Once you know the shappes, as you grow in your playing, you'll see this baseline knowledge and there will be a few 'a-ha' moments where you get that, 'Oh, I get it now.'
But I said that you don't just memorize but that you learn the scales. Whether here or just searching the internet, you'll end up finding reasons why these apply.
For example, I mentioned the Mixolydian mode. Why use that one? Heck, the pentatonic scales does just fine all by itself. Doesn't it?
The Mixolidian is great for jazz lots of jazz-type stuff. Not a jazzer? Listen to the Allman Brothers Ramblin' Man and it slips in to the Mixolydian mode a bit. Whereas this mode often is used to make things sound a little 'outside', Ramblin' Man finds the use of that mode to give it that chill feeling.
In the end, all this stuff is to support how you communicate emotion through what is essentially an inanimate object, the guitar. These the notes in these modes are the 'words' you use to communicate. They give you tools to project that emotion. Understanding a little context early on makes it so much easier to connect with what you learn in the future.
Start with the Pentatonic but don't stop there.
Pointedly, when I was really learning to play and my skills by far exceeded my knowledge, I could have used my own advice above.
Good luck and keep on going!
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