Now we are familiar with the basic features of the Guitar Tricks Ultimate Metronome. In this lesson we learn how to use the metronome to practice scales.

As I've stated elsewhere, practicing scales can be tedious. But without doing it, it can be very difficult to build the skills necessary to play many other things on the guitar; for example, single note melodies, runs between chords, fills, leads or solos. What we are aiming for here is a systematic way of approaching practicing scales that will make our time as productive as possible.

So, pick a scale to work on. In this case the C major scale. Next we pick a location to practice the scale. In this case, we are going to use the first pattern the C major scale in the first octave. Next we decide on something to do with the scale (how to approach practicing it). In this case we are going to play it straight up and down the scale in one octave. Finally we arrive at the trickiest part: deciding on a tempo.

Go slowly, go evenly. Don't rush or try to go faster than you can while maintaining an even spacing of the notes. You don't want to play sloppy or unevenly, because then you are literally teaching your hands and fingers to play scales sloppy and unevenly! Be patient and gradually build speed consistently.