Scales are the building blocks of music. In the beginning when I started learning guitar, I initially thought scales as those exercises that I had to play before I played the fingerstyle pieces in the book. I didn’t know how they related to the bigger scheme of things.
Later on when I went to music college, I learned about how to practice scales especially when I started studying jazz. This page is a summary of the most important things I’ve learned about learning scales.
Step 1:
Decide on the scale that you’d like to explore.
Some possible choices include:
a) The Major Scale
b) The Melodic Minor Scale
c) The Harmonic Minor Scale
d) The Harmonic Major Scale
Step 2:
Choose one interval that you’d like to practice.
Some possible choices include:
a) diatonic 3rds
b) diatonic 4ths
c) diatonic 5ths
d) diatonic 6ths
e) diatonic 7ths
f) octaves
Step 3:
Practice playing diatonic triads in the scale. You can practice playing them harmonically (as chords) or melodically (as melodies).
Step 4:
Practice playing diatonic 7th chords in the scale. You can practice playing them harmonically (as chords) or melodically (as melodies).
Step 5:
Create your own melodic motives and sequence them in the scale. This is a great way to really get personalized sounds within a scale. When I studied with Berklee Professor Ed Tomassi in his famous Harmonic Considerations in Improvisation classes, this was a major part of our studies.
Hope this helps you in your practice!
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Best wishes,
Az
Thanks alot for this lesson! My students will love it! 🙂
You’re welcome Heiko! How did you find out about my site/this lesson? =)
Very informative Az. What impresses me is the simplicity in which you explain the theory behind each lesson and the structure upon which the lesson is built.
I live in Sydney Australia and play guitar. My passion is teaching and the almost obsessive desire to unravel the mysteries of the fingerboard had stayed with me all my life. I can see you have the same tendencies.
Peter
Thanks Peter! Great to hear from you, glad you enjoyed the lesson. Yes, I’m very curious about elegant ways to explain this. It’s based on different concepts that I learned from many different teachers over the years. 🙂
If this IS the Peter Andrews from the Bondi Guitar Academy, i was your student, and i want to thank you for your positive influence.
I went on to have Antonio Losada, a student of Segovia, as my teacher, and he thought you did a good job with me!
Hi peter, are you the peter andrews who taught guitar in the 80s at bondi at the don Andrews guitar school? I was a student of yours who refused to learn to read music and learnt everything by ear. I’m ready, 40 years later, to do what I’m told if you’re still teaching? Thx Gina
Gina, I too learned under Don, then Peter Andrews. I have been looking for him, just to thank him. I hope this IS him. Amazing place at Bondi…Peter was very influential in my musical development.