Posted by WayneConrad on Friday, June 7, 2019
For many months I've been working on this major scale pattern. It's a moveable scale (no open strings) on strings 1-3. Moveable scales are good because you can use them to play in any key, just by changing where you start on the neck. This pattern starting at the fifth fret is a C major scale.
I can pick various melodic patterns over this scale, in every key, up to about 120 bpm cut time with some smoothness. Up past 120 bpm, I start to sound rushed and ragged.
By various melodic patterns, I mean like this:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
or this:
1 2 3 2 3 4 3 4 5 4 5 6 5 6 7 6 7 8 8 7 6 7 6 5 6 5 4 5 4 3 4 3 2 3 2 1
or this:
1 3 2 4 3 5 4 6 5 7 6 8 8 6 7 5 6 4 5 3 4 2 3 1
or so on.
Now I'm practicing this scale pattern:
I like this scale pattern because it is a major pinky finger workout (scale degrees 4, 6, and 8 are pinky). And the ring finger gets a lot of work (scale degrees 3 and 7). It's like going to the gym for those two fingers.
The goal is to put those two scale patterns together so that I can move between them fluidly. Then add another pattern, then another, until I can move up and down the fretboard and between the strings easily. That's a big goal, and I don't know if I'll get there, but I love practicing scales so much that I don't care if I reach the goal. I don't even care to play songs right now, because scales are so much fun. That's kind of geeky/sad.
2 comments on “Scales uber alles”
AndyW Says:
Friday, June 7, 2019 @9:56:21 AM
What I did on guitar many moons ago was learn the pentatonic scale in a few positions. It was easy then to improvise in each of the positions and use slides to link them.
Careful you don't sidetrack yourself into doing just the the likes of the above unless it links in with your overall playing, it's quite addictive but for me on guitar proved rather fruitless hence the slight warning.
WayneConrad Says:
Friday, June 7, 2019 @11:59:48 AM
@AndyW - as you can tell, that is a warning I need to hear. I love scales.
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