Guitar Scales Method

[josh821]

Has anyone used this program extensively enough to have some good insight on its usefulness?

I'm not new to improvising, theory, scales, or whatever, but I've always come from a blues background where you really only need one scale and you learn how to play by trial and error and I've been trying to figure out the best route to go to get really good at modal improvising. Basically I need to open up the fretboard a bit more so I don't get stuck in "if I'm in this key I have to be at these 2 places on the neck". I wanna be able to follow the chords when I improvise instead of just using the scale that best fits over most of the chords.

Aside from learning 5 or so patterns for each scale/mode it seems like it might be easier to use the method in this program. The only thing is it seems like it'll take a while before I can start putting what it's showing me into practical use and I'd hate to memorize patterns, degrees, whatever for a couple months and then realize there's a much easier way to do it.

Any feedback would be appreciated. Hell, even if you just have another suggestion or are far beyond needing this program (ie. can improvise completely chromatically) and wanna take a quick gander at how it works just to let me know what you think I'd be in your debt.

 

[Durero]

Link?

 

[josh821]

Guitar Scales Method - Home

Sorry, it comes up first when Googled so I didn't bother putting it in.

 

[Durero]

Ah too bad it's Windows only - can't run it.

I'd be interested to hear what others think of it though.

Does it use 3 note-per-string fingerings or the older traditional fingerings?

 

[josh821]

Neither really. It breaks things up into 5 two fret wide patterns that each contain all 7 degrees of the scale. You learn these patterns inside and out and then where they are all the way up and down the neck for each key. That's why I'm kind of reluctant to learning this way if it doesn't turn out to be effective, because you can't actually use any of it until you get to that last step where it all comes together. Kinda hard to play a solo with 1 to 2 notes per string.

 

[Durero]

Sounds a bit unusual to me. I'd consider the 7 basic 3 note-per-string patterns which cover the whole neck to be the most essential and efficient fingerings to know for soloing. There are certainly many different ways to play a scale on the guitar though, and most folks have their personal favorites.

 

[Drew]

Freaky. That's how I think of scales, in two-string three-note-per-string blocks, and I've never even heard of this.

I think there's a lot to be gained from a modual approach to scales in terms of flexibility in improvising around the neck (especially if you dig spiraling legato runs, as do I), but I would recommend combining this approach with memorizing fixed position and 3nps scale patterns as well, as it greatly facilitates the process of "linking" these moduals together into something big enough to be useful.

 

[Rayder]

i have the program, and honestly, i dont use the program's exercises all that much.
BUT - it does have a nice collection of music theory. pretty much like a music theory book, and its quite long. its where i learnt most of my music theory knowledge from. your best bet would be to learn scales (extensively), and combine it with a good knowledge of the fretboard, which in all fairness, everything is almost useless unless you know how to play specific notes on the guitar...

 

[KillMAH]

I've tried it, and I found that it was counterproductive. While the scale fragments are a much more learnable chunk of information, they are devoid of context in a musical sense. You can't really use them musically until you combine them with the adjacent fragment into a full scale. I found that I began visualizing the fragments instead of the scales I already know. Also the full scales that it teaches are standard and not three-note-per string. One advantage is that it does teach you very thoroughly the scale degrees.

 

[Drew]

While the scale fragments are a much more learnable chunk of information, they are devoid of context in a musical sense. You can't really use them musically until you combine them with the adjacent fragment into a full scale.

To be fair, though, this is why this concept of three note per string two string groupings makes so much more sense to me than memorized patterns. Once you get comfortable with such groupings and learn how they fit together, you have a very convenient way to chain them together that allows you to sort of spiral up and down the neck without worrying too much about scale patterns - you just have to know what the next grouping above and below any given grouping is, and you can sort of tumble your way up or down the neck without thinking about full patterns.

Really, it's all what is intuitive for YOU. Since my phrasing tends to form around spiraling three, four, or five or six note groupings, this approach pidgonholes nicely in with how I play, so it's just how I began thinking about scales. If you don't tend to phrase like this, then it's probably not an approach that would work for you.

Either way, I don't know if it's something I'd pay for, as there's plenty of instructional material on the net and you should be able to work out most of these conclusions on your own.

 

[Jongpil Yun]

IMO it's better just to learn notes and intervals across the fretboard.

For example, I know that in C Harmonic Minor, the b3 is on the 11th fret on both E strings, 6th fret A string, 1st fret D string, 8th fret G string, 4th fret on both B strings.

 

[Rayder]

^^^
well that is relatively simple. you just have to know how to count intervals from any root note. the minor 3rd in a C Harmonic minor scale is Eb. this is where i was saying before, without a good knowledge of the fretboard you are stuck. but i am learning all this slowly, and i know i will get there

 

[Wiz]

You have to know what notes the scale is exactly made of, in your head. So for example if you're playing a C major you know that you use all the unaltered notes. Once you know that, run around the fretboard in various patterns that you can come up with, so that you completely forget about the existence of boxes. Blues is a bit different cause most peeps find the two main fingerings / boxes to be more than enough, but usually you don't want to do that, especially in jazz. Take a scale you like, choose the key that has the fewest alterations (at first) and screw around with it for a while. You can do:

1) Diagonal runs (with a limited # of notes per string or as many as you like)
2) String skipping
3) Never using same string or adjacent strings twice in a row.
4) Other patterns you come up with.

Once you're done with one simple scale (again like C major) go with F major and G major, then D major and Bb major and so on. Switch between one and the other on the fly without stopping so you hear the difference right away. If you do this a lot, for a long time and consistently you will have the picture of the fretboard in your head, the so called frets that light up when you have a certain scale and key in mind, so that all you do is basically play on those notes that are lit. If you're like me (and probably everybody else) and you started with 3 note per string boxes for basically every scale out there, practicing this method and trying to forget about the boxes will be a total paradigm shift for you which will free you from the memorized fingerings patterns. The whole purpose is to completely forget about the fretboard, but to just feel it. Just like when you're typing on your keyboard you don't really think about where the keys you're pressing are, cause you just know they are there, same process should be applied to the guitar. It's probably one of the hardest things to learn well, but it pays off so immensely.

I think Satriani mentions something about it here in this video. It's funny how I was covering that with my jazz guitar teacher and then I saw satch explain something relatively similar on youtube that same day.
YouTube - Joe Satriani's Guitar Tips

 

[Durero]

^good post