Varying Your Scale Work

For beginners, scales are one of the greatest tools to develop overall timing and individual finger dexterity, plus a good alternate picking technique. However, like I stated in the previous post, scales will really only get you so far. If you have been soloing for any amount of time, scales more than likely will not help you much. However, if you are dead-set on using scales in your practice regimen, there are some things you need to know that will enhance the amount of rewards you reap from your efforts.

First, while repeatedly running up and down the scale will give a little benefit, it really only the teaches the hands to do a few things. Your picking hand will learn how to pick two, three, and four note patterns in a particular order, depending on the scale. Your fretting hand will learn to fret those same patterns. And you will be able to build up speed in those patterns, but mostly only in those patterns. Like I stated before, you must vary your practice. One of the best ways I have found to do this is to imagine that each note in a scalar pattern is a specific number. For
instance, in the C major scale, C is 1, D is 2, E is 3, etc. Then, either jumble up the numbers in your head or make little pieces of paper with numbers on them and draw them out of a cup. When the numbers are pulled out and out of order, play them in that order. So if the first three numbers are 3 and 1 and 2, play an E and then a C and then a D. Doing this will cause your picking hand to have to move around a lot more, as well as your fretting fingers. You may even want to put the same number in the pile more than once. Another thing that works well is to play each note in the scale twice before moving on to the next note, which teaches your hands to do more speed picking type of work.

Another exercise that is closely related to scales is using the 1234 method. In this practice technique, each one of your fingers is a number: pointer is 1, middle is 2, ring is 3, and pinky is 4. Come up with as many different combinations of these numbers as you can. Choose a fret range that you need practice with, say the 9th-12th frets, and play the pattern by fretting the number that corresponds with your finger. In this case, your middle finger would fret the 10th, and your pinky the 12th, and so on. Play each string this way in this fret range until you have built up considerable speed. You can even play your first two fingers on one string while the secod two play another string. Or, instead of playing each string in succession, you could do some string skipping. For instance, play 1234 on the 9th-12th frets on the high E string and then immediately following play 1234 in the same fret range on the D string. Just get creative. A whole slew of combinations are at your fingertips, no pun intended.

Whatever type of scale you choose, make sure to pay attention to the sound of each note as well as the collection of notes. Do they sound major or minor? Exotic or melancholy? Make a note either mentally or in a guitar journal (which I suggest all musicians have) of which note combinations sound certain ways, and which you would like to use in future songs you write. Just keep in mind that eventually you will have to move on to something more stimulating than scales, or come up with very unique ways of playing scales, in order to progress to the highest level of guitarship.