How Do Scale Patterns Work? - 138

On guitar, we learn scales visually without any idea what the notes are and what their function is.

Today, I'm going to show a different way of starting to play scale patterns that makes sense and gives much better results.

"Why do my solos always sound like I'm practicing scales?" If I had a nickle for every time I've heard that.

I've always thought that this is so common because we are usually given a sheet of paper with a bunch of dots on it and then we are expected to make music out of it.

We don't know why those dots are supposed to work. We don't know how to practice them correctly to get the most from them.

Usually we are asked to practice them up and down, without the next key part that's needed to make sense out of all of this: matching them to a chord or a chord progression.

You see, not all notes in a scale are created equal. Did you know that? Just because a note is in the scale, doesn't mean it is a good choice to play every time.

"Well, it's in the scale so it should work.." Not exactly.

So, today I'm going to start from the beginning and quickly run through the key concepts you need at different places along your journey with the guitar to make sense of scales and scale patterns so that you aren't intimidated by them and can start making music instead of going up and down scales.

Check out the podcast above and don't forget to pick up your free Three Notes Per String scale patterns at: https://www.playguitaracademy.com/3nps