Scale memorization
- Thread starter Justin Walker
- Start date
There are tons of scales, so I don’t think they ALL a need to be memorized. The most important scales are taught here, and those are the ones I feel like you should learn and memorize first. You may find some cool exotic scale you may like the sound of or find something about it interesting, and you can learn it if you’d like. Fundamental scales (which are found on the site) are crucial and should be memorized. As far as the process memorizing scales goes, there are many different ways. Everyone learns things differently, but the method that I hear the most and I use personally is repetition. Learn the scale and play it over and over until you have it fully memorized and it is second nature. Also do yourself a favor and play with a metronome. It’s a real pain in the ass and can be very frustrating, but it will help SO much with developing a good sense of time and feel. Hope this helps!
Star with the basics, Major, minor, melodic minor, harmonic minor, pentatonic scales. Learn them all the way up the next and KNOW WHAT THE TONES ARE! I.E. know where the tonic(I) is wherever you’re playing.
Knowing just that you will have no problem thinking modally, or learning any weird scales.
99% of music you will learn to play will fit within the ones I’ve mentioned.
Knowing just that you will have no problem thinking modally, or learning any weird scales.
99% of music you will learn to play will fit within the ones I’ve mentioned.
Learning 1 scale at a time worked best for me, and like someone already mentioned use a metronome. For me focus and verbal affirmation of the note I hit worked best, say the notes out as I run through them. I only know a hand full of scales that I’m comfortable with but I know every notes location on the fret board and I don’t learn a scale just so I know it, I learn how to apply it to my every day enjoyment. The most important part is to learn the intervals and key signature of a scale, learning a pattern was a trap for me that was like a wall. For example F major and d minor share a signature where b is diminished but the intervals are different between the notes because of the whole major and minor thing, I don’t remember where the first position pattern is for either but I know NOT to use b natural and minor has a major 3rd d-e followed by a minor 3rd e-f, major scale is major 3rd f-g and major 3rd g-a sorry blah blah blah syn and Papa gates can teach you that stuff better but for me it is way more important than a pattern that starts at the first fret on the sixth string or fifth fret fifth string kind of stuff. Hope this helps in even a little way, I was hesitant to say anything cause I had a guy run my name through the mud over an argument he wanted to have while I thought I was helping, I called it a tremolo bar but he swore that’s not what it’s called… whammy!
