Guitar Scales- An Important Exercise To Learn

By: Gabriel Adams

Do you know your guitar scales? If you're learning to play
guitar, scales are an important exercise for you to learn.
Scales are often neglected on the guitar, for some reason. But
you would be hard pressed to find a good pianist who didn't have
at least some level of proficiency at scales. The same should be
true for guitarists.

The benefits of learning guitar scales

Learning to play scales on your guitar can have many benefits.
One of the benefits is that you learn the notes of each
particular scale, and become comfortable playing those notes.
When you play a song in that key, you will already be used to
playing each of the notes and will know where they are.

Playing guitar scales also has great technical benefits. Playing
scales can help you increase your dexterity, precision, and
speed of your playing. If you play scales each time you
practice, over time you'll notice your playing skills increasing
from this simple exercise.

Learning and playing guitar scales

There are dozens of different scales, but you'll want to start
out with a few common ones. The most common scales for guitar
are probably C, G, D, & A. I'd suggest that you start with major
scales, as they are generally easiest and more commonly used.
Later you can go on to minor scales plus other scales.

When you first start learning a scale, play it slow enough that
you can play each note correctly and cleanly. As you get better,
you can speed it up. However, never play them fast enough that
you lose control. When you play a scale, each note should be
perfect - clean, and in steady rhythm, tone, and volume. As a
teacher of mine once said, "Make your scales like a pear
necklace - each note, perfect, round, and beautiful!" Follow
this advice and watch your playing improve!

About the author:
Andrew Koblick's Guitar Improvement DVDs include... Amazing Guitar-
Improve Fast & the Ultimate Blues Primer
- Play the Blues Plus check out our Free Guitar
Newsletter.