You're right - nobody has absolute knowledge of EVERY scale. In fact, nobody knows every scale, there are hundreds from all over the world. Most of them would be completely useless for imrovising in a western rock style.
You don't actually need any scales. I know some great lead guitarists who don't know any scales at all. But I agree with your guitarist friend about the major scale. If you have a deep knowledge of that, then the possibilities of what you can do with lead, chords, songwriting, arranging etc, are unlimited.
Scales that do find favour among many lead guitarists include:
Major, minor, the modes, the blues scale and the major and minor pentatonics.
|