[jimmypageownz]

well ive been playin for about 7 months n can improvise pretty decent without any scales. i was just wonderin if itd be better to just sit down n learn about 4 thousand scales . so should I???

[deltabluesman]

I've been playing roughly 30 or so years, taught myself how to play with a Mel Bay Chord catalog and some old T-Bone Walker recordings, I still have yet to learn a scale, when I play a lead break or a fill I just remember the chord I'm in and I use that chord from the different places on the neck it can be played, I know it sounds convoluted but I guess after you get the hang of it, it starts getting easier.

[Kirk Lorange]

Originally Posted by deltabluesman

I've been playing roughly 30 or so years, taught myself how to play with a Mel Bay Chord catalog and some old T-Bone Walker recordings, I still have yet to learn a scale, when I play a lead break or a fill I just remember the chord I'm in and I use that chord from the different places on the neck it can be played, I know it sounds convoluted but I guess after you get the hang of it, it starts getting easier.

That's how I do it too, dbm. The beauty of doing it this way is that it doesn't matter how many times the tune changes key or how many 'outside chords' come into play ... so long as you're locked into the chord, you'll always be right on the money.

It sounds like you've read my book PlaneTalk!

[wkriski]

I have Kirk's DVD which shows how you can improvise without scales. Too many guitarists get hung up on scales and modes and over-analysis.

[solidwalnut]

Originally Posted by wkriski

I have Kirk's DVD which shows how you can improvise without scales. Too many guitarists get hung up on scales and modes and over-analysis.

That's right. I think the bottom line is that people who want to learn to play guitar also need to think a bit about learning to become a musician, not just some guitar player. If your goal is to play music, then learn the basics and learn to expand from there. The guitar and music is much simpler when you break them down to their basic components, and that's what Kirk does.

[rubendiaz]

Hello
I would like to ask you,which scale or scales are more practical or you prefer to use while improvising,say in normal songs or pop style,is it Pentatonic?,or more modal scales?...

thanks so much!

all the best

Ruben Diaz.

[rubendiaz]

It is true that blues players use also the pentatonic scale from other intervals besides the root of the chord?...for example say for Am use B pentatonic scale (notes B,D,E,F#,A)over Am

or say E pentatonic (notes E,G,A,B,D)over Am

Thanks for your kind attention and fantastic guitar forum!

Regards
Ruben Diaz

[wkriski]

I don't really like to think about scales per se, so I play in the key of the song. So for both major and minor keys I use the relative major key in 5 CAGED shapes across the neck (which are transposable).

To answer your second question, pentatonics are a subset of the major scale. So for a song in the key of C, you can play C major pentatonic, D minor pentatonic, E minor pentatonic and A minor pentatonic if you want - but these are just a subset of the notes from C major.

This system can also be used when chords are modified to go out of key

Hope that helps.

[rubendiaz]

Thanks Mr Will

is very useful this info

best regards

Ruben

[Linsolv]

I don't mean to be stepping on anyone's toes, but I've been playing around 7 months myself; I learned the minor pentatonic (Only 3 of the positions until recently; 1, 2, and 5 cause it was easy) and moved on to other things.

Past couple weeks, I've been playing around with scales, and I find that knowledge of the pentatonic minor helps a good deal.

Usually when I'm improvising, I just sit on one of the positions. If I need to go higher, I move up a position. It seems like it's easy for me, personally.

YMMV, though.