in Guitar 101 by letsrock, 18-11-09 16:00
A lot of people get confused when it comes to scales because most books, magazines, and other instructional material on them make them out to be more complicated than they really are. In all the world of music there are literally dozens of different types of scales, but learning them all is overkill for a guitarist. It's just not practical because of the way the guitar's fretboard is step up.
Scales are the building blocks of music. They are a sequence of notes that provide a road map for just about everything including chord construction, chord progressions, songwriting, and soloing. Understanding scales is about as essential to a guitarist's survival as water is to a fish. This section will open up the world of scales to you and completely demystify any misconceptions you may already have about them.
On the other hand, you don't need to know scales to play lead guitar, or for that matter, any instrument. A lot of the old blues players claim that they don't know any scales or theory whatsoever. All you need is an ear to tell you if the notes sound good.
Knowing scales does allow you to be able to improvise smoothly and coherently without sounding like a train wreck. Theory is great, but feel is just as important. Developing both is the tricky part. That said, learn your scales. It will help.
In a way, learning scales is kind of like learning what notes go together well when you're playing in a certain key. Knowing these scales will give you a foundation to know what lead notes sound good together and which ones don't.
Please Scales & Lead section to learn more.
