rreffner
Well-known member
If you only read tab, and not music notation, will learning and practicing scales be of any benefit? Mahalo
Scales question
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JamieFromOntario
Well-known member
I think it'll be worth it to learn and practice scales. Learning to read standard music notation can be very useful, but certainly is not necessary.
Scales give you a great opportunity to practice your technique, and the skills learned playing scales should transfer over to your song playing easily, provided that the song you are playing is in the same 'key' as the scale (aka: both song and scale are based on the same 7 notes).
Also, I find that practicing scales, while often obnoxious (particularly when you first begin), can actually be quite relaxing and a great warm up.
What really tips me off to the efficacy and importance of scales is that scales are something that every classical (not to mention many Jazz, rock, and more) musician learns and practices every day for years and years.
Scales give you a great opportunity to practice your technique, and the skills learned playing scales should transfer over to your song playing easily, provided that the song you are playing is in the same 'key' as the scale (aka: both song and scale are based on the same 7 notes).
Also, I find that practicing scales, while often obnoxious (particularly when you first begin), can actually be quite relaxing and a great warm up.
What really tips me off to the efficacy and importance of scales is that scales are something that every classical (not to mention many Jazz, rock, and more) musician learns and practices every day for years and years.
Ukulele JJ
Super Moderator
Actually there's no "extra" reason to learn scales if you read standard notation. The advantages of learning/practicing scales are the same whether you read tabs, notation, or nothing at all.
Those advantages include:
- Practicing scales helps you develop and maintain speed, dexterity, and fretboard knowledge. (You can play a lot of different exercises to do this, actually. Scales are simply the most common ones.) You don't really have to understand the scale to get this benefit--you just have to be able to play the "shape".
- Knowing scales and understanding how to apply them will help you with writing your own melodies, improvising your own solos, and picking out songs by ear.
- Scales are the backbone of music theory. Understanding scales is the first step toward understanding how chords are built, why they're called what they are, and what to call that weird chord you just made up.
- You'll also better understand the concept of "key" and why certain chords seem to always appear together in the same song.
- You'll be able to think of chords in terms of their relationship to the key's scale. This will help you analyze songs, memorize songs, play/write Nashville number charts, and figure out chords quickly by ear.
- Knowing scales makes it a lot easier to transpose a song from one key to another.
I'm sure I've forgotten about a few...
JJ
Last edited:
Actually there's no "extra" reason to learn scales if you read standard notation. The advantages of learning/practicing scales are the same whether you read tabs, notation, or nothing at all.
Those advantages include:
- Practicing scales helps you develop and maintain speed, dexterity, and fretboard knowledge. (You can play a lot of different exercises to do this, actually. Scales are simply the most common ones.) You don't really have to understand the scale to get this benefit--you just have to be able to play the "shape".
- Knowing scales and understanding how to apply them will help you with writing your own melodies, improvising your own solos, and picking out songs by ear.
- Scales are the backbone of music theory. Understanding scales is the first step toward understanding how chords are built, why they're called what they are, and what to call that weird chord you just made up.
- You'll also better understand the concept of "key" and why certain chords seem to always appear together in the same song.
- You'll be able to think of chords in terms of their relationship to the key's scale. This will help you analyze songs, memorize songs, play/write Nashville number charts, and figure out chords quickly by ear.
- Knowing scales makes it a lot easier to transpose a song from one key to another.
I'm sure I've forgotten about a few...
JJ
Thanks this is great information!
lindydanny
Well-known member
2nd all that.
Don't stop with majors and minors, either. You should add pentatonics and minor pentatonics to that as well. The minor pents. will give you something called a "blues box" that will basically make it possible to solo to any rock or blues song. Seriously, learn this and learn it well!
The best advice on majors that I can give you is to not stop at root notes on the scale. Jimmy Bruno (a master jazz guitarist) doesn't teach "scales" but teaches "fingerings" or "shapes". He has five of them and they follow the major scale patterns except they keep going within your finger's range (without moving more than a fret up or down the neck). In guitar, this is extremely useful and I've been toying around with it on uke with a lot of success. (By success, I mean friends of mine that I play with saying things like "you finally figured it you, huh?")
PM me if you want me to post the fingerings on uke (I won't post them for guitar because that is all Jimmy's material and you can find it on Jimmybruno.com by joining his forum).
~DB
Don't stop with majors and minors, either. You should add pentatonics and minor pentatonics to that as well. The minor pents. will give you something called a "blues box" that will basically make it possible to solo to any rock or blues song. Seriously, learn this and learn it well!
The best advice on majors that I can give you is to not stop at root notes on the scale. Jimmy Bruno (a master jazz guitarist) doesn't teach "scales" but teaches "fingerings" or "shapes". He has five of them and they follow the major scale patterns except they keep going within your finger's range (without moving more than a fret up or down the neck). In guitar, this is extremely useful and I've been toying around with it on uke with a lot of success. (By success, I mean friends of mine that I play with saying things like "you finally figured it you, huh?")
PM me if you want me to post the fingerings on uke (I won't post them for guitar because that is all Jimmy's material and you can find it on Jimmybruno.com by joining his forum).
~DB
