I want to write my own riffs and solos and i’m having some trouble getting started. Should i learn some scales? i don’t wanna waste my time with useless bullshit and i want it to be real quick. i don’t have a teacher. i can cover many songs with little or no challenge so i’m actually pretty good. do all guitarists learn these?they look like notes that sound good, thats it. how am i gonna use these in a song. most songs have powerchords. the scales dont. how would anyone write a solo with only notes that sound the same. it would be terrible. are scales music theory? what scales should i learn? and dont say all of em. i want to learn 1 maybe. if it helps ill learn another if it doesnt ill say fuck it. how am i gona use this in my music. i can’t just play a bunch of different notes on a guitar that sound good. it would be flat. the scales dont help. Should I learn them? do all guitarists learn them? for example, josh homme, did he learn guitar scales? i really want to make guitar riffs and solos and make my own songs. but like i said its hard. Should i learn these stupid ass scales?
Dear Whiner – learn your scales You are just playing CRAP without them – and deluding yourself. You are still in the playpen of thinking that that LOUD and FAST stuff you play is actually good – well, listen to some FINE players – it you can understand, truly understand them – and them get some humility. Like many others on these lists, I have been a full-time professional instrumentalist for DECADES. Every day of my life – I run at least 60 scales in 8 different articulations (any other Taffanel/Gaubert addicts out there?) It is like breathing, or blood flowing. I have a circuit-training chart, so that on days when my professional schedule is really heavy, and I cannot do it all, I can do a certain amount and pick it up later – instead of always relying on memory. The scales THEMSELVES have been memorized since about 1966. And this is only the first fifth of my daily regimen – there is a lot more we ALL do every day, just to stay good – it took us a long time to GET professionally good, so we are not about to quit now.
BTW – sprinkling your questions with disdain and profanity only reinforces your projection of insecurity. I am guessing that you are teaching yourslef to play in your bedroom, and YOU and a few other friends are the only ones who think you are any good – and I am guessing that you all are between 13 and 16 years old. Covering most song out today is no challenge – they are written for the mindless. Can you get all the changes to "What Becomes of the Broken-Hearted – a Motown CLASSIC – by ear? No? Hey – it’s slow, and if you are THAT good . . . . How are those academics going for ya? Only want to learn SOME math, only where a couple of countries might be on the map, etc.? You need to read the new Keith Richards bio – yeah, it’s gonna look a little thick to you. MAN UP – if you want the prize, do the WORK. We all did. The whiners are still in their bedrooms.
Added – @Carrie – I am hardly a slow learner – I just RUN these – and we are talking about fluent tempi and clear technique – every day, as part of my usual regimen. It takes only a very few minutes – and I do not do ALL 60 every day in every artic. – that is why a keep a system. If I intend to keep DT working in sixteenths @ 144 or so – I want to check on these in rotation. At that tempo, I can run all 60 in 2-plus octaves in less than 6 minutes. Including arpeggios – less than 8. then I move onto other parameters. How do you spend YOUR practice time?
Added 2 – Dear Carries – It is difficult to type while wiping egg of my face, but I will try . My APOLOGIES for reading so quickly and missing a portion of your post – and essentially, the point. Kids think that once they learn their scales, they are DONE – whew, don’t have to do THEM anymore! We pros know better. I met a horn player once in s seminar, who said that no matter how busy his administration job was, he still did his scales every day – but they were BORING, so he watched Oprah while doing them! I asked him, "How do you HEAR?" (meaning – his horn playing.) His answer – "
No problem – I turn the TV up REALLY loud!" This is a true story – you cannot make up idiots like this.
At least the original kid got to hear what we do for daily practice . . . .
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{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Dear Whiner – learn your scales You are just playing CRAP without them – and deluding yourself. You are still in the playpen of thinking that that LOUD and FAST stuff you play is actually good – well, listen to some FINE players – it you can understand, truly understand them – and them get some humility. Like many others on these lists, I have been a full-time professional instrumentalist for DECADES. Every day of my life – I run at least 60 scales in 8 different articulations (any other Taffanel/Gaubert addicts out there?) It is like breathing, or blood flowing. I have a circuit-training chart, so that on days when my professional schedule is really heavy, and I cannot do it all, I can do a certain amount and pick it up later – instead of always relying on memory. The scales THEMSELVES have been memorized since about 1966. And this is only the first fifth of my daily regimen – there is a lot more we ALL do every day, just to stay good – it took us a long time to GET professionally good, so we are not about to quit now.
BTW – sprinkling your questions with disdain and profanity only reinforces your projection of insecurity. I am guessing that you are teaching yourslef to play in your bedroom, and YOU and a few other friends are the only ones who think you are any good – and I am guessing that you all are between 13 and 16 years old. Covering most song out today is no challenge – they are written for the mindless. Can you get all the changes to "What Becomes of the Broken-Hearted – a Motown CLASSIC – by ear? No? Hey – it’s slow, and if you are THAT good . . . . How are those academics going for ya? Only want to learn SOME math, only where a couple of countries might be on the map, etc.? You need to read the new Keith Richards bio – yeah, it’s gonna look a little thick to you. MAN UP – if you want the prize, do the WORK. We all did. The whiners are still in their bedrooms.
Added – @Carrie – I am hardly a slow learner – I just RUN these – and we are talking about fluent tempi and clear technique – every day, as part of my usual regimen. It takes only a very few minutes – and I do not do ALL 60 every day in every artic. – that is why a keep a system. If I intend to keep DT working in sixteenths @ 144 or so – I want to check on these in rotation. At that tempo, I can run all 60 in 2-plus octaves in less than 6 minutes. Including arpeggios – less than 8. then I move onto other parameters. How do you spend YOUR practice time?
Added 2 – Dear Carries – It is difficult to type while wiping egg of my face, but I will try . My APOLOGIES for reading so quickly and missing a portion of your post – and essentially, the point. Kids think that once they learn their scales, they are DONE – whew, don’t have to do THEM anymore! We pros know better. I met a horn player once in s seminar, who said that no matter how busy his administration job was, he still did his scales every day – but they were BORING, so he watched Oprah while doing them! I asked him, "How do you HEAR?" (meaning – his horn playing.) His answer – "
No problem – I turn the TV up REALLY loud!" This is a true story – you cannot make up idiots like this.
At least the original kid got to hear what we do for daily practice . . . .
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Professional flutist and certified, multi-degreed teacher and competition judge (NYSSMA All-State woodwinds, piano, voice) in NY since 1973. Playing piano since 1956, flute since 1963.
yes its best to learn scales if you want to scale and i hate to tell you but you are gonna have to learn them all if you wanna get good at it.. most guitar players that i know, know all of their scales
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Shut up and listen ! All guitarists have to learn chord patterns, and all songs are played in their own key. If you really want to be a good player, you have to start the right way, and then you can improvise. Also if you keep being rude to people on the site, nobody will want to teach you anything !!
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All I have to say is yes.
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Whether you or any other guitarist realizes it or not, you’re using scales.
Why not just learn them so you can recognize them when you encounter them? It’s a lot easier to listen to something and go "That sounded Dorian… yeah… there we go! Figured it out no problem!" than "Okay that first note was… there… then did it go here? no… here? no… crap"
Basically, you’re asking "Is it beneficial to actually learn how music is constructed?" To which the answer is an obvious yes.
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james hetfield of metallica doesnt even know the notes on a guitar
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>>Should i learn these stupid *** scales?<<
No, I think you should continue just the way you’re going at the moment in light of the fact that’s it’s working out so well for you so far. Then when you’ve grown up a little – well, actually, a lot – you might be ready to take another look at the situation.
Good luck.
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Pro guitarist
No, you don’t have to learn scales. The only people who play scales are people who want to have better technique, play cleaner and faster, write music with substance and become a musician capable of playing music with chords other than power chords. You’re more talented than those people who HAVE to practice scales. Mamianka, who has been a musician longer than you’ve been alive, must be a slow learner to have to play so many scales every day. I am a slow learner, too, having conservatory training and a music degree and STILL practicing scales, but you seem like the kind of person who wouldn’t have to practice scales.
You sound like you’re doing fantastic already. You’re right- one scale should do. Learn a 1 octave G scale. Just go up the scale- no need to come back down. Play it as fast as you can, also.
@Mamianka- Please reread what I wrote. I was being heavily sarcastic. I was using you as an example of an accomplished musician who still does scales. I also said I still do scales.
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Musician of 15 years
Try this site:
http://www.learnguitarsonline.com, you will find you need
Good luck to you!
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Sounds to me like you need to learn a lot more than scales.
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