Scales are an important portion of your creativity, regardless of whichever scales you want! The more scales you know, the more ways you have of expressing yourself. If you wish to have a proved and tested path that will allow you to play the music of many master musicians, I would advise you learn scales in the following order.
1. Minor Pentatonic. This is the first scale and a lot of people learn it. It is simple because it only has 5 notes, and it opens up huge openings for improvisation. Some guitarists never need more than this scale.
2. Major pentatonic. This is pretty alike and is a variation of the minor pentatonic.
3. Major Scale. This scale is the base of western music.
4. Natural Minor scale. The major scale and natural minor scale both form the backbone of western music. You can use the pentatonic scale wherever you apply the minor scale because the pentatonic is in reality the minor scale with just a a couple of notes. With the above collection of scales you can play 95% of music that you are familiar with. If you stop here you can still be a very efficient instrumentalist. The next scales are more particular in their application, but more wonderful and cooler and will start to impart your music with a more special and distinctive feel.
5. Harmonic Minor/Melodic Minor. Two variations of the lower-ranking scales that give a unique feel, particularly the harmonic minor.
6. The major modes are Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, Locrian. These Modes are built up according to particular rules. Depending on your own choice, they will give your music of a peculiar feel. The taking of modes helps you greatly when you are thoroughly experienced with the scales I stated previous.
A lot of people don't make it past the major modes - by the time you master the major modes and the some other scales, you are skilled musician, with a large range of musical scales and stylings to feed into your musical composition and soloing.
7. Exotic Scales. I call any scale that I haven't listed above an "exotic scale" - that's simply my tag for it. There are hundreds of exotic scales, many of them used in specific types of folk music or Jazz. You could spend many years learning them all, and you can find reference books on them such as the Guitar Grimoire.
8. Modes of Exotic scales. Every scale has associated modes; it is not true that modes merely exist for major scales. They provide you an even better palette of notes to pick out from.
These are all valid questions because how you learn to play the guitar is just as important as what you learn to play. Teaching yourself how to play might work just fine if you've got a good ear and some previous exposure to music theory or proficiency on another instrument.
If you're totally new to playing any instrument at all, though, it would be a good idea to get a teacher -- or -- join an online program where you can interact with multiple teachers as well as fellow students. In fact, I would recommend finding at least one 'mentor' or a 'study buddy' to learn with even if you lean towards teaching yourself.
Why?
In short, you learn more and make more progress faster than you would in isolation because you'll be exposed to alternative ways of thinking about your approach to the guitar. Other players can share tips and techniques you have never seen before, as well as help you overcome a problem area that they've already mastered.
Ultimately, though, the question of how to learn guitar is up to you and your choice should be guided by consideration of your own unique situation. The following list of questions should help you make a solid decision:
1. How much can I afford to spend on lessons, books, etc, and how much am I willing to invest to get started?
2. How do I learn best? For example, can you pick up concepts easily just by reading about them, or do you prefer to have audio and video demonstrations you can follow along with?
3. Am I looking to learn a different style of guitar such as Classical, Blues or Jazz? You'll still need to learn basic music theory for any style of music, but you might want to look for instruction that focuses on teaching the theory in one of these contexts.
4. How much time can I allocate to practice? This is very important if you're considering on hiring a guitar teacher. Most teachers will require you to master a lesson before moving on to the next one.
You'll still be paying for those lessons even when you aren't making much progress. So, if you're strapped for time, I recommend investing in a home-study or online couse. This will give you 24/7 access to the information you need outside of your regular guitar lessons.
5. How 'good' of a player do I want to be? If guitar is just a hobby for you, then you'll likely do well with just about any method of instruction. If you want to go pro or start a band, though, you should learn from as many different sources as possible.
Both Mike Brown & Rajinderpal Singh are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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