Well, we have had a dry technical description of what a scale is ??" but the special thing is that where is the music in it? OK, in musical terms, a scale can be described as a palette of notes that you can choose from to put together chords, accompaniments, harmonies, melodies solos and just about everything.
Look at it this way ??" you are in need to acquire any language depending upon your choice e.g. English before you can be a poet. Scales are the language of music, and there are a lot of different means to put them together to keep things entertaining. If you have no understanding of scales you would be a bit like trying to write a verse without employing proper words - it could work and be very cool in some cases, but the chances would be much better if you follow a commonly understood medium, which is what scales/language are.
For further understanding - there are many kinds of scales - minor, major modes etc ??" think it as increasing your vocabulary and learning more ways of showing your thoughts.
Why Are They So Important?
Andreas Segovia, the father of modern guitar playing has given fine information about the importance of scales. He maintained that in the briefest space of time most amount of technical ground can be covered through the appropriate learning of scales. And if you think about it, when you are learning scales you are:
1. Studying how to effectively play one note after another.
2. developing the dexterity of your fingers.
3. Make your ears accustomed to listen which notes go together in what sequences. I.e. What notes go into what scales. (This is of paramount importance).
4. Providing you with the great memory of how the standard notes and tones go from one string to the next.
Genuinely you effectively restrict the amount of notes you play by learning to play in a scale. But, no doubt, this is what leaves us with distinctive musical structure. You'll be able to promptly pick out something that fits the mood of the piece you are trying to write provided you learn what a wide range of scales sound like. This saves a lot of "fumbling about" in quest of notes in the long run.
Sometimes it's entertaining to "make up a scale" by picking a set of notes out of the 12 notes accessible for the purpose of more advanced exercise in practice. You'll usually find though that if you research the set of notes you've chosen, that there's probably already a scale which has those notes, but by studying some licks in this new scale, you can jump from something, for example minor pentatonic, into your new scale for a few seconds, before getting back.
