It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Subscribe to our Patreon, and get image uploads with no ads on the site!
Base theme by DesignModo & ported to Powered by Vanilla by Chris Ireland, modified by the "theFB" team.
Comments
I can see that becoming a thing.
Scales are my way points. I need them as a reference for sound. If I hear a song, or think of a melody, I might know which scale to use or how to modify that scale, but it would be a quick fumble to find the key. I'd be lost without having an idea of the underlying scale.
Once you learn all the notes within a scale(s) pattern/location, sing melodies and then find the notes within these scale(s).
I tend not to think of scales as such, but more think about the relevant keys i.e. what sharps or flats are needed rather than the linear sequence of scales.
Look up interval practice with Google.
But surely for someone like you, and I know you're an awse player and musician, it's not the lack of perfect pitch that causes this, but the eternal struggle that we all have of trying immediately to snap to the right notes on the f'board according to what we already hear in our brain? We have good relative pitch, regardless of whether we have perfect pitch as well, but we still find it hard to play what we can sing, is that not true?
edit - actually that isn't what I'm trying to say. What I really mean is, yes we recognise patterns and ascribe them to scales as we play, which can help, and which is using theory for what I think it's most useful for - describing what is happening and making things familiar, - but probably what we don't do is start off from the scale and confine ourselves to play within it. Or at least, not consciously or deliberately.
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
I don't disagree with your main points which are well made. I was just picking up on the statement that 'scales are for practicing dexterity not for improvising melodies'. But, I've probably misunderstood the point being made.
I'm not 100% sure what's going on (or where it's coming from) when I improvise or invent a melody when composing, just as I don't fully know why I choose the words I do when I start talking. Which I expect is true of most of us.
I think, like most players, I've just copied loads of solos and melodies over the years (and continue to do so). In combination with that, I've related what I've learned to scales and become familiar with the sound of the parent scale and phrases (including arpeggios) within the scale. Then I've experimented in finding my own phrases within the scales, plus the effect of modifying the scale by adding such things as b5 and chromatic tones etc. This isn't just about notes, it's also rhythmic variation as others have mentioned.
So, to use an incredibly corny analogy, scales are my paintboxes for sound and I can mix the colours a bit. - I think I'm going to throw up after saying that .
If you can't play what you hear, you've not practiced this skill enough.
Let your ears create music, don't let your fingers dictate what you play.
Obviously, this can be overdone... (don't ask me how I know, I just know, ok?)
You need an idea of what you are going to do, but it should be a vague idea.
My feedback page: http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/91654/
If you're talking about how to use scale shapes in a new or interesting way, then experimentation will be your ally, reverse a pattern, skip strings, add dimensions, twist the shape around until you create something interesting.
Hope it helps, cheers
Max
The intervals within the chosen scale are how you can think about it, and how you might get from note X to note Y, whether directly, via a linear run, arpeggio, double-back lar-de-dar twiddly-dee, whammy bar, etc, etc.
I like to do things such as apply a modal approach to Eastern pentatonic scales as they fit nicely into standard Western modes with 'interesting' intervals.