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on guitar scales

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Question: Dear gapnap , i have been memorizing my scales , up til today , i can play 27 different scales on the whole fretboard .Recently I bump into this so called “ninja scale” and this “black scale” , can you please teach me how to use it ?

gapnap says :

Okay ..lets get down to basic ..why do we guitarist learn a new scale ? or

Why do we guitarist learn MANY DIFFERENT TYPES OF SCALES ?

Answer : We want to improvise , more Shred-runs ..to have different variety and taste on our solos..

Some might answer : Chord Formation , Song composition ,play fast food jazz , understanding and studying a song etc..

play fast food jazz means ..Jazz improvisation without understanding and knowing, the cheating-way ..lol

Learning a new scale for Chord formation :

i think it is safe to say that , most chord formation are based on major or minor scale , some on harmonic and melodic minor scale ..but i do not see the point of Chord formation in a Ninja scale , or a Japan scale..you will mess up the formula and make it more complicated

Learning a new scale to compose a song :

I do not believe in

“gap , I compose a song based on this “arab scale”..it sounds really cool !!!

it doesn’t make sense at all..

Composing a song shouldn’t be limited to just that stupid 7 note scale ..agree ?

The question is , why do many guitarist want to learn MANY new and exotic scales ? like herman li scale , China scale , Japan scale , Malaysian scale..wtv..

If you guys think that learning a new scale can actually improve your improvisation , or add variety to your playing..i think you guys are far from the truth

Right , here is the kicker ..

It doesn’t matter what scale you use , or how many scale you know …what matters is how you use them

you might know 1000 ways how to shit in a toilet , but what matters is knowing how to use the right method at the right time

Long long long time ago , I used to be the type of guitarist that will hunt for scales , hoping that my improvisation will improve ..i wanted to play Jazz ..FAST

So yeah , I was surfing shred forums like crazy..whoa ..found a “blues/funk scale” and suddenly a “Bebop IV wtv scale” …and It sounded super jazz when I run it …then I tried putting up a band to play a simple jazz standard to use my new found “scale”. and I realized , It doesn’t help my improvisation ..cause in the end , It all boils down to HOW YOU USE THEM ..i still suck

So to you guys that are still finding the right “key” to improve your improvisation ..trust me ..start with

1.Major/Minor scale

2.Harmonic minor scale

3.Melodic minor scale

4.Pentatonic , Chromatic scale

4 scales should be more than enough already .Oh please , you can even use Major/Harmonic minor scale to play Jazz . its all about selecting the right note at the right chord at the right time

tip : learning how to use Major or minor scale in every type of genre , metal , funk , Jazz , pop , rock ..

example : if i want to play a very smooth pop song , i will always focus on the 1st , 2nd and 7th note to give me that smooth kinda feeling

For metal shred , i will focus on the arpeggios more ..create your own list

Of course you need to put in a few bebop scale when it comes to Jazz . But trust me , you need to know how to use this 4 type of scales FIRST , understanding them (like , why the extra note is there? When to use it ?) If not forget about Jazz and more variety to your playing , learning a new scale only doesn’t help you to understand and play Jazz .