Play Your Favorite Tunes Then Change Them

Try learning a songs melody and structureTry to ingraining how the song works in your head, how the chords fit together and the bass line of the song. Learn the song exactly as it is. When you have mastered the ‘real’ version of the song it is time to start mixing things up and changing bits and pieces here and there.. If something doesn’t sound right you can always go back to the original, or try something different.This is a great way to use the masters to learn about how scales and chords are used to construct songs.

Play Over Chords And In Key

Although most guitarists play one way or another it’s important to practice both techniques. This is how it works:

1. Only play the scale of the songs key in one instance
2 When you play with chords you change scales every time there is a chord change. When you do play with chord changes it’s important to land on a common note as you change scales.

Learn Guitar Scales ‘Crabwise’

This is a very good method you can use to master several scales at once. Begin by playing the scale downwards from the lowest string to the highest pitched string. When you come to the highest pitched note you can play on that scale you can start playing a new scale.Let’s look at an example to get a better idea.

Let’s take the D major scale. Play the D Major scale from the lowest pitch note to the highest. When you reach the highest pitch note begin playing the D# major scale from the highest pitch to the lowest.

Try To Make Repetition Work To Your Advantage

Scott Henderson discusses this in one of his You Tube videos. The basic idea is that for any song or solo to work a certain amount of repetition is required.

Learn scales on individual strings first instead of using the box method

This is a great tip from Joe Cefalu. When you learn to play guitar scales in different positions along the fingerboard you tend to learn in one position, followed by another and then another. If you learn scales using the box position method your playing can begin to sound motionless and dull.

Play Scales In Terms Of Intervals And Notes

The best way to gain a full understanding of guitar scales is to learn them in terms of both intervals and notes. You have to bear in mind that a scale is defined not by the notes, but by the intervals between them. Learning a scale in terms of intervals will give you a greater ‘feel’ for the scales sound.

Don’t forget that sometimes the correct note will sound wrong.

If you play a theoretically correct note and it sound strange remember it.

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