Becoming A Scale Pro

If you've read our articles about scales, such as 'What are scales?', 'Learning scales on guitar' or 'Learning scales on piano' then you know of their importance. Mastering scales is one of the most valuable skills you can develop as a musician. They form the foundation of melodies, harmonies, and improvisation. This makes them essential whether you're a beginner or an expert. 

The key to becoming a Pro in scales is not just practising scales but practising them effectively. In this article, we’ll break down the best techniques to help you internalize scales and apply them musically.

If you need to refresh your memory here is our handy guitar scales cheat sheet.

Why Are Scales Important?

For many musicians, scales are just a dry and possibly boring exercise. Some even practice them without knowing why. So let's dive into the how and why. Scales help with:

1. Muscle memory, dexterity and strength: Playing scales builds muscle memory and coordination. 

2. Songwriting and improvising: Scales provide the foundation for soloing and songwriting. 

3. Ear training: Recognising scale patterns improves your ability to hear melodies and harmonies. 

4. Music theory and analysis: Understanding scales makes reading and analysing music easier. 

In this article, we will elaborate on point 1 and give you interesting exercises that you can try out.

Finger Strength and Muscle Memory

It probably comes as no surprise that playing scales can improve your finger strength and muscle memory. But why is this important you ask?

1. You can play for longer, faster and more precise

2. You don't have to 'think' while playing

3. You can switch easily between different scales and keys

Let’s Start Playing

Here are some exercises to get you started playing and practising your scales. Some of these exercises might even get you to dip your toes into improvising and songwriting.

1. Skipping notes (playing and singing)

2. Find a specific note

3. Play triads

4. Adding different rhythms such as triplets or 16th notes 

5. Playing scales with different articulations

6. Play a corresponding scale on each chord in a progression

Skipping notes (playing and singing)

Play the scale while skipping notes in between. You can do this systematically or randomly. For example, you can play:

• 1-skip-3-skip-5 etc.

• 1-2-skip-4-5-skip etc.

• 1-skip-2-3-4-skip-6 etc.

Find a specific note

Being able to quickly find notes within your scales is a handy skill. For example, you can train this by searching for all the 3rds in the scale across all octaves. For instruments such as guitar and violin, this exercise is a bit more challenging since you can play scales on the same string or across strings.

Play triads

Playing triads as an arpeggio is an age-old technique. You can even find this technique in compositions from great composers from the past. An arpeggio is when you play each chord tone separately instead of all at the same time. You can arpeggiate one chord through multiple octaves or play an arpeggio on each scale degree.

Adding different rhythms

This can be a tricky exercise and there are multiple ways to do it. For example, you can start with quarter notes and switch to faster notes. Or you can start with eight notes, switch to triples and switch back to quarter notes. It's all up to you!

Playing scales with different articulations (staccato, legato, dynamics, sliding into notes) 

This exercise seems easy at first but once you start mixing things up, that's when real mastery shows. Start off by choosing one type of articulation for going up and down the scale. Then try to create contrast. For example, play a full round of staccato followed by legato.

Once you've mastered this, continue by combining different articulations while going up and down.

Play a corresponding scale on each chord in a progression

This final exercise is for the real pros among us. Take any chord progression you like and with each chord, you play a matching scale.

Let's take this simple progression as an example C - G - Am - F. Below is one of the many possible ways how you can approach this:

• C major: C major scale

• G major: G Mixolydian scale

• A minor: Am pentatonic scale

• F major: F Lydian scale

More Scale Quick Tips

Here are some more easy quick tips for brushing up your scale practising/playing game.

1. Practice with a metronome for timing

2. Play scales in different rhythms and patterns

3. Play scales in different keys

4. Apply scales to real songs

5. Challenge yourself with scale exercises

6. Make it a fun daily habit (of 5 to 10 minutes)

Don’t treat scales as a boring chore because they don't have to be. Experiment with different phrasing, explore new tonalities and improvise using them. Learn scales and become not only a scale pro but a pro in music!