Practising Scales For Guitar - Part 1

This article is developed in line with my other post, "The Use of Scales." Read this article before proceeding with practising scales for guitar, this is a more advanced method to incorporate what you have already learned.

The Method

These are some of techniques I use to aid my students in scale implementation, ask anyone of my students that have been learning with me for a couple of years for their understanding of scales, you'll be pretty impressed. Here's the information you need before you begin:

• Learn your open chords; C, A, G, E, D (If you are reading this I'd hope you have your open chords sorted);
• Learn your three note per string scales, most commonly demonstrating in G major/E minor;
• Memorize the CAGED system scales.

Got those? You are now ready.

Step 1: Right Hand

Practice your first position C major scale CAGED shape in the key of C, we will start just by ascending up the scale in 4/4 at 60bpm, 1 note per beat, once you have the click perfectly matched up, you can then practice this descending. Easy? If so, increase the difficulty by varying your picking, start with all the notes down picked, then upstrokes, then we are going to alternate starting on a down-stroke, then alternate starting with an upstroke. We will now incorporate an alternate sweeping method. We will start our first position C major with a downstroke, so that the next note (open D) will be a downstroke, (a minor sweep) up on the E and down on the F to down on G etc. Then the descending technique will be up, down, up, up, etc. All good? Now, do all of the same above, but in pairs, triplets and quadruplets, these are superb for refining the right hand with your new scales. The next challenge is to speed up the metronome with these same techniques. Practice these ideas daily, one at a time, make sure you perfect one of these right hand methods before you extend into the more advanced methods, everything needs to be refined, clean, even and gradually fast.

Step 2: Left Hand

So, the right hand is developing great with these ideas, but what about the left hand? A great challenge for the left hand is to work on intervals, start by going up in thirds. C to E, back to C, D to F, back to D etc. Then work on 4ths, C to F, back to C, D to G, back to D etc. Then 5ths, 6ths and sevenths. This is working on your string skipping, your arpeggios, intervals, notes and general musicianship. Next you will work on finding your arpeggios in major, minor and diminished. In the case of C major, this will be, Cmaj, Dm, Em, Fmaj, Gmaj, Am, Bdim. Work on numbering each of these chords too, Cmaj - 1, Dm - 2, Em - 3, etc. Memorize the notes of each arpeggio, Cmaj - C, E, G, etc. Once you have these angles of your C major position one worked through, thoroughly work on position two, three, four and five. This is it for the first step, this first section is going to take some work for musicians of all levels. Enjoy! About the Author: By Leigh Sullivan, director of Norwich Guitar Academy. I have a team of 5 guitar tutors making a difference in East Anglia, England. I studied on the Session musician course at the British Academy of New Music with Ed Sheeran and Marcus Mcneish (Craig David's bassist). Have sessioned in various plays, bands and studio recordings. I have been full time guitarist since the age of 18 (2007). We run masterclasses at the Norwich Guitar Academy with the likes of Guthrie Govan and Andy James. To learn more about reading music feel free to check out our blog. Click here to shop for Guitars and Accessories from BAJAAO.