Learning Guitar Scales: 17 Tips & Tricks for All Skill Levels
Are you a beginner guitar player trying to bridge the gap towards intermediate? It’s certainly not easy. Guitar playing is notoriously challenging, with people initially struggling with even the most basic chords. However, as time goes on and the more you practice, you’ll find the chords you once found difficult now easy to manage without even thinking about it.
Of course, to get there, you need to put some hard work in. Part of that means learning guitar scales. The question is, what exactly are guitar scales, and are they necessary to learn the guitar?
You can learn all about guitar scales and why they matter right here. However, before getting started, it’s crucial to have a fully tuned and ready guitar in hand – if you need some help with that, check out our article How to Choose, Tune, & Play Your First Guitar: Beginner Tips.
Key Takeaways:
- Learning guitar scales will improve your finger-plucking skills.
- There are several guitar scales you can learn.
- It’s best to take it slow and learn guitar scales in chunks.
- Practice makes perfect!
About Guitar Scales
Guitar scales are a sequence of guitar notes you play repeatedly to practice dexterity, finger-plucking, and your guitar skills in general. These notes are ascending or descending, meaning they go up and down, allowing you to practice several notes in one go. It’s all about getting the order right. Here are the most common guitar scales most practiced guitar players will know:
- E Minor Pentatonic
- A Minor Pentatonic
- G Major Scale
- C Major Scale
- E Harmonic Minor Scale
- The Major Scale
- The Blues Scale
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Is Learning Guitar Scales Useful?
Without a doubt – yes, learning guitar scales is helpful for guitar players of all levels. One of the reasons is that it improves your finger strength and dexterity. When you first learn guitar, you might find moving your fingers quickly from one position to the next quite tricky – you may also find it hard to push down on the strings hard enough, as your fingers haven’t developed enough strength. The more you practice guitar scales, the easier these challenges become.
You will also learn a lot of general guitar knowledge as you develop guitar scales. For example, starting with minor pentatonic and following that with major pentatonic will give you a crystal-clear identification of minor chords vs major ones, which is handy. You’ll have more of an ear for the guitar’s various notes and how they sound, helping you develop your skills and creativity in the future.
When Should You Start Learning Guitar Scales?
You can learn guitar scales as soon as you pick up the guitar. It’s best to learn scales alongside chords, as this will give you more of a breadth of ability – you shouldn’t cancel out one for the other. If you are already an experienced guitar player who knows a good handful of songs and chords, it’s not too late, either! Learning guitar scales, even with experience, is an excellent way to develop your skills further.
17 Useful Tips for Learning Guitar Scales
If you’ve started learning guitar scales and dream of seamless fluidity, use the following tips and tricks.
1. Start Slow
One of the people's biggest mistakes when learning guitar scales is trying to go too quickly. They might try to digest the whole guitar scale in one go, assuming they can easily pick it up. The problem here is you might end up learning mistakes and find it harder to go back and rectify those errors. Starting slow means you won’t overwhelm yourself, which, in turn, means you are more likely to push forward and finally master the scale. Remember – there’s no reason to place the guitar scale fast, especially at first! Being accurate is far more critical.
2. Begin with the Basics
As mentioned above, there are several guitar scales to choose from. Each has its own sound and ability level, so picking a scale that works for beginners is essential. The E minor pentatonic scale is generally considered the best guitar scale to begin with as it comprises only five notes: E, G, A, B, and D. You can repeat these notes by going up and down, repeating in different octaves.
3. Try Chunking
Chunking is a specific phrase in guitar learning that refers to breaking down scales into smaller, bite-sized chunks (hence the name). As a beginner, it’s best to break down each scale into smaller parts, taking your time to master each section before moving on. Keep on doing this until you can seamlessly play the scale repeatedly.
4. Remember the Scale Shape
One of the best ways to remember how to play guitar scales is to visualize them – particularly the scale shapes. When learning a new guitar scale, get to grips with how it looks on paper. You can draw, print, and place it in front of you – whichever works best for your learning style. The more familiar it becomes, the less likely you will misremember the guitar scales in the future (and risk playing with mistakes).
5. Watch Some Videos
The online world provides beginners of any skill with endless opportunities to learn more. If you look online, particularly on YouTube, you will find many videos showing how to play each guitar scale. These are very helpful; they provide a visual for you to learn from, and you can copy what’s being shown.
6. Memorize the Root Notes
The root note of guitar scales is also known as the tonal center. This is crucial to learn and remember, as it’s essentially the anchor point of the scale – the place you’ll consistently go back to. Memorizing the root notes will give you a consistent starting point, helping you to remember the entire scale.
7. Sing-Along
Why not make learning guitar scales fun? One way to do this is by singing along, singing some lyrics, or simply belting out a tune from your vocal cords. It’s not just the enjoyment – it helps with your guitar-learning skills, as it creates a tether between your fingers and brain while playing. On top of that, singing the notes aloud will make playing and remembering it easier, as you’ll know the sound you are aiming for.
8. Use a Metronome
When it comes to learning guitar scales, it’s not just about memorizing the notes (although that is important) – it’s also about keeping on time. It doesn’t matter if you play slowly or quickly; what matters is that you keep a consistent rhythm. One way to ensure that? Using a metronome. A metronome is a handy piece of equipment that any musician should own, as it provides you with a consistent ticking rhythm while you play, helping you keep in time.
9. Try Out Some Finger Exercises
Are you struggling to keep on playing up and down? Your fingers get fatigued surprisingly quickly, especially as a beginner, so it helps to try some finger exercises before you start playing. These can be pretty simple. Stretching your fingers works pretty well, increasing flexibility and helping you become more dexterous while playing guitar scales.
10. Do One at a Time
Trying to master multiple guitar scales simultaneously will quickly become overwhelming, so avoid doing that. Instead, stick to one at a time, focusing on getting it right and being able to play it up and down continuously without stopping. Only once you feel confident with a guitar scale should you move on to the next one.
11. Have Fun with the Music
Once you have mastered a guitar scale, whether the blues scale, E minor pentatonic, or the A major scale, it’s time to have a little fun and make it more musical. You can do this by playing around with the scale, alternating the rhythm, changing the tempo, and playing along to songs. The more you play with it, the more confident you will feel, and it will turn into actual Music rather than a simple copy of a scale.
Want some inspiration? Learn How to Use The Pentatonic Scale in Riffs, Licks, and Solos.
12. Don’t Slip Into Mistakes
As a guitarist, one of your most important skills is learning to spot and learn from your mistakes. Errors will happen – part of playing any instrument – but it’s crucial not to slip into them to the point you feel like they are the correct way to play. Now and again, look at how you play and see whether you have been practicing mistakes. An excellent way to do this is by recording yourself playing, comparing it with the proper method, and spotting any differences. If you do notice them, self-correct.
13. Don’t Stay on One Guitar Scale for Too Long
While it was said before that you should stick to one guitar scale at a time (which is true, particularly for beginners), that doesn’t mean you should never progress from a scale. If you have mastered a guitar scale and continue practicing it for too long, your skill growth will stagnate, and you won’t be learning anymore. Instead, you’ll have hit a wall, which is hard to overcome. In this situation, move on to a newer, slightly more difficult scale each time, flexing your new skills and building on them. Of course, you can always return to practice old scales to remember them and warm up your fingers!
14. Try Skipping Strings
Do you want to make guitar scales more interesting? There’s a fun way of doing just that: skipping strings. Exploring skipping strings is an excellent way to get used to playing the notes in a different order. It’s crucial here to only play the notes you mean to – the intention is everything, and there is no point in practicing mistakes.
15. Practice at Least Once Daily
There is something more difficult than playing in time, skipping strings, and remembering each scale perfectly, and that is consistency. The most significant difference between a guitarist who knows a bunch of scales and one who can barely master the first one they tried is how much they have practiced. If you’re going to use guitar scales, it’s essential to practice them at least once per day. An excellent way to ensure this is to leave your guitar in an easily accessible space. That way, you can quickly and easily pick up your guitar and strum some notes out, even when you’re not feeling like an entire practice session.
16. Seek the Help of a Guitar Teacher
There is one piece of advice you will likely receive multiple times as a beginner guitarist: seek the help of a guitar teacher. It’s sound advice, even for more intermediate levels learning guitar scales, because a teacher can show you precisely how to perform each scale and point out when you are making mistakes. If it’s a viable option, definitely consider it.
17. Warm Up with Guitar Scales
Let’s be honest; guitar scales are not the end goal for guitar players, beginners or otherwise. The primary reason behind learning these scales is to learn the basics of guitar, improving dexterity and finger strength while improving your ear for notes. That means you shouldn’t only play guitar scales while learning guitar – instead, use them as a warm-up, especially as you progress your guitar-playing skills! Using them as a warm-up is a great way to get back into the feeling of playing a guitar, and you’ll then be ready to pursue other types of practice, whether learning a new chord or song.
Want More Help Learning the Guitar?
Whether you are a beginner or already know a bunch of chords and feel pretty confident strumming out songs, we can help you. We have many instructive articles with various advice, tips, and tricks to help you master the guitar. For example, learn all about The Magic and Ease of Power Chords!
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