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The
Principles of Practice
Based on "The Principles of Correct
Practice for Guitar"
by Jamie Andreas
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| IN
THIS ISSUE |
January 14, 2001 Volume 28
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Scales, who needs them? Why and What For, Anyway?!
Somewhere along the way in our development as guitar players, we
start to get the idea that it would be a good idea if we learned
some of those things called scales. If we are new to the guitar,
and new to music, we are probably not even quite sure exactly what
a scale actually is, which certainly adds to the aura of mystery
that begins to surround the subject.
The next thing that happens, as we continue along in our development,
is that we begin to get the unsettling impression that there seems
to be an awful lot of those things called scales. In fact, there
seems to be hundreds of them. We may even run across an encyclopedia
of scales, and realize that there could be thousands of these little
buggers out there! The very prospect of learning all those scales
begins to make us weak in the knuckles!
It is at about this point that we start to get a little suspicious,
a little curious about this whole business of scales and what they
really have to do with us, and what we want to do on the guitar.
"How many of these things do I have to learn, anyway"?,
we ask, "and what do I do with them once I learn them"?
Then we go and try to find the answer to our questions. We read
magazines and hear a lot of advanced and professional guitarists
talk on the subject, and it leaves us even more confused. One guy
says we must know a hundred ways to play a major scale, and then
we should learn a hundred minor scales, and then start on the more
exotic type of scales. Another guy, who is also an advanced player,
perhaps professional and perhaps rich and famous, says he only uses
a few scales. So after all our agonized searching, we are even more
confused than when we started!
What gives?
Well, I am going to try and provide some clarity on the subject.
I am going to lay out an overall view of the subject, and provide
you with an understanding of what scales are, what they are used
for, and how the way scales are used is DIFFERENT for different
types of players. Once you understand these things, you will be
in a much better position to achieve some clarity on the subject,
and make your own decisions about how you are going to include the
study of scales into your practice regimen.
What Scales Are, Musically, and Why We Practice Them
Musically speaking, a scale is simply a series of notes, following
one after the other. The really important thing about any scale
is the SPACE between the notes, and by space, I mean the space in
terms of PITCH. It is the distance in pitch between two notes that
contains the EMOTIONAL CONTENT of music. This is one of the most
important concepts that any musician can know, and most do know
it, if only on an intuitive level. For those wishing to develop
an understanding of music theory, this concept should be pursued
and understood. I cannot go into it in the depth it deserves in
this essay, but I will lay out the essence of it, and you should
pursue it with your teacher, and in books.
If I play a note on the guitar, and then play the same note again,
there is no distance in pitch between the two notes. If I play a
note, and then play the note on the very next fret, the distance
in PITCH, (which is the "highness" or "lowness"
of a sound), between those two notes is called a half step. If I
play a note, and then play the note two frets away (a note on the
first fret, then the third), that is called a whole step, and the
effect is very different than a half step. If I play a note and
then the note three frets away, that distance is called a minor
third.
All of these different spacings in pitch between notes are called
INTERVALS in music theory. In the interval of a minor third mentioned
above, you can really hear what I mean by the "emotional content"
of the interval. The minor third interval is contained in the minor
chord, and this particular "spacing" between notes is
what gives a minor chord it's dark, minor sound. When you play a
blues scale, it is the sound made by the first two notes, and gives
the blues scale it's bluesy feeling (or at least contributes to
it, as do some other intervals).
That is as far as I want to go with Intervals for now. I just want
you to know they exist, and that they carry the "emotion"
of music. I want you to know that every scale not only contains
notes, but that the SPACES, or Intervals between the notes are what
is really important. Scales come in different "types",
major, minor, diminished, etc.. Each type of scale has its own peculiar
spacings between the notes, and these spacings give each type of
scale its unique emotional feeling or "color". You will
see later that players of different styles use different types of
scales in their playing. A lifelong blues/rock player may never
need to play a major scale.
Because each type of scale has the same intervals between notes,
each type of scale has the same "feeling", even if it
has a different letter name. In other words, if you play a C major
scale, or a D major scale, or a G major scale, they will all have
the same pattern of spaces, or intervals between each of the notes,
as well as each containing the same number of notes, so, they will
all sound "the same" in terms of the "emotional content"
or feeling of the scale. In fact, you could say they all have the
same "color". Minor scales have a different spacing between
the notes than major scales, and it gives them a "dark"
color.
Using this analogy, you could think of a scale as a palette of colors.
If a composer wants to write a sad piece, he will pull out a minor
scale, and use those notes to write it. In this sense, we could
say scales are the building blocks of music.
What Scales Are, Technically, And Why We Practice Them
Musically speaking, we have seen that scales are the "building
blocks" of music. Many times in playing all types of music,
we find ourselves simply playing scales, backwards and forwards,
and in lots of other patterns. So it would seem natural that it
would be a good idea to know how to play them, and it is!
If we think about scales in terms of technique, in terms of what
it takes to actually play them on the guitar, we realize that simply
because a scale is a string of notes, the simple act of playing
a scale is quite a demand on the player. And the faster the scale,
the greater the demand. In fact, for guitar players, scales are
a whole lot more difficult than they are for most other musicians.
A piano player only needs one finger to play one note, but a guitar
player needs the co-ordinated action of TWO fingers (or finger and
pick) to produce one note, and that has profound implications. As
a guitar player, you would be wise to reflect on and appreciate
this fact.
Almost all guitar students are unprepared for effective scale practice
when the first scale comes along. The concept of truly independent
finger action must have already begun to become a physical reality
in the hands in order for scales to begin to be practiced with benefit,
and not harm.
Segovia wrote, in his famous collection of scales for the classical
guitarist "the study of scales will solve a greater number
of technical problems in a shorter amount of time than the study
of any other technical exercise." In other words, if you are
able to successfully play scales, and get one finger after another
to do what it needs to do to get those notes, then there are a whole
lot of other things you will also be able to do. So this means that
the study of scales is one of the best things we can do in our practice
sessions to develop and maintain our technique.
And this is one of the main points I want to get across here: scales
are, at the very least, a primary technical exercise for all types
of guitarists. For non-improvising guitarists such as classical
guitarists, this is, in fact, their main purpose. A classical guitarist
does not need a million scales at his fingertips. Since scales are
serving only the purpose of providing excellent exercise for the
fingers, we only need to select and practice the ones we feel give
us that exercise. In fact, in Segovia's collection, most of the
scales are simply the same finger patterns moved around the neck.
Of course, there is a world of things to know about the CORRECT
way to practice scales so that our fingers actually do learn to
play them well, and so that the practice of scales helps us technically,
rather than hurts us. For far too many students, scale practice
gets them nowhere.
That of course, is a whole other subject which I have addressed
in other essays. At the least, you should realize that practicing
scales successfully is a complex matter, not to be underestimated,
and not to be undertaken without a lot of effort to understand HOW
to practice them correctly.
With this is mind, we could interpret Segovia's statement to mean
"if you can figure out how to learn scales well, you can figure
out a lot of other technical challenges that playing the guitar
poses".
What Scales Should You Know? How scales are used musically by
Guitarists
As you probably suspect by now, exactly what scales, and how many
scales a player should know, depends on the style that player is
playing. Here are some general guidelines to help you figure out
what YOU should be doing about scale practice in your own playing.
ALL players should learn and practice major scales in the first
position in the common keys of C, G, D, A, E, and for the ambitious,
the relative minors of these major keys.
ALL players should learn movable scale patterns. Major scales that
begin with the 2nd finger on the 6th string, as well as the pattern
that begins with the 2nd finger on the 5th string should be learned.
After that, the major scale pattern that begins with the 4th finger
should be learned, first from the 6th string, then the 5th.
Ambitious players should then learn the major scale that starts
with the first finger on the 6th and 5th strings. Having these scales
in your fingers (six major scales) also puts all the arpeggios and
modes into your fingers as well.
For those wishing to play blues and rock, you should learn the first
pentatonic scale inside and out, backwards, forwards, and various
patterns. There are 5 pentatonic scale positions in all, and you
should gradually learn them all. Of course, you must learn the licks
that come out of them as well, and how to use them in improvising
in the common keys (A & E first).
For players wanting to improvise in the more sophisticated styles,
such as jazz, or fusion styles, all the above should be learned.
After that, you are a prime candidate for one of those gigantic,
monster scale books we talked about earlier!
Of course, there is a whole lot more to know about the subject,
but I hope I have provided the basis for a little clarity, especially
for those new to the instrument. Good luck finding which scales
are right for you!
A "Model"
Principled Player Expands on Use Of Play 2-3-Touch
I was very thrilled to read the comments of a recent user of "The
Principles", who wrote in the Forum to declare the progress
he has seen in the 2 months he has been integrating these new practice
approaches into his playing life. I have to reprint it here, beause
it goes into such great detail, I think it will be a great benefit
insofar as it provides an example of how my book SHOULD be used,
and what it CAN do for you, if it is used this way.
My attitude, in teaching myself and others, is from
the "Jerry McGuire" school of life, as in "show me
the money, Jerry". I want to see results, that's all. So here
are some results, in the words of Eric K.........
This forum seems to be dominated by questions about very specific
aspects of practice and playing (nothing wrong with that of course),
which generate fairly short, informative answers that create only
a very small picture of the experiences of the participants. For
that reason, I thought it'd be fun to hear from people about their
larger experience of practicing and playing before and after adopting
the "Principles". Throw in some specific details to really
illustrate what's going on (I assume if you're using the Principles
fully, you should have some documented progress, right?!).
I see a lot of things saying the Principles are the greatest thing
since sliced bread, but little individual detail. So come on, people,
brag a little! A lot of guitarists I speak with, it seems, focus
a lot on what they can't do (I am guilty also...), and don't spend
enough time realizing what they can do which they couldn't do only
recently.
For myself, I bought the "Principles" around the first
of last November ( I think). There's been a lot of great things
that have happened since then. Perhaps the best thing of all is
just being able to keep control of the pick at all times. The right-hand
section of the "Principles" was critical to this - once
I read it, I not only practiced it but observed the pick holding
of all manner of experienced and renowned players. Not surprisingly,
the vast majority of great players hold the pick exactly as Jamie
advises. For EIGHTEEN MONTHS, this simple thing eluded me - not
anymore!!! My chord changing has gone from "hit and miss"
to crisp and clean by adapting Jamie's "Play-2-3-Touch"
exercise to one of "Play-2-3-Change" applied to chords.
This has really taken the slop out of my chords - it allows you
to really focus on the change rather than having your mind in two
places (change and strum) at once on something you haven't mastered
yet. Try it!!
Scales have become an absolute pleasure to play. I used to anchor
my right hand pinky on the pick guard for single note work - not
surprisingly, this causes your left pinky to fly straight out and
miss pinky notes at higher speeds. Ironically enough, I was taught
to do this by an instructor, who was otherwise fairly principled
in the importance of relaxation during playing. Playing single notes
with the right hand pinky in a relaxed curl has increased my clean
speed for major, pentatonic, and harmonic minor scales by 20-30
bpm at eighth notes, not to mention how much more physically comfortable
the whole thing is.
I'm working on two songs which, when I bought the Principles, I
decided would be developed strictly according to the Principles
- no slop or rushing allowed, just to give this new approach a really
fair testing. These are "Illusion" by Creed, and "Sour
Girl" by Stone Temple Pilots. The challenge of "Illusion"
is the 80bpm - 16th note A harmonic minor run in the solo; Sour
Girl uses a variety of unconventional chord shapes, barres and half-barres,
and many of the chords are hit only once or twice before changing,
and requires shifting from the 5th position to grab the F major
barre chord out of mid-air (like a cat, as Jamie would say) for
one eight-note strum in the rhythm.
When I started the song, the whole thing seemed so impossible -
it was way beyond my abilities. It's not at performance level yet,
but I've got the changes and the tough parts nailed down to the
point where I can see the performance level coming about two months
out from now. "No Tempo" practice and Posing were the
key elements to making this impossible task become doable. By going
slow and just simply not allowing mistakes to happen, both of these
songs have been easy to develop when compared with numerous other
failed efforts which were based in sloppy practice and inattention.
I'm now going back to Cream's "Sunshine of Your Love"
to correct bad habits I've developed in bending licks - big improvements
already in two weeks. I dropped the song about four months ago because
I couldn't get over the humps with my approach at the time. Now,
I have renewed excitement.
There's still so much to do, but perhaps the best results have been
the senses of relaxation I've been able to discover: the value of
the Heavy Arm in barre chords (so much easier!!!), the non-necessity
of holding more than one Firm Finger at a time (which causes other
fingers to fly around in wrong directions...), the comfort of playing
in the Classical position.
How about critiques of the Principles? How it should be expanded?
What's been missing for you? I'd really like to see a Principles-based
book which includes proper practice of lead techniques (hammer,
pulls, bends, vibrato, etc.). I'd be first in line to buy it. I
know Jamie's essays cover some of this, but step-by-step breakdowns,
photos, and descriptions of common problems and where people go
wrong are invaluable to a detail hound like myself.
Let's hear your experience. Remember, Review is Required!!
Eric K.
All
material copyright © 2003 by Jamie Andreas, GuitarPrinciples.com |
