Playing Over Scales Options

[Sinister]

Usually I find myself repeating myself a lot, and using the same riffs that I thought of only a few seconds beforehand. Even then, I find it hard to write a good melody/solos from them as it all sounds a bit sloppy. So how does everyone do it? Like, what is their thought process through creating these awesome riffs and melodies and what not.

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[Cosmin Lupu]

Hmmm, for instance I listen to things which I can hear in my head, but this came in time, I mean I couldn't do this until about 4-5 years ago let's say.

I suggest you take a break for 2 days and then pick up the guitar. Don't try to play what you already know, see if something comes to your mind once you play the first notes - this always worked for me, as my brain was fresh and not inclined to make me play what I already knew

My advice is to listen to a lot of music and train your ears on intervals and becoming able to relate harmony to melody - meaning, it's not enough to learn the modes' positions but it is ESSENTIAL to learn the modes in respect to a harmonic context

best of luck

Cosmin

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[Ben Higgins]

Hi Sinister,

Don't be afraid of creating naive melodies. Even if something sounds a bit too simple, it's still a starting point. One thing that will help is learning the sounds of a scale. For me, I started with the minor scale. I explained how I did this in a recent post:

https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_fo...st&p=536872

Also, take a scale and miss out some of the notes. Try playing the notes of a scale in a different order and see what sounds you come up with. Introduce bends and slides as well to create a 'phrase', instead of just a bunch of notes.

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[Gabriel Leopardi]

The first thing that I did to start composing good riffs was to learn lots of great riffs from my favorite bands and then analyze what scales and rhythm they used. Then I continue creating variations of this riffs.. nowadays I just put a drum loop and start jamming. But first you have to incorporate enough resources to compose interesting riffs.

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[Daniel Realpe]

check this vid:

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[Sinister]

Thank you all for your advice, and that video was very helpful! Another question, how do you mentally view your scales? I have the patterns down easily, but I haven't really memorized every note in the scale, should I be doing that? I haven't memorized the scale formulas either. =X I'm always paranoid that i'll learn something wrong or not thoroughly.

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[Gabriel Leopardi]

Thank you all for your advice, and that video was very helpful! Another question, how do you mentally view your scales? I have the patterns down easily, but I haven't really memorized every note in the scale, should I be doing that? I haven't memorized the scale formulas either. =X I'm always paranoid that i'll learn something wrong or not thoroughly.

I don't see every note all the time but I guide myself with chords and triads... the caged system is useful for that...

https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_fo...?showtopic=2984

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[Ben Higgins]

I learnt scales by memorising the shapes, not the actual notes which is a bit naughty but it worked for me

I worked out a scale on one string and when I memorised the shapes I could move through it easily without having to think what the actual notes were. I then applied the shapes to the other strings. If I'm just jamming or improvising I don't have time to think of the actual notes.. but if I'm taking the time to compose then I try and relate my solos to the notes that make up the chords.

If you can name one note in the scale, then you can use that as your reference point to name the others. It takes time but it's just a process of adding to it slowly. Just like knowing where certain chords are.

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This post has been edited by Ben Higgins: Aug 8 2011, 06:52 PM

[Todd Simpson]

Thank you all for your advice, and that video was very helpful! Another question, how do you mentally view your scales? I have the patterns down easily, but I haven't really memorized every note in the scale, should I be doing that? I haven't memorized the scale formulas either. =X I'm always paranoid that i'll learn something wrong or not thoroughly.

Working up your "ear" is crucial. Try to close your eyes, and play in key against a backing using only your ears to find notes. Once you can do this, everything else starts to fall in to place. If you start building leads before your ear is ready, it will be pretty obvious to listeners and to you when you hear it on playback.

There is no "perfect" way, but finding your way with the help of others is doable. As for my two cents, once you learn the way the basic scale patterns link up all over the neck, you can almost see the pattern in your head when you look at the neck. The big thing becomes what key are you in, then where are the root notes for that key. At least for me Also, building runs that are comfy and playable out of what notes are available is something you can work out before hand. So try putting on a backing track, in a given key, then start working your licks/lead runs/chops around that key and try to extend your chops up and down the fret board.

You'll find places where scales link almost naturally to each other and be able to build chops/licks you had not ever considered before. Even if you don't know what note your hitting, if you stay in the scale shape your ear will tell you when you hit a root or octave of the root and it will tell you if you have fallen off key.

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