Do you really need to know the scales and notes on a guitar?Let's say you do a solo in the studio but it was like a freestyle,an when you perform it,can you play the solo as good as you can seeing how you dont know the scales and notes?Like Prince,he has played Purple Rain solo a million times, is it right that he can change it or playing it as good as he can?
[Edited 9/3/09 5:12am]

It's hard to explain to someone who doesn't play the guitar themselves, but I will try and let you know my own personal perspective:


I don't know all the scales on a guitar, in fact, I hardly know any. However, I have a good ear for picking up tunes just from listening to them - so many of the riffs and licks etc that I play are lifted from other players (hey, everyone does this, right? ) So whilst I don't know the names of the scales, in many cases I am sure I am playing "proper" scales.

Another thing is that even without knowing the names or the theory behind it, after a while of playing guitar you get a feel for what notes go well together and what different moods you can create with different notes. Even without thinking about the names of the notes themselves, many guitar parts have recognisable "shapes" on the fretboard.

For example, I may not consciously think "hey, I'll do a blues pentatonic in A minor" but I may play those notes all the same, cos those are notes that go together well just from my ear's judgement and also cos that's a pattern I am used to and my fingers just, you know, go there.

In short - theory is good and useful but a lack of theory does not spell the end of creativity.

rocknrolldave said:

Thanks,by the way I do play guitar(Esquire Fender that is).

Yes, you need to know them even if you don't know yo know them (like Dave was saying).

You can try to learn all the scales by learning 1,000 different solos and slowly figuring out that certain notes sound really good together and certain notes don't, but it's a lot easier to learn 5 or 6 scales.

The most fun way to do it is pick a scale, and then work on a few solos that play in that scale. Then move onto another scale and 5 or 6 other solos. You'll need friend that knows how to play guitar to show you this, but it's the best and most fun way to learn to play solos.

Well, believe it or not but if you play a solo that uses all the notes in the key the song is in then you are playing a scale in some way or another. Scales are also used a lot for improvisation.

There have been people who are very good guitar players who claim to not know a single scale, & sure you can come up with a great solo without knowing what you're playing but it really is worth it to learn the scales because it's better to actually know the "rules" before you break them. It also helps with your fingers. You can play by hearing the next note you think fits if it works better for you, but if you know scales you will find that perfect note a lot faster

MyNameIsCally said:

Learning scale, knowing the different keys, and the fretboard in general gets you where you wanna go a lot faster. Learning scales leads directly to understanding of how to re-create solos of your favorite artists and improvising a melodic line of your own.

Scales are important. They help you connect up and down the fretboard. Over a period of time you'll be able to map out where you want to go. And soloing in different keys (over chord changes) will be a breeze.

But keep in mind.... rhythm guitar is just as important.

Rhythm guitar is the most important,
if you don't
have it your solos
will suck
You should learn minor and major scales.

what is great on guitar is
that once you know
position for some major scale ,
that position of
fingers is the same on every
major scale,same goes
for minor scale.
there are some scales that are very simple and
the most used in rock and blues music

it's called Pentatonic scale .major and minor
pentatonic scales only have 5 notes.
Purple rain solo is played
in a combination
of b major scale with b blues pentatonic scale

Just got me online subsript from Premier Guitar: Here a visual about how scales are built around improvising.


http://www.premierguitar....esson.aspx


Checkout the lessons below also for more examples and understanding how scales function.

like RocknrollDave said, there are recognizable shapes on the fretboard - I think it's absolutely key to guitar playing.

for example, a "D" chord looks like a pyramid on its side.

0
000
0

the guitar intro to 'Sweet Child O Mine' was built around that there. Shapes are everything!

thebanishedone said:

I agree with most everything you said except for the first part, Rhythm guitar is a matter of taste, it is not necessarily the most important part. A guitard can go his/her whole career without ever playing rhythm guitar.

kenlacem if you don't know to play rhythm guitar,your solos will suck because
you solo also in some rhythm

I always compare music to language.

You have to know rules of stuff to speak the language, even if you don't know the names of the rules or even know consciously that you are following them. Otherwise you could not communicate effectively

So yes, you need to know scales, even if you don't know what they're called.

It's like saying the phrase "what am I saying?" Let's say that phrase is analogous to a guitar lick. Onstage you might say "I don't know what I am saying." You have now changed the guitar lick because you knew the meaning of the words, as well as the context of them.

Similarly, if you know how scales relate to songs, then you can change them so they are entirely different, kind of different. Whatever. Since you know the language of music you can speak freely, just as we do with the English language.