subject: The 5 most effective guitar scales practice tips [print this page] The 5 most effective guitar scales practice tips
1. Developing Dexterity
The easiest way to jump start your speed training on guitar is to take a simple diatonic scale, say C Major and start playing it in ascending and descending manner. Slowly! Then when you are able to play them perfectly in both the direction, you can slowly increase the tempo. This will improve the muscle strength of both your left and right hand and fingers which will ultimately develop dexterity and you will be able to play the any riff quite effortlessly. So the key to speed guitar playing is consist practice and patience. Also the ideal thing to do is to purchase a Metronome that will give out beats at the tempo you want and you can play along with it. This is just my suggestion, it is not at all a prerequisite though.
2. Make playing interesting and melodious
You should always take care that you do not push yourself too hard to play a 1000 notes/second. That is just not worth the try. The beauty of Speed Guitar Riffs is when you play it in between slower lead segments, and that too it should be melodious. Always make sure that you do not just play the notes in a scale up and down the fret, try adding some style to it, like starting from the first or Tonic note and playing the next 3 notes, then starting from the 2nd note and playing the next 3 notes and so on. As a matter of fact the patterns are endless. Use your imagination to create different patterns. This will help you a lot in improvising your lead riffs to a much greater extend.
3. Merging Different Playing Styles
To add life and musicality to your playing you should always learn different styles, merge and blend them in the most appropriate way. This will enable you to sound more professional rather than just stuffing up 100 notes per second. By the way, this merging or blending of these various styles is popularly known as shredding, which is a term associated with fast Heavy Metal or Rock solos and even Blues-grass, Jazz and Blues.
Some Shredding styles are - sweep picking, tapping, legato playing, whammy bar abuse ad speed riffing. It is always recommended to play the scales in two- or three-octaves or modes, and also played ascending and descending at a fast tempo. This run or lick can be played by individually picking all, or a selection, of the notes, using techniques such as alternate picking or economy picking.
Alternatively, the riff can be played by multiple-picking notes (tremolo picking), or picking just the first or second note of a string followed by a rapid succession of hammer-ons and/or pull-offs ( also known as 'legato' musical terminology)
4. Listening and adopting the styles of other guitarists
It is always beneficial to listen to the solos of the masters whose style you adore and then try to reproduce them on your guitar. Now even there are good software programs available to slow them down so that you can hear each note clearly, which will help you learn faster. Learning others' styles can greatly help you in carving your very own style.
5. Utilizing the entire fretboard
Haven't you noticed how the pros use the entire fret boad of the guitar while executing a solo ? Even you must follow that pattern of practice rather than being stuck to one or two positions on the freboard. Try to practice each scale by utilizing at least 5 or 6 positions of the fret board which opens doors for more creativity and scope for improvising your solos.
