It's Important to Learn Your Guitar Scales

If you are interested in learning how to play the guitar, then one thing that you will definitely want to learn when you are first getting started is the guitar scales. Many beginning musicians try to avoid learning any music theory, but this generally turns out to be a mistake. They believe that learning too much theory will hurt their creativity as a musician. While it is true that your creativity can become cramped if you insist on only playing the guitar in a tried-and-true manner, there is no rule that you have to always stay within the established "rules". By learning your guitar scales and chords, you might pick up something that you can subsequently incorporate into your own unique sound. Let's take a look at a few ways that you can learn your guitar scales so that you will be a better musician.

The first tip is to learn your scales slowly and steadily. This is the best way to really learn any subject, and learning guitar scales is no exception. You could take a class and spend 8 solid hours studying scales, and you probably will indeed learn something. On the other hand, if you spend 5 or 10 minutes a day learning and practicing your scales for a couple months, your comprehension and ability will be far superior. Disciplined practice like this will also yield much better results than if you simply try to play guitar by ear or feel every day for years. Once you are certain that you have gotten the basics down, then you can begin improvising.

Second, it's a great idea to have a dedicated time to practice each day. Perhaps you could promise yourself that you will practice for 10 minutes every day when you get home from work. If you feel like you want to play longer, then there is nothing stopping you - but try to make it at least to the 10 minute mark. Not only will this ensure that you get in a minimum amount of practice on a daily basis, but it will also take your mind off of work and put you in a better mood for the rest of the evening.

Finally, it is important to focus on the accuracy of your guitar playing rather than on speed. It doesn't much matter how fast you can play your guitar; if you don't hit all the right notes, then your music will sound terrible. Instead, make sure that you are playing flawlessly, no matter how long it takes you. As you grow comfortable with a particular speed level, you can try to increase it. Eventually, you will grow better and better automatically.

There is no doubt that learning the basic guitar scales can make you a better player. There is probably no musician alive that has regretted learning how to properly play scales, even if he rarely incorporates them into his own music style. Like anything else, keep in mind that a lot of practice is required if you really want to master music scales and take your skills to the next level.