How to integrate scales into playing?

['59]

Good evening, I've recently been trying to incorporate scales into my playing but I'm kind of stuck.

Right now I'm trying to keep it simple by practice a few positions of the c minor pentatonic over a c major looping track that I made.

However the leads I'm doing sound extremely boring and are the musical equivalent of knowing all the words but not making any coherent sentences with them. How can I actually learn something nice?

I'd assume looking up major scale licks could help and practice them till I "understand" them?

 

[Clint 55]

Yes. Learn and analyze licks and see what they do to make it musical and interesting. Often there will be notes outside the scale.

The full picture for raw material for lines include more than only scales. Only using scales either will not be that musical or you will have to employ creativity to break out of only that parameter. However for early players, this is tough.

If you look at lines as combining scales, arpeggios, intervals, and chromatics that is the full picture for raw material.

The other aspects are you have to phrase. Try to make logical phrases that have a definite start and end and sound good using good rhythm and feel.

You can sequence phrases where you make the phrases related, you can sequence patterns, or you can run unrelated flowing phrases.

Check out demonstrations on youtube in the style you like. They're everywhere. This opening lick is him sequencing a pattern made from pentatonic.

 

[Mincer]

I'd suggest studying what other players do, and start by copying and modifying what they do over loops. Use backing tracks in styles different than what you would normally play and listen to. Strive to not only copy great players, but use the vocabulary to come up with something of your own. It won't sound great at first, but it will get better. I'd rather hear a player on their own path rather than someone who can copy someone else note for note.

 

[Securb]

I would suggest incorporating some chromatic scales, chromatic movement and some arpeggios. Arpeggios do not have to be I-III-V or I-III-V-VII; play around with other intervals I-II-VI, II-IV-V, whatever flavors sound cool or exciting. Then try moving them around, scale-wise, over the changes or with chromatic motion.

 

[GuitarStv]

However the leads I'm doing sound extremely boring and are the musical equivalent of knowing all the words but not making any coherent sentences with them. How can I actually learn something nice?

Two big parts to this, rhythm and melody.


Melody:

Listen for the chords in your backing track, and get a really strong feel for when they change from one to another. As the chords are changing, you want to target notes that are important so it sounds like your solo is musically following the progression.

A simple way to do this while starting out is just to try to hit important chord tones. So if you're playing over a I-vi-IV-V (C-Am-F-G) and you're using the C minor pentatonic (C Eb F G Bb) end the phrase on a C note over the C chord, then bend up from the Eb to E (which is the minor third of on the Am chord) and hold it for a bit on Am, do some more wheedly wheedly and hit the F while going over the F chord, and bend from the Bb to the B (major third of the G chord) and hold it for a bit on the G chord.

This is the simplest way to start out making your phrases really sound musical over the progression, but you can rapidly add complexity by targeting higher chord tones (7ths, 9ths, 13ths, etc.). The further you take this, the further you'll find yourself deviating from the notes of the scale you started with - but the deviations are all musical. Or you can go the other way and try different sounds over the chords . . . so maybe for the Am chord you rip an Asus2 or sus4 arpeggio and then switch back to the minor pentatonic when you change back to F. Or maybe do an A Harmonic minor run and then shift to an F mixolydian thing. Infinite options - so just start small and practice until you get one thing under your belt, then keep adding more.

The better you get at following the progression being played in the background, the more interesting/musical your melody lines will sound and the better they'll fit the song.


Rhythm:

Rhythm is super important too! Learning to play with a swing vs a straight feel can radically change the way the exact same notes in a phrase will sound. Getting comfortable shifting between subdivisions makes music just way more musical . . . a long line of 16th notes can be technically impressive, but some slow phrases interspersed with a few short blazing fast runs will hold people's attention better usually. And then there's the most overlooked important rhythm part - the spaces you leave. Having breaths and pauses in the notes is one of the things I always struggle to remember to throw in.

 

[Χάρης]

If you made a riff or lick from a scale and it sounds boring, then you may wanna learn new scales/modes or find a different approach of composing. For example look at Yngwie, he mostly plays in minor pentatonic. There are also players who can sound good in whatever key or mode, but not every player's the same. I don't consider myself a good player, just giving a tip from my experience.

 

['59]

Yes. Learn and analyze licks and see what they do to make it musical and interesting. Often there will be notes outside the scale.

The full picture for raw material for lines include more than only scales. Only using scales either will not be that musical or you will have to employ creativity to break out of only that parameter. However for early players, this is tough.

If you look at lines as combining scales, arpeggios, intervals, and chromatics that is the full picture for raw material.

The other aspects are you have to phrase. Try to make logical phrases that have a definite start and end and sound good using good rhythm and feel.

You can sequence phrases where you make the phrases related, you can sequence patterns, or you can run unrelated flowing phrases.

Check out demonstrations on youtube in the style you like. They're everywhere. This opening lick is him sequencing a pattern made from pentatonic.

So this is starting to make things click, a scale is a list of the notes I'm allowed to use, but just because a notes not in a scale doesn't mean I can't use it?

 

[Mincer]

So this is starting to make things click, a scale is a list of the notes I'm allowed to use, but just because a notes not in a scale doesn't mean I can't use it?

Yes, but the idea is to use the notes that are in the scale and throw in ones outside the scale because it fits your artistic statement, not because you don't know any better.

 

[Clint 55]

So this is starting to make things click, a scale is a list of the notes I'm allowed to use, but just because a notes not in a scale doesn't mean I can't use it?

Right, what Mincer said. Also if you practice your arpeggios and intervals, it gives you methodical ways to organize notes other than scales. They're guidelines, not rules. Practice them and get them under your fingers and you can arrange them how you want to be musical. You can use your ear to try other things and see if it sounds good. It's always good to have the guidelines, but you don't need to stick to them like the gospel. Conversely, one shouldn't disavow music knowledge either and expect to sound good.