What scales do you use?

Clint 55

OH THE DOUBLE THICK GLAZE!
Our good friend Vinnie recently started a similar thread, but I'm genuinely interested in this topic.
 
Re: What scales do you use?

I'll be honest and say that I mostly just use the major and minor scales, but maybe I'll toss in a diminished 5th from time to time.

I use to now 5 or 6 scales but always found myself going back to the pentatonic.
 
Re: What scales do you use?

I can't think of anything I play routinely that stays strictly within one scale, i.e. an accidental free song.

That said, I would say that mixolydian is the most common rock/pop scale, followed by minor (including its pentatonic variant) and then major (and its pentatonic variant).

I tend to write a lot of riffs and chord structures that are basically mixolydian and basically minor pentatonic or minor.
 
Re: What scales do you use?

I think classical, so I end up doing a lot in major and minor, including the melodic variant. I probably should get better at using the mixolydian. Pentatonics are cheap but harmless fun. Whole-tone scales can work, but I prefer whole-half-tone scales.

My greatest asset in the realm of scaledom is that I have studied and internalized harmony, to the extent that I can throw in notes from outside the scale and resolve them in a manner that fits the situation.
 
Re: What scales do you use?

Yeah, I had to kill his thread (sorry). It is a good topic, though. I use more modes than regular major/minor scales.
 
Re: What scales do you use?

After the blues pentatonic-plus, straight major scale is fairly common. In modes, Dorian and Mixolydian are the most useful.
I love soloing in Lydian but don't often get the opportunity to indulge myself.
 
Re: What scales do you use?

Pentatonic, Mixolydian & Locrian mostly, plus a bit of everything else..Harmonic minor (when I'm tapping ..I don't care to stretch haha) ..espescially Phrygian dominant makes quite a few appearances ..mostly I don't know where things will take me & that's the way I like it. Like I've said before I just follow the music with my ears..try and translate that to my fingers & do my best not to concern myself with anything else at all..best way to improvise as far as I go :bigthumb:
 
Re: What scales do you use?

No longer do I dissect my mind based on the scales or modes, cause this is limiting.

Whether it's in minor or major mode, I make sure that b9, b5, 6 and 7 are thrown in for color.
 
Re: What scales do you use?

Depends on what I am trying to achieve, really. Do you mean just guitar, or an entire arrangement? For soloing? My riffs tend to be modal so melody lines often are too. For soloing, I am not a shredder so I tend to write call and response, hook based lines. I usually blend pentatonic with modes when soloing. Oh, and Phrygian Major, because it's just a great, fun scale to play around with!
 
Re: What scales do you use?

Generally natural minor, digging more into harmonic minor and phrygian dominant lately though. But of course depends on the key! Trying to be more modal as well, but that usually ends up more of a happy accident then anything (I figure it out after the fact).
 
Re: What scales do you use?

Vinnie was warned several times, given infractions, then banned. So let's memorialize him by forgetting he was ever here. As far as what modes...I use all of them from the major scale, and continue to explore them from the melodic minor scale.
 
Re: What scales do you use?

So far the only mode I know is a la mode, so I've been stuck trying to play the notes I imagine would sound good. It is a very limiting system, and even within it my mind can outplay my fingers.
 
Re: What scales do you use?

Pentatonic. I use it as part of my warm up routine. I try not to think about scales.....they never sound like anything but random notes, nothing musical.
 
Re: What scales do you use?

How could I forget about pentatonic / blues and all those variations. Use them all the time as well.

Trying to use more mixolydian because I like the sound, but I can't seem to use it right...yet.

Pentatonic. I use it as part of my warm up routine. I try not to think about scales.....they never sound like anything but random notes, nothing musical.

See my mixolydian comment...just knowing what notes are there doesn't automatically make it sound good. It's the player that is responsible for making it sound musical.
 
Re: What scales do you use?

I find that I rarely use pentatonic or blues scales in my playing. It is great when others do it...I just can't make them sound interesting to me...they sort of contain the ghost of guitarists' past.
 
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