From Blues to Rock!

Guns and Roses, Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, Metallica, Queen, Van Halen, Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath are just some of the most renowned rock artists in the history of classic rock. So why am I talking about them in a blues blog? Well the simple answer is, ALL of these guys are blues players at heart, they’ve simply taken traditional blues ideas and ‘rocked them up!” If you already have knowledge about the basics of blues guitar, it is easy for you to learn how to apply the same idea in the rock genre. Through the use of blues guitar scales, you can easily perform the guitar riffs just like how the greats do.

If you are a fan of rock music and you want to play it on your guitar, the best guitar scale that you have to learn is the Pentatonic scale. Blues musicians also utilize this guitar scale. What is the pentatonic scale? For those who are just starting out with guitar playing, a Pentatonic scale is composed of 5 notes that produce 5 different patterns, which connects across the whole fret board. The 5 patterns got their names from the notes in the scale – the Root, m3^rd, the 4^th, 5th and b7^th notes. By adding extra notes, you may produce other scales out of this pattern alone. You can start by playing the Pentatonic scale and you may add an extra note or two. In doing so, you may easily change from one scale to another (eg. The Blues Scale). The Pentatonic scale is very essential to guitar playing and is commonly the first scale and first pattern taught to guitarists.

There are 4 other different patterns that are vital for connecting the full fret board and belong to the Pentatonic scale. If you want to make the best out of these 4 patterns, or for any other kinds of scales, it is recommended that you use alternate picking and metronome. If you want to be successful in guitar playing, you have to master alternate picking. Once alternate picking becomes your second nature, you will be able to play the guitar faster and clearer.

Whenever you practice guitar playing, the use of metronome should always be included. It not only improves your timing but also helps you learn the songs and the scales faster, provided that you start off slowly. Furthermore, a metronome can make you produce better sounds. You may start with slow beats per minute (bpm) and listen to every note that you play. Are the notes clear or do they sound as if they are muted? Identify the string with muted sounds and adjust the position of your fingers. Try playing the note and see if the sound changed. Do this to all the strings until they are all clear. Then, you may change the speed of your metronome until you perfect each note.

If you want success with blues music, you should give the Pentatonic scale a try and learn it. Start off slow and work your way at faster rates. Once you feel satisfied with the speed that you are playing. Give a portion of your time and devote it to practicing scales, you will become a master of guitar playing. And when you perfect the Pentatonic scale, you may move on the other patterns without much difficulty. The only thing left for you to do is go out there and play!

How To Master the Blues Guitar Scales

If you are starting out as a guitar player who wants to make his line of expertise a profitable one, then this article will be very helpful to you. Why? This is because the basic things that you have to learn in order to become a great guitar player and interpreter of blues music. If you are not a fan of blues music and would like to pursue a guitar-playing career of a different genre, then you can still use this article to learn a thing or two about blues guitar scales in general and may be applied to all kinds of music.

The first, and probably most important, kind of all blues guitar scales is the minor pentatonic. Penta normally refers to the number five. In this case, the pentatonic scale is a scale composed of five notes. The A minor scale starts at a root note, where the A is at the fifth fret and the sixth string. If you are a player who is more experienced with playing barre chords, you may simply barre the fifth fret. In doing so, you have the option of using your third and fourth fingers in order to play the seventh and eight fret notes. Since the first note of the minor pentatonic scale is a root note, all you have to do to play the scale in different keys is slide your finger either up or down in the guitar neck. When you move the barre onto the eight fret, you will get the root note C. Added notes to the minor pentatonic scale gives the music produced a more “bluesy” feeling.

You may also play the minor pentatonic scale in various positions. But you first have to learn where your notes are, since similar notes that are played on separate strings will sound different. This means that the more positions you play, the more variety of sounds you can play.

Once you master a certain scale in one position, just experiment with it. Try to bend the notes and try the other notes that will sound good with the current notes in the scale. Simply put, try to make your scale sound more individual. If you cannot put individuality in your guitar, then by all means just return to imitating other guitar players. Do not feel worried about copying material out of other guitarists. Majority of the most successful guitarists started off exactly this way. When you use the licks of other musicians, you will be hyped up. Soon, you will be performing your own licks.

As soon as you get a basic understanding of blues guitar scales and you start playing it in more than one position on your fret board, you may look into the phrasing. There are numerous blues music songs all these years that you may listen and emulate. It does not necessarily mean that you have to accurately play the song. However, many of the top blues guitar players use great tracks as starting points for their own original works. The one thing that you should always remember, particularly if you are a beginner in blues guitar playing, is that you need not play all the notes at the same time. Bend the notes, hammer them, slide or practice them into vibrato. Just make the notes yours and you will definitely succeed.

Blues Guitar Scales – 4 Easy Tips!

Are you a new guitarist who is looking to learn more about guitar playing? Do you want to make it big in the music industry? Achieving this is not a walk in the park. If you are just starting out and you want to make a name for yourself in the field of guitar playing, you will have to start from scratch. And by scratch, I mean learning all of the basics of playing the guitar. You probably know by now that studying and learning blues guitar scales can be one of the most boring part of practicing the guitar. At first, it is bearable, particularly when you are just starting off with the basics. But once you get to the more complex parts, it is not only boring but very time-consuming as well. You might think of quitting at this early stage, but it would not get you anywhere. To help you cope up with learning blues guitar scales, here are some tips that you may use.

Tips on Learning Blues Guitar Scales Easily

• Sing your scale – learning guitar scales is very tricky, since you not only get your fingers to memorize the position of the notes but you also have your ears get accustomed to the sound and intervals produced by the scale. One of the easiest ways of doing this is through singing each note while you are playing it. You do not have to be a good singer to do this. A simple “La” will work just fine for each note. When you do this, you can predict what the next note is, thus you can get your brain to program with how the sound and intervals of the scale work.

• Learn the scale on one string – Of course, if you are more experienced with playing the scale on multiple strings, then be my guest. Nothing is wrong with the natural way of playing, but if you want to get more used to a scale, you can easily learn it through a single string. In doing so, you not only speed up your personal understanding of how the scale works but you also get to try ways of connecting it with other licks.

• Learn the scales using your fretting hand – adopt the famous “monkey grip” used by greats such as Joe Satriani or Steve Vai. This is where you reach around using your picking hand and you grasp the strings on the guitar neck to stop feedback and silence it. Try and use your fretting hand and run it up and down your scale. When the notes are quiet, it means your legato is not good enough. Work on it and try to make the loudest sound possible with each note using your pick. Over time, you will find that your fretting hand memorizes the scale shape.

• Practice an octave one at a time – When you start at the low E string, simply play towards the D string. When you cut it in half, your ear can easily memorize the sound of your scale. With a new scale, finding the proper position with your finger may be a bit of a struggle, and your sound may become disjointed. But by breaking it down, you can manage each chunk and speed up in the long run.

When you utilize these four tips, you will definitely master playing the blues guitar scales in no time.