This article presumes that the reader is familiar with several different types of guitar scales, and has a good working knowledge of guitar chords (triads and extended chords). Further, this article presumes that the reader is familiar with some basic music theory (key signatures, chord and scale function within a key signature, etc.).

In general, guitar scales and guitar chords are a must-know for every guitar player. The depth of each player’s knowledge is relative only to the desire of each individual guitarist. For example, some guitarists can play a few guitar scales and guitar chords, but have no desire to truly understand the music theory behind those scales and chords. Other guitarists thrive on scale and chord construction, diatonic and chromatic relationships, and usage (including substitution principles).

This article is intended for the intermediate and professional guitarist. It is also intended for the advanced beginner who has decided to advance to intermediate and then on to professional levels of proficiency.

Learning and practicing guitar scales is essential to one’s growth on the instrument. If one truly desires to learn to play guitar, then guitar scales must become part of the learning process. Of course, the exception is for the campfire type of guitarist. Playing a few songs at the beach doesn’t require an in-depth study of guitar scales.

As the title of this article suggests, one can practice guitar scales and have fun with music theory at the same time. In fact, if one is practicing correctly, recognition of music theory should be occurring simultaneously along with the mechanical practice. Let’s play a game with guitar scales and music theory. This is an easy game to play, yet extremely profound in application.

First, we must establish the foundation for the game. Therefore, we’ll utilize the major scale along with it’s construction and function within a diatonic tonality. Further, and in the spirit of simplicity, the C major scale will be referenced for explanation purposes.

The C major scale (diatonic scale) consists of eight notes (scale tones) to the octave. For example, C (1)-D (2)-E (3)-F (4)-G (5)-A (6)-B (7)-C (8) represent the notes and degrees of the C major scale. In theory, these notes are represented as I-II-III-IV-V-VI-VII-VIII or I (VIII always means I). All of these notes and numbers represent the players in our upcoming game.

The purpose of the game is simple. However, an explanation for playing the game is appropriate in order for one to fully understand the essence of the game.

Years ago, one of my students asked me how many different ways the major scale could be played. At the time, I was teaching in Hollywood California. I instructed my student to go grab the Los Angeles phone book (sitting on top of an amplifier in my recording studio), and bring the phone book to me. Baffled, my student complied with my request. I opened the phone book and asked my student what the population of Los Angeles was. Of course, the answer is millions of people. Millions of people results in millions of telephone numbers. Hence, the name of the game is Playing The Phone Book.

The rules of the game are as follows. The numbers of any telephone number are matched with the corresponding degree of the major scale. For example, the telephone number 576-3321 would translate into playing the following notes V-VII-VI-III-III-II-I or G-B-A-E-E-D-C (5-7-6-3-3-2-1). When the number 9 is encountered, it means to skip to the next note. When a Zero is encountered, it means to repeat the previous note or command. When the number 8 is encountered, it means the same as the number 1. How would you play the phone number 236-5431? How about 652-3800? How about 871-9056?

How many phone books would you suppose exist in the United States? How many phone numbers would you suppose exist in the United States? How many different ways (presuming you understand the phone book game) do you think the notes of the major scale can be played? Millions! That’s right, millions.

By playing the phone book, one develops an awesome awareness of note location and note function. There are hundreds of variations of this game that I teach to my willing students (for scales, chords, and substitution principles). The results are staggering for both fingerboard awareness and knowledge of music theory.

The next time you find yourself with a little time on your hands, pick up the phone book and play it. However, be ready to receive a few strange looks from your loved ones and friends when you attempt to explain your actions. That’s also a part of the game. You know, it’s called consequence. Just kidding! Have a great time playing the phone book.

©2008 Michael E. Fletcher. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

When thinking in terms of practicing guitar scales and guitar chords, many guitarists tend to overlook the overwhelming value of such practice. After all, some might argue, practicing a guitar scale just for the sake of practicing a guitar scale, doesn’t seem like a very exciting prospect. The same argument, for some, is also applied to learning and playing guitar chords. In other words, why learn a major 9 chord, when a major triad is easier to learn and play? We’ll examine the answer in a moment.

Keep in mind that many guitarists are satisfied with their ability to play just a few songs here and there. There are many guitarists who enjoy performing in clubs for larger audiences. Others strive to become accomplished nationally and internationally. The practice habits for all are different, because the goals are different.

For the purpose of this article, I believe it’s safe to say that those who enjoy playing a few songs here and there, will, most likely, bypass the rigorous schedule of scale and chord practice.

For the intermediates, advanced, or professional players, scale and chord practice is absolutely essential. In fact, daily practice sessions are in line with these levels of musicianship. Why? The development of strength, endurance, recognition of melodic and harmonic structure, and, of course, more facility on the guitar.

The leap from good to great on the guitar is actually a short distance. Shorter than one might think. It’s really all about the level of desire and commitment one has, that will determine the actual distance. However, willingness without action equals fantasy. Good intent means nothing if one is not prepared to act.

None of us believe that, as guitarists, our fingers somehow magically end up on the correct note, the correct string, at the right time, merely by accident. In fact, a great melodic solo and chord work is generally reflective of many years of pure practice. It’s almost a guarantee that behind every great guitarist, there are thousands and thousands of hours of scale and chord practice. It’s important to remind ourselves of all the benefits as a result of this hard work.

For starters, practicing scales develops finger strength, wrist control, picking techniques, pivot techniques, thumb placement, fret logic, and a multitude of other essential elements needed in order to execute in a professional manner. By practicing scales as scales (not musical statements per se), we learn very good habits and general rules of performance. We also learn that rules are made to be broken. When we, as experienced guitarists, break a rule, we at least know that we are, in fact, breaking a rule. Further, we all know that it’s permissible to break certain rules due to the impositions of certain styles of music, among other things.

For the experienced guitarist, I truly believe it’s important to remember how we arrived at our proficiency level. This is important because, in reality, we should never stop learning and progressing.

As a progressive guitarist, I enjoy those over-the-top solos that generally send chills up the spine of the listener. However, I also enjoy the hours of personal practice that allows me to execute those solos. Performance is one thing and skill development is another. It’s beneficial to enjoy both.

Imagine setting aside approximately eight straight hours of practice time and devoting a good share of that time to practicing one or two scales only. The thought of this routine might surprise some of the more experienced players. Once again, why practice scales when we can solo into infinity? The answer is forth coming.

I can almost guarantee that after a few hours of practicing a scale, the strict succession of the scale tones will disappear and will be replaced with new musical statements. Further, fresh new techniques will also emerge. For example, one might discover a new way to pick a string, cross a string, mute a string, embellish the scale tones, as well as many, many other discoveries. How’s that for progression?

A hardcore practice session can easily turn into a fantastic creative session. This is great news for the original guitarist and songwriter. Need a new guitar lick or song? Practice, practice, practice.

Everything discussed thus far, pertaining to guitar scales, also applies to practicing guitar chords. In music, time waits for no man. Chord construction and execution takes practice. Especially, when dealing with extended chords and altered chords (let’s not forget inversions). Not all of us will have the opportunity to encounter a major 11 Augmented 13th chord. However, what happens if we do? Answer; play it at the speed of right.

Whatever your level of musicianship, be sure to practice for the sake of practice. Great things will result from your hard work.

©2008 Michael E. Fletcher. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

Many of my recent articles have focused on information helpful to beginning and intermediate guitarists. These are the guitarists who, generally, struggle the most with musicianship, music theory, and technique. As a professional guitarist and instructor, I’ve logged approximately Forty-Eight years of experience on the guitar, the stage, the road, and in the recording studio. Music, to say the least, has been an enormous part of my life, as I’m sure it has also been yours. Therefore, teaching the guitar and helping others with music has always come naturally for me. I enjoy passing things along.

The story for many professional guitarists is, most likely, very similar. We have a passion for the guitar, music, performance, and the show-time atmosphere. For many of us, practicing the guitar wasn’t a chore, it was a pleasure. For us, learning or composing songs, writing guitar solos, and developing arrangements wasn’t time lost, it was experience gained. For the most part, we make the difficult sound and look easy. This, in short, is our job and our passion.

Recently, one of my guitar students asked how the professionals practice the guitar (out of the mouths of babes). This is a great question. Think about this for a moment. If you’re a professional guitarist (ten, twenty, thirty, forty years of experience), how do you practice? What do you practice? When do you practice? How is your practice time different than a guitarist with two years of playing experience? For me, the answer to my inquisitive student’s question was quite simple. All inclusive was my answer.

Yes, I still practice guitar scales when time permits. Scale practice, for me, is concentrated and intense. Usually, I’ll practice scales for hours at a time, resisting the urge to fly into a creative solo session or songwriting session. I’m generally looking for several results when practicing guitar scales. For instance, I reinforce my finger, wrist, and hand strength. This leads to enhancing my endurance. Coordination comes into play. Picking technique, timing, etc., it’s all there. In fact, there’s so much there, it’s almost mind-boggling. Believe it or not, my student’s question reminded me that becoming one with the guitar is exactly the way that I practice the guitar. For me, this is the only way to cover all of the aspects of practicing the guitar and at the same time, bringing music to life. Let me explain.

For the most part, I gain more as a player when I’m working on arrangements (tracks), perfecting chord changes, solos, feeling the spirit of the song, and visualizing the stage performance. In addition, theory and application is flying through my head at the same time. In other words, ALL aspects occur for me at the same time. I practice the way I perform.

It’s really a wonderful feeling to be in-spirit when playing the guitar. How else could we execute so many things on the instrument without even thinking about them (chimes, chime-picking, sweeping, muting, tapping, finger picking, chord work, dynamics, and on and on)? I’m always amazed when I think of these things. The guitar, for me, has become second nature. It is an extension of me.

It’s one thing to play the guitar. It’s an entirely different thing to make the strings breathe and come to life. It’s difficult to explain to someone who hasn’t felt this amazing out-of-body experience. For those who have, no further explanation is needed. We know that our emotions are being communicated with every note that we play. We feel it, and so do our audiences.

A Velvet Touch can only come from strength. I remember having one of my students extend his arm to resemble the guitar fingerboard (He had been struggling with guitar scales and wondering how much strength was needed.). I grabbed his arm, like I was playing the guitar. At first, I exerted a lot of strength on his arm with both the thumb and my fingers. I played a mock guitar scale on his arm using excessive force (similar to what he was putting out in order to practice scales). Then, to his surprise, I lightened up (like a speed demon Butterfly). I ran an incredibly fast (we’re talking very fast folks; pure speed) mock guitar solo on his arm. He was amazed at the super light touch I utilized. I explained that strength must come before the Velvet Touch.

Many of you know exactly what I’m describing here. Hopefully, I’m just reinforcing what many of you (the professional guitarists) already know. In fact, I’d suggest that as professional guitarists, we all stopped practicing (so-to-speak) a long, long time ago and just started playing. What a concept.

Once again, my answer to the inquisitive student was that my practice is actually playing guitar as described in this article. In other words, practice at performance level. Play for impact and delivery. Bring it to life and make it breathe.

©2008 Michael E. Fletcher. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

I truly wish that years ago, when I first started playing the guitar, I would have had access to guitar tabs. Unfortunately, they hadn’t been invented yet. To learn a song, the older rockers used to put their ears up to a speaker and learn the song in real time.

Personally, I think guitar tabs are a great source for learning songs, guitar solos, and guitar chords quickly. It’s important however, not to only rely on guitar tabs for your music education.

Nothing can replace a thorough knowledge of music theory. Especially when it comes to guitar. Perhaps you’ve heard the old cliche’, “the guitar is the easiest instrument to play, but the hardest to master”. There’s a good reason for this cliche’.

Imagine walking on to a stage with complete strangers. The musical director looks at you and quickly exclaims…..”OK, we’re going to play a ii, IV, vi, V, I progression in the key of five flats and extend the IV chord to it’s furthest diatonic extension”. The very next thing you hear is the drummer clicking off the tempo.

All of the guitar tabs in the world won’t help you in that scenario……will they? In other words, I can hear the train coming (can’t you?). It’s called a train wreck!

Visit any music store in the world. You are bound to see and hear someone sitting on an amplifier speed picking arpeggios or some other scale(s). At first glance, you might think….whoops! My advice to you…..pay no mind. Chances are, this individual has been studying the “Blistered Twisters” video of how to speed pick with no soul and how to demolish an audience by blowing up an amplifier. Is this you? Is this really you? Hopefully not.

Far too many guitar players are relying on speed and flash! However, when all is said and done, the individuals that have taken the time to learn their instrument will, most likely, be the most successful…overall. It’s actually very complimentary to get a late night call from a producer who needs help with a well-constructed guitar solo or help with the flow of a song. Once again, guitar tabs will not help in this situation. However, education will!

I’m all for developing speed as a player. In fact, I love speed picking. However, if one truly knows the music theory surrounding what he/she is doing…..it’s similar to piloting the Star Ship Enterprise….at warp five speed! What a rush!

Guitar Tabs are great tools. Use them for what they are. Education is your best bet for maintaining longevity in your chosen field……..playing the guitar.

Michael E. Fletcher
Ultra Guitar Method

Copyright 2008 Michael E. Fletcher. All Rights Reserved