To practice scales on guitar, go in four steps. First listen and sing each note against the root. Then learn the scale’s positions with a few picking techniques. Then play it in intervals and subdivisions, in time. Then make music with it over a loop. At every step, go slow and keep it clear.
Scales are a fundamental element in music. To me, understanding C major or F major is sort of like understanding your neighborhood and how the roads connect. This lesson takes F major through all four steps, and if you work on them consistently, you’ll create music faster, better and with more ease.
Step 1: listen and sing the notes against the root
Before any fingerings, hear how each note of the scale relates to the center. This is extremely important, so please don’t skip it.
When I start playing scales, I play the position back and forth a hundred times, more like a hundred thousand times. But first, we’re going to understand, listen to and sing the relationships within the major scale. I keep an F sounding and listen to each individual note against it: how the 2 sounds, how the 4 feels. I’m trying to feel and tag in my mind the tension I hear when I play F against A, and the resolution.
Understanding those sounds and creating almost an emotional imagery for each one, in relationship to the center, is crucial. That’s basically music: tension and release.
Step 2: learn the positions with three techniques
Map the scale in three notes per string, which divides the guitar into seven positions, and play each position with three different techniques.
There are many ways to see F major, but I’m taking three notes per string partly because it works with all three techniques:
- Alternate picking. Literally up and down on every note.
- Legato. Pick one note and hammer the other two going up. Descending, pick the first note and pull off the other two. Try to get sound from all three fingers, a balanced sound, not super loud then super soft.
- Hybrid. Alternate pick the first two notes on each string and hammer on the last one.
Don’t play in time yet. You’re just teaching your fingers, your brain and your ears where things are. Say the note names as you go, sing along, and keep thinking of everything as F major rather than as modes. If the shapes are new, it’s okay. This is the beginning of tagging the notes. For more on finding notes all over the neck, see my lesson on how to learn the guitar fretboard.
Make sure your two hands are synced, and if they’re not, ask yourself why. A lot of times there are too many variables. Maybe it’s this hand, maybe it’s the other one. Maybe you’re not hearing it, or you don’t know the notes. Maybe the pattern of the major scale isn’t clear to you yet: whole step, whole step, half step, whole, whole, whole, half. In F that’s F, G, A, B flat, C, D, E, F.
Step 3: play intervals and subdivisions in time
Permutations let you see the same scale from a slightly different angle. Take one position and play it in 3rds, 4ths, 5ths, 6ths and 7ths, then play it in time with a metronome.
- Thirds. Skip one note each time. Start ascending, then try descending and mixed. Then play the thirds harmonically, two notes at once, and you almost hear the chords of the key.
- Fourths. In F major the tritone only shows up on the 4th degree, B flat up to E. The rest are perfect fourths.
- Fifths. Either move one shape across the position, or stay in one area and skip strings. Both are good.
- Sixths. A classic guitar sound we use a lot. Play them slower, melodically and as a harmonic sound.
- Sevenths. A little more aggressive sounding. I hear them almost as chords, like B flat major 7, A minor, G minor, F major 7, and if you hear them as chords they sound a little less aggressive.
You can write each one down and see all the variables. It’s not the only way, and you can find your own permutations. Just don’t try to play it super fast.
Then play it in time. I put my faithful metronome on 60 BPM and play the scale in quarter notes, eighth notes, triplets and sixteenth notes, spending time on each until it’s clear and I can sing it. If you’ve never done this, tap each subdivision first so you hear its relationship to the click, then put it on the scale. Do the same with the intervals. It doesn’t need to be fast. It needs to be clear and in time.
Then go through all seven positions, each one separately first, then mixing them. Positions are a temporary framework. The goal is to say “I’m playing F major” and grab it wherever it is on the neck.
Step 4: make music with the scale
This is probably the most important step. All the mapping and listening is maybe 45 to 50% of the process. The rest is creating.
I think going into the lab, if you will, and practicing is important, but also going to the playground and messing with the information and seeing it in different ways.
Rotem Sivan
One of the best ways, I feel, is to mess around quite literally. I loop a few chords in F major, F, A minor, G minor and C sus, and find a little melody I like in one position. I repeat it, go around the scale, and look for mini bites and pockets of things I dig. If I’m working on sixths, I don’t play the whole exercise. I just slip a little of that sound in.
And if you reach for the sixths and can’t see them, that’s great. Pause the loop, check the framework of F major in that area again, and go back. A lot of times the music making will tell us what we need to work on, instead of spending hundreds of hours playing every option and ending up with no music.
Here’s a practice idea for today. Take the first position of F major, three notes per string. Sing each note against an F for a few minutes. Play the position once with each of the three techniques, out of time. Then set the metronome to 60 BPM and play it in quarter notes and eighth notes. Finish by looping F, A minor, G minor and C sus and making up one short melody in that same position.
If you want this mapped out for you, Unlocking the Fretboard maps the neck on purpose in C major and A minor, including seven three-notes-per-string positions. And for the picking side, Technique & Speed is the routine I still play first thing every morning, adapted from what my classical guitar teacher showed me. For how scales fit into a full session, see my guitar practice routine.
Frequently asked questions
How many positions does a major scale have on guitar?
In three notes per string, the major scale divides the guitar into seven positions, one starting from each note of the scale. Learn each position separately first, then start mixing them, so you can find the key anywhere on the neck.
Should I practice scales with a metronome?
Yes, once the positions are clear. Set it around 60 BPM and play quarter notes, eighth notes, triplets and sixteenth notes, spending time on each. Tap each subdivision first if it’s new. Clear and in time matters more than fast.
What’s the difference between alternate picking and legato?
Alternate picking picks every note, up and down. Legato picks one note per string and hammers on (ascending) or pulls off (descending) the rest. A hybrid mixes them: alternate pick the first two notes on a string and hammer the third.
How do I make scales sound like music?
Loop a few chords from the key, find a short melody in one position, repeat it and build around it. Add small bits of whatever interval you’re working on. When you get stuck, pause and recheck the shape, then go back to playing.
Put on a loop in F tonight and find time in your practice for the playground, not only the lab.
