How To Stop Thinking About Guitar SCALES And Make Music Instead

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One of the problems that I found most common among us guitar players is that we get stuck in thinking 'scales' on our fretboard.
Of course, scales are not evil per se. Scales are a great way to understand your guitar fretboard (not the only one though).
The problem does not lie in the scales - the problem lies in our over-reliance on scales. But this leaves us with a conundrum:
Should we avoid learning our scales on guitar? Or is there any way to learn our scales without getting imprisoned by them?
My take is that we can and should learn our scales, and at the same time we should avoid being imprisoned by them by doing some scale-breaking exercises. These exercises put us directly in contact with the sound of music, completely bypassing the scale-brain.
In this video I present you a few of these scale-breaking exercises, and if you try them I'm sure your musicianship will benefit from them.
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[@josephwilkinson3416]

Props to her for doing this in front of an audience. Uber nerve-wracking.

[@MusicTheoryForGuitar]

Yes. You need to have the right audience... and the audience was great.

[@billgross176]

The ‘right’ note is always just a half step from the ‘wrong’ note.

[@billgross176]

and if no notes sound wrong, congratulations... you’re a jazz musician. :)

[@austindeacon3463]

Yes that is how music works

[@s.vidhyardhsingh3881]

Bill Gross 🤔...............🤩...........that’s really a great discovery 👍🏻😊, even when most people know that, when it’s put in words like you did, it makes it sound like a mystery revealed.

[@billgross176]

S.Vidhyardh Singh Wish I could take credit for it, but I heard that somewhere else. I totally agree with you... its simple, and obvious yet profound.

[@s.vidhyardhsingh3881]

Better Than The Beatles wow!! Sounds like a talent 😁👍🏻🙌🏻

[@stankowalski4574]

One good way to get out of playing patterns and scales is to hum a melody or sing your lead lines and solos, then transpose those to play them on the guitar. This way, you're really using your imagination rather than relying on "muscle memory" and what your fingers are already used to doing.

[@hanreality.7266]

Stan Kowalski doesn’t everybody do that?

[@rickf6375]

Have been doing that for a while now and it really opened up a lot of new ways for me. It's a lot of fun to just experiment while not being afraid to venture out of those boxes and shapes but simply relying on your ear and trial and error

[@sufiismail5672]

May i know how to practice this, any idea? To improvise your humming on guitar. Is that guitar shredding also use this idea? Fast guitar picking comes from humming?

[@omarcapaso7156]

Han reality. He’s saying like in an improvisational setting like with your friends. You have to be in the spot to come up with something pleasing to you rather than tied down to scale. Yeah everyone does that but only when at home wanting to come up with a song or something, even then it’s slow if you really don’t know all the notes on the strings by ear and the exact placement on the spot. It’s something you need to practice towards.

[@kellmerWF52]

@@sufiismail5672 yes, very fast humming

[@pianospeedrun]

Aas a pianist i'm obviously taking this advice for myself too. Have followed this channel for 2 years. Never watched a single video because i didnt have the time and i dont play guitar but i knew you where a gold mine. Today i somehow got this video recommended and it's one of the best advice ever to have fun playing music. Thank you.

[@heitorlima6726]

The classic "That's how you play jazz by the way" always has me LOLing.

[@natestrings673]

Looks like she was super nervous. That was awesome of her to do!

[@bohenian]

I used to play by "scales" when thinking of a solo and I won't get a good sound out of it. Now, I hum the sound of what I think would be good over a chord and use scales as a guide of what that note might be. Scales is only a guide but it is never the thing you have to do to make something sound good.

[@MusicTheoryForGuitar]

Exactly. The scale is a tool you use to help you in the creation of the solo... but it does not do all the work for you.

[@lowcountrythrash2874]

I really do like this gentleman’s teaching style. He is engaging, but encouraging and really strikes me as the type of instructor that pushes critical thought. His accent is also very appealing to me as an American, because I don’t encounter this accent often in my daily…….He could also effectively read me to sleep easily. I have always found accents soothing for some reason and I prefer audio books and teachers with a foreign(to me) accent.

[@MusicTheoryForGuitar]

Why, thanks :)

[@richardhunt809]

It’s such an important lesson. If I improvise a guitar solo then I always think about scales and modes because that’s how I understand the fretboard. But if I improvise a melody by singing then my brain is doing something very different, I think. That is the type of thinking I need to do when I play guitar.

[@xclsaga]

Absolute game-changing advice. I tried the two note exercise over a backing track and it got me out of thinking about 'WHAT to play' and into 'HOW to play'. Having a limited number of notes forced me to be creative with other ways of expressing myself - timing, phrasing, sliding in or out, bending into or varying the length of the notes, etc. After a few minutes, I tried the same notes in different positions on the guitar neck, snuck in some surrounding notes that sounded good, and all of a sudden there was a solo situation going on. The two notes gave me a sense of where 'home' was, so I could always return there and just play those two notes whenever I got lost, ran out of ideas or just felt like it. And the techniques I used to make the two notes sound musical? Well, looks like those applied to other notes as well. Who would've guessed? :P

[@aylbdrmadison1051]

It's interesting because if a person has never touched any instrument before, this is the most natural thing to do the first time picking one up. In fact I've seen this happen 100's of times.

[@Arsalan-Pervez]

kind of tried these kinds of things, but after someone like you telling all of this, its a verdict!! Thanks a lot for infecting people with creativity

[@oldmanpatriot1490]

I subbed after watching this video.. I have been playing for the better of 30 years. I can play solo's like Flyin high again and crazy train from Randy Rhoads, to Hotel California from the eagles.. Needless to say im not a slouch when it comes to playing,, But I felt like I was stuck,, sometimes everything sounds the same, you get stuck playing the same ole same ole and gets boring.. You sir reminded me that sometimes you just have to stop being so focused on technique and focus on the music.. Such a simple lesson that is worth its weight in gold.. Thank you. I look forward to watching more of your videos.

[@JakeSpeed1000]

Awesome! I am an engineer and therefore try so hard to find a formula that works which ties me to scales. What an eye opening lesson to "just play"

[@DoveSimon]

I love all of your content, but this one was especially salient to me. I think this should be everyone's first objective. I can only imagine how much this would help some of the folks that focus ONLY on shredding. We're in an era of guitar playing that seems to focus on speed more than melody - this basic concept gets lost sometimes. Thank you for a great reminder/lesson!

[@pasqualegiordano8812]

I'm following you from quite sometime now and i'm so glad people like you make music simple for all of us!

[@joshmcallister4863]

This is where I start when I want to teach my friends. There is no better place for a beginner, intermediate, or even expert improviser to advance themselves than stripping everything away and focus on two notes. I tell them to work on subdividing the beat into eighth notes, then sixteenths. Then mix in cool rhythms. There may even be endless combinations of these two note rhythms and it is interesting for me as an advancing guitarist to just simplifying it way down. Excellent video!

[@frannyd1217]

I love your teaching methods and I love the fact that these are obvious real students like myself. A lot of other online instruction have professionals trying to act as students. Your videos make me feel comfortable with all I am going through when trying to learn. You are fantastic!

[@paristhalheimer]

Very interesting video. I tend to more focused on rhythm, but working on scales/modes has helped me connect small lead licks and melody to my rhythm.

[@jumboshrimp5193]

He's an excellent teacher.

[@gerardguitarist]

Learn your 7th arpeggios and extensions. Make sure you know Bb, F, C, and Ab along with the rest of the circle of 4ths. In all positions. Then learn all the inversions. In all positions. Now submit all the non chord tones in each arpeggio to make up the 12 note chromatic scale. Now learn how to recognize chord clusters from the lead sheet. 2-5-1's etc. This will give you a frame work to improvise. Now listen to the Jazz musicians of the 40's, 50's and 60's. Trumpet, clarinet , sax and guiar. All day long. Listen, listen, listen. Now put in your 10,000 hours and viola! You're in the club. Simple.

[@justinblake1849]

Whut if you play in standard d tuning?

[@magicdaveable]

I learned "scales" by learning to play the melody of the tune. Over time I recognized the scales and chords that provided the foundation for them. Now after playing for the last 60 years or so I don't think about what scale to use as the basis for building a solo but rather focus on the tonality of the progression. It might not be a clear explanation of my approach but the best I can do. Sometimes I will play counterpoint to the melody. Whatever fits at the time.

[@matthewcrich5951]

Tommaso is a brilliant player & instructor. A true master.

[@Nikoo033]

I found scales as tools to create a connection between what I have in my mind and how to express it with my fingers everywhere on the fretboard. So practicing the scales randomly up and down the fretboard allowed me to create that connection.

[@churlesjenkins4338]

Well yeah that's the thing. Scales show you exactly what is going on harmonically within a chord but some people (including me) sometimes get hung up on looking at everything as the whole scale up and down from root to 7 instead of using maybe 2-3 notes of one scale and moving into another scale. It's good to know what you're doing harmonically but going up and down a scale is like taking a test you've passed 100 times. You may know the information very well but its about how you apply it.

[@s.vidhyardhsingh3881]

So.....two words....... ........ ....... ....... ....... .....😎 ....... ....... ....... ...😎😎 .........two notes!! Wonderful!!!!!!🤩

[@markk2285]

I've been working on making my scale playing more melodic and this lesson is right on. Thanks, be checking out your courses shortly.

[@glguitarman]

Thank you! Please continue this type instruction for the universe. I am always trying to explain this, but it always comes out sounding like I am saying you don’t need scales. Scales are good for building chords, ear training, and the building of technical facility. However, making music comes from listening to melody.

[@noodle845]

Might be the best teacher I've seen on KZbin. Non of the usual suspects seem to talk about this sort of stuff.

[@speedy9753]

I remember jamming with my teacher, I played the wrong note of the scale but it sounded so good with the lick I made.

[@arpeggioblues5924]

Nice approach.. I usually look for the target tones of the chord, approach from above or below; playing 'leading tone' to your target.. (sounds awesome).. note: music theory is Only an idea of how musicians for centuries have constructed their music.. Music dictates music theory; music theory is a guess as to why it works..

[@MusicTheoryForGuitar]

Thank you. This is how I think of music theory: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eovanqukiLqEfNE

[@stratwrassler]

Reminds me of when Eric Clapton was asked by an interviewer from Guitar Player what scales he uses to play blues he replied something like, "I don't know, I don't play scales, I play music".

[@mindcontrol67]

Easy to say when he only plays the pentatonic.

[@johnhendricks8140]

Hendrix didn't know scales either those guys used their ears and their rhythmic feel.

[@stratwrassler]

@@mindcontrol67 He doesn't think in terms of pentatonic either, he plays musical phrases and riffs that include some of the same notes, not the same thing. If you look at the combined notes from the maj and min pentatonic they include the 1, 2, b3, 3, 4, 5, 6 b7, and plus a few b5 and maj 7 notes or chromatic runs and you will find that Clapton plays all the notes somewhere.

[@mindcontrol67]

I know what you meant no offense to you,Its like the first few years of me playing guitar and I just played by ear and it worked out well. Now with all the theory I've learned I wish I could undo that sometimes.

[@MusicTheoryForGuitar]

A few answers for you people in this thread :) 1. Whether you know your scales or not, you have still to use your ears and your rhythm feeling when you play. They are not mutually exclusive! 2. Despite what everybody thinks, Hendrix knew his scales, his chords, and his theory pretty well. 3. If you learned theory and now wish to 'undo that', then you've been taught theory the wrong way (it's not your fault - but find a better teacher). Theory should never be a prison, and should never restrict you. It should instead be a source of musical ideas, and help you make anything you play sound better. Otherwise, what's the point of studying it?

[@tolgadamar4341]

What I like to do is , have a sentence a melody in my head and try to play that. Instead of playing just what my hands are used to. Sometime I take 2 3 day breaks when I feel so stuck in certain playing styles and not getting out of my box.

[@juap]

3:12 this note is PERFECT, I guess what’s wrong or nice it’s relative. I just hear a nice blues rock or stoner, oh man I love “dissonance”

[@iemon7722]

You are such an inspiration .. thank you!

[@TeleNikon]

Your channel pic is of Sri Lahiri Mahashaya! Nice!

[@RockWeller]

Love this lesson! Greetings from Singapore!

[@proximityclockworkx1572]

Also known as the Lil Wayne technique.

[@MusicTheoryForGuitar]

HAHA

[@sandracanella5180]

I can almost hear Stevie T in the background lol

[@vladket1641]

Thanks for your video. In my case it probably came intuitively before watching any videos. My first attemt was jaming with some piano music on youtube. After watching the minute of the video I realized the "sound" of root notes of the chords and began playing them in slower tempo along the song. The second attempt was few days ago. I was bored playing again and again some piece I played hundreds of times and accidentaly thought: what if I'll use 3 starting notes of it and start finding some other ones that will match the tone of the first three ones. I just accidentaly started playing some random triads over that. Then my curiosity tend me to google which key and which scale and key it was (I definetily did not know which key it was before). And after that, today I saw your video which convinced me I was moving the right way. The main consequence of this video is - many people do have their point of view, many of them want you to be like them because it is "righter" and in the same time they try to throw away you from your path. So if the musician has feeling he is doing something wrong or right he has to be ready to find the answers that will convince him that he was right or, otherwise, wrong.

[@Wingsoficarus90]

Awesome lesson. I play what I hear in my head improvising, and all the scales I learned before just stay in the back of my mind as a toolkit.

[@rgtechvlogs1]

This is the most simple and valuable lesson I’ve seen, great work!

[@dandilion62]

This lesson gave me a huge boost in my confidence in my lead playing, it made me realize I have come a long way...

[@ivanlevrone247]

Grazie Tommaso! Il video che mancava. Come al solito avantissimo !

[@igotjuicehoe5193]

I believe this lady’s main issue, arises from not having practiced sequences within the scale, that starts at any degree : thus her fingers aren’t comfortable at any starting point. This deficiency is caused by practicing the scales in a linear fashion. This teacher is absolutely fantastic and he correctly diagnosed her main issue.

[@johnl.6930]

Thank you so much for this lesson! Music! Make music!

[@LostSoulAscension]

Instead of looking at the fretboard as a pattern of scales, sure you can mix scales, but you can also grow your chord visualization on the fretboard and also practice your intervals. If you're pretty okay at improving scales, those other concepts will open doors for you.

[@dougshankle7946]

You are a really great teacher!! The point is to make music! Bingo!! The way you made your student feel was so cool man.

[@MusicTheoryForGuitar]

Thanks! Are you a relative of David Shankle, the guitar player?

[@dougshankle7946]

@@MusicTheoryForGuitar Ha I have been asked that before...maybe a distant distant cousin but I have never met him.

[@daveduffy2823]

You can play any note you want as long as you resolve. Once you get that, you are all set.

[@TeeDOG6]

This video is a gem.

[@slowswimmer9169]

I did it and it was fun

[@mugoletti9730]

The German auto-translation of the video is hilarious. The word "scales" has two completely different meanings. I guess the original contains "guitar scales" and I only see "Gitarrenwaagen" which would be an apparatus to determine the weight of guitars xD

[@MusicTheoryForGuitar]

That IS hilarious :)

[@TheShorty0ne]

Im feeling you...in a previous vídeo It showed "you are a yakuza" instead something about "acoustic"

[@aldoleon7540]

very unique approach, thank you!

[@ReeWebster]

Hum a melody with a rhythm yes. But finding which notes relate to the chord playing is what makes that tension and resolution.

[@nichttuntun3364]

So useful. I'll try that on the piano. Thank you, very interesting like always.

[@toratora9994]

She seems terrified. I’ve been there. If I play in front of anyone but the dog I clam up. She did a great job.

[@yourguitarist]

Tomaso... great to see you 😀 Great video!

[@michaelinglis8516]

Just a recommendation for what to do once you get good at this exercise. Start making those 2 or 3 notes roots, 3rds, and 5ths and you'll really have a ton of tools to use in soloing as a beginner. And you can do the same thing with modes but the important intervals will change. This was a great lesson that it took me a long time to learn but in the 10 years or so after learning that lesson I've come a long way as a musician. I've been playing a little under 20 years and this lesson was a game changer what I finally learned it. Sadly I had to figure it out for myself which took awhile but once I got it everything made sense. It's about making music not playing through scales that you don't understand. In the last ten years ive come to understand all the different chords and how to build them, the scales and modes in major and minor/harmonic minor (I don't use melodic minor much but I saw a lesson on it the other day that really turned on the light bulb that had to do with using Aug chords with melodic minor and that really helped me make sense of the "feel" of melodic minor) anyways my point is that learning the lesson that the goal is to play MUSICALLY even if you can only do it with a few notes at first was big. Plus learning to find the key your in or a mode that works by ear will really help you learn to stay on track later on when playing with other musicians. For example if someone is playing a very basic chord progression you can jazz it up with a mode or focus on an interval that makes each chord more interesting and if your playing with someone and they are way outside your level you can keep it simple and just stick to simple chords that fit or roots thirds and fifths. But you've gotta learn to find what works with your own ear to get all those things happening. This video was a great lesson that will help many people.

[@justinblake1849]

Im 36 this june. Took a private lessons at 14 for guitar, and i learned drums around the same time at school , grade 9 and 10. I can play guitar, drums, and bass was easy to pick up. Is it weird that i cant read notes, but understand timing and tabliture?? A few weeks ago, i started to pick up on finally learning a scale, and i noticed that somehow it helped me get better.... Its too bad i dont really know anybody that plays, as i been writing down songs i have built up over the years. I suck at lyrics for some reason, but coming up with the rythim , lead, bass , and drum beat comes like 2nd nature somehow

[@dobsonsky9056]

passion and patience

I think this may be the best music lesson ever. Or the most important one. Probably both.

[@pondreezy]

If a "Hello internet so nice to see you!" was having a bad day I would kiss it on the forehead and tell it that I care! 😘 😘 😘

[@aylbdrmadison1051]

^-^

[@leegosling]

Dre Meeeeee as wellll!

[@vaughanmayberry4089]

Thank you. Big help.

[@LeeGee]

Spot on!

[@armax00]

Aaaah, Now I understand why my improv exercises have been so crap an boring!

[@rordrom3234]

Wow, very good tips and excersice! Thank you!

[@fabricirillo]

i think that thinkin about a scale is not that useful....better to think the notes of the chord and the tensions (9,11,13) as that gives the taste of the musicality because a B in cmaj7 is a complete different color as the same note on a G7

[@VojvodinaNet]

I am mostly interested in your books. If I get the 'silver level' and pay just for one month, will I still get the books?

[@MusicTheoryForGuitar]

Please direct all questions about the courses to [e-mail]

[@fredericwhite2064]

Use the cage systématique for break the escales...

[@curiousgeorge555]

i like this guy! Very good teacher!!!

[@DenisChangMusic]

This was a good video. Good job :-)

[@July-gj1st]

But what if my problem is that, for example, following along with the stuff you did with the student, I eventually DO indeed find the scale and get stuck into it? kinda like a fly tiptoeing around a spider web?

[@MusicTheoryForGuitar]

Then change scale

[@July-gj1st]

@@MusicTheoryForGuitar Wdym? Like the mode? Or you mean adding notes like say playing a harmonic or melodic? Cuz I already do all that and it still feels this way :( (sorry if I'm using the wrong terms or sounding weird, english isn't my first language)

[@piemmetubo]

Che bella questa lezione! Il "radio surfing" è geniale.

[@countblue]

Now this was hillarious. KZbin tries lately to transcribe/translate english titles into german. I have no idea why they think that this is a good idea. It just made guitar scales out of guitarscales. The ones with which you weigh things, which in german is a different word than the scale that you play on a guitar. Your video was cool.

[@Avedis-G]

When in doubt... slide!

[@markhindenp2850]

Great advice

[@kukumuniu5658]

Maybe this is a very wise,I don't know,Im stupid being :D I know only one thing I would love to watch something about harmonic Major cdefg a-flat b and his modes :D modal progressions etc

[@lilystrong9870]

I always have melody but I don't know scales. And I now have to break away after learning it.

[@burnindownthehouse]

Exactly. He's trying to tell her to play by ear. Use your ear. Trust your ear. It's the only way you can advance as a guitarist. Don't get caught up in a box. Don't pin yourself in to only the notes in that box. Release yourself from that box.

[@saxofonistacr]

excelente!

[@Dreamdancer11]

Even better...sing those two notes while listening to the backing track and before even touching the guitar..then you just have to find them on the fretboard....

[@estarling8766]

Here is a fair advice.

[@7Earthsky]

If you're listening properly, learning only one mode is somewhere you can travel all around the fret board from.

[@BazzTriton]

Muito bom

[@micheldindaine8403]

Play these two notes and make them dance on the rhythm. The less note you have, the more you rely on the rhythm, otherwise there is nothing left to play.

[@plumhunter9158]

the volume is not very good ... or Zillio's accent is making it hard to clearly understand his words ... esp when he looks away from the microphone. I will replay and try to listen harder!

[@Oi-mj6dv]

Look. If you are thinking in anything other than arpeggios and enclosures/ target notes then you arent fast enough with your thinking to bebop. Which proves the point that chord scale theory is good but only Up to a point and not a refined enough heuristic to actually meaningfully improvise

[@luigicannizzo2669]

CiAo Tommaso ..! Complimenti per il percorso Didattico ecc ... Volevo farti un paio di domande ..: Che tipo di preparazione ci vuole per affrontare il manuale che hai scritto, soprattutto lo' stesso si può trovare in Italiano ..?!" Grazie gia' da ora, alla prox ciAo ... ☺😊😉/👍👌👏

[@MusicTheoryForGuitar]

Se sai che accordi ci sono nella tonalita' di Do allora puoi cominciare il corso - mi prendo cura io di insegnarti il resto. C'e' solo la versione in Inglese.

[@RickDanner]

i cant stop thinking about scales

[@jonakerlund7939]

It would be useful if you could just but the material for the course and not have a subscription. 57/97 a month is a bit much for video lessons.

[@MusicTheoryForGuitar]

You can. Write me at [e-mail] and I'll hook you up.

[@jonakerlund7939]

@@MusicTheoryForGuitar cool the is for the reply:D I will send you an email.

[@sasufreqchann]

the explanation is a bit wierd .

[@dogsavethequeen7689]

I have to disagree. You need to learn your scales and their corresponding positions before becoming proficient at improvising. Otherwise it's just guess work that's bound to be full of brown notes, to put it nice.

[@lueysixty-six7300]

Oh man, that custom 24 looks sooo much better than Tyler's single cut (from music is win - U either know what I'm saying or not at all!). I almost bought that black s series Ibo too, but felt it a bit too plain compared to the gorgeous tops they put on guitars a few hundred more. As for the lesson: I don't rate it at all. Playing two notes sounds so bad - gimme at least 3. In fact, stuff it, I'm using as many as I want, plus I'm using scales. This is for absolute beginners, no??? Or else, why would I not use the scales and notes I have already mastered? It just threw me because the great guitars on display made me think this can't be all that Beginner.

[@jamessmithurst6011]

It's sad that many musicians can't improvise (spontaneous song writing). All they can play are scales - play what they've learnt - like a robot. I never understood how people can enjoy an instrument without feeling the need to express oneself. Then I met my wife, an amazing painter and artist. But when I suggested she draw and paint her own ideas, she got upset with me. She said she couldn't do it because she had no ideas of her own. That's why she'd only copy other artists. I've met many artists from different artistic genres who are brilliant technicians but their 'inventive mind' is empty, non existent. On the other hand, I never learnt scales. After learning a few chords, I instinctively started composing. I wanted to explore where my mind would take me. My fingers just follow my thoughts. Often, I have no thoughts. It is as if I'm listening to someone else play. I can close my eyes to any beat or song and a melody comes out without any conscious effort.

[@danielkarsten1579]

Please help me, I can do it! 💣

[@nihilgeist666]

If you're thinkin'; you're stinkin'!

[@sergius28]

🎼🎼👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@traviscrawford1647]

Don't get scaly

[@user-ui8mi2si9k]

Okay thats how to play jazz by the way xd

[@fredericwhite2064]

Caged system

[@tomashcroft7024]

Painful to watch. Also went from writing a song to soloing?

[@ronnieguitar99]

Is that a Russian accent? Beware of Russians. Better head for the fallout shelter. Pentatonic minor. Why play anything else.

[@MusicTheoryForGuitar]

Italian. Beware of us.

[@plumhunter9158]

sorry ... I can't listen to what I can't understand ...

[@stratwrassler]

AT 9:05 he writes the lesson on a white board.

[@rudiekazu]

if you were gonna do something like this......you should at least have someone who knew how to play the instrument in the first place