Major Scales Give You Superpowers

[@BradHarrison]

Take private lessons online with me! Trumpet, brass, theory, composition & arranging, improvisation, or whatever musical/life coaching you’d like to work on. More information at www.bradharrison.ca/lessons

[@Squeaker69]

I love you man, your approach to theory has taken me to the moon

[@BaldorfBreakdowns]

This is the kind of teaching that needs to become more common. You aren't teaching me how to learn, you're teaching my *why* I should learn. When it's explained why something is useful to learn, it makes it a lot easier to start learning.

[@BradHarrison]

Thanks so much! I’m really glad the video landed for you. All the best!

[@jakebrownisgay-sm7qe]

So true! I learn through understanding rather than memorising detached,random pieces of knowledge

[@quietlytransientaudioworks6042]

I played saxophone for 5 years and we used to have tests on our major scales every week, but fast forward a couple years later and I’m learning piano, I now can play all major scales and I am working on my natural minor scales now

[@PRIMEGospel]

If you know your Major Scales you know the natural minor or relative scales. Just take the major scale and instead of beginning at the 1, begin at the 6. Ex. C Major Scale., start at the A instead of the C.

[@steffanyr1038]

@@PRIMEGospel so what is the difference between melodic minor and the harmonic one? Do we still play it from the A if it's in a key of C major?

[@BradHarrison]

@Steffany R This may be helpful: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qKnEf6FnnL2aY6c

[@steffanyr1038]

@@BradHarrison thanks a lot!!

[@Maltry]

@PRIME Gospel what youve just described also applies to the modes as well, at least those that apply for C major scale anyway.

[@jadenfollett5532]

This is the single most important video I've seen about music theory in recent time. While I do know a few scales and I'd argue my improv is relatively good naturally, this helped me understand exactly how little I know and where I can improve on to become one of "the greats". Thank you.

[@BradHarrison]

Excellent! Thanks for the kind words. It’s pretty great to have natural improv chops though.

[@Soundofjoy]

As an online gospel piano music instructor I preface every song with the major/minor scale formed around each melody of that song. This video affirms why I can learn and teach any song.

[@qualia4673]

This is probably the best overview I have seen on the harmonic aspect of western music. All of the most important ideas are explained really naturally and clearly, amazing video!

[@BradHarrison]

So glad to hear! It’s so much to cover and I didn’t want the video to be an hour long.

[@sanjeev3591]

Bro, I love your content... It's just I know music theory is important but always get demotivated because of the pattern of learning... Your pattern of learning gives motivation as you simplify everything and show us through animations what we can achieve if we work consistently...

[@BradHarrison]

Thanks so much! That’s pretty much the vibe I aim for. So nice to hear it’s landing for people.

[@Gisele11]

Im working on my scales and this video helped me be inspired to actually do them! Thank you Brad Harrison!

[@BradHarrison]

Excellent! Good luck!

[@Gisele11]

@@BradHarrison please 🙏🏽 keep making these videos!

[@daveschmitt4241]

I’m a long time bluegrass novice. When I took up bass a few years ago I found learning scales very helpful for fingering, intonation, ear training, and strength building. During the pandemic when I had a lot of time for practice I decided to explore how I could get more out of my practice time. This video is very helpful to explain how to explore and organize scale practice.

[@AxisDrifter]

There's a double edge for guitar players where each key can be played with the same shapes and patterns and it's easy to transpose anything, but a lot of us miss contextual parts of what we're actually playing such as sharps/flats and chord qualities/intervals.

[@BradHarrison]

I was going to talk about this but cut it for length! It’s true, guitarists can learn one scale pattern and play it in every key, but if you want all the additional benefits from learning scales, you’ve got to actually learn all the notes. Singers are in a similar position. One they learn the sound and feel of a scale, key makes no difference. But there’s not additional benefits of theory, reading, etc.

[@AxisDrifter]

@@BradHarrison I agree with you there. I think a great approach is to learn all of your chird forms starting with basic triad shapes and mapping them out across the major scale pattern so you have access to all chirds and voicings in a key and transpose it. Then one day not quite there yet but factoring in the different minor scales and how that can change chord qualities in minor keys. Super easy idea but hard mental conceptualization and application

[@jonathanmurrell5801]

@@BradHarrisonNot sure I agree with this. Guitar players can learn the individual intervals from any start position without learning note names. This can be very efficient in learning scales and harmony. See for example work by Tom Quayle.

[@BradHarrison]

You can learn interval shapes, but how will you know what fifth you are playing if you don’t know your note names? Same for sight reading. How are you going to read notes if you don’t know your note names?

[@jonathanmurrell5801]

@@BradHarrison Yes you need to know the note name of the starting point I agree. But then any scale is available to you as the interval shapes are identical from any starting point.

[@RipReed]

I can't overstate how excellent this video is.

[@yowo6105]

as a classically trained oboist (not a professional) i was a bit surprised by the emphasis put on the scales part because I saw it as only natural. But now thinking back I'm realizing how much scales actually help me. I've played plenty of music in orchestras and seeing 4 flats or 3 sharps is something i observe, don't actively think about but yet still automatically play correctly. That's the power of scales, the feeling of playing in a natural scale. I would like to add that it's also very important to know how to play the chromatic scale, as it is less straight forward from regular 8 note scales but can proof to be a real challenge when you encounter them in music you'll have to play. Especially when playing orchestral music (wind players, strings and melodic percussion will all have to deal with this sometime) Though i suppose its less important than actual scales

[@BradHarrison]

It’s incredible how powerful scales can be. I remember reading a chart in a big band and seeing a tricky passage coming up. Though worried I might get lost halfway though, there’s no stopping when reading with a band, but I surprised myself by nailing the line. Afterwards I realized it was just whole half diminished spelled weirdly. My fingers and subconscious knew what to do even if my conscious mind hadn’t caught up yet.

[@gerardvila4685]

Right, the chromatic scale is the superpower that makes it easier to play all the other scales - especially with wind instruments where each sharp and flat is played in a unique way.

[@galaxylucia1898]

Good reminder about the chromatic scale! I was thinking I would focus on all major scales, but as a beginner violist learning the chromatic scale over a couple octaves would be iIMMENSELY helpful for me.

[@lindasmith6668]

This was a great musical overview for a beginner like me. Thanks again.

[@curtpiazza1688]

Great stuff! Great pep talk! The best thing I ever did learning to play flute....learn and practice all SCALES! If I get bored with my repertoire I resort to a "scale festival" ...use the entire practice session to review scales: major, minor, (natural, harmonic, melodic), modes, arpeggios... This whets my appetite to take on new and more challenging repertoire!

[@BradHarrison]

They’re so helpful, right? They’re so foundational and reviewing the basics is always a good idea.

[@ShaharHarshuv]

I totally agree!! This is not talked about enough. I wish I watched this video years ago. I already know all my scale and have been working on top of that on ear training and playing and I can second your claims that it has made my musical journey so much more efficient. I'm already so much better than I was a year ago

[@BradHarrison]

Excellent! So many musicians and educators prioritize scales but I’m not sure they always do a great job of explaining why they’re so fundamental. When you know why, it’s hard to understand not knowing.

[@galaxylucia1898]

Brad-your visuals are SO helpful! I took a couple of screenshots so I could create my own chart in my music study book to keep track of my progress. (I like to hand write things vs typing it out on a computer.) It’s these practical tips that truly sets all of your content apart from others. I can def put this into practice tomorrow!! THANKS!!

[@saberliberta]

Thanks for this precious video with very good, practical and easy hints

[@richard135b7]

This is awesome advice and guidance. You've motivated me to learn every major scale and every diatonic chord within those scales in the next 30 days. Thank you!

[@BradHarrison]

Excellent! Really hope you find it helpful. I definitely did.

[@robmee5916]

Another excellent video Brad - a wealth of information presented logically and clearly.

[@BradHarrison]

Thanks, Rob! You’re the best. I really appreciate the support.

[@user-sb3wh3dd4v]

Dear Brad, THANK YOU for this concise and entertaining video. I've been telling my students the same things for five decades, but your short overview is powerful in its brevity. I will share this with other students and teachers!

[@BradHarrison]

Excellent! So glad you enjoyed! Most of us tell our students the same things, but sometimes it doesn’t click until they hear it for the fifth time…or fifteenth. ;-)

[@heavyaltillery4861]

memorizing every note on the fretboard is a must you can go so far with that cause it will make everything so much easier

[@BradHarrison]

No doubt! I have so many students that insist on calling notes by fingerings. It really hinders communication.

[@SjonnyBB]

Awesome video man! I’ve been playing guitar for a while and I have on and off periods of really practicing scales and ear training. Lets pick this up and practice some sight reading on piano!

[@jamescps8799]

I have tried to learn this concept via many other youtube videos, this is the best so far.

[@TuPhongMusic]

Great video! I really enjoyed the tips and insights on how to improve musicianship. It's easy to get caught up in the technical side of music, but it's important to remember that the emotional connection to the music is just as important. Thank you for sharing!

[@bobby5850]

brilliant video, you are an amazing speaker & teacher!! thank you for sharing 🙏

[@BradHarrison]

Thanks so much for the kind words!

[@PrakharSrivastav]

Loved the video! As a new guitar player, I do practice the major scale but not as much as I should. Thanks for this amazing reminder!

[@julsia6798]

I love your videos. Truly amazing how passionate you are about teaching. I love it. thanks.

[@BradHarrison]

Thanks for the kind words! Much appreciated.

[@WildernessMusic_GentleSerene]

As a warm up, and to increase my composition skills, I began scale practice a year ago. The one difference in my practice is; I use both hands. I practice both all major and minor scales first playing triads with one hand and the scales with the other hand. Then reverse. I am going to eventually progress expanding from triads to 7ths and more. Then for a short time I will begin improvising in an uncomfortable scale I have not composed in yet. Then I run through my memorized repertoire, then experiment with new songs. I need 2 to 3 hours to complete my practice and explore new song ideas. Playing up and down each of the 24 scales (M,m) with both hands in unison will be added later, but it is daunting.

[@BradHarrison]

Sounds like a great routine! You’re going to build a ton of technique this way.

[@Mr.DE4THLESS]

This Channel it's pure gold!!!

[@BradHarrison]

Thanks so much!

[@danielcollins7107]

I've seen a lot of music theory videos over the years, and this might be the best single video on the topic that I've ever seen. There are some great channels out there but what tends to happen is that I'm slightly enriched by the video but I can't really put the theory into practice that effectively; since it's a small piece of a larger picture. I'm taking a Udemy course on guitar and it's similarly enriching but takes it long periods of time to say little useful information that I can actually directly use. It features 45 HOURS of video and there's a ludicrous amount of fluff. Which is a common issue with Udemy courses in general. I can read text books on reasonably complex topics in less than 45 hours; or at least learn a lot more in the 45 hours than I did from watching videos for that length of time. In their defence, and in the defence of other KZbin content creators, sometimes the fluff can really help paint a deeper picture which can be worthwhile; but I find that in reality a lot of time it ends up being like eating a soup that is comprised of mostly water with very few vegetables. Since I've been exposed several times to the fundamental concepts, this video just puts the pieces together in such a clean package visually and conceptually and I can easily infer how to use this to improve. Thanks a bunch for making this.

[@GlenGarcia1961]

Nice instructional, insightful, and inspiring video. Thank you for nurturing players to grow by explaining what can often seem inscrutable and enigmatic with simple, logical explanations that build upon simple beginnings. Rick Beato is the man who, after years of not being able to fathom either the circle of fifths or how the key signatures are structured and written, unlocked them for me. He did it by doing what you did in this video. Thanks again.

[@BradHarrison]

Excellent! Funny enough I just had a comment complaining about Rick Beato’s, which surprised me because I think he’s great! But this stuff is hard and different teachers will click with different people. Anyway, all the best!

[@gavinsanderson5396]

Yep great video - I'm sold. Casual piano player with a sense that 'something' has been blocking my progress and - guess what - I've avoided learning scales. Now I get it. Super video - liked and subscribed.

[@BradHarrison]

Excellent! Good luck!

[@gavinsanderson5396]

@@BradHarrison Thanks! Incidentally, what software do you use to make the videos? I'm looking to make some (for a completely different subject) and I've really struggled to find video creation software that does what I need.

[@BradHarrison]

Keynote is a surprisingly powerful tool. But, like anything, it’s still a lot of work to make the videos and I’ve also figured out a bunch of tricks over the years to make things look better(I think…I hope!).

[@julsia6798]

Just the pep talk I needed!

[@ShadowlazeMusic]

Thank you for this video, imma start taking it slow than I am going to come back and learn and develop these musical powers and music theory. I am trying to learn improvisation to become really good at jazz but Imma need to start with a solid foundation of all of the major scales because I do not have them all solidified yet. Thanks and imma start that practice for major scales and my music to

[@DavidConnors]

Great video Brad! I resolved about a month ago to start playing the majors and minors around the circle of fifths daily (zig zagging between majors and relative minors). It has produced the most noticeable improvement in my musical comprehension since I started 2.5 years ago. I can readily now associated majors and minors, easily map even complex key signatures to what key they’re in, etc. 👍

[@BradHarrison]

Excellent! I like the idea of mixing in relative minors too. You’re probably going to see A minor long before C# major.

[@DavidConnors]

@@BradHarrison The ol’ C# vs D♭ thing … and G♭ and F# thing… 😊

[@Uphold-your-Rights]

Very helpful video. I'm new to piano and began practicing scales. I found a trick that helped. I picked one scale and watched a movie while practicing. It kept my eyes off of my hands. I'm not perfect yet but I feel like I play the scales a bit more naturally and without thinking about which key is next. I used this technique when I learned to play drums while practicing paradiddles.

[@BradHarrison]

Nice! I do something similar. Good practice often takes a lot of effort and intention, but other times it’s just doing things a million times for your muscle memory.

[@imdamanization]

adult learner here. I binge watch your music theory videos every now and then. The hardest thing for me is time, I know spending 30 mins isn't probably going to make a noticeable difference tomorrow, but it adds up over the years. Guess I'm lacking patience(and also videos of people who play very well are quite commonplace so it feels like the bar is set quite high) It's hard when I want to play a hard piece but knowing that I'll need a few years to even think about attempting it It's just ironic because I teach languages and almost say the same things you do(but with language related concepts) and people always want to speak like a native with only an hour of lessons a week and no other practice haha

[@coronal2207]

Man I've had that with the song you want to play, but what helped me was: there're always other cool songs within your reach, and once you play them all you go in a circle and end up looking back at the hard one, it is now within reach because of all the practice you've been doing!

[@imdamanization]

@@coronal2207 It's very frustrating. I'm attempting a grade 1 piece that has some syncopation(the notes don't quite "align") and even playing VERY slowly I can't seem to grasp the concept. It feels my hands are very clumsy lol

[@imdamanization]

@Axileus and I'm still stuck on the alphabet

[@BradHarrison]

@RandomStuff Music is hard. And new rhythmic concepts can be harder. Chunk through it bad by bad and phrase by phrase. I think of it like sounding out an unfamiliar word. Allow yourself you be kind of slow and awkward at first, but try to nail all the notes. After a few tries, in corporate the rhythm, less strictly at first(just follow shorts and longs) but move towards stricter rhythmic accuracy. If that doesn’t work, figure out how to count, clap, or sing the rhythm and reincorporate the notes when you’ve got that figured out. If you can find a recording, listening can be very valuable as well. And sitting down with a teacher is always a solid strategy when you’re struggling. Hope that gives you a few tactics to try!

[@imdamanization]

@@BradHarrison wow didn't expect a reply from the man himself! I am experiencing some progress but it is quite slow but I've narrowed it down(at the very least) to lack of focus. There is a noticeable difference when I play on weekdays evenings and weekend mornings. But it's the best I can do atm. For some reason I tend to 'autopilot'(even tho my skills aren't near enough to even think about it) and I can't practice for more than 10 mins at a stretch.

[@andrey.skripnik]

“if you don't know what to practice, practice scales” - i needed to hear this!! cause I'm kinda lost rn

[@BradHarrison]

They kind of make everything better. And there are so many kinds! You’ll never run out.

[@andrey.skripnik]

@@BradHarrison do you really think they serve as a sight-reading exercise? cause as soon as i learn the scale with my motoric memory, i stop reading the scale but just stare at it with soft focus and play it without really connecting keys on the piano with notes on sheet music

[@BradHarrison]

I think it supports sight reading and pattern recognition. It definitely does for me anyway. If you’re just going on autopilot though, that’s a focus/attention issue.

[@andrey.skripnik]

@@BradHarrison damn, thank you. you just opened my eyes, i have never even considered an autopilot issue. that's true, I've always been an autopilot kind of person with my mind wandering all the time. i thought the 'soft focus while reading the sheet music that i have already learned' issue is an universal experience. i should start forcing myself to focus more.

[@BradHarrison]

That’s a hard thing too. We all wander to varying degrees, but it is something to pay attention to and try to work on.

[@ty-lar]

Super cool way to think about this. Thanks!

[@GaZonk100]

sometimes it's great just to feel that 'click' when things you're learning one day just clonk into place; even if it's not a red-hot target skill

[@thisone9]

A great series! The only thing you're missing is a video on Time Signatures!

[@BradHarrison]

Thanks! Planning to finish that later this year.

[@levigrewal8384]

first of all great and educational video as always! In the slide where you talk about scales being like a set of directions to Aunt Vals house in Barrie, I happen to live in Barrie haha.

[@BradHarrison]

Thanks! Also, that’s awesome. I hope you also enjoyed the hilariously unhelpful and inaccurate directions. ;-)

[@Rotatoechip]

Great video Mr. Harrison!

[@BradHarrison]

Thanks, Peter!

[@ODanayoO]

Incredible video, thank you.

[@BradHarrison]

Thank you too!

[@smipianist9374]

C manor is actually the hardest to play. Chopin used to start his students on the key of B Major because it follows the natural position of the fingers.

[@BradHarrison]

That’s actually kind of neat. Simpler in some ways but more complicated in others. Very interesting. A lot of band students start in Bb and that puts them all in various keys depending on transposition so we all have a different sense of what an “easy” key is.

[@Trollbot007]

That last part on chord combinations and spicing up combinations reminds me of the LSAT 😊

[@Cloud_Strife_19]

Thank you

[@ziziroberts8041]

Solfeggio is how my dad figured out that I should have piano lessons. After seeing The Sound of Music at age 6, I understood that it was a language. I started singing melodies I knew using solfege. I find fixed doh extremely difficult. I use moveable doh.

[@BradHarrison]

Nice! Moveable do always made the most sense to me. It’s so useful.

[@KalebPeters99]

This was so good, Brad 🙏

[@arcos8917]

you are a superhero, amazing content you make!!!!

[@IbrahimHoldsForth]

I'm pretty certain that practicing scales increased my musical sensitivity

[@jikau7374]

great tips! will definitely keep coming back to this.

[@Chris-sf4ox]

Can you guys make a video on Time signatures? I love the way you guys explain stuff 😭

[@BradHarrison]

Just one guy! Me! But yes, I’m hoping to do that this year. Not for a few months but it’s high on my todo list. Glad you’ve been enjoying the videos!

[@muhammadbasir83]

The way I memorizing Scales, build muscle memory and tempo without being bored is by playing along with backing track in all fret position. I can play hours using backing track.

[@allgood6760]

Thanks for this 👍🎶

[@Zoey5374]

In school this year we had to learn all 12 major scales, we just did them in the circle of fourths and we played swing eighth notes because it’s jazz class. The most notable things that were improved just by learning scales were alternate fingerings (I’ve gotten a lot comfortable just switching between the different fingerings for each not depending on what’s easiest for what your playing (I play bass clarinet)) It also helped improve my range. The scales were only written in one octave on the page, where last year for concert band each individual scale showed a few octaves. This encouraged me to work more on the upper octave. Playing bass clarinet most songs for concert band range from the Eb below the staff to the B or C in the middle, never really any higher. Now because the scales in we worked on this year had one octave and I wanted to learn that octave better (the highest it went was the Bb above the staff which I could play I just wasn’t fluent in the fingerings above the C on the third space). Now I don’t even really think I just play that high easily, I can play the high D (and a bit higher) but it’s annoying switching to altissimo fingerings. Another thing the scales helped with was enharmonics, I already knew them but if I seen a Cb on the page I wasn’t thinking automatically oh it’s a B, but now after the scales it’s just becoming second nature. We did major scales first then we worked on blues, mixolydian, and now Dorian, since we went through major scales first I think it helped with the alternate fingerings and enharmonics making the other scales easier to learn.

[@BradHarrison]

Excellent! Your superpowers are kicking in!

[@Zalezus]

This was really good

[@BradHarrison]

Thanks!

[@luciusrex]

Newbie piano player here. This was great information! I've subbed! Do you recommend a book or resource where they follow your advice?

[@BradHarrison]

Glad you enjoyed! Scale fluency is a pretty major foundational value of most instrumental method books and music teachers, whether they explicitly say so or not. Really, I just hope this video helps people understand why their teachers make them learn scales. They’re so useful it’s almost easy to forget why and we think it’s self evident to students. But most people just want to play tunes and don’t see all those connections at first.

[@user-sb3wh3dd4v]

"How to sleep in a hotel room with a bassist who snores," Most valuable tip ever! Please elucidate😅!

[@BlackSailPass_GuitarCovers]

0:50 Are there really three hidden Major scales, or is this a musical joke? :) Edit: OK - I understand now. They are the same scales in a different key signature. Also, I didn't realise that by moving the C Major scale up one note until I reach 'C' again I was actually playing in different modes, just by starting the same scale at a different note! This channel explains these concepts very clearly, gets right to the point, and the humor never feels forced. Subscribed.

[@BradHarrison]

Yep! You figured it out! So glad you’re enjoying the channel. All the best!

[@romerort]

Best explanation and inspiration, many thanks!

[@cpearce]

I like the style of you presentations. What software apps are you using to produce your video content. Also, the content is very good. 😊

[@BradHarrison]

Keynote does most of the heavy lifting. Glad you’re enjoying!

[@sethbrolsma516]

Hmm. Might have to try this.

[@maciakontonasakis379]

2:02 this is the true band experience

[@AndyBondo]

Thankyou.

[@gwfhegel5045]

I learned the entire doors discography and by the end I realised I knew all of the scales and modes.

[@_Clueless_]

I think i will sty with my system with some upgrades because of what you asid, i am starting with chords only not scales, as in i will learnthe major chord for each note, and the minor chords for each chord, pratice them and their transitions, then go on to scales with the knowledge of chords already there it'd be much easier, i think , this allows me to put a bt more of a seperation between theory knowledge and technical ability, having both at the same time makes much harer to learn.

[@firstnamenonapplicable5138]

Its fun being a guitarist, not only do people I meet not want to learn basic scales or theory, they'll passionately tell you its bad for them

[@BradHarrison]

I always find that funny. But it’s probably because teachers tell them theory is a set of rules of what’s allowed or correct, when it’s really just a way to describe things in music. It would be like saying learning to follow a recipe or knowing the roles of ingredients in a dish makes you a worse cook.

[@orangeblue3531]

Hi Brad, your videos have really been helping me understand and learn music and how to practice! I'm also inspired to make videos too! May I ask how you make your education videos? i.e. what software, resources etc. Thanks!

[@BradHarrison]

Glad you’re enjoying! Keynote does most of the heavy lifting for animation. The information is mostly just from my education and experience. If there is a source, it will be in the comments.

[@orangeblue3531]

@@BradHarrison Thanks Brad!! Much love!

[@larasheilan4985]

love Your videos!!! May I know what software do You use to animate the videos, (writing notation + animation)? Best regards

[@BradHarrison]

Thanks for the support. The music stuff is made in Sibelius. The animation is done mostly in Keynote. Nothing too fancy!

[@wombo_samu4420]

Damn this is a great video sir, if you're selling I'm buying

[@blow-by-blow-trumpet]

Great video but I think it's important to add that you are never finished learning your major scales. Being able to play all 12 up and down from the root is only the start. Much more powerful is learning them in patterns. For example playing in thirds (1, 3, 2, 4, 3, 5 etc or 3, 1, 4, 2, 5, 3 or 1, 3, 4, 2, 3, 5, 6, 4) up and down the scale, playing diatonic triads up from the root and down from the 5th, ditto 7th chords, playing up and down in 4ths etc. They didn't become really useful for me until I'd broken them up into patterns and I wish I'd done this from the very beginning. Also many people come away with the impression that you can run up and down scales and call it improvisation. That is a dead end.

[@BradHarrison]

You bet! I covered that in the sight reading section but the same exercises are also helpful for improvisation.

[@tunguyen-pg2ux]

Great great. Great

[@KATARFA]

Bro I want a teacher like you

[@dynamicalan]

Eb Major is the only difficult scale but of course we are talking about the scale in both hands.

[@benpennington7532]

Over the years I have spent many hundreds of hours practicing scales including 4 months through the first lockdown practicing nothing but minor scales for 4-6 hours a day in order to nail those. I now know all 12 major, harmonic and melodic minors pretty well. So far I have found no significant benefit of this in terms of helping me play the piano apart from exercising my fingers and there are other better exercises for that. I don’t consider it wasted time as I need the scales for exams but if I wasn’t going for the exams I think my time would have been better spent improving my sight reading (mostly by playing as many pieces as possible almost straight off).

[@BradHarrison]

I think you’ve got a fantastic foundation for fluency in theory now and I bet you’re reading better too. Reading is it’s own skill but I think it can be well supported by scale practice. It just helps you get around the instrument better.

[@fastfiddler1625]

Sounds like a good warning for next week's lesson. For every wrong note I hear, you'll take a bite of this toothpaste and bees pizza.

[@victorstanger837]

This vid shud be called Initiation in the Bards Guild

[@colestony]

when you are learning a scale, should you practice it everywhere it occurs on the neck?

[@BradHarrison]

Sure, it would give you a lot more options. But then you have apply those patterns to every key!

[@MeMyselfAndKgore]

It feels like I just just learned so much from watching this but I understand the only thing I actually learned is that there's a system to be learned

[@BradHarrison]

I hope you learned a thing or two! This video does actually cover a bunch of theory, just really quickly and top level. But yeah the main purpose of the video is motivational and justification for why these things are useful.

[@MeMyselfAndKgore]

@@BradHarrison well if those were the goals then I'd say you nailed them 👍

[@fzxfzxfzx]

i am so overwhelmed

[@BradHarrison]

By learning scales? Just pick one and then pick another and build up your technical repertoire. You’ll learn them in no time.

[@ibanezguitars360]

Hey man. I’m a guitar player. I understand the fundamentals to a good degree of this stuff. But I have heard “learn your scales” soooo many times over the years. But people NEVER go into what that means. Does that mean learn notes, learn shapes. Learn EVERY SINGLE VARIATION on how to play it on guitar? Learn the chords? Like what constitutes the definition of knowing a scale? Would love to see a full vid that says ok if you know and can do (x,y,z) about a scale. That means you know it. Would love to hear your thoughts.

[@BradHarrison]

All the things described in this video flow from being able to play the notes and actually know what notes you’re playing(names and how they appear on the staff). You can go infinitely deep as far as technique but if you can play the notes and tell me what they are, you know the scale.

[@ibanezguitars360]

@@BradHarrison i really dig your channel sir!

[@BradHarrison]

Excellent! Thanks so much!

[@volta6525]

Learning all my altered scales and half whole dim scales rn

[@BradHarrison]

That’s a good project! Both are super useful.

[@jan3tisonline618]

I think there's truth to this but it is different for everyone. If you learn enough songs by ear you will naturally get a sense of the fingerings for scales. I've never been able to practice scales, it's just way too boring for me. However, if you asked me to play any major scale I could do it without even thinking about it. I think for me, having a basic understanding of music theory and putting in the vast majority of practice time into playing by ear and writing music is the best way to learn. I always worry when people tell others to practice scales because for certain individuals it could drive them away from playing music because itd take the fun out of it!

[@BradHarrison]

I think it’s important to do lots of things. Learn to read, transcribe, improvise, compose, study theory and harmony, work on technique. We all have different needs, goals, interests, and aversions, but I think they all feed each other, especially if you have broad interests and want to be a well rounded musician. Playing nothing but scales is a very limited education but I think it’s a really important rite of passage for formal music education. Sometimes, you just gotta eat some vegetables because they’re good for you.

[@filsish]

Murakoze is Thank You 🇷🇼♥️

[@margaretphenicie4522]

My mnomics of sharps and flats. Fine cows get done after eating breakfast and bead gems come fine. Thanks.

[@bibekpawn6175]

thanks

[@sanchezzz009]

I love how you say project 😅 I love your videos!

[@BradHarrison]

Thanks! Funny how pro-ject vs praw-ject doesn’t tend to come up much when regional discussing accents.

[@keepinmahprivacy9754]

I'm of kind of the opposite philosophy. Sure, you need to be able to play every scale, but they're all the same scale, not 12 different scales. There's no different set of intervals in a A major scale versus D flat major. They just start on different notes. So from an intellectual perspective, I say just learn the pattern first, and you can learn that in any key. Then instead of wasting your precious mental resources memorizing by rote what notes are in each scale, you can learn the different intervals for major scales, the minor scales, pentatonics, etc. And even with those you have had to memorize fewer scales than if you treat each major scale as a separate scale to learn. And you're still training your ear by doing that, but you are training your ear more to recognize intervals and not just recognize individual notes, and I think in the long run that is a much more valuable skill to have. Training your ear to recognize pitches lets me figure out what key someone is playing a song in, but training my ear to recognize intervals lets me figure out what the chord progression is, what scales they are using to solo, etc. Of course at a certain point you still need to go back and learn mechanically how to play each version of each scale in every key, since on most instruments you can't just apply the same mechanical pattern of playing even if the scales have the same intervals. But by placing that step after you have learned a little more about the nature and construction of scales in one particular scale, you will be frontloading your understanding of what you are practicing on a bit of a deeper level I think.

[@BradHarrison]

Yeah, this is a huge advantage for guitarists. But if you don’t actually learn all the note names and you just treat major scales as identical but starting on different frets, you don’t get all those superpowers related to reading, theory, etc.

[@juniormosomi]

Crazy 🤯🤯

[@Janna52]

I am used to play the soprano-saxophone…and now trying to get used to clarinet, cause the sound is better for the neighbours though clarinet has also beautiful sound! BUT now I’ve a hard time to learn the new finger-settings according to the 🎶 written notes!! I’m doubting….(I’m 70) Actually I think I can’t combine these 2 instruments, playing from written music…

[@TommyLikeTom]

I have developed a method of learning scales on piano that reduces learning 24 scales to 6. I call it the piano symmetry method, and as far as I know I'm the only person who noticed this.

[@BradHarrison]

Do tell!

[@Sunshinedoesmusic]

How so?

[@wyattstevens8574]

6:08 "If I had a nickel for every time a student said 'I like playing but not sight reading,' I'd have, like, 100 nickels. Okay- not *that* much money, but it's crazy how often that happens." Was that a deliberate reference to Phineas and Ferb? The phrasing suggests it could be, because almost that exact phrasing has shown up in P&F multiple times- even most of the "that's not a lot" section!

[@BradHarrison]

You bet! I’ve actually heard this phrasing a bunch of times in recent years in memes but only recently found the original reference. (There’s a lot of references and Easter eggs in my videos fyi)

[@wyattstevens8574]

@@BradHarrison And the original reference is, of course, Phineas and Ferb! Also, "the practice exercise" in the Circle of 5ths video is just the Lick, of course! And when you learn, a good order to learn these scales is going *around* the circle of 5ths! (Aimee Nolte has a video about that) By the way, did you come up with the Chart Method for key signatures? If not, who did?

[@bonfireblu]

I like to think that wrong notes dont exist but Timing is of the utmost importance.

[@BradHarrison]

Haha. There’s some truth to that! Sometimes jazz musicians say there are no wrong notes, just spicier harmonies. Also, it’s generally more acceptable to play the wrong note at the right time than the right note at the wrong time.

[@bonfireblu]

I love me some Jazz. Lol Personally is something I discovered through playin the Blues with only 12 notes how can any be wrong?

[@joannemurray8175]

Save my music career

[@imienazwisko3204]

But how do I learn scales? Just play them over and over and memorise the notes?

[@BradHarrison]

Basically. Get the notes in your brain and under your fingers. Make them second nature. If you have't seen my "how to play 3000% faster in 10 minutes video", I think you might enjoy it. It's a really powerful routine to building muscle memory in a short time, and review takes no time at all. The project will take weeks to months but I really think that payoff is huge.

[@nick_jacob]

Been playing guitar for 20 years...i'm lost in this video. I play by ear. I know chords and can play using guitar tabs easily. Reading sheet music and all the terminology just makes me feel depressed. I prefer to play what I think sounds good. But yeah I guess I gotta force myself to learn this stuff.

[@BradHarrison]

I’m generally in favor for more musical fluency for all, it only helps, but also it sounds like you’re doing pretty great. Think of this stuff like power ups, upgrades, expansion packs…you don’t need every one all at once, but each additional power pack has some usefulness.

[@amoghiyengar983]

Sleeping in hotel room with a bassist who snores, still tops the hardest things to achieve as a musician🌝🌝

[@deanieharP]

Great crash coarse

[@ginabisaillon2894]

It's easy enough to learn to play scales with one hand but on the piano you have to put your hands together and that's when the trouble begins.

[@BradHarrison]

I find the trouble begins when people try to bridge the gap between very slow and very fast. I bet if you ran this routine, you would see a big improvement in muscle memory and coordination. Let me know if you try it and how it goes. How To Play 3000% Faster In Just 10 Minutes kzbin.info/www/bejne/l52Ue6lorsd4a6s