The most effective way to practice scales

Scales are a lot like vegetables: you don’t want to play them, you’re not a particularly big fan of them, there’s so much other stuff to play instead, but ultimately you know they’re beneficial.

I’m convinced that part of the problem with scales is a lot of people don’t learn how to practice them correctly.

Scales aren’t just about learning the shapes and playing them as quickly as possible. As tempting as this is, it’s not helping us to progress.

Instead, you need to:

1. Learn the scale across the fretboard

2. Learn the scale in each of the 12 keys

This sounds confusing and boring though. At least, it did for me. For a long time I thought “learn the scale in each of the 12 keys” could be accomplished by just playing the first shape starting in any fret. For example, take shape 1 of the minor pentatonic scale and whichever fret you put as the root note, that’s playing the key.

That’s technically true, but it’s a ridiculous way of looking at things. All I did was limit myself to one shape, one area of the guitar, instead of achieving the freedom and mastery that comes from being able to play anywhere.

And that, dear readers, is what I’m going to show you in this article. And the good news is, it’s really simple.

How to learn each shape

I’m going to encourage you to not look at each shape as “a shape” but instead as a position - it is, after all, the same collection of notes just in a different part of the neck. More importantly, each position has the root note on a different string. Let’s look at the following diagram to show what I mean (image from Applied Guitar Theory):

At first glance it looks like a confusing mess. But look closer and you’ll see the orange R circles (the root note) appear on each string.

Shape 1 has the root note on both E strings and the D string.

Shape 2: strings D and B

Shape 3: strings A and B

Shape 4: strings A and G

Shape 5: both E strings and the G

This means that by learning each of these positions, we’re learning how to play the scale starting on every single string. So instead of approaching this as just learning shapes, and starting each shape from the first note on the low E string, you’ll get much more out of your practice if you focus on the root note.

Start and stop on the root note for each scale, and use different fingers to do it. If you learn these positions without knowing how to use them, i.e. not knowing where the root notes are, you won’t be able to put them in a musical context or incorporate them into your playing.

But by learning it this way, if you’re playing a G chord on the 10th fret and you want to solo in the same position, you’ll know you can play shapes 4 and 5 right there. If you start with your index finger on the A string you’ll be in shape 4, or you can slide back into shape 3.

When you practice, consciously think about playing around the root note - it is your anchor point and how you truly get the most out of practicing scales.

In your practice routine, set yourself specific tasks like “I’m going to play the G minor pentatonic scale with the root note on the B string and starting with my ring finger.”

Or “I’m going to play with the root note on the A string using my index finger.”

Using this method, you’ll get far more applicable knowledge from your practice and improve at a much faster rate.

How to play the scales in each key

Once you’ve learned the positions, putting them into each key is a breeze.

There are 12 keys:

A A# B C C# D D# E F F# G G# then back to A.

In standard tuning the very first note on guitar is the open E, so the first fret is F, fret 2 is F#, 3 is G, and so on.

You simply pick a note and play the five scale positions for that note.

Let’s say you choose G. Position 1 would start on fret 3 of the low E string, so play that.

Next, play position 2 with the root note on the D string.

Then play position 3 with the root note on the B string.

Then play position 4 with the root note on the A string.

Then play position 5 with the root note on the G string.

Each position has at least two root notes, so practice starting on both.

And of course, focus on each position individually for a while - don’t rush them all consecutively. Pick a root note string and really get familiar with which positions you can use before you move on, even if it means you only play one position for a few practice sessions.

A secondary benefit of this approach is it accelerates your learning of the fretboard. That’s because you’re not choosing a fret to start the scale in, but the root note. So if you’re learning all 5 positions in the key of G, you’re going to learn all the locations of the G note across the fretboard as part of this exercise.

Once you’re comfortable with playing all 5 positions for G, and can join them all together to play from position 1 through to position 5, move on to the next key until you’ve got all 12 down.

This takes time, but the payoff is huge. You’ll be able to play in any key, in any place on the fretboard, using any finger as a starting point - no longer limited to starting with your index finger in position 1.

If you prefer to see things visually, I recorded the following video to walk you through:

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