How to apply scale exercises to actual songs?

I'm a big fan of GT.

How do we take advantage of the scales we learn from the many scales lessons in GT to play songs that we are trying to learn? For example, I've been working on Bad Moon Rising taught by Mike Olekshy. I don't see how knowing scales helps me in playing that song. The same question goes for exercises on other skills. It would be nice if the scales exercise lessons could include examples and/or be tied to songs that the knowledge of scales helps us to play. (I hope my question is clear.)

Hi cutchin,

This is a great question. You must learn scales to understand how lead playing works. If you understand the patterns of a scale, that makes it way easier to learn certain lead guitar parts and solos.

"Bad Moon Rising" does not use a scale during its solo, so there may not be as many applicable use-cases in that song.

If you try and play something, say like "Crossroads" from Cream, then you'll have to know some blues pentatonic licks, etc. And it makes picking up those licks a lot easier since you'll be familiar with the scale pattern.

I hope that makes sense!

-Billy

Glad you are enjoying GT!

Originally Posted by: cutchinHow do we take advantage of the scales we learn from the many scales lessons in GT to play songs that we are trying to learn? For example, I've been working on Bad Moon Rising taught by Mike Olekshy. I don't see how knowing scales helps me in playing that song.[/quote]

There are 2 primary reasons we learn to understand & play scales when we learn a musical instrument.

1. Melody is the fundamental attribute of music. A melody is a single note line that is most typically built from a key signature, in other words a scale. This is ear training.

2. Playing single note lines in time is a valuable physical skill. Playing scales, or melodies is the best possible way to learn this skill because it is a way of building your physical skills along with your hearing & conceptual skills.

You happened to pick a song that uses no single note guitar lines! :) But consider this: what is the melody of song? Can you play the notes that the singer uses? Try it. You will find those notes are from a major scale.

[quote=cutchin]The same question goes for exercises on other skills. It would be nice if the scales exercise lessons could include examples and/or be tied to songs that the knowledge of scales helps us to play.

Any & every song that uses single note lines is an example of a song that uses the hearing, playing & understanding skills used in learning & practicing scales.

In one sense learning & practicing scales is like learning the alphabet. The alphabet is a systematically organized index of the basic building blocks of language. You don't use it much once you can read, write & speak. But it's an important step in the process.

Hope that makes sense!

Thanks for your quick response to my question.

Originally Posted by: cutchin

Thanks for your quick response to my question.

You're welcome!

I think that practicing scales is often overemphasized -- at least the idea of practicing them in isolation. Not all notes from the scale of the key signature are going to sound good to land on. Learn the chord, then the arpeggio that goes over it, then the scale. This will help you learn to land on the right notes and emphasize the chord changes. The notes in the scale outside of the arpeggio are just notes to use in passing. You could totally do this exercise with Bad Moon Rising.