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!