How To Practice Scales On Guitar

4 Directions

The "4 directions" technique consists of playing ascending and descending scales and mixing these two directions together. The first direction is to play the scales in the twelve keys in ascending movement (up & up). From the lowest to the highest note of the guitar.

The second direction is down and down, just play the twelve keys starting from the lowest to the highest note.

The two other directions are a mix of the two previous movements: Up & down and of course down and up.

The Circle of Fourths

The circle of fourths (or circle of fifths) provides the possibility to play all the notes of the western music. Every note resolves to another note a fourth above it. In other words, by following the circle of fourths, you play all the notes separated from each other by five semitones (a fourth). 

Playing scales following the circle of fourths should be a part of your daily training. It is a great way to know your guitar fretboard. Keep in mind that each note of the circle of fourths can be the root of a scale. Referring to the picture on the left, you must play any scale following this order:

C - F - Bb - Eb - Ab - Db - F# - B - E - A - D - G

You can even apply the four directions to any scale you want to learn (Dorian, Mixolydian, diminished, etc.) following the circle of fourths. For example, with the major scale: C (up), F (down), Bb (up), Eb (down), etc.

Intervals

In music theory an interval is the distance between two notes. Without going into details, the main intervals are named: seconds (2 notes), thirds (3 notes), fourths (4 notes), fifths (5 notes), sixths (6 notes), sevenths (7 notes) and octaves (8 notes).

They can be qualified using the terms "perfect" (P), "minor" (m), "major" (M), "augmented" (A) and "diminished" (d). All this to say that you can practice scales by playing intervals. Something much more musical will come of it.

Let's take an example with the C major scale once again. This scale scale contains the following notes : C-D-E-F-G-A-B. Imagine that you want to play it in intervals of thirds, this would give C-E ; D-F; E-G; F-A; G-B; A-C and so on.

Just the once is not hurt, you must apply the four directions technique to the intervals of the scale you want to master. The four examples below show you how to play the major scale in thirds following the four directions.

You can now repeat these patterns with the scales you want to master with the intervals of your choice.

Triads

A triad is a set of three notes which, when they are stacked in thirds, forms a chord. By playing these notes one by one you get triad arpeggios. Like chords, there are different types of triads, so different formulas to remember:

• Minor triad : 1-b3-5
• Major triad : 1-3-5
• Diminished triad : 1-b3-b5
• Augmented triad : 1-3-#5

As you can see they are all made up of a root (1), a minor or a major third (3 / b3) and a perfect, diminished or augmented fifth (5 / b5 / #5). Why it is so important to learn triads ? Because scales are a combination of different triads. 

If you look closely to the major scale you can ear seven different triads related to each degree of this scale.

The two exercises below show how to play diatonic arpeggios on guitar following an up & up and an up & down movement.

In the example above, the C Ionian mode is approached with triad arpeggios. Each triad is played from the lowest to the highest note (up). It is possible, once again, to play these triads in the four directions. 

The aim is to find triads of any scale, it is simple. Just take the 1st, 3rd and 5th notes from each tone of the scale you want to develop.

Seventh Arpeggios

Like the previous triad arpeggios, you can do the same with seventh chords also known as tetrads. There are no large difference between triads and seventh chords. Just one note more in the 7th arpeggios.

To build a 7th arpeggio you must add the seventh note to the basic triad. That gives the following chart, still with the C major scale.

Try to practice  by playing only the seven 7th arpeggios of the scale of your choice in the 4 directions once again.

Grouping Notes and Patterns

This technique is to group four notes in order to create original and interesting lines. It is inspired by the most famous pattern (sometimes referred as the Coltrane pattern) that is constructed using the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th degrees of a scale.

The example below consists in applying the 1235 pattern starting on each tone of the C major scale.

You can now create your own patterns (1234, 2351, etc), and obviously play them in the four directions.

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