Scales and Modes-Applications in real life soloing

Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2004 11:08 pm

So now you have learnt all the scales. How do you apply them to real life? When I was learning the guitar I always ask myself, why is it when I’m using the exact same notes on the guitar, I still don’t sound right? Why doesn’t it sounds jazzy, latin, bluesy or whatever?

The trick to master scales is to memorise the SOUND and FEEL of the scale. Take the major scale or minor scale as an example, we are familiar with what it sounds like that we don’t have to memorise ‘shapes’ on the guitar to play these scales anymore(memorizing shape should be only at the starting point of learning, then the ‘ears’ should take over). So the same thing should apply when learning to apply these other ‘new’ scales that we have learnt.

To familiarize the scale, play the scale over and over again, all over the neck and listen to it’s unique qualities WITH RESPECT to the ROOT note/chord. Then after that, listen to how accomplished guitar players use it in order to get some good examples. A good way is to spend one hour(or even one day even) just playing the Dorian scale to gain familiarity. After doing this to all scales, you will be surprised that when somebody asks you to play the Phrygian scale, you can belt it out without having to resort to shapes or whatever, because you can already ‘feel’ the scale and play it from the ears.

What happens next? After mastering all these scales what you do when you solo is to NOT think of scales anymore! The song ‘Flying in a Blue Dream’ by Joe Satriani is a great example of usage of the Lydian scale. But when he was playing it, he wasn’t saying to himself “Oh…I wanna play a song in Lydian now…”. He just played from the heart and somehow the Lydian scale was what came out from his inspiration…and it worked beautifully….so haunting…

Just play from the heart and let that dictate your direction to unknown territories…jam with friends…be brave…make mistakes so that you know what sucks and what is brilliant(always record your jam sessions because you always subconsciously play something that you can never play again later, and that could be your ‘signature’ lick!). See, for years I have been looking for this so-called ‘Jazz’ scale to make me sound jazzy, but in the end I found out that there are no ‘magic jazz scales’…only those scales that we learnt. It is HOW the scales are used that makes it jazz or metal or latin or whatever. A jazz player playing a straight forward minor scale will still sound jazzy, while a metal player playing the same scale will sound metal. It is how the notes are played…how you bend it…the syncopations, the space, the phrasing, the vibrato, which contributes to the end result. In any styles of music, there are always a combination of scales being used at the same time(a bit of Phrygian thrown into a bluesy lick then swerving into a dorian run). It is HOW the notes of the scale are being played which dictates the style and genre of the music.How do we achieve that? LISTEN, LISTEN and LISTEN to your idols…don’t just limit to the guitar..listen to other instruments as well…that will help to break away from the clichéd licks. For instance, in ‘Shyboy’, some parts in the solo were inspired by saxophone runs rather than the guitar, and this, I hope will make me sound a bit different than another guitar player (I hope, but that doesn’t mean I have achieved it! Pray for me!).

Below I have uploaded a few examples from my recordings and studio sessions to further illustrate what I have been explaining above.

http://www.i-bands.net/audiovault/bands/54/music.php

Example 1. Click the link above to play this clip ‘SHRED-O-MANIA’. The last ascending arpeggio at the end of the solo start out as minor triad arpeggio, then going into the pentatonic/dorian mode with a bit of the chromatic scale thrown in at certain places. This is an example of using a combination of scales in a lick.

Now, let's go to this page:

http://www.i-bands.net/audiovault/bands/189/music.php

Example 2. Play the clip titled LatinMinor. The whole solo was played using the straight forward minor scale, but it still sounds latin-ish because of how the notes were played. When I was playing it, I wasn’t thinking at all about what scales to play…I just go with the flow and feel…

Blues

Blues is probably the hardest to play. Everybody can shred like anything, but not everybody can play the blues. Right, everybody can play the ‘blues scale’ but very few people can make the blues scale sounds ‘blues’. Blues demands an absolute mastery of vibrato and bending…these have to be performed perfectly. And it would be good if you can do ‘wide string bends from hell’ that can really rip off your finger tips( hey, I know rock musicians see themselves as macho, but a lot of these so called macho rock dudes plays the vibrato like a pussy… you need to be man enough to play the blues!). Apart from that, it is the choice of notes, what to play, what not to play…and how you bend/slide into and out of the notes. Blues also utilises double stops, which means playing 2 notes together, and sometimes bending at least 1 or even both of these notes at the same time.

Example 3. Click BluesySolo on the same page. This lick sometimes uses the major third of the major scale, but in a minor mode to add to the bluesy feel. There are not that many notes in here, but there are ‘string bends from hell’, double stops and example of how bends, vibrato and phrasing adds to the bluesy feel…the notes alone doesn’t make it bluesy, but, the way that it was played.

Example 4. Click Fusion. This is a solo which combines rock stylings, blues, jazzy slants, the minor scale, chromatic scale and the diminished scale. Similarly , I wasn’t thinking of scales when I was playing this, but more of playing from the heart.

Example 5. Go to the site below and click the track titled ''Excerpt from the movie soundtrack 'Bintang Hati' ".

http://www.mp3.com.au/Bode'sNoiseBox/

This is to demonstrate that even when we are playing the straight forward minor scale, the way the notes are played makes it sound kinda jazzy. The only scales used in this solo was the minor scale and blues scale.Nothing fancy at all. This solo was improvised and recorded on the spot on the first take. It is part of the soundtrack of an upcoming movie called ‘Bintang Hati’. This song was lifted straight out of the movie without removing any of the movie sounds from it.

Ok…we will take a break for now. I hope that was in some way informative and useful to you. In the next part, we will talk about the specialty that is unique to hard rock/heavy metal guitarists of the 80's and separates these guitarists from the rest of the rock fraternity. Something that alternative, emo, punk and grunge don’t have…..SPEED… Twisted Evil

wui223 · Joined: 05 Sep 2005 Articles: 1 Comments: 1

You are the man, you certainly know the art of soloing. Thumb up for u Very Happy

I am totally enlightened by your article. This would certainly solve my question about how to play different style of music and how to utilize the mode/scales.

I suggest why would u list down certain songs and the modes/scales used by the performers. So that we could grasp an idea of how does it "feel" to us.