One of the keys to playing good lead guitar is knowing your scales back to front. You should know the major and minor scales by heart and every other scale in between. The only way to become proficient with scales is massive repetition, till it becomes second nature and your muscle memory takes over.

After you’ve done enough practice, you will naturally start to remember the sounds of each of the notes that belong to a certain scale, and you will start to develop the ability to visualize the scales across your guitar fretboard.

When I first started practicing my scale runs, it seemed to me almost like an impossible task to memorize the entire set of scales in every key across the guitar neck, and I wondered if I would ever be able to do it. But remember, most of us are able to memorize the entire times table, through repetition at school, so this is no different. It will happen!

What I found helped me with my scale practice was to picture the notes of each scale as dots across the fretboard, and I would do this on a daily basis. Just a little visualization practice each day is sufficient.

As you develop the ability to visualize, you must also have your fingers develop the muscle memory to play the scales. How I did it was to sit in front of my television and play the scales up and down whilst watching my favorite tv program, so I wouldn’t get bored.

Try not to think about it too much whilst doing this and let your mind wander while your fingers do the moving.

Finally, you will want to practice scales in an improvisation situation as well. Start with something easy like a G major guitar scale and play along to a song in the same key, trying to add some of your own personal style to the song the best you can.

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How To Practice Scales On Guitar

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