Scale Practise For Soloing

Scale
Practise for Soloing

Musicians begin playing scales to enable technical development. The classical
scale manuals provide advanced students with many ideas for developing
control of stepwise sets of notes, and notes arranged in chords and arpeggios.
For one example, see The Manual of Scales, Broken Chords and Arpeggios For
Piano, published by The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music.

Now, this is very important work for learning to control the keys – and pedals.
(When I grow up I am going to take control of those 25 pedals!! But then, I’ve
been told to never grow up: it’s a trap.) If you haven’t done the traditional scale
study, do it. You cannot do your best work as a player until you have physical
control over – easy comfort with – your instrument. Scales really help this.

Perhaps we should also practise scales to help our soloing. I think the difference
is that now we are trying to shape and build ideas in music. This scale practise is
to enable the brain.

I think now is a good time to tell you that I do not accept that skill in playing
scales makes one a soloist. Learning melodic patterns and applying these with
endless variations and associating these with complementary patterns (call and
response, question and answer, etc) will help growth as a soloist more than
simply scooting through scales. But these pesky scales are a step to complement
pattern study (and both scales and patterns are huge preparation for “close your
eyes and improvise, young man”).

Scale practise for soloing is a halfway house, at first, and then the froth on the
coffee, when you are skilled at using patterns. Let me explain this idea.

We need to link the scale practice with chord tones, and then with progression
tones (including “guide tones”), and patterns, and also with bass lines, feels,
groove and styles.

Yes, we are practising scales, but we are sharpening our learning toward making
music.

Limit you range

First, in technical work we learn to play four octave scales, and three octave
scales in triplets. Here we will begin with one octave scales, and then allow a few
scale tones to butt up against our octave work, and we might even spread out to
two octaves.

Work off all scale tones

One thing soloists draw criticism over is being “root bound”. Too many of the
notes in their solos are the root of the current chord. Let us prepare to avoid
this, by learning to play our scales off any chord tone.
1
Work at scales over chord progressions
Could be boring – but we will work in progressions, and move from one chord
tone starting point to the nearest chord tone starting point in the next scale, and
finishing the scale-‐progression study with a chord (tonic, usually) root.

Scales for Soloing Workshop 1
Slowly, then have fun, and make up your own
A
#
E‹7 A7 DŒ„Š7 E‹7 A7
& # 44 w
w w w
w w
w œœœ œœœœœ œœœœ
w w
w w w œœœœ
Chord tones to play scales from E Dorian starting on D A Mixolydian starting on C#
? ## 44 œ œ œ œ œ bœ œ œ œ nœ œ
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
B
## œ œ œ œœœ œœœœœœœ
7 DŒ„Š7
& œœœœœ œœœœœœœ œœœœœ œ œœœœœœœœ

E Dorian starting on G A Mixolydian starting on E
? ## œ œ œ bœ
œ œ œ nœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ bœ
C
##
12
& œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ‰ œJ œ œ œ œ œ ‰ œ œ œ œ œ œ
J
? ## œ
œ œ œ nœ œ œ bœ œ œ œ bœ
#
15
œ œ
&#œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ Œ
3
œ œ œ ˙™
? ## œ œ œ Œ
œ œ œ œ œ ˙™

The material here is clearly technical work, and I aim to help people who have
not put much time into soloing, but the concepts quickly open up to significant
challenge, even for the best of us.

First, know the chord tones to build scales from. (When you are under way, you
can begin your scale against a chord from any note, especially if you begin your
phrase with a rest.)

Letter A mechanically drills scales, but not from the root (I have already shown
using the root in other exercises in this thread).

Letter B changes the starting tone, and starts to break the stepwise quaver
movement.

Letter C changes the starting tone, the bass figure, and uses a chord-‐scale pattern
with some variations for the right hand exercise.

Enough. This becomes very mechanical left like this, and we need to look straight
away how to progress toward music.

2
Vary the bass figures – introduce as many as you wish.

Ensure you can play the straight scale, but then move to patterns of your choice
as soon as you can.

Vary the groove. At first it is satisfactory to drill away in common time and quasi
swing, but that is not real music. We need some latin flavour, or some funk, or
some soul, etc. It is your responsibility to take the core ideas and twitch them to
your interests. Go get your own grooves and add the scales of your genres to the
chords and bass lines of your chosen music.

Soon (in a jazz context) we need to concern ourselves with target tones, guide
tones, lines, notes to build toward, to resolve into, to launch from, and to support
our solos with inner melody, more implied, or outlined, than played.

Also, and try this when you are ready, it is often very effective to move the
melody from chord to chord (pattern to pattern) by a semitone step.

The main points, now, are
• to ensure we have scales under our fingers that begin on all the chord
tones, not just the root;
• that we link these scales from chord to chord thoughtfully, musically;
• that we can evolve these scales to support patterns;
• that the patterns start to chat to each other in a solo;
• and that we can take our knowledge into other styles, genres, and so bring
these ideas to a range of grooves.

Perhaps some forum members might like to share how they prepare to solo over
their preferred music styles, their favourite progressions, etc. That’d be nice.

Start to branch out into your preferred music by taking one “really great” groove
from your drum machine, and work out half a dozen melodic patterns (that chat
among themselves) to use above a bass line that fits the groove. Tell (and show)
us how you went.

3

Scale Practise For Soloing

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How can scales be used to improve soloing skills?

What are some tips for varying scales when practicing?

Scale

Practise for Soloing

Limit you range

Work off all scale tones

& œœœœœ œœœœœœœ œœœœœ œ œœœœœœœœ

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