Learning Scales is Key to Improvisation

Improvising by ear can only take you so far on an instrument; knowledge of scales will develop your skills and improve your sound.

Many of my students, both guitar and piano, work with me on developing their improvisation skills. I’ve addressed improvisation a couple of times within the past few months, but the topic is certainly worth revisting. (See the related links at the end of this post; they’ll help you in developing your improvisation skills.)

The standard definition of improvising is: spontaneously creating melody over a chord progression. But obviously, anything done spontaneously is improvisation. Examples might be inventing, without pre-plan, a new strum for the guitar or a new set of chords. Improvising is also finding a new, unplanned route to work or taking a walk without a map or knowledge of a neighborhood.

The basis of improvisation is scales. This is one reason why the study of scales is so important. Scales have relationships to chords. This fact forms the foundation of the study of improvisation.

It is possible to improvise by ear without much structure or knowledge of scales. It can be done with music that has simple harmonic forms. For example, improvising within Blues with its typical three chord progression is often approached without knowledge of scales. Musicians often improvise within Rock and Country music without knowledge of scales.

As the chord progressions get more sophisticated, however, the simple “play by ear” method tends to falter, and you can hear it in the music. At that point, formal study is the best way to overcome the almost inevitable frustration that accompanies trying to improvise by ear to a song containing a more complex chord progression.

Read these related posts on improvisation and scales:

• Making it Up as You Go
• Key to Improvisation: Put Structure on Hold
• The Big Six Scales for Rock and Blues
• Guitar Offers Unlimited Potential for Growth
• Studying Classical Guitar Leads to Playing Classical Guitar