knowing major scale notes

[animalchin]

i know the minor and major scale but how do you know what notes to play while your trying to improvise or do a solo? do you just memorize them or think it out while your playing?

[John Prophet]

well, you have to know what chords you are playing over...you have to know what scale fits over those chords. Then its just a matter of having that scale memorized...then you dont really necesarily have to think about it too much...you might sort of think of a lick or a sound or somethign, but after you have the scale patters down cold, you can play a lot of stuff with no thought at all, lol..they call it "letting your fingers do the walking"

Whether its good to think or not, well thats a matter of opinion etc...you dont want to play mindless stuff, but you dont want to overthink it either...theres a killer place that you can reach sometimes where the music is just coming out of you, almost by itself...if I ever play like that and then listen back to it, its like i dont recognize it as me, cuz its not my normal licks etc..its my tone and stuff, but it sounds like somebody else...weird but cool.

JP

[wild_axeman]

Well the major scale will give you all of the notes of the key including the relative minor scale (aeolian mode) and the rest of the modes of the major scale.

If you play the major scale pattern from the root and then proceed through the first seven notes you will unlock the seven notes within the key that you can use all over the neck of the guitar,in that key.

So if you play your major scale pattern from the root (pick one) we'll just use C as our root for this example,you'll get these seven notes for the key of C: C D E F G A B

the next note would be C again so the sequence of notes just starts over in the next octave and then proceeds alphabetically and so on and so on through octave after octave etc.

The best thing you can do is play the notes up one string at a time from the lowest available note on a string to the highest reachable note you can reach on that string.Then move to the next string and proceed in the same manner.

Even better is to find some blank guitar neck grids online(or make your own) and then fill them in one string at a time.This will really drill the major scale pattern into your brain.

You can play anywhere you want on the neck and in any order(within a given key of course).The tonic or root note is determined by the harmony (or by the chords in the key).

The chords in the key of C are C(Maj),Dm,Em,F(Maj),G(Maj),Am,B*dim
record each one of these chords by themselves for a long period of time and then play the C major scale(anywhere on the guitar neck) over them.Doing so will give a unique sound over each chord.These unique sounds created by playing the major scale over each individual chord of the key are what are known as modes.This is a great way to practice and to get these mode sounds in your ears.In an actual song these unique mode sounds are achieved in a similar way.In a song chords are grouped together in a way that they come to rest on a specific chord(this is called a chord sequence).This chord of rest if properly emphasized and made the focus of a chord sequence can emphasize a particular mode within the key to convey a specific mood.

hope this helps :)

[satch]

I definately agree that its not enough just to know all the notes of a scale and where they are but you have to start somewhere.
Ive read dozens of articles by the worlds best players and teachers
and they all say the same thing.
By concentrating your ear to hear the melody from what you have studied on paper.

Early on players like Vai and satriani would use a drone aproach
where they would play an e a or whatever note as a pedal tone and then instruct the student to play in lets say e mixolydian and to HEAR
the relationships between the intervals and get a feel and sound into their heads.

know what your playing and why your playing it.I dont know how these guys had time to eat or sleep because their ear is so perfect along with their intuitive sense of direction and melody.