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5 Essential Jazz Guitar Scale Techniques

Written by Matt Warnock

http://www.mattwarnockguitar.com

Fun and Easy Ways to Build Chops and Open Up the Guitar Fretboard

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Introduction to the Scale Techniques

Welcome to my free guitar technique ebook and thanks for signing up for my weekly jazz guitar

newsletter!

In this book you will find five scale techniques that you can add to your daily woodshedding in

order to better you knowledge of the fretboard, build your chops and become a better improviser.

These five techniques are:

1. Intervals

2. Triads

3. Arpeggios

4. Digital Patterns

5. Legato Patterns

All of which can be used in both a practice room and improvisational setting to maximize your

time in the woodshed.

Practice Guide

So, how do you go about practicing these scales in order to get the most out of each exercise?

Here are some of the ways that I like to practice scale patterns in order to build chops and

develop my creative playing.

1. Practice in 12 keys at various tempos

2. Practice using different scales and modes

3. Improvise over a static chord or key center using only one of the 5 scale techniques

4. Write a melody or solo using a specific scale technique as the melodic basis for each line

5. Sing along with all of the above to build the connection between your ears and fingers

If you are new to learning scales on the guitar you can still get a lot out of these techniques. Just

visit my Scale Fingerings for Jazz Guitar Page to find information and notation for Major,

Melodic Minor, Harmonic Minor, Harmonic Major, Symmetrical and Pentatonic scales for

guitar.

Now let’s dig in and have some fun with 5 Essential Scale Techniques for Jazz Guitar!

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Scale Technique 1: Intervals

The first scale technique that we’ll take a look at, Intervals, features groups of two notes run

through a scale fingering. In the following examples, you can see that there are four variations to

any interval that you are practicing:

Ascending – Playing all intervals upwards regardless of the direction of the scale

Descending – Playing all intervals downwards regardless of the direction of the scale

Alternating 1 – Playing the first interval ascending and the second interval descending

etc.

Alternating 2 – Playing the first interval descending and the second interval ascending

etc.

These four permutations are important to work through as they will provide you improvisational

material, and prepare you to transcribe jazz lines as you will hear a lot of great players using

these four approaches in their solos.

I have written out all four approaches for the first interval, 3rds, but have only written one for

each of the intervals after that, 4ths, 5ths, 6ths and 7ths. This way you can get the idea on how

these four approaches work with 3rds, then work it out yourself with the other intervals to really

ingrain these ideas into your hands, ears and minds as you work through them in the practice

room.

3rds Ascending – G Major Scale

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3rds Descending – G Major Scale

3rds Alternating 1 – G Major Scale

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3rds Alternating 2 – G Major Scale

4ths Ascending – A Aeolian Scale

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5ths Descending – F Lydian Scale

6ths Alternating – C Major Scale

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7ths Alternating – B Locrian Scale

Bonus Material: Wes Montgomery Lick

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Scale Technique 2: Triads

The second scale technique we will look at is Triads. Triads, being a three-note chord, are going

to focus on three-note groupings through scales as opposed to the two-note groupings we saw in

the Interval section of the book.

When practicing triads you can use the same four variations, Ascending-Descending and two

versions of Alternating as we did with our interval practicing. For an added level of learning

while working this technique, say the name of each triad as you play it through any given scale.

Such as saying these triads for C major:

Cmaj-Dmin-Emin-Fmaj-Gmaj-Amin-Bdim

This will help you learn the neck at the same time as you are working on your chops.

And if you are really adventurous, you can practice playing the first note of each triad, the root,

and then singing the next two notes, the 3rd

and 5th

. So if you played a C major triad you would

play the first note, C, then sing the next two, E and G.

You can try singing along with yourself as you play through the exercises first in order to ease

into this exercise, then you can take off the water wings, dive into the deep end and see if you

can sing the 3rd

and 5th

of each chord after playing the root. Not easy, but a great way to take

your ears to the next level.

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Ascending Triads – C Major Scale

Bonus Material: Wes Lick 2

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Descending Triads – G Mixolydian Scale

Bonus Material: Mike Stern 5ths Lick

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Alternating Triads 1 – B Locrian Scale

Bonus Material: G7 Scale Pattern

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Alternating Triads 2 – A Aeolian Scale

Bonus Material: Octave Pattern

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Scale Technique 3: 4-Note Arpeggios

We’ll now take a look at the final harmonic-based technique, four-note arpeggios. These

arpeggios are built by adding a 7th

to the triads from the previous examples, building a Root-3rd

-

5th

-7th

chord off each note in any scale you are working through.

Again, take your time with these, they will be tricky to master. If you are looking for inspiration,

check out Mike Stern’s lines, he uses diatonic arpeggios in all sorts of ways to create some of the

most memorable solos in jazz guitar.

As well, all of the “advanced” exercises from the triad section can be applied to arpeggios such

as singing the last three notes after playing the root, and saying the name of each chord as you

run them through different scales in your practice routine.

Ascending Arpeggios – C Major Scale

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Descending Arpeggios – C Major Scale

Practice Tip 1: Scale Fingerings

There are many scale fingerings out there ranging from one to three octaves and using a number

of different finger combinations. So, how do you know which ones are right for you? There is no

easy answer to this question, but for me I tried a number of different fingerings until I found ones

that I like, and then from time to time I visit the other shapes to see if they have grown on me

over time.

If you are looking for a new way to play any scale, try finding the root on the 6th

, 5th

, 4th

and 3rd

strings. Then, play the scale ascending from that note using your 1st, 2

nd and 4

th fretting-hand

finger. You might not like every pattern you find, but you might be surprised where this will lead

you in your practicing and performing.

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Alternating Arpeggios 1 - G Mixolydian Scale

Practice Tip 2: All 12 Keys

It can be tough to learn any scale and scale pattern in all 12 keys on the guitar. But, at the same

time it is an essential skill that we all need to develop. So, in order to make this a bit easier on

ourselves we can use the Cycle of 5ths to slowly lead us from one key signature to the next in a

logical and easy to follow progression.

The cycle is: C-F-Bb-Eb-Ab-Db-Gb-B-E-A-D-G-C

If you practice your scales in this order of keys, you are only adding 1 flat each time you get to

the next key in the progression, until you reach your starting point of C again. Not only can this

help you work through all 12 keys without simply sliding your hand to the next fret and

repeating the fingering, but the Cycle is used in countless jazz chord progressions so you are also

preparing to play over tunes once you get on the bandstand or in the jam room.

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Alternating Arpeggios 2 – D Dorian Scale

Practice Tip 3: Going Slow

It is always better to practice very slowly then to race through any exercise, though it may not

seem like it at the time. Going slow allows you to properly train your fingers to play with correct

technique and to learn the movements they will need to navigate any scale, pattern or lick.

As well, going slow allows your ears to absorb the new material that your fingers and brain are

digesting, keeping them in lockstep with the technical side of your playing. Far too often I have

advanced players come to me for lessons and, though they can play very well, their ears are far

behind their fingers. Going slow can help prevent you from having this problem.

And as John Wooden, or Michael Jordan depending on who you believe, said “Practice doesn’t

make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.”

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Scale Technique 4: Digital Patterns

We’ll now take a look at four different digital patterns, which are note patterns that we repeat

throughout any scale fingering that we are working on. The first two, 123 and 1234 are scale

based patterns, while the second two, 13543 and 13576543 and mixes of triad/arpeggio

ascending and scale notes descending to connect the pattern to the next note in the scale.

If you have a rock background, especially you shredders out there, then these patterns are

probably old news. BUT, even if you’ve gone over them before in your practicing to develop

speed and dexterity, you may not have checked them out as an improvisational tool yet.

So, try to take any tune you’re working on and only improvise using one or maybe two of these

patterns. See how long you can go with only one melodic device before you find your solo

becomes boring, then see what you can do to spice it up. Try varying the rhythms and accents

that you use, use different modes and other harmonic colors, just try and stick to the pattern but

keep things interesting. Not easy to do, but an exercise that can really pay off when you hit the

bandstand.

123 Pattern – C Major Scale

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1234 Pattern – C Major Scale

Practice Tip 4: Playalongs

One of the most important things we can do as improvisers is to hear whatever we are practicing

against a given harmony. Far too often we find ourselves working out a device in the practice

room that sounds great, but when we bring it to a jam or gig it just doesn’t fit like we thought it

would.

To prevent this from happening, you can practice using a harmonic backing track such as Band

in a Box or the Jamey Aebersold series. Taking a new melodic device and hearing it in a

harmonic context can speed up your learning process while preventing you from getting

surprised on stage when you take the material out into the real world. Try it out, a great way to

maximize your time in the woodshed.

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13543 Pattern – C Major Scale

Practice Tip 5: Learning Scale Shapes

Learning scale fingerings on the guitar can seem like a tough and boring process. But, we can

use the geometric nature of the guitar to our advantage when learning these shapes, and by

relating new material to stuff we already know we can make learning scales easy on the guitar.

For example, if you already know a Major Scale shape, you can simply raise the 4th

note by one

fret and you’ve got yourself a Lydian mode. Or, you can lower the 7th

note and you’ve made a

Mixolydian mode. Easy huh?

To dig into this concept further, check out my article:

Jazz Guitar Scales Made Easy

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13576543 Pattern – C Major Scale

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Scale Technique 5: Legato Patterns

The last of the 5 scale techniques is adding legato to your scale fingerings. I’ve chosen to use a

three-note per string scale in the first three examples, since you can see how the different legato

patterns fit very easily into that scale. Then, in the last example I’ve gone to the most traditional

major scale fingering out there to give you an idea of how you can apply these patterns to any

scale, regardless of fingering.

The basic principle behind these patterns is that you pick two notes on each string and slur them,

hammering on or pulling off depending on the situation. Here are the different patterns:

1. Slur between the first and second note of each string

2. Slur between the second and third note of each string

3. Slur between all notes on each string

4. Apply the above slurs when applicable and fingering dictates

Legato Pattern 1 – G Mixolydian

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Legato Pattern 2 – G Mixolydian Scale

Legato Pattern 3 – G Mixolyidan Scale

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Legato Pattern 4 – C Major Scale

Further Study

If you liked the above exercises and want to learn more, you can check out the following series’ of articles on my website. Happy practicing!

30 Days to Better Jazz Guitar

Bebop Guitar Vocabulary

Essential Jazz Guitar Scales

Modern Jazz Guitar Techniques

Practicing Jazz Guitar