Guitar scales are extremely beneficial guitar practice exercise and if you aren't learning them, then you are at a serious disadvantage. Three important benefits of learning guitar scales are as follows:

THEY BUILD STRENGTH

The constant upward and downward left to right movement of your hand across the fretboard builds lots of strength in your hands. The stronger your hands become, the easier it becomes to hold down the strings and produce clean sounds on your guitar. You are definitely going to need strong hands, especially when it comes to playing those difficult barre chords.

THEY FAMILIARIZE YOU WITH THE GUITAR

Most beginners spend most of their playing time at the same general area of the guitar, usually on the first 5 frets. When you play guitar scales, your fingers and hands travel all across the fretboard of your guitar. You will play notes and areas of the guitar that you may rarely play or familiarize yourself with.

THEY BUILD CALLUSES

One of the biggest challenges you will need to overcome as a beginner guitar player is the pain you will most definitely experience in your fingers. There is a good chance you have already experienced this annoying pain. It is because the skin and flesh on your fingertips is very delicate and in order to prevent further injury, your fingers will naturally develop calluses from continuous playing. Calluses are your best friend and when they finally form, you will see a huge difference in your ability to play the guitar. You will be able to play for longer periods of time as well as hold down strings more firmly.

LEARNING YOUR FIRST SCALE

Now that we have seen the benefits of learning guitar scales, let us jump right in and learn your first scale. I am going to show you how to play the C major scale on your guitar, because that is the first scale I was taught. This is often the first guitar scale that most beginners are taught because the notes of this scale contain no sharps or flats.

The C Major scale consists of 7 different notes plus an eighth note which is just a duplicate of the first note but an octave higher: C D E F G A B C. The first note is known as the root of the scale and the last note is better known as the octave of the scale. The 1st note, or root of the scale tells you what the name of the scale is.

So how are the notes of the C Major scale found you may ask?

Lets first look at all existing notes in music first:

C - C#(or Dflat) - D - D#(or E flat) - E - F - F#(or G Flat) - G - G#(or A Flat) - A - A#( or B Flat) - B

Each scale begins and ends with the same note and all major scales adhere to the same general rule known as whole steps and half steps:

W W 1/2 W W W 1/2

So to get the C Major Scale, we start at C and go one whole step to D, then another whole step to E, then a half step to F, then a whole step to G, then a whole step to A, then a whole step to B, then finally a half step to C again giving us:

C D E F G A B C

So now that we know how to find the notes of the C Major Scale, how do we play this on the guitar?

First lets take a look at the strings of the guitar, which will give us a good starting point to finding the notes of the C Major Scale:

E ---------------------------------1 String (High E)

B---------------------------------2nd String

G---------------------------------3rd String

D---------------------------------4th String

A---------------------------------5th String

E---------------------------------6th String (Low E)

The easiest way to finger the C Major scale would be as follows: 5th string 3rd fret (C), then a whole step to the 4th string (open d), then a whole step to the 4th string 2nd Fret (E), then a half step to the 4th string 3rd Fret (F), then a whole step to the 3rd String (open G), then a whole step to the 3rd string 2nd Fret(A), then a whole step to the 2nd String (open B), lastly a half step to the 2nd string 1st Fret (C).

Ralph Serpe is Webmaster and founder of Learn-Acoustic-Guitar.com. Visit us today for more free acoustic guitar lessons.

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/music-articles/beginners-guide-to-playing-major-guitar-scales-1321403.html

Through the process of learning to play fast electric guitar, a whole new bunch of options can be presented regarding your guitar skills. Bands will be more likely to hire you, your confidence will show on stage when you perform, and you'll continue to have motivation to keep practicing and performing.

Fast electric guitar can't be learned by wishing for and buying a guitar master course that promises results in a couple days, but takes awhile of commitment for your muscles to memorize the actions for this talent. Check out these tips to play guitar faster and starting getting your fingers to be more agile.

1. Curve your fingers with proper posture. When learning to play fast electric guitar, it's essential that you approach every technique with the idea of long-term results in mind. That's why keeping a comfortable curve in your fingers will greatly improve your ability to pass smoothly between frets and notes. Don't let your palms lie flat on the guitar neck because of laziness because this will only drag your speed.

2. When you push your fingers on the frets, be precise. There's a lot of pressure riding on those frets when you play the electric guitar, but sloppy placement might be a reason that you slow down. When you're playing scales and practice riffs, focus on a more precise placement of your finger tips before committing to the fret with pressure. Also, keep your fingers closer to the fret markers so as to reduce buzzing string noise.

3. Your hand should be perpendicular to the guitar neck. You're going to come across a lot of difficult riffs and licks when you play guitar, but you can't let them get the best of you by allowing your technique to waiver. Having proper posture with your wrist perpendicular to the fret board will set you up to execute the next riff with more agility. So when you think you might be compensating for those tricky chord formations, straighten that wrist and hand out.

4. Loosen your fingers with some stretches. Like other physical activities, it's customary to stretch beforehand in order to prevent any injuries, but with fast electric guitar, we do it simply to loosen you up for better performance. Allow your fingers to stretch back towards your wrist. Hold them there for a few seconds while you feel the twinge and then release.

5. Awkward chord formations will improve your ability to reach with your fingers. Getting your fingers to move faster actually has a lot to do with challenging their abilities. Any time that you're faced with a difficult chord or riff, embrace it to the fullest to strengthen your fingers and allow the muscles to adapt to the new situation.

Learning to play fast electric guitar is a difficult process, but you can do it by focusing on a goal and never settling until it's reached. Implement these tips for yourself and start impressing the crowd with the speed of your lightening fast fingers.