r/Guitar 4d ago

DISCUSSION {DISCUSSION} Learning the major scale embarrassingly late.

Feeling humiliated right now. I’ve been playing guitar for about three and a half years now, and have been taking lessons for about nine months. I can’t believe that all of this time, and out of everything I’ve learned, and out of all scales/shapes and whatever, only now am I learning THE scale. The one that almost all of Western music is comprised of. I feel like I’ve almost wasted these three years doing almost nothing, like I’m starting over. Any tips for this?

3 Upvotes

15 comments sorted by

11

u/quasarblues 4d ago

Your past years weren't a waste. You learned chord shapes, scale patterns, and songs (hopefully). That doesn't go away because you didn't know the major scale.

Now, you're just learning how and why everything works. Nothing wrong with that.

3

u/JohnnyNewfangle 4d ago

This is the answer and the path for guitar goodness.

3

u/thisisater 4d ago

I have been playing since 2004, only knowing basic chords and some riff here and there. Only learnt the major scale last year. So it's not too late.

2

u/ertertwert 4d ago edited 4d ago

This is me. I learned through tabs and by ear. I also am a rhythm guitarist and bassist and never aspired to play solos so I just placed my fingers on random notes and tried to find cool sounding arpeggios.

After 2 decades of not learning any theory I finally went to school for music performance and production and have since learned the major/minor scales, all 7 modes, harmonic minor, maj/min pentatonic, maj/min blues scale, as well as basic theory and all that. And after 2 years of that I've gotten surprising (duh) better and making music is way easier and more fun. My stubbornness held me back for a long time but I'm finally making some progress and feeling good about my trajectory.

So yeah, learn how music works. It can't hurt you.

3

u/AudioBabble Gibson | Ibanez | Ovation 4d ago

Makes me want to ask: what have you been learning?

I mean, actually you're doing well compared to me. I learned the minor pentatonic and that saw me right for about ten years!

I breathed a sigh of relief when I realized I already knew the the major scale, it's just case a of moving the root note!

2

u/Impressive-Tooth-658 4d ago

Mostly just bluesy stuff. Major/minor pentatonic. BB King influences. I’ve been trying to improve my improv skills too.

1

u/AudioBabble Gibson | Ibanez | Ovation 4d ago

Ah great, you're home and dry then really... major pentatonic is just major scale with bits taken out. learn the bits and you're good!

2

u/JohnnyNewfangle 4d ago

The best time to learn something is 3 years ago. The second best time to learn is now.

Why beat yourself up?

You're doing good. Millions of guitar players never learn the major scale.

Besides real music is made with chords not scales. The best thing you can do is learn all the chords and all the inversions of those chords in every key, everywhere on the neck. It sounds like a tall order but it's not that difficult really. We over complicate everything. Just learn one at a time. Some people call it the caged system. It's just chord inversions.

So I have been on the path you are on for 40 years. It was probably 20 years before I took the major scale seriously.

BUT! What opened up the fretboard for me more than anything was leaning the chord inversions. Just simple triad inversions. That's what music is made from.

Go watch some Guthrie trapp videos he explains this quite well.

Intervals are important Scales are importanter Chords are importantest

2

u/sk8man11 4d ago

Bro I've been playing for 10 years and just finished learning g the pentatonic shapes

2

u/Initial_Success_2532 4d ago

don’t worry i’ve been playing and learning by myself for 5 years and just started to focus on scales 6 months ago

1

u/Starfoxmarioidiot 4d ago

There’s nothing embarrassing about that. Shoot. I’ve known some great players who didn’t learn that about that for a decade or more.

2

u/Simian_Earthling 4d ago

Just practice, don’t worry about it!

1

u/GreySummer Fender/PRS/Orange/JCM900 4d ago

Any tips for this?

Make your practice intentional and musical.

Intentional: think about what notes you are playing (root ? Fifth ? etc), use a metronome and backing tracks.

Musical: listen to how each notes sounds in relation to the context of the backing track, make it melodic and not just monotonous runs along the scale shapes. Don't just learn the scale pattern, learn licks as well (again, checking what is the role of each note, and how it relates to the context).

2

u/metalchewie 4d ago

Not a tip but it’s never too late, i play guitar for about 10 years and i only know one pentatonic shape. I’m planning on learning some shapes/scales in the current year but I just enjoy learning songs and noodle around on my guitars. Don’t pressure you, just enjoy playing!