The next thing that happens, as we continue along in our development, is that we begin to get the unsettling impression that there seems to be an awful lot of those things called scales. In fact, there seems to be hundreds of them. We may even run across an encyclopedia of scales, and realize that there could be thousands of these little buggers out there! The very prospect of learning all those scales begins to make us weak in the knuckles!
It is at about this point that we start to get a little suspicious, a little curious about this whole business of scales and what they really have to do with us, and what we want to do on the guitar. "How many of these things do I have to learn, anyway"?, we ask, "and what do I do with them once I learn them"?
Then we go and try to find the answer to our questions. We read magazines and hear a lot of advanced and professional guitarists talk on the subject, and it leaves us even more confused. One guy says we must know a hundred ways to play a major scale, and then we should learn a hundred minor scales, and then start on the more exotic type of scales. Another guy, who is also an advanced player, perhaps professional and perhaps rich and famous, says he only uses a few scales. So after all our agonized searching, we are even more confused than when we started!
What gives?
Well, I am going to try and provide some clarity on the subject. I am going to lay out an overall view of the subject, and provide you with an understanding of what scales are, what they are used for, and how the way scales are used is DIFFERENT for different types of players. Once you understand these things, you will be in a much better position to achieve some clarity on the subject, and make your own decisions about how you are going to include the study of scales into your practice regime!
Here I have a rough diagram to explain in brief :
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