When you’re learning how to play jazz, you spend a lot of time learning guitar scale shapes. They’re an important part of learning your instrument, and being able to play melodies or improvise.
But one problem a lot of jazz guitar players run into is playing just one or two scale shapes in a solo. Even though you know more. Even though you practice your guitar for hours running through scale shapes.
When the pressure is on, you end up playing the same one or two tired old guitar scale shapes. It’s frustrating, to say the least.
But it’s also pretty common. I’ve got some ideas that will help you break out of this rut and start feeling like all that scale practice is actually paying off.
I Spent Most of My Time Playing Guitar Scale Shapes
I remember spending a ton of time working out scale shapes on my guitar throughout school.
Especially in college.
I spent hours running through guitar scale shapes, playing patterns with them, and hoping it would make a difference in my solos.
And I learned all of the basic jazz guitar scale shapes:
Like most jazz students, I also learned the whole tone scale and the diminished scales. I dove headfirst into the modes of all these types of scales.
I played tons and tons of jazz guitar scale patterns. It’s probably what I spent most of my time on when I was in school. I was determined to become a better and better soloist.
Why Couldn’t I Use More Guitar Scale Shapes in Solos?
I did a ton of work learning how to solo over chord changes, and I had a lot of vocabulary built up.
But one day, it hit me:
Even though I could play all of these scales, arpeggios and licks, I really only used one, maybe two scale shapes reliably in my playing.
No matter what I was doing, no matter what I practiced. I only really had a couple of comfortable guitar scale shapes that I could actually use. When the pressure was on, almost everything else went out the window.
It was really limiting for my playing. And not to mention frustrating – to do all that work and have it not seem to pay off.
I had to figure it out
I knew I had to figure this out. Because I spent hours working on my scale shapes. And it was frustrating to realize that I didn’t have as much control on the guitar as I should have.
That’s a frustrating place to be.
Why could I play some guitar scale shapes easily in solos, but not others? I practiced them all the same! Or did I?
I did all the stuff you’re supposed to do. I practiced the scales. And the arpeggios from the scale. And technical patterns using the scale.
I practiced the scales up and down on single strings, because Mick Goodrick said to do that in his book The Advancing Guitarist. (Affiliate Link)
I did everything I was supposed to do, tried every approach I could find, but I was still stuck.
Now when I finally did solve this problem, it wasn’t actually for myself. It was for a student of mine! It’s funny how we can have blinders on when it comes to ourselves, but see the solution for someone else so clearly.
The Big Solution
The answer actually took me all the way back to high school. I had a great jazz guitar teacher. The only thing was, he didn’t think about scales very much.
To him, everything was a chord. It seemed like his entire fretboard concept was based in chord shapes. You could hear beautiful single note lines when he played a gig, but it’s not really how he thought about the instrument.
And so it wasn’t what he taught. At least, beyond giving me a couple of scale shapes when I asked him about reading music.
I took those two scales and played with them constantly. He showed me how to find the key of a song and improvise with the scale. The only real instruction on improvisation was “make something up with the scale.” But I was hooked.
“Noodling” Was The Key
In my quest to become a better jazz guitar player, I noodled with those two scale shapes almost constantly.
I’d sit on the couch with my electric guitar unplugged, and while we were watching tv. And I’d be noodling. Really, I was just sitting there trying to play solos. Just doing what my teacher said and trying to make something up with the scale.
I assumed that if I just tried to play jazz guitar with those scale shapes enough, I would become a pretty good jazz guitar player. Or at least play better solos.
It turns out there’s a little more to it than that, but my idea wasn’t that crazy. To get good at soloing you have to practice soloing.
So what I ended up doing was this. I became very good at being creative within those two major scale shapes. Knew all the ins and outs. And I could make my fingers do whatever I want to in that context.
And it worked out pretty well for me in my high school jazz band.I won a couple of “outstanding soloist” awards at festivals. I was one of the better improvisers at my school, and got accepted into college music programs for jazz.
But once I was in college learning jazz, things changed.
As I learned more about jazz guitar, I started accumulating new scale shapes. New licks. I learned all about how to navigate chord changes and play good solos.
But after all that, I still reverted back to my 2 “tried and true” scale shapes. When the pressure was on, none of the new stuff I worked so hard on came out.
Why was I so comfortable with these two chord shapes, but unable to use any of the new stuff I worked on?
When I really thought about it, it became obvious. I was so good at using those scales in my solos because I had practiced soloing with those scales! Constantly. For 3 or 4 years of high school.
Everything else I had learned afterwards, I played in drills. I plugged them into my solos with the big band. If I rehearsed them into a song, I could play them. But if I was just winging it, they were nowhere to be found.
Then it hit me like a ton of bricks
If you want to be able to solo in more than one or two scale shapes, you have to practice soloing in more than one or two scale shapes. It’s obvious when you put it like that, but it took me a long time to see it.
There’s 5 scale shapes total in most guitar playing systems, 7 if you’re into the shredder 3-note-per-string scales. It’s really not that much to do.
Personally, five seems like a better deal to me, but everybody’s hands are a little different, and everyone likes different things.
So if you want to be able to break out of the one or two scale shapes that you’re really good at, you have to get a little bit uncomfortable for a while.
What I had to do was force myself to play entire solos in the shapes I wasn’t good at using yet.
I would put on a backing track, or go into a rehearsal and tell myself, “I’m only going to use this one awkward scale shape today.”
And good, bad or ugly, that’s what I did.
I started practicing all of my songs that way. I made sure I was practicing creatively – playing solos with the scale shapes I wasn’t all that comfortable with yet.
And what happened over time is this: my vocabulary grew. I started to be able to access those scales in a creative way, because I was practicing them in a creative way.
So there you have it.
The short answer is a little bit aggravating, right? “Well if you want to use more scale shapes, you have to practice more scale shapes!”
But the real and specific answer is this:
If you want to use more scale shapes in your solos, you need to practice creatively. Play solos in all your different scale shapes.
It might take you a while to develop this. It sure did for me.
I remember spending about a week on each new scale shape at first. It wasn’t a quick fix, but eventually I got to where I could use any scale shape I wanted when I was soloing.
So the big thing to try today would be this:
- Identify a scale shape that you are not comfortable actually playing when the rubber hits the road
- Create a rule for yourself – only use this one, uncomfortable scale shape
- Play solos with it
So put on irealpro. Hit play on your Aebersold tracks. Or better yet, find your buddy that plays – just do something.
But force yourself to use that uncomfortable guitar scale shape. The one that’s not a go-to for you.
And within a couple weeks, you’re probably going to see a big difference in what guitar scale shapes you’re actually able to use as you play.
And if you want a step by step guide to learning your 5 essential major scale shapes, click here to get the field guide.