What scales do you like to/repeatedly use?

[MDV]

I like the bashthestringswithmyfingersindifferentplacesatdifferenttimes scale best, and use little else, but if pressed, phrygian, aeolian, myxolidian, dorian and diminished.

You?

[_tom_]

Pentatonic with a few extra notes thrown in is the only scale I know :lol:

[MDV]

Pentatonic with a few extra notes thrown in is the only scale I know :lol:

Thats ok

A - That probably covers every scale there is, give or take  :P

B - Youre never more than a half step from a right note  :lol:

[TheIronBeast]

I really like the sound of the Lydian mode, probably my favourite mode. I try to use it when possible when practising my improvisation.

Others I like to use are Pentatonic, Blues, Harmonic Minor and Dorian.

[Antag]

I try to get variety into my solos, the days when I used pentatonic, pentatonic blues & aeolian only are long gone :)

Phrygian, Phrygian Dominant, Lydian, Lydian Augmented, both Octatonic scales, double harmonic minor & japanese (not the proper name for it but that's what I call it) are the current favourites.

Arpeggio-wise, I like the major, minor, dim7 (who in metal doesn't? :twisted:) & madd9.

Have a listen to this rough clip as an example...

[HTH AMPS]

Pentatonic with a few extra notes thrown in is the only scale I know :lol:

same here really, though I mix in some major scale runs where appropriate.  I remember one punter at a gig complimenting my use of the mixalydian scale - still don't know wtf that is.

[38thBeatle]

What are these scales  that you write of?

[MrBump]

Phrygian mostly, if I'm trying to do the straight ahead, linear fast stuff, cos it has all the right elements of blues type scales, just expanded to sound darker and more depressing!

[Plexi Ken]

Pentatonic with a few extra notes thrown in is the only scale I know :lol:

same here really, though I mix in some major scale runs where appropriate.  I remember one punter at a gig complimenting my use of the mixalydian scale - still don't know wtf that is.

+2

99% major or minor pentatonic with 1% major scale notes 'thrown' in (and I really mean thrown in).

[gingataff]

I like the bashthestringswithmyfingersindifferentplacesatdifferenttimes scale best, and use little else, but if pressed, phrygian, aeolian, myxolidian, dorian and diminished.

You?

Unless I'm mistaken 80% of those are the same scale, called 'Major' I believe ;)

I tend to think about intervals rather than key/scales. After all we're only one note away from right one 8)

if I sit down and think about what I play I'm probably playing Major scales (hovering between Mixolydian, Aeolian, Lydian) and some melodic/harmonic minor modes plus a lot of pentatonic and chromatic stuff.
But most of what I play is purely by accident  :roll:

[JDC]

riffing tends to be a mix of locrian, sometimes changing the minor 3rd to a major 3rd, which is probably some mode of harmonic minor, I also use half whole and whole half and sometimes the whole tone scales

basically what ever sounds good, evil and heavy

melodies and clean stuff seem to always be in natural minor, shredding is any minor key

for some reason I've started doing pentatonic "bluesy" shred, I only started focusing on pentatonics more to learn the whole of the fretboard properly, I only learnt what double stops are last night :)

[dave_mc]

minor pentatonic/blues mostly. actually, i often use that hybrid pentatonic scale a lot, mainly because of expediency in the finger positioning, it's kind of like a mix of the dorian and blues scale.

[Lew]

Cool thread!

I never approached the guitar thinking about scales.  I had to learn 'em to pass guitar college 10 years ago but I never really studied them or consciously used them and have no intentions of doing so.

Like Gingataff I think about how intervals work with whats going on rather than what scale sounds like x or y or would best fit. Learning how to put chords together and going from there has always been best for me. When I tried to explain it to a mate who is really theory orientated he said.. yea you mix a few scales up and use passing chromatics to connect them...  :lol: so I think how you think about it before you even pickup the guitar is really really really really important.

When I do listen to people that are obviously working inside a pattern or box I think it sounds really conceited and shiteeeee especially when they haven't bothered to learn all the positions which is often the case.

I'm somewhere between Van Halen and Alan Holdsworth as far as note choice goes :lol:

[MDV]

I never approached the guitar thinking about scales.  I had to learn 'em to pass guitar college 10 years ago but I never really studied them or consciously used them and have no intentions on doing so.

I think about how intervals work with whats going on behind it. Knowing how to put chords together and going from there has always been best for me.

When I said this to a mate who is really theory orientated he said.. yea you mix alot of scales and use passing chromatics to connect them...

When I do listen to people that are obviously working inside a pattern or box I think it sounds really conceited and shitee especially when they haven't bothered to learn all the positions which is often the case.

Yes! To all of it, but mainly the bolded. Intervals are how I think about music, if I think at all. They're the building blocks of the whole thing.

[shobet]

What are these scales  that you write of?

Seconded