ok so i took some advice, and i went out and bought a book on scales. It has every scale ever i think... whole note scales, persian scales, hungry scales or somethign... anyway, theres so many i dont know whats important, worse yet for most of them they didnt include any kind of pattern. Like for major scales, they didnt tell u the root is on the 6th string, and you just play thhese forms and find the root - isntead it just lists TONS of scales, and has funny mode names like mode II, and lorcian or something... mixolodian... lots more funny names. Anyways at the present time, this is WAY above my current level, Its probably possible for me to understand it, but not fully any time soon i dont think. However, Ii dindt just go o ut and spent 25$ on a book for no reason. So i was just curious what some of the more important scales are, and which ones i should commit to memory, Or maybe i should just start at the beginning and practice all of them(like start at page one, and just keep goign till i get to page 2xx) btw, the book is called "the guitar grimoire" by carl fischer. The mode thing is still very confusing for me...

G mixolodian, is the same as C major, with the root shifted to the G note. Im just going to figure out the pattern for the major scales, and learn that first i guess, then move on from there.. but id appreciate any advice or maybe a link that will make this less of a mess to puzzle through.

also, i think i realized part of what was making it confusing, could someone explain the difference to me between "conventional pattern" and "sweeping pattern"?

Important scales would be, Major, Pentatonic's, Minor (Both harmonic and melodic.) There's a few Pentatonics like Blues, major and minor. They're easy and resourceful. If you learn the major scale patterns, they'll help you learn every other pattern easier. Personally I learn the notes, not the patterns but there's not too many books on note learning.

As for Sweeping and conventional, I think Conventional is a pattern that stays in one position and sweeping is three notes per string. Sweeping is also a technique that allows you to virtually strum through an arpeggio so the scale pattern might be a derivative of that?

well its like 200+ pages of diagrams on notes and things, i dont think it actually says the notes, but it would be fairly easy for me to figure them out if i wanted, i can hit like 100 notes in 5min on that fretboard warrior program now, so it takes me a second or so but i can figure them out. also ive memorized basically all the 3rds/4ths/5ths. gonna move on to 6ths soon. i need to start practicing guitar more though, ive been slacking or w/e but ima get back into it, i spent like an hour running thru all the major scale patterns from Gmajor, but ima check out more of the ones u have listed there. and btw i only asked about conventional vs sweeping because i didnt watn to spedn time learning both of them lol, but im sure it will make more sense once i know all the notes etc, the patterns are helpful but im hoping sooner or later ill know the notes and just figure the pattern out on my own

http://www.justinguitar.com/en/AA-000-LessonIndex.php

Crtl+f for SC-Scales

This is an excellent resource on scales and other guitar stuffs. I think they're all for the most part free. He'll explain it lesson by lesson

I wish i had this kind of resource when i first started playing.

Hopefully through time, you'll learn more about music enough to where you can understand this stuff and you'll see which scales are really important to your particular play style.

Gl mate

well im told the most important for rock guitar, are the pentatonics, blues scales and minor harmonic/melodic, superchum pretty much listed those and i will learn them, but i have a huge book of it, and it explains things in terms of scales/modes etc, its going to be a long trip thats for sure but im just goign to learn them one by one...

ty tho, ive heard about that site many times, and while i think the guy is cool, i am much more comfortable learning through books/lessons that are designed to be a week+ or soemthing, thousands of videos just makes things more confusing for me. To add to that, im always nervous about trying new songs, bcuz i feel like i will develop bad habits. Im still working on one of the songs ive been wanting to play since i picked up the guitar, and while i improve every week or so a noticable amount, there are days when i feel like i should have somethign down pat by now but i dont, and i keep trying to play it, slow/fast whatever, just seems like there has to be some sort of technical thing im doing wrong, bcuz after i play it slow then go fast, i always mess it up.

ty for advice tho, gonna keep working

This post was edited by blunderwonder2 on Aug 22 2011 11:37pm

You might try starting off with the basic major ionian scale. Learning the theory behind it, and why the major scale is important.

I feel like everyone immediatly jumps right to the pentatonic and blue scales, but dont really understand what any of it means.

From the sounds of it you have a decent understanding of theory, its just learning the shapes on the guitar. I would recommend finding songs that ultilize the scale you're learning.

For example: when i learned the pentatonic minor scale and its positions, i picked up on the song "Pictures of Home" by Deep Purple. Uses it quite well and its really not hard to figure out if you know the basic.

i will look into that song, ty. I am picking up the the scale thing mostly beause of theory, tbh im not very interested in music that has a whole lot of solos, maybe sometimes some blues licks or rock licks i like but, usually i am not very intersted in things with wild fast solos. I am just using scales as a means to learn some theory, and get better finger technique

It doesnt have to be fast and wild. Infact i agree with you, shredding is just stupid. Its the equivilent of someone playing every chord he knows on the neck in a random order in the same key.

I think deep purple does a good job of keepin it real tho. They have a very nice bluesy taste to them and they are masters of the pentatonic scale. You would also like to look into david gilmour from Pink Floyd. He was a classically trained guitarist, but did very well in pink floyd. I favor his kind of playing; slow melodic and not over the top. He knew that when playing, its not about throwing all u got all the time, but taking breaks in a solo and playing tasteful licks at the right moment is really where its at. He tended to blend blues and major scales together in his playing which makes it interesting to study.