You think scales are going to gte you through? Ha!

Govan is a freaking alien!


Scales certainly didn't help this guy when I was out on the bay:

 

How do you not use scales? Govan certainly is.

 

Yeah that's minor pentatonic too.

 

True. It's how he uses the scales, as part of the approaches he takes, rather than just 'playing in one scale ... because...'

 

I’m not a scale guy.

And solo guitar is not my thing, so I only listened to maybe 45s.

But a lot it sounded pentatonic to me.

 

I've been down this road before. Most popular music in the U.S. comes from the 12 note Chromatic scale and Excerpts from that scale.

Yep we can play a 1/4 tone by a slight bend but the 12 notes on the guitar are still part of the Chromatic scale. [1/2 step each]
Can't completely get away from scales even if you are not thinking scales while soloing.

 

More advice.

 

I had never realised, that Mr Govan was a Zappa aficionado......

 

1:50 he looks so impressed with himself.

 

a "scale approach" is what you do when you're practicing. first we learn to run; then we learn to play basketball. we don't only run when playing basketball but hard to be any good if you can't run at all. if you know your scales well enough you can sit down with that track and transcribe it just on hearing it, without a guitar in your hands.

 

Good playing.

I think I counted about 12 times that his left hand pinky was used to fret a note LOL.
If I had done that when I was taking lessons, I would have ejected into the stratosphere with no warning!

 

Gave it another listen. Seems like the majority of it is within the minor pentatonic. But he's just playing it up and down the neck. There's a bit more to it. I see he threw in some interesting modal stuff that I missed.

 

I’m not knowledgeable enough to say what it is. It sounds like more pentatonic wankery to me though.

Either way, the tone is unbearable and it’s definitely not music I’d want to listen to beyond this one time.

 

Well, the dude can certainly play, but it was just too disjointed for me.

 

It's still based on scales, as all soloing is, even if he's mixing them up to create his melodic (?) ideas. I do it all the time, playing a line that begins in one key and ends in another, following the chord changes. But, this wasn't really my taste. It sounds like fretboards gymnastics to me, rather than any interesting melodic explorations that I want to hear. It's all flash and no groove, no real melodic center to bring the listener in. And, he's using a lot of standard minor pentatonics tying the other more flashy bits together.

 

Many years ago I learned the major scales in 5 positions i.e. what is now known as the CAGED system. I practised them by trying play tunes out of a book.

Once I had done this I found I could play a melody by ear. As an unexpected benefit I also discovered I could sight-sing a written melody.

Nowadays I hardly ever think of scales, I think of what my next few notes will be and where I will find them.

On bass guitar it’s even less about scales, it’s all about rhythms and chords.