Scales--my new morning friend

[JeffD]

I do "long tones" with major and minor scales and minor blues pentatonic scales, which means I play each note and hold it until it decays completely, then move on to the next one. That's helped my tone quality a lot.

I also play scales and arpeggios in quarter, eighth and sixteenth notes.

Does anyone have any other suggestions on scales work that can be of benefit?

First of all, for everyone, its absolutely great to be doing ANYTHING behind the mandolin every day. Puts you so far ahead of most. Any exercises you can do every day are much better than the perfect exercises you can never manage to get to.

From the quick to learn lifetime to master department, here is the warm up routine of Jacob Reuven. https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/s...arm-Up-Routine

I get into this every practice, (at what ever speed the morning brings me). I am inspired by the video every time.

[Mark Gunter]

The video that Jeff referenced embedded:

[HonketyHank]

The video that Jeff referenced embedded:

Wow. I struggle just to get my teeth brushed when I get up in the morning.

[James Miller]

When I learn notes or something new not only do I mix them up and try to make some sort of little ditty with it, I also try reversing the scales.

One fellow came to out group showing off a scale structure he uses to play with any group. Claimed to be able to teach anyone to play any song using that technique in like 20 minutes. Of course I had to ask him when he was playing scales to play them backwards. He looked at this his guitar, then me, and told the group he had to home home for a corn dog. Not seen him in a while. /shrug

[James Miller]

I laught but then realised that my trombonist son does!
He has this thing where he blows the normal note then hums another & it doesnt have to be the same note, he can harmonise; it’s quite cool to hear.
He says there’s a way of doing three notes at the same time that his teacher does, but that’ll be further down the road.

You should get him a didgeridoo. There you basically do raspberries, vocalize, and use throat/tongue shapes to change what is being played.

[iblix]

Hi everyone,

i'm taking the opportunity of this discussion to ask about something that confuses me a lot : is there a rule for changing position when working on scales? For example if i want to do the useful exercises posted by Don Julin earlier in this post in, say, F major, on two ocaves, when should i change position?
Same issue if i want to play G major in three octaves, i see different paths to move up the fretboard and i'm not shure which one to work in priority.

I think that working those position changes would be very useful for me because i'm a bit lost in the logic of it (i'm a clarinet player, mainly, so totally different way of thinking the scales).

Can someone help me get it or suggest some resource about this?

[bigskygirl]

I too grew up playing clarinet...still love it but haven’t played in ages. As for shifting try to see if you can use an open string for the shift or...just be fast about it. With practice you’ll get there, I haven’t watched the DJ video but there are lots of videos on this, Banjo Ben has a two octave scale exercise video.

[iblix]

Thanks bigskygirl, the Banjo Ben video is a very good starting point !

[iblix]

I've bought Don Julin's "Mandolin exercices for dummies", now I have all the answers to my questions and a looot of work ahead of me. I think i'm going to hibernate with my mandolin.

[Brian Harris]

I have little patience for anything that isn't a song. So many hornpipes / jigs / Bach solos are really just great scale and arpeggio practice with the added bonus that you learn an ACTUAL tune with all the effort.

[Bill McCall]

I have little patience for anything that isn't a song. So many hornpipes / jigs / Bach solos are really just great scale and arpeggio practice with the added bonus that you learn an ACTUAL tune with all the effort.

But if your hand already knows the positions for the notes in the key in a variety of positions, the tunes are not 'all the effort', but relatively simple. And not a lot of hornpipes or jigs are in E flat or F, but folks have a variety of goals and tastes.

ymmv

[danielpatrick]

Happy New Year everyone! I'm posting a few scale exercises to my Lick of the Day series and I thought someone here might want to try them out. This one is just a descending major scale using three note patterns for each note of the scale. It find it's helping with picking, string switching, and trying to get each not to sound clear.....I'm definitely still working on perfecting it! It sounds musical to me and a little less boring than just running up and down the major scale. Once I get to the lowest combination of notes, I end and then start a half step up. Hope someone finds it useful. I'll attach the tab as well!

[Mando Mort]

That is nice. I like that it is a musical scale exercise.

[mbruno]

Whatever you to do practice, be present, be varied, and be open.

You need to be focused on what you are playing - what scale, what notes, what position, and why. Always good to know the diatonic chords associated with the scale that are in that position as well. Know the different functions of each note for those chords too. Doing this as a mental exercise (i.e. write out a fret board map of the notes) can be just as helpful (maybe more sometimes) as actually playing.

You need to be varied to keep your fingers and brain guessing. Without variations, you'll end up getting better at the routine, not the skill behind the routine. Have 3 or 4 different variations of the same thing (i.e. play the scale straight, play in 3rds, play in runs of 3 notes, play in 4ths etc) and keep switching.

You need to be open and let yourself wander to explore the full potential of the scale you're playing. Make up little melodies, then harmonize those melodies, then play two note chords with that melody in place as the 3rd note, then do something else with it. This will really help move the practice to performance and sound like you.

Last avoid playing scales in any one way too long.