Scales and solos

Question: How does learning scales help you when you're soloing?

Answer

Learning scales is about taking the guess work out of moving from one note to the next in your solo. Not just for improvisation, but for helping you craft your solo more efficiently.

For example, by learning the major scale, you eventually learn to associate different combinations of its interval movements with a particular sound and feel. You'll then be able to use it in context, over major chords and certain major key progressions, confidently.

Learning scales helps you narrow down your choice of notes logically for the chords you're soloing over. They can be seen as frameworks of safe tones to use over these chords, without the risk of you venturing onto a "bum" note that lies outside the key you're in.

Of course, there are chromatic movements and "outside" notes that you'll come to naturally include in some of your solos. However, even these have been incorporated into their own scales (e.g. the blues scale and it's b5 tone added to minor pentatonic).