Practicing guitar scales is a great way to improve your overall guitar technique and to learn to know your fretboard better, but guitar players often don't know exactly what to do with them. We have all seen these fancy scale diagrams here and there, then learned and played some of them ascending and descending and that was it. And then when we try to apply them in real situations, like to build a short improvised guitar lick, while playing a song with a band, we realize that that's all we can do with these scales - play them ascending and descending and nothing more. Now, that's not very original, is it? The idea of scale diagrams is to use them as guidelines to which positions you are "allowed" to press, but you shouldn't just go up and down these patterns. With the following 3 ideas, you will hopefully learn how to use scales the proper way, thus really improving your guitar skills and musical originality.

For all of the examples below, we will use the Locrian mode, assuming that we are in the key of A Minor. That means that we will be using the B Locrian Scale, with its root being located at the 7th fret of the 6th string (low E). Here's the exact scale diagram:
Example 1 - B Locrian Scale Diagram (Ascending)

E||--------------------------------------8-10-12-||
B||------------------------------8-10-12---------||
G||-----------------------7-9-10-----------------||
D||----------------7-9-10------------------------||
A||---------7-8-10-------------------------------||
E||--7-8-10--------------------------------------||

Now, obviously that's how you'll play B Locrian in that boring ascending manner, like you always did. Well, why not playing it like this instead:

Example 2 - B Locrian Variation 1 (16th notes)

E||---------------------------------------|
B||---------------------------------------|
G||---------------------------------------|
D||-------------------------7----9-7-10-9-|
A||-----------7----8-7-10-8---10----------|
E||--8-7-10-8---10------------------------|
--------------------------------8----10-12-|----------------||
----------------8----10-8-12-10---12-------|--10------------||
--7----9-7-10-9---10-----------------------|----------------||
----10-------------------------------------|----------------||
-------------------------------------------|----------------||
-------------------------------------------|----------------||

Now that sounds cool, doesn't it? And that's what you should do with scales - keep changing between the positions. Now did you notice that we ended this lick on the 10th fret of the B string, which is the note A? Well, you probably already know the answer - that's because we're playing in the key of A Minor. Let's have a look at another two interesting ideas.

Example 3 - B Locrian Variaton 2 (16th notes)

E||----------------------------------------|
B||----------------------------------------|
G||----------------------------7-10-7-9-10-|
D||---------------------7-9-10-------------|
A||---------7-10-7-8-10--------------------|
E||--7-8-10--------------------------------|
----------8-12-8-10-12-----------||
--8-10-12--------------10--------||
---------------------------------||
---------------------------------||
---------------------------------||
---------------------------------||

Example 4 - B Locrian Variation 3 (16th notes)

E||---------------------------------------|
B||---------------------------------------|
G||---------------------------------------|
D||---------------------------------------|
A||---------7-8-10-8-7-------------7-8-10-|
E||--7-8-10------------10-8-7-8-10--------|
---------------------------------------|
---------------------------------------|
---------7-9-10-9-7-------------7-9-10-|
--7-9-10------------10-9-7-9-10--------|
---------------------------------------|
---------------------------------------|
----------8-10-12-10-8---------------8-10-12-|--------------||
--8-10-12--------------12-10-8-10-12---------|--10----------||
---------------------------------------------|--------------||
---------------------------------------------|--------------||
---------------------------------------------|--------------||
---------------------------------------------|--------------||



You can apply all of the examples above with any other scale mode of your choice as base. Just remember to use the correct fingering corresponding to the chosen mode and don't forget to apply strict alternate picking throughout the exercises. When you're feeling comfortable playing all of the present examples, you can go ahead and try building your own unique patterns and variations.

Have fun!

Erica Mills is a guitar teacher and musician for over 10 years. She loves teaching students with a passion in music on how to play guitar songs. She is passionate about his work and dedicated in helping students achieve their dreams. Visit http://www.bandjammer.com for more guitar song lessons.