Guitar help?

[Masas]

alright, i've been playing the guitar a bit...can manage all the chord stuff
and learning scales now...
I've been teaching myself the pentatonic scale since I hear its useful stuff...

but

1) how important is knowing each note in the scales? i'm a lil thick headed so even if I know what key the scale is in, I don't know all the notes in it...

and

2) what do I do once I learn the scales? How do I fit it into music?

 

[Platypus]

it depends on what music you are playing, and if you're lead or not

 

[godmare]

1) it's important because
2) one day, when you know all your scales, you'll jump up while playing with a new understanding and appreciation for all music 😉

 

[johnjohn320]

Originally posted by: Masas
alright, i've been playing the guitar a bit...can manage all the chord stuff
and learning scales now...
I've been teaching myself the pentatonic scale since I hear its useful stuff...

but

1) how important is knowing each note in the scales? i'm a lil thick headed so even if I know what key the scale is in, I don't know all the notes in it...

and

2) what do I do once I learn the scales? How do I fit it into music?

I'm not much of a guitarist, but I can try to help a bit.

1) If you don't know all the notes in the scale, there's really no reason to know it! What would be the point? I hope you're learning your major and minor scales before you tackle any modes though (i.e. pentatonic). All these modes are based off of your major/minor scales, so get those down cold first.

2) Knowing the scales will help you with sight-reading, for one. But you also understand the music this way. All of music is based off of scales. Also, if you're into rock or jazz, scales are essential to improvisation (soloing).