Intermediate Guitar Scales Handbook
I used to find this genuinely puzzling. Why would learning more scales make someone sound worse? I started studying how other instrumentalists — pianists, saxophonists, violinists — learn and apply scales, and the answer became obvious almost immediately.
Guitarists learn scales wrong. Not because they’re doing anything stupid, but because the way scales are typically taught on guitar — five or seven box patterns, learned in isolation, drilled up and down without musical context — is both counterintuitive and counterproductive. It produces technique without musicality, patterns without application. No other instrumentalist learns scales this way, and there’s a reason for that.
The Intermediate Guitar Scales Handbook is built around the insight that came from that research — the one thing that made the biggest difference to my intermediate students’ ability to improvise musically rather than just running up and down shapes.
What’s in the book
- A fundamental reframe of how to approach scales beyond the pentatonic — built around how other instrumentalists actually learn them
- The major scale and its modes taught in a way that preserves and builds on your existing pentatonic vocabulary rather than replacing it
- A practical, musical approach that connects scales to actual playing from the beginning rather than deferring application until the patterns are memorised
- Suitable for high beginners making the transition to intermediate, and intermediate players who feel stuck in pattern-based playing
Who it’s for
Guitarists who know their pentatonics and aren’t sure where to go next. Intermediate players who’ve learned the major scale and its modes but can’t make them sound musical. Anyone who’s felt like their scales practice isn’t transferring into better improvisation — this book explains why and shows you what to do instead.
Natural next steps
Once the major scale is under your fingers musically, The Dorian Improvisation System takes the next logical step — a complete improvisational framework built around the most versatile mode on the guitar.
Get the book →Or if you want a free resource to bridge the gap between pentatonics and modes right now: Modes on Guitar for People in a Hurry — free PDF, no sign-up required.
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