Play scales or play what you feel?

[1eyed_jack]

I was just reading an interview with neil young where he says he doesn't know any scales and he just plays what he feels. I actually agree that that is the best way to go. I mean i learned some scales, but when I try soloing i worry too much about hitting the notes that some book told me sounds good. Music is all about feeling what you're playing, and while i respect and enjoy listening to some technical sound musicians, I enjoy Neil's solos just as much.

So what do you guys think is more important. Playing scales or playing what you feel?

[i-am-me]

i do both. i mean i know the most basic amount of theory and soloing you can konw....major and minor pentatonic. but htat's wehre it ends.

so i play with those, then i just move up and down the fret board according to what sounds good. never learned anything outsid eof that....and i really should i think.

don't have much experience to say which is better though.

[dmbguitar718]

i do both. i mean i know the most basic amount of theory and soloing you can konw....major and minor pentatonic. but htat's wehre it ends.

so i play with those, then i just move up and down the fret board according to what sounds good. never learned anything outsid eof that....and i really should i think.

don't have much experience to say which is better though.

I know exactly what you mean. Like, all I really know are the major/minor scales, and I just adjust them depending on the song. I don't deal with modes and such - those are all about feel. If you can feel the music, you'll be playing in that mode without even knowing it, y'know?

whatever.

[DMBFan63]

I do both as well..I suck goat nads at soloing, but when trying, base the solo from a scale and just play what feels right the whole time for that solo..but basing it from a scale is how I do it. a wrong note or two isn't bad if it still sounds good

[gumbomadness]

knowing theory is a guide. music is expression, not repetition of theory. Knowing your scales and stuff guides you, but the improv, and the solos comes from what you feel.
I say.. know a little theory.. and everything else gets soo much better.
Knowing alittle technical stuffnever hurt anyone.

I know the major/minor pentatonic, alittle aboutmodes.. and im currently learning complicated theory and it helps alot. But i do "feel" most of it.

Your question, which is more important.. is..
what you feel is more important. ... but ifyou haventbeen playingfor 30 years...knowing alittle bit of scales (or atleast the shapes on thefret board)will make you 10x better

[i am sam2]

usually what you "feel" sounds good...and usually what sounds good is within a scale and works with the song. i think playing what you feel is the best way to get, well, what you feel, so i vote for that, even tho if you analyze it later it will probably be in a scale.

[i-am-me]

I do both as well..I suck goat nads at soloing, but when trying, base the solo from a scale and just play what feels right the whole time for that solo..but basing it from a scale is how I do it. a wrong note or two isn't bad if it still sounds good

yea, forgot to say...i suck ass at lead too. so my opinion is probably worthless. haha. just wait for the big boys to enter the thread.

[Tranman66]

i agree on feeling the notes, but you can feel the notes in a certain key. i think you haaave to know a little theory to go about writing songs, the very basics. you can go by feel but it'd take a lot to develop greatly with no guide of music theory.

[filmdude100cms]

knowing theory is a guide. music is expression, not repetition of theory. Knowing your scales and stuff guides you, but the improv, and the solos comes from what you feel.
I say.. know a little theory.. and everything else gets soo much better.
Knowing alittle technical stuffnever hurt anyone.

I know the major/minor pentatonic, alittle aboutmodes.. and im currently learning complicated theory and it helps alot. But i do "feel" most of it.

Your question, which is more important.. is..
what you feel is more important. ... but ifyou haventbeen playingfor 30 years...knowing alittle bit of scales (or atleast the shapes on thefret board)will make you 10x better

actually thats somewhat wrong, i know major and minor scales, and some variations of each in the blues and jazz spectrum, but it hasnt made me that much better as a soloist. what it has done is when im playing in a key i feel most of the notes, i use scales and formations only when i dont know exactly what to do next, a scale note will sound ok, and will work if you cant think of anything else. but mostly i just play, sometimes just arpegio segments. point is, knowing all the theory in the world wont help at all, if you cant feel the music, and if you cant play it.

[1eyed_jack]

heres part of that interview for those interested

Q : What do you try to get in a solo?

NEIL : Transcendance. It's a feel. That's what I hope to get to. And you can blame me for not caring about off-notes, but in my solos, I listen to the whole group. You call that a solo, but for me it's an instrumental. The whole group takes part. Billy Talbot is an excellent bassist, yet he only plays two or three notes. People always asks if he plays like that because those are the only notes he knows, or the only ones he feels like playing. (laughs). But when he lets go a note, it speaks to you. It's a fucking huge note. Even the soft notes sound enormous.

Q : What advice would you give a guitarist just starting out?

NEIL : Start playing, learn a few chords and play with somebody a little bit better than yourself. Don't try to learn from books anything you don't already know. Music is learning directly from others. Takes certain riffs from here and there and use them to write songs and to discover new sounds and new chord progressions. Create. But even if the results sound shitty, keep creating. Soon, it'll be great.

Q : What do you think about those who go to school to learn how to play guitar?

NEIL : It would give you a rather sad view of your future, wouldn't it? First off, nobody cares if you know how to play scales. Nobody gives a shit if you have good technique or not. It's whether you have feelings that you want to express with music, that's what counts, really. When you are able to express yourself and feel good, then you know why you're playing. The technical aspect is absolute hogwash as far as I'm concerned. It bores me to tears. I can't play fast. I don't even know my scales. I know that most of the notes I play aren't where I play them. They're simply not there. So you can play any note you like. I think about it on another level, I don't care about that sort of shit. On the other hand, I appreciate really great guitarists, and I'm very impressed by those metal groups with their scale guitarists. When I see that, I go «Holy shit, that's really something». Satriani and Eddie Van Halen are guitar geniuses. They are incredible musicians, at an amazing level. But it does't really grab me. One note will do.

[StarSlight]

I don't have any sort of feel or talent, so I go with scales.

[DMBFan63]

I do both as well..I suck goat nads at soloing, but when trying, base the solo from a scale and just play what feels right the whole time for that solo..but basing it from a scale is how I do it. a wrong note or two isn't bad if it still sounds good

yea, forgot to say...i suck ass at lead too. so my opinion is probably worthless. haha. just wait for the big boys to enter the thread.

Yea for goat nads!

[MWR]

I'm not about to take advice from Neil Young on soloing. He's a singer/songwriter.

Remember that theory is something that describes what you may be doing by ear. That "just feel the music and play whatever notes sound good" attitude is laziness.
Most of what I write comes from listening. There have been plenty of times though where I take a piece theory and incorporate it to give the song a different flavor. I never play under the tyranny of theory, I use it to help me get new sounds and I apply the "feeling" to that.

[Tranman66]

I'm not about to take advice from Neil Young on soloing. He's a singer/songwriter.

Remember that theory is something that describes what you may be doing by ear. That "just feel the music and play whatever notes sound good" attitude is laziness.
Most of what I write comes from listening. There have been plenty of times though where I take a piece theory and incorporate it to give the song a different flavor. I never play under the tyranny of theory, I use it to help me get new sounds and I apply the "feeling" to that.

ah he speaks! speaks aagain! lol sorry.

[1eyed_jack]

I'm not about to take advice from Neil Young on soloing. He's a singer/songwriter.

.

you my friend, obviously don't listen to neil young. Pick up the live rust DVD or the neil young and friends at red rocks DVD and tell me the man doesn't know how to solo.

his solos are pure emotion and you can tell by listening to them. If people nowadays felt the music they were playing half as much as he does the music world would be a far better place.