In this Primer video for the Scales section, Christopher gives you compelling reasons to start learning and playing scales.  Instead of being told to practice scales, you'll learn WHY you should practice scales. The answers may surprise you!

Christopher presents a rock-solid method for learning scales properly by putting himself in the hot seat.  Watch him learn a new scale in real time and get it familiar enough to start improvising with.  You can apply this same concept to your own instrument and the scales you are currently working on.

Don't wait one more minute to start making sweet music with your scales.  Our philosophy is that if you know a scale, then you can solo with a scale.  This video will inspire you not to wait to start creating melodies and riffs and add creative playing to your scale studies.

Good news: You can play one scale over many chords. Bad news: It ain’t foolproof! Many people blindly use the scale from the key they are playing in during a solo, and that works fine. BUT…they don’t LISTEN to how that scale interacts with each chord. This is the secret for creating great melodies and solos, and now you’ll know how to use your ears to do the same!

So now you know there are Strong, Weak and Clashing notes when you use a scale to create melodies in a key (playing your scale with chords from the scale playing with you).  The big question is "why".  What makes certain notes strong, weak or clash?  Why does this happen?  The answer awaits in this video lesson.

For this video, Christopher gets back to academics and shows you how to play your scales with various "Intervals".  The most simple one to start with is 3rds, where you play your scale by skipping every other note.  If you're bored with practicing scales or need new ideas for soloing, this video will give you lots to work on and think about.

After investigating how to play your scale in 3rds, you may want a little guidance as to how to apply them in music. Hey, even Beethoven loved his 3rds!! 

After exploring the concept of playing your scales in 3rds, it's time to take on larger intervals and use them in your playing.  Christopher does a quick but deep dive into the sometimes confusing nature of 4ths and 5th, then gives you some simple ways to practice these fun intervals. 

Christopher gets into how you can play 6ths with your scales, and how you can invert the 6th interval into 3rd.  We spend a little time talking to pianists and guitar players about turning these into inverted chords.

Master educator Chris Moore talks about how ANY musician can understand, learn and use unfamiliar scales.

Musician and educator Chris Moore demonstrates the classic way to practice both a scale and its corresponding arpeggio.  He then discusses how wind/brass instruments can practice fast subdivisions while also getting enough breath.

We all need to practice our scales and arpeggios to become a well-rounded musician and create fun and memorable melodies and chord progressions. The cool thing is that there are MANY ways to think about practicing and playing these skills. Master educator and brass player Dr. Kevin Horan talks to Christopher about how he teaches people to think, play and practice their scales and arpeggios. To Christopher, who plays guitars and piano, this was a very enlightening lesson! 

A GREAT way to create memorable melodic ideas (and actually enjoy practicing scales) is using Sequences.  Sequences are patterns you play with the notes from your scale.

Now it's time to try 4 note scale sequences.  We'll just add another note to the 3 note sequences we did in the last video. Not only do these scale sequences make practicing your scales more challenging and enjoyable, but it makes for KILLER melodic ideas! 

Once you can negotiate simple 3 and 4 note sequences, it might be cool to try sequences with intervalic jumps or even longer sequences.

Passing tones create temporary tension in your melodies.  Start learning how to use these "passing tones" and you'll sound cool too!

Woodwind player Mervyn Johnston discusses the many ways you can practice your scales using the concepts of Approach Notes, Chromatic Tones and Chord Enclosures. 

In this Unit, woodwind master Mervyn Johnston talks about everything from Enclosures to Vibrato to Falls.  Some things are specific to flute, but many of these concepts can be incorporated by any instrument.

When practicing scales, we often only focus on the notes we play rather than the rhythms.  In this video, Christopher shows you how you can add rhythm to transform your creative ideas.

Christopher breaks down the rhythmic aspect of practicing rhythms by having you focus on simply playing and jamming on one note.  Once you are comfortable playing all types of rhythms along with a backing track, you can add more notes to create more interesting melodies.

Christopher offers you the opportunity to take his 12-Week Challenge WOW!!  If you can do all these musical things...AND play every (in this example) major scale in just three months, how do you think that'll transform your playing?

After watching so many videos about practicing scales, Christopher has you putting it all together to use your scales to create interesting melodies. 

For many people, Chromaticism is the final Scale frontier.  A Chromatic scale is a scale that is made up entirely of half-steps.  It's a 12-note scale (most scales are 7 notes), and it contains every note in music.  How can you handle working with such a scale.  Musician and educator Chris Moore gives you great advice!