How to practice scales

Practicing scales are a necessary part of learning any instrument: They get your hands used to playing faster and finding the notes you need for composing and improvising, they also get you used to the sound of the scale. Here are some exercises I give my students for practicing scales.

Start on the root note and go as high as you can in the position you're playing in, then as low as you can, then back to the root.

Now start on the root again and go up in thirds, then back down.

Then start on the root again and play the IM7 arpeggio up and down, then ii7, iii7, etc. And you'll get this:

Speed this up with a metronome, then work on G major, then C major, then A major, then F major. Once you're comfortable with them practice the same ideas in different positions across the neck.