As a music instructor of many years, I believe that learning to play musical scales is one of the most important building blocks that a guitar/bass student can have in their "wheelhouses."
Of course, learning to read music, play melodies, and play chords are all important, but scales really are the "alphabet" of everything you will ever learn to play on your instrument.
And they're not hard to learn either--just a few basic patterns up and down the neck of your guitar and bass. One example is shown below (if you're a bass player, just ignore the two strings to the far right):
Here's why I think scales are important to learn:
1) Scales are the foundations to building both melodies and chords in a song; for example, when you see a guitar chord, and you know the scale from which it has been constructed, you can use that scale to improvise a solo, or compose a melody over that chord.
2) Playing scales helps you to concentrate on the physical motions of going from one note to the next, and to strengthen your fretting hand. Actually, your picking hand benefits as well, as you further reinforce your knowledge of jumping between strings.
3) Along with #2, playing scales helps you to fine-tune your sound and tone on the guitar or bass. Everyone has their own style and tone that is uniquely yours, and playing scales will help you to identify and strengthen yours.
4) For those students learning to play guitar solos, knowing some major scales, some pentatonic scales, and some modified-blues pentatonic scales will give you a HUGE palette from which to play your rockin' leads!
5) Finally, knowing how to play scales in many different positions up and down your instrument's fretboard will only serve to increase your overall musical knowledge and playing ability--and will make YOU the person that everybody wants in their band!
So, having said all that, have fun, and Happy Pickin'! In the video below, I demonstrate a little scale technique, and talk about the reasons why it's so important.
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