I’ve certainly written and talked a lot about scales over the years… I now realize that has been nothing more than an attempt to justify their importance to myself. I myself was skeptical; I wanted to believe that they were as important as other trained Classical and Jazz musicians were telling me, but I had to fully experience and discover it for myself.
My personal mantra of “beyond chord melody” began the moment I first heard Buddy Wachter in person 34 years ago. Up to that point, I was nothing but a chord melody hack who didn’t know any better; I could play hundreds of songs in any key you want, as long as they were simple banjo band songs. Buddy woke me up to what could actually be done on a banjo, and I wanted it!
Before I go any further here, I need to say that after more than 30 frustrating years of striving to progress beyond it, I have finally made my peace with that default setting. I’m now proud to be a good chord melody banjoist, and I’m proud that I can play hundreds of songs in any key. I just want more.
The serious study and practice of scales has finally given me what I wanted. If I had known where they would eventually take me, I would not have waited so many years to take them seriously! All I knew was that I wanted to play like Buddy; that can’t be too difficult, right (ha!)? Okay, putting aside the fact that he is an absolute genius, playing at that level is simply a matter of practice, right?
Ah, but practicing what? Trying to “copy” someone at that insane level (besides being an invitation to frustration) is fruitless if you don’t first learn the simple fundamentals of music! I look at it this way: how can you expect to play a style of music that relies heavily on scales and arpeggios if you don’t know how to play scales and arpeggios?
I’m not just talking about “learning” and “playing them once” (“sure, I’ve played them!”): I’m talking about burning them into the very fiber of your body and psyche, in all keys and several different forms, positions, etc.; being able to rattle them off as easily and confidently as your A-B-C’s; being able to play them faster and more accurately than you will ever need in actual performance; knowing intimately how they affect and guide music overall. You get the drift.
That is something that chord melody-dependent banjoists simply don’t do. First off, why? We don’t use (or even need) scales and arpeggios in chord melody playing, so why bother? My only and best answer for that is because without them you’ll never progress past chord melody! It simply can’t be done, unless you are a savant who can just do them without actually learning them…and trust me, you wouldn’t be bothering with my drivel if you were a savant! Playing a style of music that does not seem to need them gives you just the lazy excuse you needed: “whew, I don’t need to bother with them!”
I will concede that—thanks to the historical influence and continuing popularity of Eddie Peabody—chord melody is the characteristic and most-important plectrum banjo style. I would go so far as to say that the plectrum banjo in turn is the ultimate chord melody instrument. Which came first: the chicken (the instrument) or the egg (the style)? It’s not the only historical style possible though: you needn’t look any further than Harry Reser and Perry Bechtel for inspiration (as Buddy did). Actually, as an accomplished and popular plectrum banjoist, Harry preceded Eddie by a few years; in my opinion, his style should be the model—but that’s another subject.
It makes for an understandable default habit. But again, in order to play a single-string style (jazz improvisation, for example), one must break that default setting—or never have it in the first place. Chord melody is “chord-based”; jazz improv is “scale-based.” They are two entirely different musical models. My mistake was in thinking that my chord-based skills (which came “naturally” to me after all) would allow me to just copy Buddy’s scale-based playing, instead of buckling down to the unnatural hard work of supplanting the default setting through musical practice and study.
So, before I give the wrong impression, let me say that I now consider chord melody to be the essential skill for plectrum banjoists! Just don’t get hung up by it—unless you are content to stay within its musical limitations…
Okay, if you’re not content, here is where the rubber meets the road. You must realize that scales are much more than just a thing: they are an idea. You don’t just “learn” them and then practice them a few times; you internalize them and make them the center of your musical universe, because they are.
You make them your default setting because ultimately, melodic music is scale-based. Even your chord melody playing will be improved through their study. And that I suppose is the whole point of this essay: if music is based on scales—and it is—then scales need no further justification. They will give you more than just the prerequisite physical technique; they will make you an intimate partner with the scale-based music.
Anyway, what the Duo-Style technique did for my picking hand 30 years ago, scales have now done for my fretting hand and my musical mind. Whether I ever play an actual scale in my playing is a moot point. They have simply trained my fingers to do whatever I (or the musical situation) demand of them.