“I'm constantly thinking melodies. Now, to add interest to those melodies, obviously you have to know what things can be superimposed over a chord, and I will think of extended arpeggios and the upper estensions. If I'm playing very vertically, I will invariably start to include certaing passing notes which imply certain scales -- like a melodic minor scale against a C minor chord, or diminished scales, something like that. But I'm not thinking of a scale at that specific moment. I'm thinking of the notes as surrounding that chord -- because I know how each of the twelve notes in music sound against a C minor seventh, for instance.”

— Lee Ritenour

[Denyer, Ralph, The Guitar Handbook, 2002, 114, 0-679-74275-1]

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Lee Ritenour 1

American jazz guitarist, session musician, and composer 1952

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“My solos are speech-influenced rhythmically; and harmonically, they're either pentatonic, or poly-scale oriented. And there's the mixolydian mode that I also use a lot…But I'm more interested in melodic things I think the biggest challenge when you go to play a solo is trying to invent a melody on the spot.”

Frank Zappa (1940–1993) American musician, songwriter, composer, and record and film producer

As quoted in The Guitar Handbook (2002) by Ralph Denyer, p. 102

“I practice all the scales. Everyone should know lots of scales. Actually, I feel there are only scales. What is a chord, if not the notes of a scale hooked together? There are several reasons for learning scales: one, the knowledge will unlock the neck for you -- you'll learn the instrument; second, if I say I want you to improvise ofer Gmaj7+5, then go to Eaug9-5, then to bmaj7-5 --well, if you don't know, what those chords are in scale terms, you're lost. It's not all that difficult, but you have to be ready to apply yourself…”

John McLaughlin (1942) guitarist, founder of the Mahavishnu Orchestra

[Denyer, Ralph, The Guitar Handbook, 2002, 114, 0-679-74275-1]

“One thing I learned a long time ago was my fretboard, in terms of all the scales in all the positions…You have to learn it - there are no two ways about it. I shift between positions so easily now that I really don't have to think about them much…I would suggest starting your scale education with the major and minor scales, and after that, diminished, augmented and whole-tone. Then depending on what kind of music you want to play, the modes should be learned. My theory about this kind of thing is that you should learn it all. Once you've learned it you can play whatever you want to play, and I think that your playing will be more advanced, and you'll have a better understanding of the instrument.”

Al Di Meola (1954) guitarist

[Denyer, Ralph, The Guitar Handbook, 2002, 102, 0-679-74275-1]

“Frankly Jess, on the grand scale—”
“You can’t think on the grand scale. You have to think on the small scale. Otherwise no-one’d ever do anything.”

Jane Rogers book The Testament of Jessie Lamb

Source: The Testament of Jessie Lamb (2011), Chapter 18 (p. 137)

“I used to practice scales, but I think mainly in positions. I do runs that go from position to position, basically around chord shapes. I can get around pretty easily from one position to another, and on a good night it sound pretty hot. I'll take chances. Sometimes I'll trip over myself, but most times I'm lucky.”

Albert Lee

[Denyer, Ralph, The Guitar Handbook, 2002, 140, 0-679-74275-1]

“Most Christians would say that the music should in some way glorify God. Obviously, one assortment of notes on the scale can't glorify God more than another. Neither can certain assortments of words. -Appalachian Melody.”

Mark Heard (1951–1992) American musician and record producer

Liner Notes

“Solos I kind of [couldn't] care less about. I know most people probably think that's what I care most about, but it's really the melody playing that is the cornerstone of what I'm working on.”

Joe Satriani (1956) American guitar player

As quoted in Guitar Magazine (August 1997).

“Do you know something? I don't give a heck what those people think, I'm doing the right thing now.”

Henry Hill (1943–2012) Mobster

Mafia king on the straight and narrow, Heather Alexander, 2008-03-29, 2008-03-31, BBC News http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7319520.stm,

“On the scale on which [tax cutting] is being tried, I'm a little apprehensive. I'm all for reduction of government expenditures but to anticipate it by reducing the rate of taxation before you have reduced expenditure is a very risky thing to do.”

Friedrich Hayek (1899–1992) Austrian and British economist and Nobel Prize for Economics laureate

in "Business People; A Nobel Winner Assesses Reagan", The New York Times (1 December 1982)
1980s and later

“We started out in the middle ages creating music which had certain desirable physical properties (for example, a major chord sounds "nice" because the frequencies are in integer ratios to each other). And then as society evolved, we created these emotional contexts for certain instruments and progressions. Major-chord arpeggios sound "happy", minor chords sound "sad", chromatic scales can sound "scary", et cetera. In the 20th century, film soundtracks reinforced this point as people associated certain kinds of music with certain visual and emotional experiences. It's a giant feedback loop, really; once you grow up in a given culture, it leaves this musical fingerprint on you which colors your experiences.”

Andrew Sega (1975) musician from America

Andrew Sega Shrine interview, 2011

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