how do you go about practicing scales

[sco737]

i need to brush up on my scales
(i have allready starded) and im going through the circle of fifths including the relitive minor starting with sharps going through flats. on minor scales should i be focusing on natural, harmonic, and melodic? any other advise of any sort? how do you practice scales?

[ramseytheii]

Many scales share the same fingerings (standard fingerings, though Bernhard has posted excellent alternative fingerings that are not widely used).  C major, G major, D major, A major, and E major all use the same fingerings.

To practice those, play them in contrary motion.  That is to say, the left hand goes down, and the right hand goes up; then the right hand comes down and the left hand goes up.  You will notice that you are using the same fingering in both hands.  It helps to conceive of the scale as a whole and get used to it.

Walter Ramsey

[Bob]

Figure what will work for you that you can do daily. 

I don't do all the minors every day.  I would only run through one version of them. The next type the next day, etc.

Changing things up periodically is good.

One interesting idea from one of the 'big, thick' jazz theory books (Mark Levine I think) is to go up an extra note each time you go up and stop one note sooner at the bottom.  Eventually you end up where you started.  I found that, probably still would, find that challenging.  C-D, down to D, up to E, down to F, up to G, and so on.

I don't where you're at with scales.  I started off with 2 8ves at first.  Then 4 octaves with the contrary motion and all that.