Tomo Fujita Guitar Wisdom

If Tomo want us to avoid shapes, does he want us to learn the scales by ear?

Im currently working on the part 2 of ear training, and it seems to me that the approach to learn the fretboard is merely based on ear, but its not clear, I am confused. Does Tomo want us to think of the major scale in degrees so when we play any note of a major scale we can subconsciously think: “oh, according to what I hear this is the fourth so the next note is the fifth, which is a whole step away from this position” and so on?

The thing is that I don’t really know the goal of the ear training+Scale practice.

Please, if this is correct or the idea is different, tell me. I’ll be really grateful of the you could provide me. Thanks in advance.

Hi Cristobal
From my personal opinion Ive played guitar for 30 years as a hobbie and in bands. Its only recently that I'm doing the ear training side of things and I wish I had done this from the start! A musical journey has all these paths that lead of into the mysterious musical jungle and most of the time we procrastinate about going down them and question the validity of them to death to avoid doing working on the foundations. When you've got a teacher of the highest calibre such as Tomo Fujita ,from my experience you have a very wise guide .Trust him. I started the Leavitt books years ago for sight reading and I used to think why am I doing this? But I got halfway through book 2 before I quit to play in my cover band.I didn't think I was using anything I had learnt from those seemingly boring pointless lessons I really struggled with the reading side of it! But. Without realizing I had learnt every note on the fretboard and more . I guess just keep following the lessons slowly without questioning why and wait for the results to appear further down the track.im using this ear training side of things to be anywhere on the fret board and know where to go without thinking. I'm in the same position as you learning something new. Sorry if that didnt actually answer your question maybe someone else could give a better more condensed answer. Sometimes I play too many notes. Good luck on your musical journey.

Gday Cristibal,
I have to agree somewhat with Gibo70. Go with the flow.
I’ve been playing near on 30 years, with varying moments of intensity and reasonable knowledge of jazz harmony.
I have many questions still about Tomo’s approach and where it is leading, and am still concerned about the efficiency of it. Nevertheless I have to admit though after about one month in, small rays of light are appearing, particularly around hearing and focusing on degrees which is a strong emphasis of Tomo.
Again, mine is no answer to your question, but give it time, push ahead with the hearing and the single string scales, and get to know the sound of each degree. Then, find a tune that you like and experiment with the ideas to give it context.
Good luck!

Thank you so much for your answers! Very kind from you.

Honestly, for scales mastery, I use berklee method; it's a step by step journey, you're not going to master all the scales (ie not only being able to play them, but being able to use them) in 6 months.