[Agent27]

I plan to spend a Day on each key to ensure i really do learn this stuff

A whole day, WOW! I wish I could internalize new concepts that fast.

Seriously though, if you spent one day on a scale and then move on, you're not going to really learn anything. Or at least not to the point to where you can use them effectively in improvisation. Studies show that it takes a minimum of 3 weeks for the brain to fully assimilate new concepts. You may be able to learn a new scale a day, but you're not going to internalize it.

If somebody asked me to spell an Altered (diminished-whole tone) scale in any given key, I could do it no problem. But if I was improvising, I would probably struggle to instantly recall that scale for certain chords (keys) simply because I haven't spent the necessary time in order to play that scale without thinking about what notes are in it.

Start with the major scale and get that REALLY comfortable in all 12 keys. Comfortable to the point where you don't have to think about the notes. Only when you have that down, move on to the modes of the major scale. The most common are Dorian, Mixolydian, and Aeolian (natural minor). If you got your majors down, it makes learning the modes a lot easier.

Once you got those move to the melodic and harmonic minor scales and once those are mastered, move on to the modes of those scales.

Then add the diminished and whole tone scales.

You should be able to play all scales in broken 3rds, 4ths, triads, and 7th chords. Add to that different digital paterns(1235, 2346, etc.) Until you can do that, you haven't truly internalized the scale. Rarely in improvisation is a scale played straight in a scalar fashion for more than a few beats.

Oh, and do them all full range of the horn. EX: C up to High F down to Low B and back up to C.

Don't saturate yourself too quickly. If you do, all you'll do is skim the surface and you won't REALLY learn what you're trying to. Take small steps. Get a solid foundation and build on that. It's better to know one scale thoroughly than to learn 20 half assed.

 

[Agent27]

mean i would spend a each day of learning scales in each key, and keep on going in that cycle, i split my practice up

5 mins of long tones (i know it should be longer)
10 minutes of warming up
30 mins of different song playing
20 minutes of chord changes,
40 minutes of learning scales in a single key

You'd be better off spending a few minutes in each key and doing that everyday instead of spending a lot of time on one key and moving on to a different one the next day.

It's better to practice all keys 5 minutes each for 12 days than doing one key for 60 minutes and moving on to a different key the next day.

After 12 days both methods would have spent a total of an hour on each key. But the person who does it the first way is going to be better. That's just the way the body learns. It needs constant daily repetition to internalize the new skill. If you practice only one key a day, when you come back to it 12 days later, your body is going to forget a lot of what you learned the first time.

 

[Agent27]

The only scales you really need are major, minor, blues, symmetric diminished, and whole tone.

I had a teacher, Dr. James Polk, who played bass with Lionel Hampton and organ/2nd piano/arranger for Ray Charles. He jokingly said: "There ain't but 2 scales you need to know. C and C#. Everything else is just variations."

 

[Agent27]

Union scale is pretty good.

But the weighing scale sucks.