losing my mind please help

Your teacher should be able to tell you what your doing wrong. I couldn't diagnose it without hearing/seeing you play.

Yeah its hard to tell without seeing you play, but try using your picking hand to mute the strings you've played as you ascend or descend the scale. This might help.

hey rockerman, welcome to guitarnoise! All I can say from what I've heard it practice! Ask your guitar teacher what to do to make it right, then practice it until you get it down.

Just guessing, you got new strings? They tend to be a bit "squeaky" till they settle down....

But if your teacher can't diagnose the problem, strikes me he's not much of a teacher.....

Vic

thanks guys, i have tried using my picking hand, but i cant seem to get it. i find myself concentrating to much on trying not to sound sloppy and end up messing what i'm triing to play up, as far as my teacher, his name is toshi iseada, this guy is incredible, he has played and taught some great guitar players, but he says that is something i have to learn on my own. thanks for the welcome, this is a great great forum, with some great guitar players, looking forward to more ideas and tips thanks.

My 2 cents, firstly, have patience, it takes time. Practice with a metronome at a tempo where the scale sounds good and the form is perfect. Gradually raise the tempo while maintaining the good form. It will come ...

I was playing sloppy on my scales. My problem was I was choppy, cutting the notes off too soon before the next note.
My instructor had me playing my scales with my metronome set at 60bpm and holding each note for 2 beats. Hows that for slow!! But it worked very well.
I would suggest the same, play slowly but accurately and gradually increase speed.

My 2 cents, firstly, have patience, it takes time. Practice with a metronome at a tempo where the scale sounds good and the form is perfect. Gradually raise the tempo while maintaining the good form. It will come ...

^True^

That is something Jamie Anders recomends also is slow no tempo play till you get the pattern right. I have had to stop as my instructor says better slow and 100% then real fast and sloppy. I have started doing a lot of slower pratice to get the action right, just last night I was lost in thought and the scale was double to triple my normal speed. That slow pratice worked!

Isolate the problem.

You're getting a 'sloppy' sound - is that going from any note to any other note, or only notes on the same string, or only notes when you're changing from one string to the next?

If it's only happening when you change strings, you're probably letting up pressure on the first note too early (creating a staccato 'break' between notes) or too late (blurring them together). Practice just one pair of notes until it sounds better... then try a pair on another set of strings... then try the scale again.

If it's happening on one string, pay close attention to what your fretting hand is doing. Is your finger placement tentative (cutting off one note before you pick the next), or are you adjusting your fingers in place (bending a note, or getting a semi-vibrato 'waver')? How's your timing between hands - are you placing the fretting finger before you pick (a bit of a hammer-on effect or a dampening), or a touch too late (creating a sound that's deader than the note before it)?

The only way you can improve is by first figuring out what's wrong... then you can logically try different approaches, and use your ears to see if you're on the right track.

missleman, what is a metronome, will it really help my playing, and what do they cost. ty

Metronomes simply provide a steady beat at a variety of speeds, to which you can practice.
there's an online metronome at
http://www.metronomeonline.com/
There's a link to a variety of metronomes there as well.