Help with choosing needle gauge, new knitter.

[blarrg]

Hi!
I'm new to knitting and I've realized that I am naturally a really tight knitter. I know the recommended needle gauge is on the yarn when you buy it, but should I be working with a larger gauge to offset the tight knitting? I want to knit a loose scarf so I'm trying to figure out if it would be okay to use a large gauge for that as well.

Thanks!