Scales/theory/minor/major

[MadMike666]

Hey guys, I've been playing bass for over a year now (not very long) and I have pretty good finger technique and I am comfortable learning and playing songs.

However, my knowledge of music is not that great. When people start talking about scales, major and minor, harmonic and all this stuff I have know idea what they're on about. Ofcourse, to create great basslines and go further down the rabbit whole I feel I should know all these things.

I have used the search function and been through many pages but they don't really help me.

I'm after an organised book or online guide which teaches you all about scales etc. As in it doesn't just show you a scale, it tells you what type of style the scale is used in etc. A book or online source with varied styled scales. I wish to extend my knowledge on this subject as I feel it will help my bass playing and creating abilities.

Any help would be appreciated
Mike

[TheBassBetween]

http://musictheory.net/

[steve66]

There are some good websites and great posts in this forum.

Check out http://www.thelibster.com/bass/

http://www.studybass.com/


If your into getting a book, I would recommend if you can still find it:

Mel Bey's Deluxe Jazz & Rock Bass Method by Vincent Bredice

[DocBop]

Originally Posted by MadMike666

I'm after an organised book or online guide which teaches you all about scales etc. As in it doesn't just show you a scale, it tells you what type of style the scale is used in etc.

I haven't looked at basic books in a long time so I will let the others offer suggestions. Just one thing you said I would like to comment on.
Styles determine scales, not the other way around.

There are styles that tend to use certain scales more than other, like the major scale can and is used in every style of Western music. So learning about scales and how they are constructed, harmonized, and such all basic theory books will cover, just need to find a author who's writing syle you like. When you start studying styles of music, then you will learn the scales and harmony that style of music typically uses.

Minor point, but I think important to understand.

[Mark Wilson]

www.teoria.com

This is more advanced than www.musictheory.net
Ricci Adams is GREAT though.

[Mark Wilson]

Anyway, a scale is a succession of notes.

C D E F G A B C is called a C Major Scale.

Each note has a different 'degree'

C - 1
D - 2
E - 3
F - 4
G - 5
A - 6
B - 7

The most important notes in a scale (generally) are the Root, 3rd, and 7th.

If you take a scale, and skip a note in between, you get a CHORD.

Ex. C E G = C major Triad
C E G B = C Major 7

You can build chords using EXTENSIONS but, that's very advanced stuff.

Now, jumping back to the scale.
If you take the Major Scale (CDEFGABC) And flatten the 3rd, 6th, and 7th you get the C Natural Minor Scale
Therefore, making it C D Eb F G Ab Bb C

If you take the major, and flatten the 3rd, you get C Melodic Minor Ascending. Melodic Minor changes to Natural Minor when it descends.
C D Eb F G A B C Bb Ab G F Eb D C

This is a pretty loose lesson I'm sorry, but if you have ANY questions, feel free to PM Me, and I'll be glad to help

[MadMike666]

Thanks guys.
It's all still confusing stuff, but, I've found that studybass.com is and fantastic site and I'm enjoying going through all the lessons and learning.

[ThomasG]

How I learned scales was to relate them to keys rather than learning them as individual entitys and patterns ( which is cool).

1st. Get a page that illustrates all the Major keys. Every key has either different flat or sharp notes, except the key of C, which has no flats or sharps.

Each Major key has a major scale based on the 7 notes of music. I will illustrate 2 keys.

Key of C ( has no flats or sharps):

C D E F G A B

Each of these notes are called scale degrees. MODES are built off each scale degree.

Names of the MODES:

Ionian
Dorian
Phrygian
Lydian
Mixolydian
Aeloion
Locrian

Now take the notes of the key of C and build the MODES off them in the order as above.

C Ionian = C D E F G A B ( Ionian called Major scale also)
D Dorian = D E F G A B C
E Phrygian = E F G A B C D
F Lydian = F G A B C D E
G Mixolydian = G A B C D E F
A Aeolion = A B C D E F G
B Locrain = B C D E F G A

Notice none of the notes have flats or sharps, because in the Key of C there are none, so the MODES reflect that.

Now lets look at a other key, and you will see it is the same method.

The key of Bb ( has 2 flat notes Bb and Eb ):

Bb C D Eb F G A

Once again we build our MODES like above

Bb Ionian = Bb C D Eb F G A
C Dorian = C D Eb F G A Bb
D Phrygian = D Eb F G A Bb C
Eb Lydian = Eb F G A Bb C D
F Mixolydian = F G A Bb C D Eb
G Aeolian = G A Bb C D Eb F
A Locrian = A Bb C D Eb F G

Again notice all the B's and E's are all flat, because it reflects the key in which all those two notes are flat.

See how MODES are formed. Go through every key and you will know all the MODES if you build them like I illustrated. So if I ask what is a C Dorian, you know it ! Also you know it is in the key of Bb.

I will explain one more scale. The Major Pentatonic scale. This scale has 5 notes instead of 7 like the modes.

Again refer to the Major scales I refernce above with the Key of C and the Key of Bb.

Key of C:
C D E F G A B

Key of Bb:
Bb C D Eb F G A

The Pentatonic scale is based on the 1 2 3 5 6 notes of those scales.

So a C Pentatonic is

C D E G A
1 2 3 5 6

And the Bb Pentatonic scale is

Bb C D F G
1 2 3 5 6

Just take the 1 2 3 5 6 of the Major scale and leave out the 4 and 7 note and you have a Major Pentatonic scale.

Again go through all the keys, and write out the Major scale for each key, use this math formula and you will know all your modes and your Major Pentatonics.

Theory is logical and it falls into place with strict mathematics. This is like learning a language, once you learn some words, then now you can form your own sentences.

It is all related to keys, which are like neighborhoods. Keys illustrate everyhouse in the neighborhood. And knowing every house in the neighborhood, you understand the demographics of that neighbor hood.

Hopefully this bit of information helps you !

[stillborn86]

A good place to learn music theory is from a teacher. But if you can't find one (like me), I like going to Wikipedia.

I'm in the U.S. Air Force, so I don't really stay in one place long enough to find a teacher and learn anything, so I need to learn all my music theory from other sources.

I just went to Google and looked up all of my scales:
-major
-minor
-relative key
-parallel key
-harmonic major
-pentatonic scale
-jazz scale

Then I looked up all of the side tools:
-circle of fifths
-augmented chords

And so on...

Other than that, I am in the same boat as you. This would be a good thread to check up on periodically.