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learning scale patterns
- Thread starter ics1974
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My question/comment was to emphasize that even a simple Pop song could create some "issues" with figuring out the scale, the mode; therefore, it's not just "the same 7 notes - it does not matter how you play them".
Real life is always broader than any theory for beginners.
If we just look at the bass-line, then, we could say, "Hey, maybe, it's in the key of Bb?"
But the piano/guitar uses a lot of C major chord/notes; therefore, maybe, it's in the key of D minor?
Let's say, if a/any musician (including) the bass player wants to find some other-than-just-a-plain-chord" notes, then, we have a question, "What scale/mode should I use with that Ebmaj7 chord?
Someone could say, "Hey, just listen to the lead melody", but the melody with that Ebmaj7 uses the combination of notes of F - D - C - G - F
In addition, the upper chord structure tends to follow the D dorian mode.
Well, in layman's terms, what does the song resolve to? The last chord will probably indicate the key, but not always. With experience, it's not a problem discerning the key, imo.
There are plenty of pop songs that use perhaps only 3 notes in the 'melody', and there are plenty more tunes that don't use all of the notes in the key. And here the Eb is, at least according to the chart given, the root of a chord for half of that verse section, so to dismiss it as unimportant on the grounds of absence from the tune would, in the first instance at least, be a mistake, IMHO.
YMMV
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...therefore, I would use D minor as our tonic - it would help me with those C major/Dminor/Gmin7 upper "echelon" chords.
'upper echelon'? don't you go all academic, enough of that!
I wanted to expand on this a little more, just like a road map to a grid city, where there are several ways to get from point A to point B.
With scales (or their modes), there are several ways we can discuss and think about them abstractly: we can think in terms of tones and semi-tones (HWWHWWW); we can think in terms of relation to the Major scale (b2,b3,b5,b6,b7), we can think in visual terms of the pattern on our fingerboard, or we can, as you are saying, know the individual notes of each and every scale, (C,Db,Eb,F,Gb,Ab,Bb). Frankly, for me, that last one is the least useful from a practical point view, but if it works for you, that's great. But they are all abstractions and they are all a "crutch" so to speak.
Obviously, the most important is to know, recognize and be able to recall the sound of each scale along with their associated chords.
A lot of players will 'sing' while they're playing, Jarret being a good example. I'd prefer it if he kept his gob shut, but you can't have everything. 'Hearing' your solos in your mind helps prevent technique taking over, imo.
That reminds me I have a lot more work to do! It's all a crutch is one way of looking at it. I prefer to think none of that is. Some people have already observed that patterns are part of the instrument (something that horns lack, though I don't know and have never thought about it). So, yes why not embrace it and use all these ideas to support and strengthen each other? A crutch is something to help you walk and to be discarded as soon as you no longer need it and can stand on your own and would actually be a burden and hindrance to a healthy person. I only state the obvious because it's so stark when actually spelled out as such. Writing all the notes on little stickies and putting them in the appropriate places on the fingerboard--yeah, crutch. Using a pick: crutch*
*kidding!
Try this: Play the lowest note on the bass, play an octave higher (same string) then same note, next string, then an octave higher. Then do the 2nd lowest note, and so on. Great way to learn the fingerboard.
Just making sure....
Do you mean for example, play an open E, then the same note an octave up at the twelfth fret, then find the E on the A string and again an octave up on the same string, and so on with all the strings. Then repeat with F, (first fret E) etc. etc.?
Glenn Gould hummed and it detracted from many of his usually great recordings
I played the song today with your transcription. The song seems harmonically odd to me. Ron Carter does some sort of funky rhythm, but it's mostly 1 3 5, so the bass side seems ambiguous. James Jamerson would have killed on that song if he was alive/available.
It's funny that the recording engineers worked hard to minimize the humming bleeding in the recordings, because he "had" to do it. But on that two hour sound clip of sound checks (magnificent), he didn't hum much. I read his biography and he was a kind of a jerk, but a great piano player and truly gifted musician.
I guess you're talking about Gould, not Jarrett
I've heard they actually set a mike up for Keith's 'singing'.Whatever, it's too damn loud.
Yes, I meant Gould. Sorry.I guess you're talking about Gould, not Jarrett
Whatever, it's too damn loud.
It's really sad to hear humming over one the world's best interpreters of Bach.
