• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Major & Minor Scales read up if you dont know them!!!

#22
Originally posted by Osama_Spears
Ok,I'll copy these new ones in a bit...


thanks alot,all of you!


so...like do I learn all of them by heart?


then where do I go from there?

thanks again...you guys rule! :)
Click to expand...

Yep, you learn them all. Then learn how to play them in all registers, high and low. Then I'd suggest getting into basic chord theory. That will help you select from the scale notes which ones you want to play with a particular chord or riff.
 
#24
Originally posted by Osama_Spears
ok...


and how would this affect/improve my song writing?

just curious,not trying to be smart


also...whats a double-sharp?

example:F## on D#(Major)?
Click to expand...

Well, there are a lot of potential ways, and there isn't space to get into them all--not that I even know them all, or even close--so let me just mention a generality or two.

Knowing scales can help you understand how and why different combinations of notes sound the way they do. This, in turn, can help you understand how others get the sounds they do, so you can avoid, borrow, refer to, or steal those sounds. It can help you get the sounds you hear in your head out into your hands, and it can help you hear new sounds. It can help you play the things you hear. It can help you with harmony and with building parts. That should be enough to start with, right?

A double sharp is exactly what you think it is. Instead of raising a note a half tone (one fret), you raise it a whole tone (two frets). C double-sharped, in our tuning system, sounds like D (that is, the two are enharmonic equivalents). For analytical purposes, however, C double-sharped is different from D. BTW, double sharps are usually notated with a symbol loking something like an x, or a multiplication symbol, rather than two sharps. I have no idea why, but that's how it is.
 
#26
Originally posted by Richard Lindsey
BTW, double sharps are usually notated with a symbol loking something like an x, or a multiplication symbol, rather than two sharps. I have no idea why, but that's how it is.
Click to expand...

I always assumed it's because two sharps take up a lot more space, and are a bit clumsy to read. The x symbol is neater.

Oh, and good post, Rich :)
 
#28
I dont mean to offend you Osama, but I seriously doubt you have them all down and commited to memory in such a short time. There is more to knowing the scale than just the pattern. You should know the pattern and the name of the note you are playing and each notes interval.
 
#29
Originally posted by cassanova
I dont mean to offend you Osama, but I seriously doubt you have them all down and commited to memory in such a short time. There is more to knowing the scale than just the pattern. You should know the pattern and the name of the note you are playing and each notes interval.
Click to expand...


None taken man...

I got the pattern down,and I am still working on the names,as I play it...you're right.


but,I was just curious...

this is exciting :)
 
#31
Originally posted by jazzbo
I seem to remember having written a lesson about all this stuff. Hmmm, where is it now? :cool:

:D
Click to expand...

He was refered to that lesson of your bro. He said he read all the posts on scales and didnt understand any of them, so I tried to put it in the simplest way possible and this thread was the result.
 
#34
It can be interesting to take profit of the symetrical nature of our instrument.
Scales will always have the same "shape" on the neck, regardless of the key.
If you play with the mental picture of that shape in your head and "visualize" notes on it, all scales from the key instantly come out.

Such shapes also are useful when improvising, because if you travel inside the shape you can be sure you won't be out of tune.

Here is what the key of C looks like on a fretboard.
Link Removed

although it means nothing musically, the whole fretboard can be geometrically divided into 2 basic shapes.
Link Removed and Link Removed

With a little habit, you will know where you are and associate each position with their degrees.

The greyed frets represent the root (I).
 
#35
Originally posted by jazzbo
I seem to remember having written a lesson about all this stuff. Hmmm, where is it now? :cool:

:D
Click to expand...

Jazzbo, your theory guide helped me out a lot when I first started lurking around TB; you should add a section on modes described as clearly and simply as the rest of the guide. My main problem with learning how to use them seems to be that whoever is writing the lesson on them assumes you have all the previous theory completely memorized, and unfortunately my mind just doesn't work that way. I think you could write them out in a very easy-to-understand format.
 
#36
Originally posted by Osama_Spears
Ok,I pretty much got the Major Scales down pat...

I figured out that they're WWHWWWH so,I just went from there...

I still need a bit practice...and thats what I'll do.

but I am just curious...whats the next "step?"

-Jon:o
Click to expand...

You shouldn't be in such a hurry to move on to something else, keep working with the major scales.

Have you memorized the notes? Can you play the scale while saying those notes? Can you play them up and down the fretboard in 2 octaves? How about intervals? There's lots to be done before moving on to something else.

I'm sure learning the minor scales in the same way will be the next thing, but you need to be sure you have these major scales down.

By the way, please don't call yourself dumb. It's not good to put yourself down like that just because you're not getting the hang of something. The key is to practice until you do get it. :)
 
#37
Originally posted by Bryan R. Tyler


Jazzbo, your theory guide helped me out a lot when I first started lurking around TB; you should add a section on modes described as clearly and simply as the rest of the guide. My main problem with learning how to use them seems to be that whoever is writing the lesson on them assumes you have all the previous theory completely memorized, and unfortunately my mind just doesn't work that way. I think you could write them out in a very easy-to-understand format.
Click to expand...

I've thought about that, except I think I would rather discuss chord function. It just seems to me that too much is made of modes, because, let's be honest, most of us are not jazzers. Most of the people here play some style of popular music, and modes are damn near useless. When was the last time you heard Radiohead use dorian?
 
#38
Originally posted by jazzbo


I've thought about that, except I think I would rather discuss chord function. It just seems to me that too much is made of modes, because, let's be honest, most of us are not jazzers. Most of the people here play some style of popular music, and modes are damn near useless. When was the last time you heard Radiohead use dorian?
Click to expand...

Screw Radiohead-it's all about ME ME ME!!! :D
 
#39
Originally posted by jazzbo


Most of the people here play some style of popular music, and modes are damn near useless.
Click to expand...

Actually, I don't think this is entirely true. A whole lot of popular music is, or can be, modal, at least some of the time. Tons of folk music for example. Maybe I lsitened to too much Neil Young growing up, but I heard a lot of modal in the music of the day. I don't know if you know "Down By the River," but a big part of that is just Em(7) to A. That's dorian (if you follow the chord tones and don't just play Em pentatonic). And any time you see a I bVII IV progression (e.g., "Sweet Home Alabama"), that's diatonically mixolydian. Modes are all around us!:D
 
#40
Originally posted by jazzbo
It just seems to me that too much is made of modes, because, let's be honest, most of us are not jazzers. Most of the people here play some style of popular music, and modes are damn near useless. When was the last time you heard Radiohead use dorian?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure that's true either, Jazzbo.

I don't know when I last heard Radiohead use dorian, but it wouldn't surprise me if they did.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back