Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
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.
Scales
- Thread starter Kipp Harrington
- Start date
Alright guys, going to take a break from this for a while. I really appreciate the online education I am receiving! It's coming around but my skull is beginning to swim around a bit.
Good thinking. I would give it a week to really get your head around this stuff, but if anything crops up give us a ping...
I think we are slowly chipping away at his commitment to ignorance.
Actually I was correct... When I typed G"m", I meant G minor. So if you are designating that a chord is in a minor key, do you type it Gmin instead of Gm? I am guessing that if you type Gm, this designates G Major.
OK. So a I, IV, V minor blues song would be indicated by typing i, iv, v. Got it
Yup, you got it!
Some people write "GM" for "G Major" and "Gm" for "G Minor."
However, if you have messy handwriting, it can be hard for the person reading it to tell the difference between uppercase and lowercase "M," especially if the gig is on a dimly-lit stage. Therefore my arranging teacher taught me to write out "GMaj" and "Gmin." It is slightly more work to write those extra letters, but less chance of being misread.
Last edited:
- Sep 4, 2010
- 3,304
- 2,730
- Disclosures
- Endorsing: Martin Keith Guitars
I didn't say it didn't mean anything, I said it is an essential training tool (practicing scales is what classical musicians I play with spend a lot of those 6 hours a day on in their formative years).
That said, you are certainly entitled to not practice scales at all. In the practice of writing songs, playing, arranging and composing parts (aka actually making music), they don't play any part for me either.
I was really frustrated yesterday and let my emotions take over. If it wasn't for the people that were part of this thread being persistently helpful, I probably would have given up on this. I also understand that there will be many more frustrating and challenging moments ahead... I just need to handle it with patience and optimism. Because I know that in the long run, it will be well worth it. Thanks again to everyone!
Huh. A music degree, couple thousand gigs and 30 years after initially learning major and minor scales I’m still learning and practicing them. Who knew it was so easy?Hi Kipp, it's a great question.
If you know all the major and minor scales (and their key signatures) then you can read 99% of the sheet music ever written. The key signature tells you which notes are "inside" the key. To play notes "outside" the key signature, "accidental" symbols are used (sharps, flats, and naturals).
So if you know all your major and minor scales, then you can quickly scan the sheet music and look for accidentals. This will show you at a glance which notes are "inside" and which notes are "outside" the key.
If you don't know your scales, then it is hard to read music, because when you see an accidental symbol, you won't know "sharp compared to what?" or "flat compared to what?"
In other words, you can't play "outside" the key until you learn what "inside" the key sounds like.
I recommend 1 month of scale study for all students. That is plenty of time to learn all 24 scales (or 30 including the "enharmonic" keys like F#/Gb) if you learn just 1 per day. Then after 30 days you will have the tool kit to learn most songs ever written, and you'll never need to practice boring scales ever again!
I appreciate everyone’s persistence: Kipp has a classmate getting a review session reading all of the above. It’s helpful getting a different take on the same material. I need it. Thx!
Welcome to the class Bruiser Stone! Now I don't feel so all alone! LOL. It's going to be a long journey for me. I need to remind myself that I have to take it slowly and not expect immediate results. I think I'll be ok if I take that approach.
That's called passion and/or an insatiable appetite to learn and understand. I would like to follow in your footsteps someday... uh, maybe not the music degree though. LOL.
You're on the right track. 3 half-steps* up from C is (for now at least) Eb, or a minor 3rd. C to E is 4 half-steps, a major 3rd. See how the letter name count encompasses 3 letters, C, D and E. That's what makes it a 3rd.
Even if the notes are C# to Eb, which is only 2 steps, it's still a type of 3rd, in this case a diminished 3rd. This stuff only really matters when it's written on the stave. Db to D# is also the same distance, and sounds the same, but the interval would be called a double augmented unison. This last bit can be safely ignored by most people as it has next to no practical value in the real world.
* Don't confuse steps and half-steps with the scale degrees or intervals. 1 fret = 1 half-step, 2 frets = 1 step (or in my native Queen's English, a semitone and a tone respectively). The half-step and step are nominally fixed changes in pitch, whereas as we've seen, an 'interval' can be many things, including 1/ sounding the same as something else, or 2/ having no pitch change at all, say C# to Db - a diminished 2nd. But no need to run...
Last edited:
Everyone has a different learning style. Scales might not come as easily for you, but I bet you more than make up for it in other positive aspects of your playing. For example, I'm good with scales but have a terrible ear; Kipp is struggling with scales but is good at learning songs by ear. I think the important thing for staying motivated is to break the information down into manageable chunks, otherwise it can get discouraging and overwhelming.
Thanks for the clarification on the steps and half-steps. But guess what? I was already aware of that... I don't know why I typed "step"! I had a lot running through my skull at the time.
I'm still trying to digest the Cmaj scale and how it is constructed... you know, minor 3rds, major 3rds, 5ths, 7ths.
Now I am becoming more interested in this. Not much smarter but my eyes are opening up a little.
Little inspires a 'teacher' more than a willing, motivated and hard-working 'student'. Now go take a break...
I'm off to load up for rehearsal now, but I would like to add that throughout this thread I've found the high level of discourse and it's civility (by any standard, let alone internet standards) to be inspiring, and it has really lifted my mood for the weekend, so thanks to everybody for that.
That's what it's all about! For pros and non-pros a like it should be about fun and enjoyment first. I work 50+ hours every week and I'm happy if i have my bass in my hands for even 10 minutes a day.
Kipp has multiple classmates. Interesting to read the various perspectives and alternate approaches, and being reminded I still have a lot to learn. One thing I concluded is this can be a different type of challenge for a guitar player than a music newbie. I didn't have to learn another way to think about chords to get started with bass, but I did have to learn a 5th was not a bottle of Jack Daniels (I thought 1/5th until I studied scales. 1/5th of what???)
Good discussion everyone
.
Last edited:
