•
S c a l e s •
Natural Scale
(C major & A minor)
|-•--|----|-•--|----|-•--|----|-•--|-•--|----|-•--|----|
|-•--|----|-•--|----|-•--|-•--|----|-•--|----|-•--|----|
|----|-•--|----|-•--|-•--|----|-•--|----|-•--|-•--|----|
|----|-•--|-•--|----|-•--|----|-•--|----|-•--|-•--|----|
|----|-•--|-•--|----|-•--|----|-•--|-•--|----|-•--|----|
|-•--|----|-•--|----|-•--|----|-•--|-•--|----|-•--|----|
Scales usually get mixed up with modes
this is the natural scale but then you have different modes, that can
be G, or A or any note and they usually have the names lydian, dorian,
etc, but they are all taken from this natural scale, simply choose a note then
play the natural scale from the Low E to the High E strings and there you have
your mode ... it's name ? the same where you started the run. Simple. So when
thinking when what to play over a choord or riff, the scale is what matters
to not get out of tune, but the mode is what your taste wants to or the emotion
you want to get, it's up to you, and as long as it respects the scale it will
always sound good. Here's a practical example, the A mode of the natural scale
:
|----|----|----|----|----|----|-•--|-•--|----|-•--|----|
|----|----|----|----|----|-•--|----|-•--|----|-•--|----|
|----|----|----|----|-•--|----|-•--|----|-•--|----|----|
|----|----|----|----|-•--|----|-•--|----|-•--|----|----|
|----|----|----|----|-•--|----|-•--|-•--|----|----|----|
|----|----|----|----|-•--|----|-•--|-•--|----|----|----|
If you notice it starts with
an A and has no change from the scale, the mode is just a segment of the scale.
Easy. The same rule of what a mode is applies to every single scale.
Harmonic Scale (C major & A minor)
|-•--|----|----|-•--|-•--|----|-•--|-•--|----|-•--|----|
|-•--|----|-•--|----|-•--|-•--|----|----|-•--|-•--|----|
|----|-•--|----|-•--|-•--|----|-•--|----|-•--|-•--|----|
|----|-•--|-•--|----|----|-•--|-•--|----|-•--|-•--|----|
|----|-•--|-•--|----|-•--|----|-•--|-•--|----|----|-•--|
|-•--|----|----|-•--|-•--|----|-•--|-•--|----|-•--|----|
The harmonic scale is the
second most important scale after the natural and if you notice there's only
one note that changes from the natural scale : the G (it doesn't change because
it's the G, but because it's the 5th note from the root) this scale has an arabic
feeling and it's used a lot in classical music and by guys like Yngwie Malmsteen
who know their stuff. That G note (the 5th, it's highlighted in orange) is the
only accident, an accident is when a note isn't flat (Ie.A but A#).
Melodic
Scale (C major & A minor)
The melodic scale
needs no scheme, it's simply the natural scale when ascending and the harmonic
when descending. If you're going up you need to finger the natural scales notes,
if you're going down you need to finger the harmonic. Obviously you have to
know them both, and it's good to know where the accident in the harmonic scale
is (the 5th, G in the case of the natural scale) that way the only thing you
need is to memorize where the accident is and change it if ascending or descending.
This scale is used alot in classical music.
Scale
Rules to know
Ok, i explained
you what and where natural scale is, the harmonic and the melodic, but like
you probably noticed their are both in the C major and the A minor, and yes
the C major and the A minor are identical, but how do you get for instance the
E minor ? or the A Major ? Well it's actually pretty simple, the concept behind
it it's really, really confusing, but the trick i'll teach is pretty simple
and requires only that you know the natural scale and it's modes. Yes, I'll
exemplify the natural scale but the rule can be applied to any scale. Let's
start with the E minor, grab the natural scale which if you remember it's the
A minor, like you're going for a minor scale the minor facet of the natural
scale is what you're after, so get the shape of the A mode of the A minor (natural
scale) and drift it, move that shape to the E note, there you have it, the E
minor scale, and it's E mode almost instantly, of course you need to fill in
the rest of the neck, but if you remember your natural scale modes well, it's
a breeze. Check it out :
Slide from :
The A mode of the A minor scale (natural scale)
|----|----|----|----|----|----|-•--|-•--|----|-•--|----|
|----|----|----|----|----|-•--|----|-•--|----|-•--|----|
|----|----|----|----|-•--|----|-•--|----|-•--|----|----|
|----|----|----|----|-•--|----|-•--|----|-•--|----|----|
|----|----|----|----|-•--|----|-•--|-•--|----|----|----|
|----|----|----|----|-•--|----|-•--|-•--|----|----|----|
To :
•|----|-•--|-•--|----|-•--|----|-•--|-•--|----|-•--|---|
•|-•--|----|-•--|----|-•--|----|-•--|-•--|----|-•--|---|
•|----|-•--|----|-•--|-•--|----|-•--|----|-•--|----|-•-|
•|----|-•--|----|-•--|-•--|----|-•--|----|-•--|-•--|---|
•|----|-•--|-•--|----|-•--|----|-•--|----|-•--|-•--|---|
•|----|-•--|-•--|----|-•--|----|-•--|-•--|----|-•--|---|
There you have
your E minor scale, with the now E mode highlighted, notice how the shape
it's the same from the Natural scale but it drifted, from the A to the E, if
you wanted another scale, let's say the G minor, you would simply have to drif
the same A mode of the natural scale tothe G, pretty simple when you think of
it.
So, what
if you wanted the E major ? Instead of getting the minor side of the natural
scale (A minor) you would get the major part of it (C major) and the C mode
and slide it's shape to the E note instead. Simple. Easy. Clean.
Now you know how to make about every scale out there, but what to use ? It's
always a subjective choice and an artistic one, but there's some notes that
blend good with each other, for instance like you're going to see in the choords
explanation, the 3rd and the 5th have a great connection with the root and always
sound good, so if your riff or choord progression is on the C major scale, an
E or a G scale would fit nicely, major if you want it on the happy side and
minor if you want to give it a sad touch. Or even the same scale of the riff.
Btw, if you don't know how to know if a riff is in x or y scale, just remember
that a, let's say, power choord progression is based on the root note of the
choord, just see how it lays down and in what scale shape it fits in.
Other
Scales
There's a lot of other scales out there, especially exotic ones, too much
for i to go into here, there's at least dozens of them. The same rules apply,
when doing modes, when creating "x" note scales, etc...
• C
h o o r d s •
To form choords you need to know how to create scales, if you want to create
an E you need to now the E major scale. A choord is formed by 3 notes, the root
(in this case the E), the 3rd, and the 5th, the root is the note you want to
make a choord of, right now we want the E, the 3rd is the third note counting
from the root note using it's scale, the 5th is the fifth note counting from
the root note, as always, using the root note scale. Here's the E choord as
an example :
First let's use our little sliding trick to grab the E Major scale (slide the
C major mode from the natural scale to the E) E mode highlighted :
•|----|-•--|----|-•--|-•--|----|-•--|----|-•--|---|-•-|
•|----|-•--|----|-•--|-•--|----|-•--|----|-•--|-•-|---|
||-•--|-•--|----|-•--|----|-•--|----|-•--|-•--|---|-•-|
||-•--|-•--|----|-•--|----|-•--|-•--|----|-•--|---|-•-|
•|----|-•--|----|-•--|----|-•--|-•--|----|-•--|---|-•-|
•|----|-•--|----|-•--|-•--|----|-•--|----|-•--|---|-•-|
Then let's grab the Root, the 3rd,
and the 5th
•|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|---|
•|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|---|
||-•--|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|---|
||----|-•--|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|---|
||----|-•--|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|---|
•|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|---|
Just count them using the E Major scale above and you'll see.
And yes, as you can notice, there was still 3rds and 5ths left out, so you
can create other shapes of the E choord, it's just that in a guitar you
can only have 6 notes (one per string) played simultaneously.
Other Choords
There
are still other choords which are usually a normal choord with another note
(or more) added to
give it a special tone or a more exotic one, for instance an E7 which is a simple
E choord with the 7th added to give it a more dramatic feel.
Root - 3rd
- 5th - 7th
•|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|
||----|----|-•--|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|
||-•--|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|
||----|-•--|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|
||----|-•--|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|
•|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|
This is a confusing subject, so if you have any doubts or feel there's something
missing even, drop me an email at testament@testament.cjb.net
By Fjrb - Last updated on 15 July, 2000 13:59