New answers tagged scales
8
This is a little complex to answer, because "dominant" has been used to mean different things over time. In the (late) Middle Ages, "dominant" actually just meant "reciting tone," which would be a fifth above the final of authentic modes and a fourth above the final for plagal modes.
The first appearance of "mediant" ...
0
The assumption behind the question is that the pentatonic scale can serve as a key or tonal center. I think that's probably a problematic assumption. For example, treating the pentatonic scale as a tonal center means that a song in C Maj pentatonic should never move to F Maj (since the the IV chord is not a step in the major pentatonic scale). To me, the ...
9
Your description is more or less the "gapped" or "skipped" view of the pentatonic scale which is a major scale with the 4th and 7th degrees skipped or removed.
The reading I have done basically says the pentatonic scale is not derived from a major scale, or diatonic scale. The pentatonic scale is its own entity: a five tone scale with ...
3
Keeping the same names for the same notes makes sense. The tonic is still going to be the tonic, whatever. That then paves the way for the supertonic to still be the supertonic - one above the tonic.
The mediant is halfway between tonic and dominant, so retains its name. No sub-dominant (sub = less important), but dominant is still just that- dominant. Any ...
2
I don't think it would be completely correct to consider those names in a strictly pentatonic concept, as those names only belong to the 7 diatonic steps scales.
Considering this, anyway, it's common to use that nomenclature even in pentatonic context, mostly because pentatonic scales are introduced as "reductions" of diatonic scales; this is also ...
2
The most common usage of half-diminished chords (min7b5) is as the ii chord in a minor key. In that regard, the parent scale of F#min7b5 is E minor, which, of course, is the relative minor to G major, where F#min7b5 is the vii chord.
A characteristic use of the half-diminished chord is within a ii-V-i chord progression. Here's a classic example: the ...
2
The list of tones (F C G D etc.) listed there is not a cycle of fifths. As it says, it is the "order of tonal gravity", i.e. the list of all notes, from the most consonant (or rather: the one with the greatest "gravitational pull" toward the root of the scale, in this case F), to the most dissonant (or rather, with the weakest ...
3
Tried it both ways - both ways sound fine! It's really down to Carcassi, as to whether he was still in modulated to key D, or actually back in original key G. Personally, it doesn't sound to me that it gets back to key G until a couple of bars later, with the chromatic C>C♯. In which case, the C in question could easily be C♯.
Whether everybody who plays ...
8
Yes, when a modulation is in progress, accidentals from the new (original, in this case) tonality are introduced (or reset).
We're going back to G major, and restoring the natural C is pretty normal in order to anticipate the "new" harmony, as it also leads to a better transition to the third, due to the chromatic interval.
I'd like to extend my ...
1
In the sixties spirituals have been very popular and other afro american songs. (cotton needs a-picking, Tom Dooley, nobody knows).
Sheet music was hardly available, but in the schools there was very popular a little songbook:LOOK AWAY (world around songs) containing 56 Negro Folk Songs.
American Folk Songs and Pop Hits have been sung and played by ear, ...
1
To specifically answer the question, one could say that the average musician statistically didn't know theory very well, if not at all.
Probably, considering the access to knowledge we have today, we can assume that the median knowledge was usually much worse, but it's just an assumption that is hard to evaluate: while it's true that today we can potentially ...
0
The scales are just a formality. Yes, you can play notes not from the scale. Try like beat the drums only on the keys-that's how to play the piano.
1
To try to help you understand - had you written this in key Am, the notes would be ABCDEFG. Making them all sharp takes the 'E' to E♯, while the F becomes F♯.
However, as Aaron states, that key, same sounding notes in 12 tet would be better known, written and read as B♭m. Reason being, two fewer 'accidentals' in the key sig.
So many questions here seem to be ...
1
The A# minor scale is more typically written as Bb minor -- A# and Bb being the same pitch.
Bb Minor
Bb C Db Eb F Gb Ab Bb
A# Minor
A# B# C# D# E# F# G# A#
Note that the two scales comprise the same pitches, spelled differently, and in particular F and E# are equivalent.
One can certainly use pitches that are out of the main key -- or even change keys ...
2
If a Concert instrument plays an F double sharp scale, what is the first note they play?
A concert instrument should never play such a scale. No composer should ever write such a scale for any instrument, regardless of transposition.
I play a Concert Bb instrument.
If you have a written F double sharp scale, then a concert instrument would have a written ...
0
The F## Major scale is: F## G## A## B♯ C## D## E##
It is considered a theoretical scale, so it would surprise me if you were playing in the key of F## Major.
0
Firstly, whilst there might be an Fx scale, it's extremely unusual for it to be used anywhere. Fx is enharmonic in most cases, certainly in 12tet to G♮, so that scale and its notes would be preferrable.
But, in answer to the actual question, the first note would have to be , as is the case in any scale, the root or tonic note. Here Fx. It may well sound ...
2
An Eb-instrument has its name because when you play a written C there comes out a concert Eb. (Similarly your instrument is a Bb-instrument as you get a Bb when playing a written C.)
Now when the sounding Eb is a minor third above C you have to play an A to get a sounding C and analogous to play a D to get an F.
As Es-instruments are transposing one 4th ...
5
Since you play a Bb instrument, you know that your written C produces the sound of a concert Bb. That is, the instrument sounds one whole step lower than the written pitch. Put another way, the written pitch is a whole step higher than the concert pitch.
Eb instruments are similar. The written C on those instruments produces a concert Eb. Thus, the written ...
1
This answer is similar but perhaps has a bit of a different point of view. A scale is just a bunch of notes listed in (ascending) order. A key is a set of relations among these notes. One note is treated as the tonic and then a bunch of chords are assigned relations based on which note is the tonic.
A major key is easy. These notes when written as a scale (...
1
"So I learnt that going to the sixth note of a major key will give you its relative minor - with the same key signature."
This is correct. For example, the relative minor Key to Bb Major is G.
"How are you supposed to know what notes will be in the minor key?"
This question could be interpreted in more than one way. A knee-jerk response ...
2
Parallel Minor
Starting with a major key – say C major:
C D E F G A B C
To get the parallel minor of C major, we change the major seventh, major third, and major sixth – to become a minor seventh, minor third, and a minor sixth respectively. These changes will be also be reflected in the key signature – now three flats. But the key is still C. This is C ...
2
Your issue comes from confusing the concepts of scale, key and key signature. A key signature defines a set of pitches, but a key only defines a home note and its third. Within a key, all possibilities are open to use notes and scales, as long as the sense of home is preserved.
Below is a song that is very clearly and deeply in the key of A minor. The key ...
1
For me the whole idea of giving names to scales is to make it immediately clear what intervals the scale consists of and how it could be used. Automatic scale finders often don't give results that serve that purpose.
Aaron's answer correctly identifies the given scale as a mode of the Neapolitan minor scale. However, most people are not familiar with that ...
4
There has always been a problem with this concept. Hopefully, this will unravel it all.
It's true that the relative minor of a major key is found by counting up 6 notes from that tonic. So key C major - CDEFGA - A minor.
It's partly true, in that those same seven notes constitute the relative minor scale.
THE PROBLEM is that 'minor' contains different sets ...
2
The Musical Scale Finder Tool lists two options:
G Eight-Tone Spanish (however, this scale contains an additional note: A#)
C Neapolitan minor (starting on G being the 5th mode of the scale)
The common element between these scales is the interval pattern: h W h h h W W W
@JohnBelzaguy in the comments points out that the most useful name, descriptively, is ...
2
The key is more about the tonic than any scale. A key is not pentatonic or natural or Dorian or harmonic or melodic. A key tells you two things: (1) a note name giving the home note i.e. tonic, and (2) the type of the home chord i.e. tonic chord, is it major or minor. The major/minor thing does not mean a list of "allowed" notes, it means the ...
0
The principle I use for the left-hand blues scales is to break each scale into two segments and use one of the finger patterns 4321 31 or 421 321. The beginning and end of each finger pattern does not necessarily correspond to the beginning and end of the scale. Sometimes it works best to start in the middle of a fingering pattern.
See also the linked ...
1
Here is a web page where you can enter a chord sequence, and it tells you which scales fit those chords.
http://www.micrologus.com/tools/online_harmonic_analyzer
You can do something similar in your mind (and it becomes very fast with practice) by following these rules of thumb:
Figure out the parent scales of each individual chord.
If the same parent ...
3
A basic thing is spell the chords (correctly) then put the letters all in order...
G = G B D
A = A C# E
Bm = B D F#
A B C# D E F# G A
...then look for a key/scale. In this case you have F# and C#. If you know your key signatures, you will recognize that's D major or B minor.
Keep in mind the importance of knowing key signatures. You are working by trial ...
4
There‘s no most efficient approach but there are some good advices.
study the basics of chords and chord progression
listen to hundreds and thousands of songs
play from chords and chord tabs hundreds of songs
If you knew the basics of harmony and chord progression or you knew some more songs you would identify this
Bm-A-G as the same as Am–G-F and as the ...
3
Be aware that there isn't always one scale that fits a sequence of chords. However, a good start point for you, rather than a totally random approach, would be to consider the chords involved. Here, Bm, A maj. and G maj. That, at least, narrows it down to three scales. Since it starts on Bm, that seems to be a good start point. In fact, the chords Bm, A and ...
1
There is really only 1 type of (Tonal) Pentatonic Scale with 2 different tonal (variations) qualities, a Maj. or (Nat.) Min. which are also all relative Maj./Minor to each other (the same as with Heptatonic or 7 note scales). These Pentatonics, all of which are constructed out of Anhemitonic intervals (no halftones); (1) Major Pentatonic (1, 2 , 3 , 5 , 6) ...
2
I read the article, however, I'm not sure of how I would use the results. The author represents (as noted in another answer) a major scale by seven 1s in a twelve-vector. Each scale consists of the pattern 101011010101 and its rotations written as a circulant matrix. This matrix happens to be non-singular (has an inverse) so that an arbitrary 12-vector can ...
0
Playing in all octaves and using various instruments will give your ears special experience to recognize and absorb sounds and scores. Fingering is another question: you can play it in several possible patterns and change it on different octaves, if you wish.
0
The poster has little numbers on the keys for the RH/LH fingerings.
It's kind of sloppy in representing the fingerings. Some like C major use the 5 finger for a one octave scale. Others like Db major give a fingering that will repeat at the octave.
You should be able to replace the 5 with 1 to get things to repeat at the octave. Ex. C major RH is given as ...
4
The term correlation refers to a mutual relationship between two or more things. This is not a musical definition but the definition found in a standard dictionary.
It is synonymous with connection, link, or relationship. The use of the term depends on how you define a possible relationship among a set of things. In terms of major scales or key signatures ...
3
I want to know what this correlation means. Does it simply mean that
they have very few (2) pitches in common?
This question is unanswerable without access to the full paper and this is not possible without subscription. The paper is mathematical in nature and we can presume that somewhere in the full text there is an explanation of the specific type of ...
2
Check out the 'circle of fifths'. As a key moves to its neighbour, there is one changed note. Look at key C - neighbour key G gains F♯ instead of F♮, on the other side, key F gains B♭ instead of B♮. All other notes stay as is. And that small change continues as we go round the circle.
Now find key F♯ on the wheel. Opposite!
And - while key C and key F♯ may ...
1
If you've been trained properly you should not have to look. You should be able to play by feel. All my music teachers, guitar, violin, upright bass, "encouraged" me not to look and that's putting it mildly. However, it does take years of practice to be able to play new pieces without looking at least once, especially if there are some novel ...
1
Well, when I was a beginner, I had to look down while playing keyboard scales. It was hard to get the 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 3, 2, 1 fingering correct. For arpeggios, I found them much easier and did not feel the need to look at my fingerings. I'd say, until you feel comfortable not looking, you're good!But that time may not come. If you feel ...
1
It depends on what you are working on
When you initially practice any drill (scales, cadences, arpeggios, etc.) you will almost inevitably have to look at your hands to make sure you're playing the right notes. As you continue and become a more sophisticated pianist, you'll transition from learning how to play these drills to mastering them, part of which ...
0
Basing this answer on piano - clue in question!
Playing a scale one octave only means most of the time, you'll play the highest note (r.h.) with pinky, wheras playing two, or three or more octaves necessitates 'starting again', where your thumb, usually, goes onto the tonic for the next octave each time.
So with that in mind, two octaves seem like the ...
2
The answer may depend on the instrument. Every instrument works based on physics and it may be harder to play notes in certain registers. This is especially true for brass and woodwind. Practicing in one octave then trying to perform the same piece an octave higher without practice could be difficult. On guitar, the frets get closer together making ...
0
It seems like you are citing multiple problems that are unrelated. So perhaps this could be two or three questions.
I'll start with your comment on inversions, and playing all triads or 7th chords on the same set of strings. This is just muscle memory in my opinion. "Getting it" intellectually is one thing (you could draw them all in a box ...
1
Transposing
As mentioned in Tim's answer, CAGED is a mnemonic for 'linked' chord shapes that appear in a cyclic order along the fretboard ...EDCAGEDCAGEDCAG... over and over again. They can be used with different root notes after transposing the pattern.
Why? Because things like chords and scales are, in some sense, just made up of relative relationships ...
0
perhaps you can start with fretboard memorization, so that you can understand what note in that fret and string. after that please try to learn about chord note e.g. C Major chord contain : C, E, G
so with the help of fretboard memorization and chord note pattern, you can easily learn about chord inversion
0
Key is the root note (first note you start playing or singing the song) or tonic
scale is collection of notes with their own pattern
you can test it here
http://sugizo.pythonanywhere.com/music/scale/form_scale_with_tonic
the scale you choose with the tonic (key), it will show different result (scale pattern because each scale have it's own unique interval ...
Top 50 recent answers are included
