General Music Chat

Cool I'm glad you got you got you're humor crankin.

WOW

I just try to play in a way that feels good!

Sometimes is good to just shut up and play guitar...............................

It gets even better when a great guitarist starts to focus on his own material and life hands him a reason. I would really love to hear some of YOUR music John. Probably pretty good.

Major Key
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Scale Rule
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There is a natural 1/2 step between the notes B/C and E/F in the major scale. That is, there is no Cb, or Fb. Cb is actually B, and Fb is actually E.

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The Major Key Rule
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There are two half-steps in an octave. The half steps are located between the 3rd and 4th notes, and the 7th and 1st notes of the scale. All the other steps are whole.


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Example: A Major
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Applying the Major rule to the scale rule, results in the following for A major.

A is the first note in the series of 7.
(a,b,c#,d#,e,f#,g#)

because there is a natural 1/2 step from b to c, but the rule we are applying says to force a full step between the second and third note, the rule pushes the letter c to become C#. The same applies with E to F, making it F#.

1. A-B (whole)
2. B-C# (whole - natural 1/2 from B-C forces C to become C#)
3. C#-D# (whole)
4. D#-E (half )
5. E-F# (whole forces F to F# because E to F is a natural 1/2 step)
6. F# - G# (whole step)
7. G# - A (half step forces an otherwise A# to be A)

You can apply the Major Rule to any letter in a key to derive the sharps and flats of a Major Key.

Because there are 7 starting points (e.g. in the key of C - C,D,E,F,G,A,B), there will naturally be 7 scale patterns on the neck of the guitar. Learn each pattern. The first pattern begins with the first note of the Major scale. If you know your patterns, then when playing, you'll always be able to figure out the Major key you're playing in by finding the location of the first note of the first pattern. As you get better, you can find it from within any mode. I can't, but someone good I suspect could

Chris

I have played guitar for many years, mostly
rhythm...I've learned by ear, watching others and what people have shown me. I do not raed music and have a very small understanding of theory. That being said, I looked up some scales on a internet piano site. Here's my querry, for example, the harmonic minor scale was; C/D/Eb/F/G/G#/B/C, the Mixolydian was; C/D/E/F/G/A/A#/C and the Phrygian was; C/C#/Eb/F/G/G#/A#/C, my problem is this, these scales are obviously in the key of C...right. Are scales always shown in the key of C, and the manner that they are used depends upon the key that you need to play them in, adjusting the scale to fit the desired key, or were they shown to me in the key of C, due to the fact that it was a piano site and not a guitar site? Also, when they say, key of C, is that the normal/most common key? Because, if the first string is the E string and the sixth string is the E string, and when both are played open, it is the note of E, then how/why is it considered the key of C...I don't understand, as I said, if the first and sixth strings open notes are E...why isn't it the key of E, instead of the key of C. I tried to explain this the best that I could, if anyone understands this/my madness...please help! Thanks...

Oh, and another trick is to memorize the following order of chord patterns. You have 3 chord patterns - the Major chord, the minor chord and the diminished chord patterns. In order, the chord pattern progression goes like this:

1. Major
2. Minor
3. Minor
4. Major
5. Major
6. Minor
7. Diminished (minor)

If you know that progression, then you will know ipso-facto the following:

1. If you hit two consecutive Major patterns, you know you've hit the 4th and 5th notes in the scale and the next pattern will be minor (6th note, which is the Minor of the key).

2. If you hit two minors in a row, you know they were the 2nd and 3rd notes in the scale.

Might seem arbitrary at first, but when playing by ear, you can begin to pick up where you're at quickly - if you know the above indicators.

Chris