Nicolas Carter - Guitar Scales

- Guitar Scales An Extremely Effective Guide To Understanding Music Scales And Modes & How To Use Scales To Solo, Improvise And Create Beautiful Melodies On Guitar - Guitar Mastery Volume IV Nicolas Carter © 2016

Copyright © 2016 by Nicolas Carter - All Rights Reserved This document is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. It is geared toward providing exact and reliable information in regard to the covered topic. The presentation of the information is without contract or any type of guarantee assurance. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Amazon.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. The information provided herein is stated to be truthful and consistent, in that any liability in terms of inattention or otherwise, by any usage or abuse of any policies, processes, or directions contained within is the solitary and utter responsibility of the recipient reader. Under no circumstances will any legal responsibility or blame be held against the publisher for any reparation, damages, or monetary loss due to the information herein, either directly or indirectly. The trademarks that are used are without any consent, and the publication of the trademark is without permission or backing by the trademark owner. All trademarks and brands within this book are for clarifying purposes only and are owned by the owners themselves not affiliated with this document.

Guitar Mastery Series Introduction What is a scale? Is there something you must know first?

The chromatic scale Master the intervals What is an interval in music? Intervals spelled out More about the intervals

Scale-ing it up Common types of scales: 5 and 7-note scales

The minor pentatonic scale in-depth An introduction to modality - What is a mode?

The modes of the minor pentatonic scale Scale shapes on guitar - CAGED system? What is a Diatonic scale? The Natural Major and minor scales The Major scale The minor scale

The diatonic modes made easy The modes spelled out Diatonic scales as pentatonic scales Harmonic minor - How and why was it derived from the diatonic scale The Harmonic minor scale The modes of the Harmonic minor scale

Melodic minor - How and why was it derived from the Harmonic minor scale The Melodic minor scale The modes of the Melodic minor scale

How to hear a mode - Practical exercise Melodic improvisation What is a melody? How to use scales to improvise melodies How to create and resolve tension with a scale How to harmonize a melody

Playing over chords Playing over a chord progression: the chordal approach What is an arpeggio? Playing over a chord progression: the modal/scalar approach When do I use which scale?

Summing up

What is primitive, a chord or a scale? Back to the chromatic scale The importance of ear training

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The book you're reading right now will give you the power of understanding music scales and modes, and how they're used. Get ready for some awesome stuff!

Introduction

What is a scale? Put as simply as possible, a scale is an abstract collection of notes and the relationships between those notes. It is a collection and not a sequence because it doesn’t exist time - it doesn’t have an order, and it doesn’t imply any particular melodic arrangement. It is just a set of relationships between notes that defines a harmonic space. It is abstract because it is not tied to any particular actual arrangement of notes - it doesn’t tell you to play the 6th note in a scale or the 3rdnote in a scale, all it does is give you a set of tones that define a space in which you can play. It isn’t necessary to play all of the notes in whatever scale you’re using, and it isn’t necessary to play only those notes, just to use the scale as a sort of general category. Scales are loose characterizations of harmonic material, more like a tendency and less like a rule. Because scales are abstract, they don’t depend on any particular expression. In other words, they are in the background, at a higher, more general, level than the actual notes of the music. I can play a Led Zeppelin solo or I can play a Stevie Ray Vaughan solo, and they will be completely different things, but they will both be using the minor pentatonic scale. Because of this, scales are useful tools for understanding what someone is doing musically and for knowing what you want to do musically, since they allow you to know, in general, what is going

on in the music and what will happen if you, for instance, play a particular series of notes over a particular chord. This is a study book and a reference book. It contains a great deal of structured information on scales and how to understand them, and you'll most likely want to come back to this book over and over again.

Is there something you must know first? In order to learn scales and fully benefit from this book, very little knowledge is needed - you should at least be familiar with the names of the open strings and the layout of the notes on guitar fretboard. I did my best to make everything in this book very easy to understand (even the modes), but if you find anything that confuses you then I strongly recommend that you check out my Guitar For Beginners and Guitar Fretboard Mastery books. The best way to start understanding the scales is to start with the chromatic scale.

The chromatic scale The chromatic scale is the collection of tones that is the foundation of virtually all Western music. It is in a sense the master scale, comprising all of the notes that are used, in different configurations, in every scale of every key. The chromatic scale does not have a key itself, it is the set of all keys. Consisting of 12 notes per octave, the chromatic scale is broken evenly into 12 half-steps (one fret distance on guitar) or 6 whole steps (two fret distance on guitar). The notes of the chromatic scale are named with the first 7 letters of the alphabet and most of us are familiar with their names: A, A#/Bb, B, C, C#/Db, D, D#/Eb, E, F, F#/Gb, G and G#/Ab. Here's an example of that on guitar fretboard:

Fig. 1: Chromatic scale on A string You can start on any string or any note on guitar and just move in half-steps

and you'll get a chromatic scale. After the octave the notes simply repeat themselves in the same order. It is worth knowing that instead of the terms "Whole step" (W) and "Halfstep" (H), sometimes the terms "Tone" (T) and "Semitone" (S) are used, which are just different names for the same thing. I will use these terms interchangeably throughout the book so don't get confused. Here's another example, this time on a piano keyboard:

Fig. 2: You might have realized by now that any string on guitar is like a piano keyboard. Note that there are 7 notes named with A through G and 5 notes, lying between those, that are named with sharps (#), which indicate that a note is raised, and flats (b), which indicate that a note is lowered. Also note that there are no sharps or flats between B and C or between E and F. In this system, the sharp of one note is harmonically identical - also called enharmonically equivalent - to the flat of the note above it. In other words, A# is the same tone as Bb, C# is the same tone as Db, D# as Eb, etc.

The notes that don't have any sharps or flats - only the white keys on piano keyboard, are called natural notes. The distance between any two of these 12 notes that are next to each other is called a half-step, and each half-step is the same distance (the distance between Bb and B is the same as the distance between E and F). The distance comprising two half-steps, which is the distance between, for instance, C and D, is called a whole step. Half steps are equal to the distance from one key on a piano to the next, or one fret on a guitar to the next (which is why there are 12 keys and 12 frets per octave on those instruments). The 12-tone chromatic scale repeats exactly in every octave so that while there are very many individual tones, there are only 12 different notes (repeated in different octaves) in the Western harmonic system. Here are two more ways to see the chromatic scale on guitar (beside a chromatic scale on a single string). This is just to get you familiar with the chromatic scale layout.

Example 1

Fig. 3: Chromatic scale starting from low E string on guitar These are the notes on the first 4 frets including the open strings. Start from E and go all the way down to G# on the 4th fret high e, then back up to E.

Example 2

Fig. 4: Chromatic scale starting from the A note on the 5th fret low E string moving diagonally Whenever you want to warm up or work on your technique - especially your left and right hand coordination - you can play the chromatic exercises in this fashion.

Before we dive any further, it is essential that you understand and know the intervals in music.

Master the intervals

What is an interval in music? Simply, an interval is a relationship between two notes. It describes the harmonic distance between notes with a unique sound. Each interval has a unique sound and a unique name. The names of the intervals come from their position in diatonic scales (more on diatonic scales soon). In that sense, intervals can be either: 1. Major 2. minor 3. Perfect Major and minor intervals are used a lot in Western music, while Perfect intervals are generally used more in ethnic music all around the world.

Intervals spelled out Now take a look at the note circle:

Fig. 5: The Note Circle The note circle shows all 12 notes that exist in music, and there's an interval between any of the notes from the note circle. In order to show you all the intervals, we need to first choose the Root note it can be any note. The Root note is the starting note, it is the harmonic center of whatever chord or scale you are using. In this example I will use C as the Root. 1. First we have C - C. Yes, there's an interval between the Root and the Root (the exact same note played two times), and it's called Perfect Unison.

2. The next note, C#/Db, is a minor 2nd above C (and also a major 7th below it - this will make sense soon). 3. D is a Major 2nd above C (a minor 7th below). 4. D#/Eb is a minor 3rd above C (a major 6th below). 5. E is a Major 3rd above C (a minor 6th below). 6. F is a Perfect 4th above C (a Perfect 5th below). Fourths and fifths are said to be “perfect” rather than major or minor because they are the same in the major and minor scales as well as most other diatonic scales (don't worry if you don't understand this for now). 7. F#/Gb is Augmented 4th - also called a a Tritone - above C (and a Tritone below it). This is a strange interval. It is highly dissonant and often avoided. It sometimes functions as a sharp 4th, and other times it is a flat 5th. The tritone is also the only interval that is the inversion of itself - if a note is a tritone up from another note, then it is a tritone down from it as well. 8. G is a Perfect 5th above C (and a perfect 4th below it). 9. G#/Ab is a minor 6th above C (and a major 3rd below). 10. A is a Major 6th above C (and a minor 3rd below).

11. A#/Bb is a minor 7th above C (and a major 2nd below). 12. B is a Major 7th above C (and a minor 2nd below). 13. And lastly, we have C which is a Perfect Octave interval above root C. We have now gone through the full note circle. There are 4 Major intervals, 4 minor intervals, 4 Perfect intervals, and the "strange" interval - the Tritone (Augmented 4th or flat 5th). In terms of semitones: - Perfect Unison (C to C) is 0 semitones apart - minor 2nd (C to C#) is 1 semitone - Major 2nd (C to D) is 2 semitones - minor 3rd (C to D#) is 3 semitones - Major 3rd (C to E) is 4 semitones - Perfect 4th (C to F) is 5 semitones - Tritone (C to F#) is 6 semitones - Perfect 5th (C to G) is 7 semitones - minor 6th (C to G#) is 8 semitones - Major 6th (C to A) is 9 semitones - minor 7th (C to A#) is 10 semitones - Major 7th (C to B) is 11 semitones

- Perfect Octave (C to C) is 12 semitones. Sometimes, we define intervals above an octave. These are names by adding 7 to whatever the name was in the first octave. For example, A major 2nd interval an octave higher becomes A major 9th, a minor 6th becomes a minor 13th, and so on. Note that in music theory the terms: "Major" and "Perfect" are usually capitalized, while "minor" isn't. Intervals are used to define both chords and scales because a particular set of intervals defines a unique sound, a unique harmonic space. If you have listed all of the intervals that are in a given scale or chord, then you have fully defined that scale or chord. In the next few sections you'll see how intervals are used to define scales.

More about the intervals Take a look at the note circle again. Whenever you're moving clockwise the notes are becoming higher in pitch. Likewise, whenever you're moving counter-clockwise, the notes are becoming lower in pitch. Intervals, in the same way, can go up or they can go down. They can be either: 1. Ascending (lower note in pitch going to a higher note, for example C to D#) 2. Descending (higher note in pitch going to a lower note; for example B to Ab) 3. Harmonic (when two or more notes are played simultaneously) You can say that B is a Major 3rd interval up from G, but that Eb is a Major third down from G. Intervals can also be inverted - if B is a Major 3rd up from G, then it is also a different interval - in this case, a minor 6th - down from the G of the next octave. In this way, intervals come in pairs. Every relationship can be defined by two different intervals, one up and one down. That should explain the intervals in parenthesis from the previous list of intervals. To explain it further, interval is a relative property of notes. For example, we want to figure out what interval it is from A to C. We have 2 possible solutions.

C note is a particular interval away from A. If the C note is higher in pitch than A, then this interval is ascending. So we can say that C is a minor 3rd up from A, and that C is A’s minor 3rd interval. A -> C = minor 3rd (ascending interval) But if the note C is lower in pitch than A, then this is a descending interval. We can now say that C is major 6th down from C. A -> C = major 6th (descending interval) When figuring out intervals we always treat the lower note as the root note, and we always count intervals clockwise on the note circle from the lowest note. Try to do this yourself and see really how easy it is. Here are some intervals to figure out. E -> C (ascending) - ? E -> C (descending) - ? D -> A# (ascending - the sharp symbol tells you that this is an ascending interval) - ? D -> Bb (descending - again, the flat symbol indicates that this is a descending interval) - ? Gb -> Ab - ?

It is important to remember that when an interval is ascending you will see/use sharp (#) symbol, and when it is descending you will use flat (b) symbol. Like I said before, there is a different interval pair for every note of the chromatic scale. Remember you can use the note circle and count the intervals there. The answers will be provided at the end of this book. The names of intervals tell you about what kind of chord or scale you’re dealing with: a minor chord, for instance, has a minor 3rd, while a major scale has a major 3rd, 6th, and 7th.

Scale-ing it up Common types of scales: 5 and 7-note scales The chromatic scale is the set of all other scales. It is the master scale. But it doesn’t define a distinct harmonic space beyond the division of harmony into 12 equal parts. For that, you need scales with fewer than 12 notes in them. Usually, this means either 5 notes or 7 notes. 5-note scales are called pentatonic scales, and while there are a variety of different note patterns that can make up pentatonic scales, there is one in particular, which define the minor pentatonic scale as well as the major pentatonic scale, that is most often used. In this sense, the words “minor” and “major” refer to something like the mood of the scale, with minor scales in general sounding sad, dark and thoughtful and major scales in general sounding happy, bright, and lively (like minor and major chords). Most blues, for instance, is played in a minor key, which means that it makes use of a minor scale quite often, whereas most pop is played in a major key, which means it makes use of a major scale. 7-note scales have many forms, the most basic of which are called “diatonic scales” (more on this later). The most common major scale (do-re-me…)

and natural minor scale are both 7-note scales. Since there are 12 notes in music, there are 12 harmonic centers (keys) that a scale can start on. This goes for any kind of scale no matter the number of notes it contains. Scales are used to define chords, which form the harmonic structure of a song, and also to compose melodies, which consist of (usually) single-note lines played over top of that harmonic structure. They are also used to create harmonies, which occur when more than one single-note line is played together.

The minor pentatonic scale indepth The minor pentatonic scale is the foundation of virtually all blues and rock, and much of pop music. It is a 5-note scale, and its sound is very familiar to us (most of us have some fundamental idea about the general sound of a blues melody, for instance, in ways that we probably don’t about classical or jazz melodies). It is possible to make an entire career out of this one harmonic collection, as many blues, folk, bluegrass, funk and rock musicians have. Outside of the Western world, this and similar scales are common in traditional Asian and African music (the latter being the historical source of the minor pentatonic scale in the American Folk tradition). The minor pentatonic scale consists of 5 notes: A Root, a minor 3rd, a Perfect 4th, Perfect 5th, and a minor 7th. These numbers refer to the notes’ relative position within a diatonic scale (in this case, the natural minor scale), but the intervals themselves exist in many scales, including the minor pentatonic scale (don't worry if this doesn't make sense now). If the scale is played in order, there is:

1. A Root, abbreviated to 'R'. 2. A root is followed by a note a step and a half (3 half steps = 3 frets on guitar) above the root - this is the minor 3rd, or simply 'm3'. 3. Then a note a full (whole) step above that - this is the Perfect 4th, or 'P4'. 4. A note a full step above that - this is the Perfect 5th, or 'P5'. 5. And a note a step and a half above that - this is the minor 7th, or m7. * * These are the 5 notes of the minor pentatonic scales. The distance between the last note (the minor 7th) and the first note in the next octave is one full step.

Fig. 6: Minor pentatonic scale (horizontal) on a single string

Now check again what is underlined above. These distances (intervals) can be used to describe the scale in another, simpler, way: WH

W W WH or (same thing)

W

TS

T T TS

T

This is called a scale formula. In this case it's the minor pentatonic scale formula. A scale formula simply represents a unique set of intervals found within each scale. Just by knowing a scale formula you can start on any of the 12 notes anywhere on guitar, apply the formula, and easily figure out how to play any scale. When put in context: R - TS - minor 3rd - T minor 7th - T - R

Perfect 4th -

T - Perfect 5th - TS -

This image sums it up nicely:

Fig. 7: Minor pentatonic scale shape spanning two octaves vertically (on all 6 strings)

For example, if we place our finger on the 5th fret E string - that is the A note - and we take that A as the root note. We can then apply the formula: TS - T - T - TS - T, and easily figure out what are the rest of the notes of the A minor pentatonic scale. Here the notes would be: A - TS - C - T - D - T - E - TS - G - T - A A is the Root C is the minor 3rd (above A) D is the Perfect 4th (above A) E is the Perfect 5th (above A) G is the minor 7th (above A) and lastly A is the Perfect 8th - Octave

Fig. 8: A minor pentatonic scale This can be done on any note/key.

This is one of the first, if not the first, scale that many people (particularly electric guitarists) learn, and once learned it can be used very quickly. If you place the root of this scale on the root of virtually any chord (especially minor and dominant chords), then the other notes in the scale will almost always sound good. If you’re playing the blues, then all you need to do is make sure the root of this scale is the same note as the key that the song is in.

An introduction to modality - What is a mode? It is worth using the minor pentatonic scale to demonstrate an important concept. We saw that this scale consists of a collection of 5 notes, and that when they are oriented around the root, there is a particular set of intervals that define the scale. But what if we take those same exact 5 notes - for instance, the A minor pentatonic scale (A, C, D, E and G) - and re-orient them. In other words, what if rather than calling A the root, we treat this same collection of notes as a C scale, treating C as the root. Now the notes have different names: C is nor longer the minor 3rd (of A), is now the Root. D is no longer the Perfect 4th (of A), it is now the Major 2nd (of C), E is now the Major 3rd, G is now the Perfect 5th, and A is now the Major 6th. So the new set of notes is: A Root, Major 2nd, Major 3rd , Perfect 5th, Major 6th;

when abbreviated: R, M2, M3, P5, M6 This is a completely different abstract collection of notes than the A minor pentatonic scale (even though it consists of the same 5 tones) because it is now a completely different set of intervals. By using the same pattern, but beginning at a different note, we have created a different scale. The scale that we have created is called the C major pentatonic scale, and is also an important, common scale in blues, rock, pop, etc. What we have created by re-orienting the scale is called a "mode" We can say that the major pentatonic scale is a mode of the minor pentatonic scale, or that the minor pentatonic scale is a mode of the major pentatonic scale. This concept will be extremely important when it comes to 7-note scales.

The modes of the minor pentatonic scale Because there are 5 notes in the minor pentatonic scale, there are 5 different notes that can act as the root of different modes. For each note in the collection, there is a different mode, in which that note is the root and the 4 other notes are defined with respect to it. 1. The first mode of the minor pentatonic scale is just the minor pentatonic scale. It consists of a Root, a minor 3rd, a Perfect 4th, a Perfect 5th and a minor 7th. In A, the scale is: A, C, D, E, G. We have already examined this scale in detail. 2. The second mode of the minor pentatonic scale has a special name. It is the Major pentatonic scale. As we've seen in the previous section, it consists of a Root, a Major 2nd, a Major 3rd, a Perfect 5th and a Major 6th.

Fig 9: Major pentatonic scale on a single (low E) string The scale formula for the 2nd mode of the Minor Pentatonic scale, also called a Major Pentatonic scale is: T T TS

T TS

You can start on any note, apply this formula and you would get a Major pentatonic scale.

Fig. 10: Major pentatonic - notice how the notes now are ordered differently

In our example, the second mode of the A minor pentatonic scale, or C major pentatonic scale, contains the notes: C, D, E, G, A.

This is the same collection of notes it's just that their order and relationships between them (intervals) have changed. This gives them a different function - a different kind of sound - over a chord or a bass note that is playing in the background (more on this later). Note that in the scale shape on the image above the Root is not the lowest note. It doesn't have to be, but because of the way the notes on guitar fretboard are laid out, we can form a scale shape where the Root is the lowest note. This will result in getting a different scale shape thus making it easier to visualize the scale.

Fig. 11: Major pentatonic scale shape with the Root as the lowest note. Note that this shape is just a continuation of the previous one (fig. 10) Beside playing the scale on a single string, this makes it easier to see/use any mode (of any scale) as a unique scale. This is the second most popular pentatonic scale after the minor pentatonic. 3. The third mode begins on, in this (key of A) case, D. It consists of a Root, a Major 2nd, a Perfect 4th, a Perfect 5th and a minor 7th. The third mode of the

A minor pentatonic scale is: D, E, G, A, C. 4. The fourth mode begins on E and consists of a Root, a minor 3rd, a Perfect 4th, a minor 6th and a minor 7th. Its notes are: E, G, A, C, D. 5. Finally, the fifth mode begins on the 5th note of the minor pentatonic scale, which in this case is G. It has a Root, a Major 2nd, a Perfect 4th, a Perfect 5th and a Major 6th. In the key of A, the notes are: G, A, C, D, E. To sum it up, here's what we have:

Table 1: Minor pentatonic modes (in A) with all their notes and note relationships. Notice how each mode has the same notes only starting on a different note. Scale formulas:

1st mode: TS T T TS T 2nd mode: 3rd mode: 4th mode: 5th mode:

T T TS T TS T TS T TS T TS T TS T T T TS T T TS

Before we get on, I wanted to quickly explain the scale shapes.

Scale shapes on guitar - CAGED system? The notes of any scale can be found all over the guitar fretboard. In order to make playing, practicing and using the scales easier, we use scale shapes. Scale shape is simply a shape on guitar - a group of scale notes in a particular position on guitar fretboard. Scales can be played horizontally (for example on one string up and down the fretboard) and they can also be played vertically. Vertically means playing the scale across all 6 guitar strings while staying in a particular position - an area on the fretboard spanning usually 4-5 frets. When we talk about scale shapes it usually means imagining the scales like that. Scale shapes come directly from the way that the guitar strings are tuned. Guitar is, by default, tuned to a tuning called the "Standard tuning". In this tuning guitar strings are tuned to: E, A, D, G, B, E (from thickest low E to the thinnest high E string). This means that when the open strings are played they will produce those notes.

Standard tuning is tuning is a tuning in 4ths, meaning that: E string to A string is a Perfect 4th interval A string to D string is also a Perfect 4th D string to G string is a Perfect 4th G string to B string is a Major 3rd interval (this only exception is called "Tuning anomaly") B string to high E string is again a Perfect 4th. As a consequence of this kind of tuning, all 12 notes in music are laid out on guitar fretboard in a particular way, and all scale shapes (as well as chord shapes) look the way they do because of that. If we tune guitar differently (Alternate tuning) then the scale shapes would look different as well. There are 5 basic scale shapes that connect with each other all over the fretboard. They span around 12 frets on guitar and then they start all over again from the first shape. Each of these shapes start from the Root note on different string. There are 6 guitar strings, so you may wonder why are there only 5 shapes and not 6? The reason is simple - low E string and high E string are the same notes. A scale shape that starts from the Root note on low E also has a Root (on that same fret) on high E, so it's just one shape. Different shapes of the same scale don't change anything in the scale itself all its notes and note relationships remain the same from shape to shape, the groupings of the notes however look different.

Another way to look at it is to understand that these 5 shapes refer to something called the EDCAG system, or more easily remembered as: the CAGED system. This system simply shows us the way that the scale tones on guitar are laid out because of its (Standard) tuning. In this system, the 1st scale shape is called the E shape and it starts with the lowest root note on low E string (this shape forms and E major chord). 2nd shape is D - D major chord (lowest root on D string), 3rd is C - C major chord (lowest root A string), 4th is A - A major chord (lowest root on A string), 5th is G - G major chord (lowest root on E). Not to confuse you any further with this - Scale shapes (and the CAGED system) simply make using the scales more practical and easier to learn. It's really not hard to learn and it's very powerful to know! You don't need to know the scale shapes in order to understand/learn what is presented in this book - they are more on the practical side of things. If you do want to learn more about this (strongly recommended) then I suggest you check out my "Guitar Fretboard Mastery" book, which explains scale shapes in a lot more detail, in a practical way.

What is a Diatonic scale? The word “diatonic” is Greek, and it means “across the octave.” The name refers to the fact that the structure of diatonic scales is such that there is an even distribution of 7 notes across the 12-note octave. There is never, in any diatonic scale, more than a full (whole) step between two notes, and there are never 3 half steps in a row. A scale is diatonic when it is a mode, or variation, of the major scale. This includes the natural minor scale and all 7 of the diatonic modes (of which the major and minor scale are 2). While there are 7 diatonic scales - called the diatonic modes, which includes the major scale and the minor scale - there is only one diatonic structure. This is because all 7 of those scales are defined in terms of one another. In fact, they are generated from one another; usually they are said to be generated from the major scale (similarly as to how the modes of the minor pentatonic are generated from the minor pentatonic scale as we have seen previously). Diatonic scales share a structure because they are effectively the same 7-note pattern beginning at different points (if you treat the first note of the major scale as the first note of the diatonic structure, then you can define a completely different scale moving up that structure but beginning on the second note, or the fifth note, or any other note). Since there is only in fact one diatonic structure, it is possible to talk both about diatonic scales (meaning the modes of the major scale) and also about

THE diatonic scale (as in the underlying structure of those modes).

The Natural Major and minor scales In the blues and blues-based music, the minor pentatonic scale is king. But in most all other types of Western music, from classical to celtic to pop, 7note scales form the foundation of the harmony. As we know by now, the most basic, fundamental type of 7-note scale is called a "diatonic scale", and this category includes what are probably the two most easily recognizable scales by name: the natural major scale (usually simply “the major scale”) and the natural minor scale (usually simply “the minor scale”). These two scales form the harmonic and melodic bedrock that Western music lays on and has laid on for a very long time, and similar scales are found throughout the history of world music (in traditional Indian music, for instance). There are two things it are worth remembering about diatonic scales at this point: 1. Major and minor scale include the modes of the minor pentatonic scale. What that means is that every diatonic scale can be understood as a mode of the minor pentatonic scale with an additional two notes, while every mode of the minor pentatonic scale can be thought of as a diatonic scale that is

missing two notes. Knowing this makes it easier to understand the relationship between 5 and 7-note scales. 2. All diatonic scales are modes of one another. So the major scale and the minor scale, as different as they are, consist of the same structure, only oriented differently so that the relationships between the notes have changed. They are the modes of each other essentially, like minor and major pentatonic.

The Major scale The major scale is generally thought of as the foundational diatonic scale. It is usually the first diatonic scale that is taught, and all others are usually derived from it. The major scale is highly recognizable, and is the foundation for most pop music. It is the scale you sing when you sing do-re-me… and its character is quite strong. It has a sense of ease, even joy, and makes it easy to create melodies that uplift and catch the ear of most people. Many of the greatest works of Classical music are written using the major scale as their foundation. The major scale is a 7-note scale so it consists of seven notes. In C, it has all of the notes of the chromatic scale minus the sharps and flats - C, D, E, F, G, A, B - which means that on a piano the C major scale is just the white keys. Its structure is relatively even, consisting of: 1. A Root, 2. Then a note a whole step above that, called the Major 2nd (M2) 3. A note a whole step above that - the Major 3rd (M3) 4. A note a half step above that - the Perfect 4th (P4) 5. A note a whole step above that - the Perfect 5th (P5) 6. A note a whole step above that - the Major 6th (M6) 7. And a last note a whole step above the 6th, which is the Major 7th (M7); The distance between the 7th note and the first note of the next octave is a half step, and so the overall structure of the scale (scale formula) is:

whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half (W W H W W W H) or: tone, tone, semitone, tone, tone, tone, semitone ( T T S T T T S).

Fig. 12: Major scale on a single (low E) string

So we have: R - T - M2 - T - M3 - S - P4 - T - P5 - T - M6 - T - M7 - S - R (Octave) This is the form of all diatonic scales (only since they're modes of each other they begin at different points in the structure).

Fig. 13: Vertical Major scale shape on guitar across all 6 strings (2 octave span). Notice the similarities between this shape and the Major pentatonic shape. (Fig. 11) Which notes are added? More on this soon. You can start on any note anywhere on guitar fretboard, apply the Major scale formula, and you would get a Major scale. Let's try with C: C-T-D-T-E-S-F-T-G-T-A-T-B-S-C If you start on the A note you would get the A major scale, if you start on the G, that would be the G major scale, Bb would be Bb major scale, and so on.

The minor scale The minor scale is the dark cousin of the major scale. No less foundational, it is remarkably different. The minor scale is less common in pop music than the major scale, since it is far harder to create a melody that will stick in someone’s ear with the minor scale than with the major scale. The minor scale is dark, deep, and heavy sounding, and is often described as “sad.” Though the major scale is more common in some forms of music, the minor scale is far from rare, occupying a central place in classical and jazz, among other styles. The minor scale is a mode of the major scale (the 6th mode). So the minor scale that is the mode of the C major scale is the A minor scale, consisting of the notes A, B, C, D, E, F and G. The structure of this scale is the same as the major scale - whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half - only it is re-oriented so that the 6th note of the major scale is the Root of the corresponding minor scale (In C, that means the root of the minor scale is A). So the structure of the minor scale is the same as the major, only shifted. Now it is: tone, semitone, tone, tone, semitone, tone, tone. The minor scale consists of: 1. Root,

2. Major 2nd, 3. minor 3rd, 4. Perfect 4th, 5. Perfect 5th, 6. minor 6th and 7. minor 7th.

Fig. 14: minor scale on a single string Here's a minor scale shape on guitar with the Root being the lowest note:

Fig. 15: minor scale shape on guitar with the Root as the lowest note (2 Octave span). Notice the similarities between this shape and minor pentatonic scale shape (Fig. 7) Which notes are added?

So we have: R - T - M2 - S - m3 - T - P4 - T - P5 - S - m6 - T - m7 - T - R Now we can easily form and play the minor scale by starting on any note and follow this minor scale formula. In C Major we had notes: C (1), D (2), E(3), F(4), G(5), A(6), B(7). In A minor (the relative Natural minor mode of C Major) the notes we get are: A-T-B-S-C-T-D-T-E-S-F-T-G-T-A

The diatonic modes made easy If there is one thing that scares musicians, in particular guitarists, it is the diatonic modes. Widely known but rarely understood, “the modes” are nearly mythic for many players at many levels. Most of us know that the modes are important, that great players know all about them, but it feels like they are miles away - part of what people call “music theory” and not at all the sort of thing that we can understand, much less make use of. Maybe we have heard of modal jazz and believe that the modes are of interest to advanced jazz players with years of formal training but that they are otherwise unnecessary or beyond our reach. But the modes are not monstrous. They are not a myth. They are not only for people who spend their 20s in music school. They aren’t just for jazz musicians, and they aren’t, once you have learned them, any more difficult to use than any other scales. What they are, however, is important. The modes give us a way to understand the interconnectedness of different scales, offer us a variety of scales to choose from in many situations and give us the tools to compose or improvise in any number of ways over and in virtually any harmonic framework. We have seen that a mode is simply a re-orientation of a scale, treating a different note as the root and re-defining the other notes in the scale. The

notes stay the same, but since the harmonic center is different, the set of intervals has changed (what was a perfect 5th in the A minor scale becomes a major 3rd in the C major scale). And that is the essence of modality - the fact of the relative harmonic value of notes. A note is not a static, unchanging thing; a note does different things in different contexts (depending on the harmony that is playing in the background). It is relative. That is the fact that confuses many players, and it is the reason that the modes are often avoided.

The modes spelled out We have seen that the major scale is a mode of the minor scale and that the minor scale is a mode of the major scale. In general, the major scale is taken to be primary when talking about the diatonic modes, and when we talk about “the modes,” we are almost always talking about these scales diatonic scales: the major scale and its modes, including the natural minor scale. There are 7 notes in the diatonic scale and so there are 7 diatonic modes. Unlike the pentatonic scale modes, diatonic modes each have their own Greek name, and those names are usually how we refer to the modes when we are thinking modally. Here they are (we will use C major scale as an example): 1. The first mode is the normal Major scale. This is called the Ionian mode. In C, its notes are C, D, E, F, G, A, B. It consists of a Root, a Major 2nd, a Major 3rd, a Perfect 4th, a Perfect 5th, a Major 6th and a Major 7th. This mode has a happy, melodic, consonant sound. We have already examined this scale/mode in the previous sections. 2. The second mode is the Dorian mode. The Dorian mode is a minor mode (though it is not “the minor scale”) since its 3rd is minor and not major (this

is how scales are divided between major and minor in general). In D, its notes are D, E, F, G, A, B, C. It has a Root, a Major 2nd, a minor 3rd, a Perfect 4th, a Perfect 5th, a Major 6th and a minor 7th. The Dorian mode is darker than the Ionian mode, but it sounds a little brighter than the minor scale. It is a common scale in jazz and blues. 3. The third mode is the Phrygian mode. It is a minor mode, though again it is not the natural minor scale. In E, its notes are E, F, G, A, B, C, D. It has a Root, a minor 2nd, a minor 3rd, a Perfect 4th, a Perfect 5th, a minor 6th and a minor 7th. The Phrygian mode is dark sounding and due to its minor 2nd is very exotic sounding. The minor 2nd note is just a half step above the Root, so this note adds a lot of dissonance because it naturally wants to resolve to the nearest tonic (the Root). This mode is used in some jazz, as well as Latin and Indian-influenced music. 4. The fourth mode is the Lydian mode. This is a major scale (because it's 3rd is major), and its notes in F are F, G, A, B, C, D, E.

It has a Root, a Major 2nd, a Major 3rd, a Tritone (sharp 4th), a Perfect 5th, a Major 6th and a Major 7th. The Lydian mode is a very pleasant sounding mode - similar to the major scale (it differs from it only by a note: the Tritone), only slightly more exotic. There is a subtle dissonance in this mode, though it is a major mode, and so it tends to sound rather complex, even sophisticated. It is widely used in jazz in place of a major scale and over certain jazz chords. 5. The fifth mode is the Mixolydian mode. It is a major scale and its notes in G are G, A, B, C, D, E, F. It consists of a Root, a Major 2nd, a Major 3rd, a Perfect 4th, a Perfect 5th, a Major 6th and a minor 7th. The Mixolydian mode is a great blues scale and has a round, stable sound. 6. The sixth mode is the Aeolian mode. This is the Natural minor scale. In A, its notes are A, B, C, D, E, F, G. It has a Root, a Major 2nd, a minor 3rd, a Perfect 4th, a Perfect 5th, a minor 6th and a minor 7th. The Aeolian mode is quite dark, even sad sounding, though it is not altogether dissonant, and it is widely used in virtually all types of music. We have examined this scale in the minor scale section.

7. Finally, the seventh mode is the Locrian mode. In B, its notes are B, C, D, E, F, G, A. It contains a Root, a minor 2nd, a minor 3rd, a Perfect 4th, a Tritone, a minor 6th and a minor 7th. It is strange, and rarely used. It is a minor scale, but both its 2nd and 5th notes are flat. The only diatonic mode without a Perfect 5th, the Locrian mode is highly unstable. Historically, this scale was avoided altogether. Its sound is heavy, dissonant and unstable. To sum it up, here's what we have for diatonic modes:

Table 2: Diatonic modes in C 1st mode: 2nd mode: 3rd mode: 4th mode: 5th mode: 6th mode: 7th mode:

T T S T T T S T S T T T S T S T T T S T T T T T S T T S T T S T T S T T S T T S T T S T T S T T T

Diatonic scales as pentatonic scales Earlier I asked you to notice the similarities between the Major scale and the Major pentatonic as well as between the minor scale and the minor pentatonic. It is sometimes useful, particularly when learning the diatonic modes, to see them as extensions or combinations of the modes of the minor pentatonic scale, which are easy to hear and more widely known. In other words, it is possible to see any diatonic mode as a pentatonic mode with the addition of 2 notes. It is also possible to see them each as combinations of two pentatonic scales with the same root (or with roots that are a half step apart). This is one way of understanding the diatonic modes as pentatonic scales: - The Ionian mode which is the Major scale - is the second mode of the minor pentatonic scale (the Major pentatonic scale) plus a Perfect 4th and a Major 7th notes. It is also a combination of, for instance, the 5th mode of the minor pentatonic scale and the 4th pentatonic mode a half-step down. - The Dorian mode is the minor pentatonic scale plus a Major 2nd and a Major 6th. It is also a combination of the 1st and 5th modes of the minor pentatonic scale.

- The Phrygian mode is the minor pentatonic scale plus a minor 9th and a minor 6th. It is also a combination of the minor pentatonic scale and the major pentatonic scale a half step up. - The Lydian mode is the Major pentatonic scale plus a sharp 4th and a Major 7th, and it is a combination of the major pentatonic scale and the minor pentatonic scale a half-step down. - The Mixolydian mode is the Major pentatonic scale plus a Perfect 4th and a minor 7th and is a combination of the Major pentatonic scale and the 3rd mode of the minor pentatonic scale. - The Aeolian mode is the minor pentatonic scale plus a Major 2nd and a minor 6th. It can be seen as, among other things, a combination of the 3rd and 4th modes of the minor pentatonic scale. - The Locrian mode is the 4th mode of the minor pentatonic scale plus a minor 2nd and a flat 5th. It is also the combination of the 4th mode of the minor pentatonic scale plus the 5th mode a half step up.

Harmonic minor - How and why was it derived from the diatonic scale The diatonic modes are useful, and they offer a host of harmonic possibilities. They are not, however, exhaustive. There are 12 tones in the chromatic scale, and even if you limit yourself to combining those 12 tones into 7-note major or minor scales, there are more than 7 possibilities. The diatonic scale is one, very stable, cutting of the chromatic scale and it organizes an octave in a particularly useful way for most players much of the time, but it has a very particular sound. Sometimes musicians want a different sound, and when they do, they reach for other organizations of tones. Generally, these new organizations are derived from the diatonic scale in some way, and so once you know the diatonic modes, learning other sets of scales is often less difficult. Historically, the most important 7-note scale to be derived from the diatonic scale was what is called the Harmonic minor scale. The harmonic minor scale was the result of the desire to make the minor scale resolve in a particular way when played ascending. The major scale has a major 7th, and so when it is played from start to finish going up, there is a strong resolution at the end - the last note is only a half step below the root in the next octave, and so when our ears get to the 7th

note of the scale they very naturally feel the Root (which is like a center of gravity in music) coming next. This is particularly useful for composing and improvising melodies in major keys because it makes it easy to resolve tension, which is ultimately what melodies are all about. But in a minor key, it isn’t so easy. The 7th note of the minor (Aeolian) scale (and also the Dorian, Phrygian, and Locrian modes) is a full step away from the Root in the next octave. This means that the Root doesn’t pull on the 7th note in the same way that it does in the major scale, which in turn means that there is less of a sense of magnetism between the 7th note and the Root. The result, practically, is that resolutions in a minor key, whether in the chords or in the melody, feel less stable than resolutions in a major key. This can be solved, however, by altering the minor scale slightly. Some time ago, composers realized that if they raised the 7th note in the minor scale by a half step and left the rest of the scale untouched, they could create a new scale that had most of the properties of the minor scale - a generally deep, dark feeling - but that also had the possibility of stable resolutions, since now there was only a half step between the 7th note of the scale and the root (just like the major scale). This new scale was called the Harmonic minor scale.

The Harmonic minor scale The diatonic structure, which we said did not change from mode to mode, was derived from the major scale. In terms of half and whole steps, it is: whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half. The harmonic minor scale derives its structure from the minor scale, which is a version of that diatonic structure, only reordered: whole, half, whole, whole, half, whole, whole. Harmonic minor itself is not a diatonic scale. Only now, the final note is raised, which means that the last interval is a half step and the second-to-last interval has been increased to a step and a half. In A, we said that the notes of the minor scale were: A, B, C, D, E, F, G. The notes of the A harmonic minor scale, then, are: A, B, C, D, E, F, G#. So now it's structure is: whole, half, whole, whole, half, whole + half, half, or: T S

T T S

TS

S

Fig. 16: Harmonic minor scale on a single string

In this case, the G# is called a G# and not an Ab, since the scale already has an A in it (in general, there is one letter name per note and one note per letter name in a seven-note scale - that's just a music theory rule). R - T - M2 - S - m3 - T - P4 - T - P5 - S - m6 - TS - M7 - S - R in A: A - T - B - S - C - T - D - T - E - S - F - TS - G# - S - A The harmonic minor scale, like the modes of the diatonic scale, has a very particular sound. It is generally described as “exotic” sounding, and it can recall the sound of non-western music and of certain eras of classical music.

Fig. 17: Harmonic minor scale shape. The M7 note on the thinnest high e string is the same note as M7 on B - the choice of which to use is entirely up to you. Compare this shape to the Natural minor scale shape and notice the differences (only one note, but enough to give this scale an exotic sound).

This scale and its modes are still used widely in classical composition, neoclassical rock music, and jazz.

The modes of the Harmonic minor scale Now we're getting into some exotic stuff that many people consider advanced. But it really isn't once you understand it. Like the major scale, there are 7 notes in the harmonic minor scale. Also like the diatonic scale, there are 7 modes of the harmonic minor scale. Here are the harmonic minor modes in A: 1. The first mode consists of a root, a major 2nd, a minor 3rd, a perfect 4th, a perfect 5th, a minor 6th and a major 7th. In A it has the following notes: A, B, C, D, E, F, G#. 2. The second mode has a root, a minor 2nd, a minor 3rd, a perfect 4th, a tritone (flat 5th), a major 6th and a minor 7th. In B, its notes are: B, C, D, E, F, G#, A. 3. The third mode has a root, a major 2nd, a major 3rd, a perfect 4th, a sharp 5th (which is enharmonically equivalent to a minor 6th), a major 6thand a major 7th. In C, its notes are: C, D, E, F, G#, A, B. 4. The fourth mode has a root, a major 2nd, a minor 3rd, a tritone (sharp 4th), a perfect 5th, a major 6th and a minor 7th. Its notes in D are D, E, F, G#, A, B, C. 5. The fifth mode has a root, a minor 2nd, a major 3rd, a perfect 4th, a perfect 5th, a minor 6th and a minor 7th. In E, its notes are: E, F, G#, A, B, C.

6. The sixth mode has a root, a sharp 2nd (enharmonically equivalent to a minor 3rd), a major 3rd, a triton (a sharp 4th), a perfect 5th, a major 6th, and major 7th. In F, its notes are F, G#, A, B, C, D, E. 7. Finally, the seventh mode has a root, a minor 2nd, a minor 3rd, a flat 4th (enharmonically equivalent to a major 3rd), a flat 5th, a minor 6th, and minor 7th. Its notes in G# are G#, A, B, C, D, E, F. This scale is sometimes called an Altered scale, since it is the major scale with each of the scale degrees flatted (altered). So here's what we have:

Table 3: Harmonic minor modes in A

Harmonic minor modes do have their own names. The names show their relation to the minor scale and other diatonic modes, but you don't have to worry about understanding them for now. I've decided to keep the names for future reference just in case you need them. Scale formulas (check with the table): 1st mode: 2nd mode: 3rd mode: 4th mode: 5th mode: 6th mode: 7th mode:

T S T T S TS S S T T S TS S T T T S TS S T S T S TS S T S T S TS S T S T T TS S T S T T S S T S T T S TS

Melodic minor - How and why was it derived from the Harmonic minor scale The Harmonic minor scale and its modes open up the harmonic space beyond the diatonic scale. Knowing those 7 scales is an important step in being able to improvise or compose chords or melodies in any situation, and they give you a broader, more delicate palette from which to paint. But they are still not exhaustive. In general, when people learn 7-note scales (at any level), they are taught three sets of modes. In addition to the pentatonic modes and a few other special cases, such as bebop scales (which are diatonic scales with added chromatic tones) most players see the whole space of harmony as defined by those three sets of modes and the addition of chromatic altering (changing one or more notes in a scale by a half step or adding notes from the chromatic scale). These three sets of modes are: 1. Diatonic modes (the modes of the major/minor scale), 2. Harmonic minor scale modes, and 3. The modes of the Melodic minor scale.

We have already talked about 2 of those sets. The Melodic minor scale is to the Harmonic minor scale what the Harmonic minor scale is to the Natural minor scale. It goes one step further. The Harmonic minor scale came out of the desire to have a certain kind of resolution between the 7th and the Root, and so one of the tones (the 7th of the minor scale) was raised to make it more like the major scale. The Melodic minor scale comes out of a similar concern - the Harmonic minor scale does a good job of giving the root a kind of magnetism, and there is a strong resolution from the 7th to the next root, but that has what is for some people an unwanted effect. The diatonic structure was such that there was never more than a full step between any two notes of any of the modes, but in the Harmonic minor modes there is a step and a half between two of the notes (the minor 6th and the Major 7th). This is why the scales sound so exotic - our ears hear an uneven spacing in the structure of the scale itself. This is sometimes a good thing, as in when you want to sound exotic, but sometimes you don’t want to sound that way and you still want to play in a minor key (while having the resolution that the Major 7th note gives you). Or maybe you just want a sound that is non-diatonic but that isn’t exotic in the same way that the modes of the Harmonic minor scale are. Or perhaps you are in a situation, playing over a chord (more on this later), and none of the

modes of the harmonic minor or diatonic scales will fit. In all of these cases, you are probably reaching for the Melodic minor scale. The Melodic minor scale is produced by taking the Harmonic minor scale and correcting the minor 6th note so that there is no longer a step and half gap between the minor 6th and the Major 7th. Since there is only a half step gap between the 5th and the 6th, this is possible in a way that results in, like the diatonic modes, there being never any more than a full step between any two notes. The 6th note of the Harmonic minor scale is raised by a half step, and a new scale is born: the Melodic minor scale.

The Melodic minor scale Historically, in classical music, the melodic minor scale was used in a very particular way. It was only played ascending. Descending, the natural minor scale was played. This tradition, however, is no longer hard and fast - in jazz, the scale and its modes are used in every way possible (the melodic minor scale itself is even sometimes called the “jazz minor” scale), and in classical, it is used however the composer sees fit. The structure of the harmonic minor modes was identical to that of the diatonic modes, only one of the notes was raised: whole, half, whole, whole, half, one-and-a-half, half. The melodic minor scale is identical to that, only another note is raised: whole, half, whole, whole, whole, whole, half. Harmonic minor scale in A was: A, B, C, D, E, F, G#. Melodic minor in A is: A, B, C, D, E, F#, G#. The notes of the Melodic minor scale are: Root, a Major 2nd, a minor 3rd, a Perfect 4th, a Perfect 5th, a Major 6th and a Major 7th. And the structure looks like this: R - T - M2 - S - m3 - T - P4 - T - P5 - T - M6 - T - M7 - S - R

Fig. 18: Melodic minor scale on a single string. Notice the one note difference to harmonic minor. Melodic minor shape on guitar is similar to other minor shapes:

Fig. 19: Melodic minor scale shape. Compare this shape to the Harmonic minor and Natural minor shapes. As with the diatonic and harmonic minor modes, this structure defines a series of scales (modes), each with one of the seven notes as the root. Some of these scales are used widely in jazz, and their sound is, while not as exotic as the harmonic minor modes, still quite pronounced.

The modes of the Melodic minor scale There are 7 modes of the melodic minor scale. They are quite similar to the harmonic minor modes: 1. The first mode has a root, a major 2nd, a minor 3rd, a perfect 4th, a perfect 5th, a major 6th and a major 7th. In A it has the following notes: A, B, C, D, E, F#, G#. 2. The second mode has a root, a minor 2nd, a minor 3rd, a perfect 4th, a perfect 5th, a major 6th and a minor 7th. In B, its notes are: B, C, D, E, F#, G#, A. 3. The third mode comprises a root, a major 2nd, a major 3rd, a triton (a sharp 4th), a sharp 5th (which is enharmonically equivalent to a minor 6th), a major 6th and a major 7th. In C, its notes are: C, D, E, F#, G#, A, B. 4. The fourth mode has a root, a major 2nd, a major 3rd, a tritone (sharp 4th), a perfect 5th, a major 6th and a minor 7th. Its notes in D are D, E, F#, G#, A, B, C. 5. The fifth mode consists of a root, a major 2nd, a major 3rd, a perfect 4th, a perfect 5th, a minor 6th and a minor 7th. In E, its notes are: E, F#, G#, A, B, C. 6. The sixth mode has a root, a major 2nd, a minor 3rd, a perfect 4th, a tritone (flat 5th), a minor 6th and a minor 7th. In F#, its notes are F#, G#, A, B, C, D, E.

7. Finally, the seventh mode has a root, a minor 2nd, a minor 3rd, a flat 4th (enharmonically equivalent to a major 3rd), a flat 5th, a minor 6th, and major 7th. In G#, its notes are G#, A, B, C, D, E, F#. This scale is, like the 7th mode of harmonic minor, useful in situations that call for an altered scale. In most other situations, however, it is not used. Summing it up:

Table 4: Melodic minor modes in A If you thought that harmonic minor modes' names are confusing than these ones are even more so. As I've said, even though the names are not very intuitive, they simply explain their relationship to the diatonic modes. You

don't really need to understand the names now but they're here as a reference should you need them in the future. Scale formulas (make sure to check with the table): 1st mode 2nd mode 3rd mode 4th mode 5th mode 6th mode 7th mode

T S T T T T S S T T T T S T T T T T S T S T T T S T S T T T S T S T T T S T S T T T S T S T T T T

How to hear a mode - Practical exercise It is one thing to know what the modes are, to know what modality is in abstraction and to be able to name the modes, even to spell their intervals and relationship. It is one thing to know a scale, but it is quite another to understand it practically. It is one thing to have it in your mind; it is another to have it in your ears. The point of learning scales and their modes is to be able to make use of them, and that means being able to really hear them and to know, from their name, what they will sound like and how they will feel. In some music courses, there is a lot of focus on formal ear training and sight singing, in which students are asked to recognize, name and notate scales (among other things) by their sound and sing them accurately after only seeing them written down or being told their name. It is not, for every musician, necessary to be trained in that way. The ability to attach a particular name and a particular set of written symbols to a sound (and to be able to sing, from memory those musical structures) is far removed from the act of actually playing or writing with those structures. But some form of ear training, in which there is a general, emotional, unconscious sense of what different scales do and how they will impact the music is very important to being a good musician. Even musicians who

don’t know anything about theory, if they are good, have this sort of internal, unconscious connection to different sets of intervals. It is how you know what will work and what will not work, and how you know what you like and what you don’t like. In short, it is how you know what to play and how to sound like you, how to have a style of your own. So how can you develop that sort of familiarity with scales and their modes? There is no shortcut really, you simply have to hear them and use them… a lot. But there are some exercises that can help. The first exercise is simple: play a drone note (on a guitar, the E string is most natural) and play various scales and modes in that key. So play an E string once and let it drone, and then play an E Ionian, and then an E Dorian, and then an E Phrygian, and so on. Play all of the scales you know. Listen for differences in harmonic effect and feel for differences in overall affect. Once you have done this, it is useful to move on to playing over progressions. Make or find a backing track for each mode and play over those progressions using those modes. You will develop a sense for the differences between scales. Finally, begin substituting scales and modes for each other over the same chord or progression. If you are playing over a minor progression, for instance, you can perhaps begin by playing in Aeolian and end by playing in Phrygian. You might choose a single chord: a Major 7th chord for instance, and play by cycling through all of the various modes of the pentatonic, diatonic, harmonic minor and melodic minor scales. You can even use scales that

don’t make any natural sense - like a Dorian over a Major 7th chord - just to hear what it sounds like. Doing this sort of substitution will help you really learn to feel the differences between scales and will encourage you to remember certain harmonic techniques that you enjoy.

Melodic improvisation Much of what musicians are thinking of when they talk about scales is single note lines - melodic structures that obey certain harmonic rules (according to whatever the chords of the song are). And generally, when people talk about doing this, they are thinking about improvisation. While certainly composers make use of the same scales, the same harmonic structures as improvisers, it is improvisation that is the goal for many musicians, especially guitarists, when they begin to learn scales. They want to be able to create interesting, emotive, powerful lines, doing more than merely rehearsing the open chords they were taught as a child.

What is a melody? Simply put, notes can be thought of in two ways: harmonically and melodically. The harmonic structure of a piece of music refers to the relationship between notes in a non-moving, a temporal way; either literally, as in the case with a chord (where multiple notes are played at the same time rather than sequentially), or in some other way, as is the case when a series of chords or single notes are analyzed according to their place within or against a chord or scale as though they were played at the same time. The melodic structure of a piece of music is the relationships between sounds (single notes and chords) over time, as that sound progresses and changes. One of the important things that scales allow you to do is create interesting melodies - interesting, effective, affective sequences of sounds that obey certain harmonic rules (that follow the rules of whatever scale(s) you’re using).

How to use scales to improvise melodies Using a scale or scales to create a melody is like using a color to paint a picture. There are very many things you can do with a scale, and since it is always possible to use more than one scale, there are virtually endless possibilities. In general, creating something that sounds “good” or “melodic” is a matter of taste, and there aren’t any hard and fast rules, but you can begin by selecting a scale that has the overall sound you are looking for (that is a good place to start). From there, you can look at the internal structure of the scale: - What are the notes that give it its character? - What are the most stable notes? - What are the ones that can be used to create tension? - Where does your ear pause when you play it? The intervals to focus on are generally the root, the 3rd (major or minor), the 5th (if it is perfect), and the 7th (major or minor). Beginning and ending sequences on these notes tend to sound the most consonant.

How to create and resolve tension with a scale A melody is simply a sequence of sounds in time. It is always in movement. As such, there is a natural flow to a melody (even a bad one) - tension is created and released. That movement, the creation and release of tension, is what pushes a melody forward, and it is what our ears attach themselves to. Learning to create tension and resolve it is the most important way to become good at improvising melodies with scales. We already said that the Root, 3rd, 5th and 7th are the foundation of a consonant melody. That means that once you have built tension, moving to one of those notes will release it. Moving to the root will release the tension the most dramatically, and the 5th is powerful in this way as well. The 3rd and the 7th will release tension, but not in the same way that the root will. It is possible to build tension by playing with only these 4 notes, resolving to the root, and it is also possible to use the other notes of the scale to build even more tension, resolving to one of these four.

How to harmonize a melody Many players have trouble harmonizing melodies. They have a single note line they like, but they want a second or third line to harmonize it and they don’t know how. Simply put, a harmony is a chord, and it obeys all the same laws as chords. Since chords are built, in general, from 3rds and 5ths, it makes sense that most harmonies would be built on those as well. The practice is easy: once you have a melody line decide what scale you are going to use to harmonize it with (one that includes the notes of the original line), and then decide on the interval you want to use to harmonize (a 3rd for instance), and then for each note of the original, count up the scale by that interval. So if you are in A minor and the lines goes, for instance: E, G, A, G, A. If you want to harmonize in 3rds, then you will count up the A minor scale by a third for each note (From E to G for instance). The notes of A minor scale are: A, B, C, D, E, F, G. The first note in the melody line is E, so you count: E (1), F (2), G (3) . The second note in the melody is G, so you count: G (1), A (2), B (3).

You do this for all melody notes, and the harmony line then is: G, B, C, B, C. You will not always want to use the same harmony for every note (sometimes it will sound better, for instance, to invert the interval), and you will not always want to use the same interval to harmonize with for an entire section (especially when composing), but this is the general practice.

Playing over chords Melodies are great. Single note lines are great. But in real life, you are usually playing over a set of chords. Fortunately, there are ways to know exactly what notes you have available to you at any given time, and then you can let your creativity fly and create exciting lines that sound great over those chords, no matter how complicated the progression. There are two approaches or ways of thinking when it comes to soloing and improvisation: 1. The chordal approach 2. The modal/scalar approach

Playing over a chord progression: the chordal approach The most common way to think about playing over a set of chords is to think chordally. What that means is to treat the harmony of the piece as a sequence of chords, and to treat the melodies you will be playing over those chords as though they were part of the chord being played at whatever time the single notes are being played. In practice, this looks like learning as much as possible about chords and how they are structured and learning to use arpeggios to play interesting lines.

What is an arpeggio? An arpeggio is just a chord played one note at a time. So if a C major chord has the notes C, E, G in it, then when you play those notes one at a time it is an arpeggio of a C major chord. This is true whenever those notes are played, whether it sounds like what most of us think of as an arpeggio or not.

How is an arpeggio used? In much of what improvisers do, arpeggios are used to create melodies that will sound good over the chords of the song. While a particular chord is playing, the notes of that chord become the notes that the improviser focuses on in their melody, and when the chord changes, the improviser adjusts, playing the new arpeggio. Of course, it would sound stale to only play arpeggios, and so other notes from scales that include the notes of those chords are used. But the notes that define the melody - the ones that are landed on - come from the chords. (At an advanced level, new chords are substituted for the chords of the song - generally, chords that share at least 2 notes in common with the original chord - and arpeggios of the substitution chords are used to create melodies over the original chord).

Playing over a chord progression: the modal/scalar approach The modal approach to improvisation is different than the chordal one. Rather than thinking of the harmonic structure of the song in terms of a series of chords (and then thinking of the melodies as though they were part of the chords), the improviser imagines that there is a scale or series of scales that lies beneath those chords (usually a scale that includes all of the notes of some chord or chords), and then that scale is used to improvise.

When do I use which scale? Knowing when to use which scale is hard, and there is no easy way to learn it. It takes a good ear and it is highly personal. But the general rule is that you want to choose a scale that includes the notes of at least the chord you are playing over at that moment. Generally, when you’re thinking modally, you will choose a scale that includes the notes of multiple chords, even all of the song’s chords, and use that scale to create melodies while the chords of the song changes. (Note, it is not necessary to forget about arpeggios when you’re doing this - you can still choose to highlight the notes of the chords or of substitution chords to create different types of melodies).

Summing up What is primitive, a chord or a scale? If it is possible to see a song as a set of chords, and also possible to see it as the expression of a scale or scales, then which is right? Which is primitive? In truth, you can think of it either way, and different improvisers and composers have different approaches. I want to suggest, though, that the way to think about harmony that will most benefit your playing is to understand both scales and chords and assemblages of intervals. And since intervals are just relationships between notes with respect to a root, everything boils down to relationships. It is all relative. Harmony is not static. Music is not static. Understanding this and internalizing it will make you the most capable musician you can be.

Back to the chromatic scale Since scales and chords are each, in fact, collections of intervals, there is a sense in which the only scale that matters is the chromatic scale. In this sense, everything - every chord, every scale - is a cutting of the chromatic scale, and the chromatic scale is nothing more than the set of all possible intervals. My suggestion is that you learn as many individual scales as possible, but that you remember that in the end what you are doing is assembling different organizations and cuttings of one scale.

The importance of ear training Finally, since everything is part of the one master chromatic scale, and since all of it can be understood in terms of intervals, the most important thing you can do to learn to improvise and compose well is to train your ear to hear when an interval sounds the way you want it to. This doesn’t mean you have to be able to name all of the notes in an altered chord just by hearing it, it just means that you want to have a handle on the way that different intervals sound and act in different situations. In the end it is important to be aware that music goes way beyond scales, chords or any music theory. But in order to grasp that and achieve real freedom in your playing, you need to have gone through, understood, learned, experienced and internalized it all. That's when it all becomes so much more.

Leave A Review Thank you for reading this book. It's the 4th book in the Guitar Mastery series and there are many more to come. If you feel like this book helped you in any way, it would make my day if you could take a moment to write a quick honest review on Amazon. You can do so in any of the following ways: 1. By going to the book sales page on Amazon and clicking on a 'Write a customer review' button. 2. Trough your Amazon account by going to 'Your Orders' section. 3. Or simply by following this link which takes you straight to the review page for this book on Amazon (you'll have to be logged in first). In your review you can tell me what you think, what did you learn, did the book help you, if there's something you felt was lacking, where can I provide more value, etc. Remember to keep practicing and be disciplined, always work on expanding your knowledge and becoming the better you. Enjoy the process and everything that you do, even the simplest things. This will give you the results and it will lead to something truly great.

Stay awesome, Nicolas Carter

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Other Books By This Author Guitar for Beginners A Complete Step-By-Step Guide to Learning Guitar for Beginners (Guitar Mastery Volume I) Click here to check it out Guitar Fretboard Mastery An In-Depth Guide to Playing Guitar Freely (Guitar Mastery Volume II) Click here to check it out Electric Guitar Gear A Complete Beginner's Guide To Understanding Guitar Effects And The Gear Used For Electric Guitar Playing &

How To Master Your Tone On Guitar (Guitar Mastery Volume III) Click here to check it out Kaizen The Art of Continuous Life Improvement, How to Create a Lasting Change One Step at a Time As the title suggests, this book is all about the ways you can the art of Kaizen to improve your everyday life and achieve significant goals.

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Answers E -> C (ascending) - minor 6th E -> C (descending) - Major 3rd D -> A# (ascending) - minor 6th D -> Bb (descending) - Major 3rd Gb -> Ab - minor 7th