The Major Scale Complexities
I’m going to talk about a few things concerning the mystery of the major scales.
The major scale is quite deep and beyond just your d r m f s….progression. I want to show you a few today, then go further in a more advanced teaching later.
The major scale is a foundation for all other scales. Get these, and you will never be the same in your musical thoughts.
We know the major scale well I suppose? Do you also remember my statement that if you know your major, you will know your minor?
Why?
You can play any minor scale by simply playing ANY major scale starting and ending on the 6th tone of that major scale. So if you know your numbers, you’ll be good at determining the 6th tone of any scale very quickly. Then, you simply play that SAME major scale (do NOT change a thing about the scale... play the same notes) starting and ending on that 6th tone.
The major scale is quite deep and beyond just your d r m f s….progression. I want to show you a few today, then go further in a more advanced teaching later.
The major scale is a foundation for all other scales. Get these, and you will never be the same in your musical thoughts.
We know the major scale well I suppose? Do you also remember my statement that if you know your major, you will know your minor?
Why?
You can play any minor scale by simply playing ANY major scale starting and ending on the 6th tone of that major scale. So if you know your numbers, you’ll be good at determining the 6th tone of any scale very quickly. Then, you simply play that SAME major scale (do NOT change a thing about the scale... play the same notes) starting and ending on that 6th tone.
So placing it on an extension of the C major scale
See how we did that? The picture above shows a C major scale repeated two octaves (which means, it repeats itself again with higher sounding notes). I repeated the scale so that I can show you this simple strategy to learn the “relative” minor scale that goes along with C major.
You see, every major scale has a minor scale that’s related to it. You can call it a “sister” or “brother” scale, or a “cousin”... it doesn’t matter. They are related.
They share the SAME NOTES.
They share the SAME NUMBER OF SHARPS & FLATS.
They share the SAME KEY SIGNATURE.
They share the SAME CHORDS.
For C major, that “relative” minor is A. How did we get “A?” Easy! It’s the 6th tone. 6 is your magic number when it comes to minor keys. Just remember “6.”
So just play C D E F G A B C but from “A” to “A” --- thus, giving you: A B C D E F G A
But let us go beyond this, and I want you to take the idea about all keys, and I’d talk vaguely so you can easily transpose the knowledge round the keyboard.
Now, we are talking on the mystery of the major scale and its role and relationship with other scales [we have just seen one already].
Going down step-wise to B, I’m going to relate the major scale with a half diminished scale. If ever you have trouble remembering your half diminished scale, just know that you can play it off a major scale.
To play your B half diminished scale, just play your C major scale starting from B to B with some exceptions of using your Eb, Gb, and Ab instead, but still using your A [playing from the 7th of any scale to its octave while you flatten your 3rd, 5th, and 6th, but still maintaining the 6th {relative minor} will give you a half diminished scale of the 7th note]
You see, every major scale has a minor scale that’s related to it. You can call it a “sister” or “brother” scale, or a “cousin”... it doesn’t matter. They are related.
They share the SAME NOTES.
They share the SAME NUMBER OF SHARPS & FLATS.
They share the SAME KEY SIGNATURE.
They share the SAME CHORDS.
For C major, that “relative” minor is A. How did we get “A?” Easy! It’s the 6th tone. 6 is your magic number when it comes to minor keys. Just remember “6.”
So just play C D E F G A B C but from “A” to “A” --- thus, giving you: A B C D E F G A
But let us go beyond this, and I want you to take the idea about all keys, and I’d talk vaguely so you can easily transpose the knowledge round the keyboard.
Now, we are talking on the mystery of the major scale and its role and relationship with other scales [we have just seen one already].
Going down step-wise to B, I’m going to relate the major scale with a half diminished scale. If ever you have trouble remembering your half diminished scale, just know that you can play it off a major scale.
To play your B half diminished scale, just play your C major scale starting from B to B with some exceptions of using your Eb, Gb, and Ab instead, but still using your A [playing from the 7th of any scale to its octave while you flatten your 3rd, 5th, and 6th, but still maintaining the 6th {relative minor} will give you a half diminished scale of the 7th note]
Now, when you on the tonic of C maintain the notes of the scale, but add the flattened 3rd to it, it becomes your 8 tone Spanish scale on the key of B also:
When you flatten the 3rd on the key of C, and add the flattened 5th to the general scale, you will have yourself a Composite scale on the key of B:
Playing the C major scale with a sharp 4th instead of the fourth will give you a Neapolitan minor on the key of B as well.
As you can see, we have related the C major scale with four different B scales. On any key, you can relate the Major scale with four different scales off the 7th note (five if you include the locrian scale).
Next in line is the beautiful perfect 5th, G in this case. Perfect because going up, it’s a perfect fifth, but down, it’s a fourth. It completes the circle of music. This will in turn give you your basic mixolydian scale. Interchange the 4th with a flat 5th, and you have a mixolydian mode off the one/tonic.
Next in line is the beautiful perfect 5th, G in this case. Perfect because going up, it’s a perfect fifth, but down, it’s a fourth. It completes the circle of music. This will in turn give you your basic mixolydian scale. Interchange the 4th with a flat 5th, and you have a mixolydian mode off the one/tonic.
Following the sequence, we know the 6 represents the minor scale, which is also the basic Aeolian scale on C. So in this case, Aeolian means your primary minor, but we have two others of that in every major scale. The Dorian scale and the Phrygian scale [2nd and 3rd respectively] are primary minor scales off two other primary major notes/scales on that same scale.
To be continued…
To be continued…