Scales: The Missing Link

[222]

You’ve always known something is missing from your guitar playing skills. This is the chart you’ve been looking for.

For those who don’t already know about this 9 note scale, learn it and you will suck no more. All the chords and all the riffs are hidden in it.

This is the one they hide from us. The sounds you hear in rock guitar and other styles that are not found in the 5 (penta) note scale.

This is not an advertisement. I got a guitar app for my iPhone and boom, there it all was. ALL OF IT.

And don’t get me wrong here. The pentatonic scale is obviously important. Start mixing it with these other 4 notes and you begin to hear all the tunes that inspired you to play guitar in the first place.

Screen mirror the pic below to your smart TV and start playing. If you want the app name just let me know. Again, I’m not advertising this app. I’m advertising what I found on it. Your welcome.

Screen shot from the app below.
Scale in the Key of E
https://pin.it/5QEcvfU

This link may be better.
https://twitter.com/oparmageddon/status/1359513464494903300?s=21

 

[jak3af3r]

Right.

This is the composite of using all the notes in a I7-IV7-V7 linearly.

Extremely good information as long as you don't land on the G# if someone else is playing A7.

 

[aphantomvaper]

What if they land on Ab instead?

Just kidding thanks for da brain tickles!

 

[jak3af3r]

What if they land on Ab instead?

Just kidding thanks for da brain tickles!

Technically it's G# because of the parent scale of E.

BUT if you want to play a musical "joke" of sorts...

Tell a trumpet player you want to play in G# and I bet you get a funny look.

Tell a string player you want Ab and you'll probably get the same look.



That's how we'd annoy other instrumentalists in music school.

 

[222]

Right.

This is the composite of using all the notes in a I7-IV7-V7 linearly.

Extremely good information as long as you don't land on the G# if someone else is playing A7.

Ever bend the G to the A? What note do you roll over?

And the beauty of it is you’re free not to play A7. You’re not in jail. The notes on the neck are your property.

 

[jak3af3r]

Ever bend the G to the A? What note do you roll over?

And the beauty of it is you’re free not to play A7. You’re not in jail. The notes on the neck are your property.

That serves as a passing-tone.

You don't want to land and stay on the major 7th there. Especially if it's blues or rock because it doesn't fit the style.

Yes, you can do it and there's nothing wrong with it but if hang out there, it'll sound bad in context. The problem is when people hear something they're either 1.) Not accustomed to hearing or 2.) Clashes with another note in an underlying chord or implied scale, they tend to describe that as "wrong."

Again, it may not be "wrong" it's just not "best."

 

[CandidPicker]

A few years back, TrueFire's Robbie Calvo published a video called Sweet Notes that addresses this same question. The key to any genre of music is utilizing the fretboard in whatever manner you choose, just so that the resolving notes were part of the root chord structure. Essentially, you could land on the 1st, 3rd, or 5th note of the chord. Then, Robbie took it several steps beyond: utilizing chord inversions so that resolution notes would be more appealing to the listener's ear.

If perhaps you've not seen this video, it's available for download (at cost) from TrueFire (not affiliated with TrueFire, just a follower of their instructional videos).

 

[222]

That serves as a passing-tone.

You don't want to land and stay on the major 7th there. Especially if it's blues or rock because it doesn't fit the style.

Yes, you can do it and there's nothing wrong with it but if hang out there, it'll sound bad in context. The problem is when people hear something they're either 1.) Not accustomed to hearing or 2.) Clashes with another note in an underlying chord or implied scale, they tend to describe that as "wrong."

Again, it may not be "wrong" it's just not "best."

You are dancing between minor, 7th, and major chords with these notes when combined with the minor and major pentatonic scale.

And what’s to stop you from switching to Phrygian, Aeolian, or Locrian?

Nothing?

There are really only 2 notes you’re avoiding.
C and F. But good music is a forky road not a boring strait path.

Jimmy Page changing path is what drew me to guitar. The forks in the road.

Play these notes on the 2nd string after strumming EMajor to Eminor

D, C, B

Then do D, C#, B

Take the forks in the road.
Create forks in the road.

 

[jak3af3r]

Essentially, you could land on the 1st, 3rd, or 5th note of the chord. Then, Robbie took it several steps beyond: utilizing chord inversions so that resolution notes would be more appealing to the listener's ear.

That sounds like an excellent resource. The terminology for what you say he's doing with resolutions would be voice leading.

As far as "safe" places to land on a chord I'll give a very broad and general list of safest to most risky. I'll put the extensions in parenthesis.

1
5
3
7
2 (9)
6 (13)
4 (11)

This doesn't account for alterations for half steps in either direction specifically (something like a IV would include a sharp 11 to keep with the parent key assuming it has been established as major) but the same sort of general principle applies.

 

[C&M Music - Lafayette]

Start mixing it with these other 4 notes and you begin to hear all the tunes that inspired you to play guitar in the first place.

these other 4 notes are?

Thank you in advance.

 

[222]

these other 4 notes are?

Thank you in advance.

“There are 12 notes in a scale, not 7.” -EVH

Take forks in the road.
Create forks in the road.

Piles of gold aren’t scattered all over the landscape. It’s hidden and you have to dig for it.

C, F, and D# (Eb [flat]) are the only notes not shown in the scale pic.

Dig.

https://pin.it/28xEOhy

 

[C&M Music - Lafayette]

“There are 12 notes in a scale, not 7.” -EVH

Take forks in the road.
Create forks in the road.

Piles of gold aren’t scattered all over the landscape. It’s hidden and you have to dig for it.

C, F, and D# (Eb [flat]) are the only notes not shown in the scale pic.

Dig.

https://pin.it/28xEOhy

Thank you

 

[jak3af3r]

You are dancing between minor, 7th, and major chords with these notes when combined with the minor and major pentatonic scale.

This scale leaves out the possibility of playing a Major pentatonic scale over B because it doesn't contain A#/Bb

It also doesn't allow for the possibility of any A minor chord because it has determined the note C as C#.

Also according to this scale, I was incorrect in my earlier statement about the V, you don't actually get a major V but a minor V which has poorer voice leading. I apologize for any confusion this may have caused.

The only way you can switch modes around like you ask is because the scale doesn't contain the notes with the parent key (E in this case) to do so.

However, because you have all the notes of the A major scale available, you can except the mode names won't be in relation to the root, rather they'll be in relation to the 4th.

I'm a huge Zeppelin fan and would love to analyze a song if there's one specifically you'd like me to tackle, I'd be more than happy to do that for everyone.

And I agree, we don't want to be boring and predictable. But part of not being boring and predictable is digesting this information and applying it in new and creative ways while using note choices that sound informed.

This is part, I think, of what begins the separation of being a good player to being a great player. And I want everyone to be a great player.

 

[222]

This scale leaves out the possibility of playing a Major pentatonic scale over B because it doesn't contain A#/Bb

It also doesn't allow for the possibility of any A minor chord because it has determined the note C as C#.

Also according to this scale, I was incorrect in my earlier statement about the V, you don't actually get a major V but a minor V which has poorer voice leading. I apologize for any confusion this may have caused.

The only way you can switch modes around like you ask is because the scale doesn't contain the notes with the parent key (E in this case) to do so.

However, because you have all the notes of the A major scale available, you can except the mode names won't be in relation to the root, rather they'll be in relation to the 4th.

I'm a huge Zeppelin fan and would love to analyze a song if there's one specifically you'd like me to tackle, I'd be more than happy to do that for everyone.

And I agree, we don't want to be boring and predictable. But part of not being boring and predictable is digesting this information and applying it in new and creative ways while using note choices that sound informed.

This is part, I think, of what begins the separation of being a good player to being a great player. And I want everyone to be a great player.

You’re not playing one scale or another.
Play B major then A, A#, B on the 6th string.

Everyone Plays E A B and you can stop on any note you want which is what leads to forks in the road.

Again, gold is not found in obvious piles everywhere.

It’s how Page and others blew our minds.

The forks in the road.

 

[Deleted member 5962]

You guys are making me dizzy

 

[222]

You guys are making me dizzy

LoL. DIG

“If it sounds good it is good.” -EVH

 

[Deleted member 5962]

“If it sounds good it is good.” -EVH

Right on! Now, the only issue with that is, you have to have a good enough ear to really "know" what sounds good. I used to have a friend that was big time into theory and he'd be doing a solo and I'd question a note and he'd say something like "I played the blah blah scale there, I guess you just didn't like that." I'd call it a "mistake" because it didn't sound good, but he meant to play the note in question and had knowledge of theory to say it wasn't a mistake but a choice.

But IMO, (to inversely paraphrase Eddie) it doesn't matter what the books say if it sounds bad.

 

[alantig]

I try to end every run/lick/solo on an A note. I call it the Fonzarelli mode, although I've heard it referred to as Canadian Major.

 

[jak3af3r]

Right on! Now, the only issue with that is, you have to have a good enough ear to really "know" what sounds good. I used to have a friend that was big time into theory and he'd be doing a solo and I'd question a note and he'd say something like "I played the blah blah scale there, I guess you just didn't like that." I'd call it a "mistake" because it didn't sound good, but he meant to play the note in question and had knowledge of theory to say it wasn't a mistake but a choice.

But IMO, (to inversely paraphrase Eddie) it doesn't matter what the books say if it sounds bad.

I've been that guy before. It doesn't end well most times.

Another thing I think is a big misunderstanding is the usage of the term "Music Theory" and the way it's taught.

It's easy to see all these "rules" and "don't play this because it clashes with this" as restrictive but the reality is people did whatever sounded good and later people said "What's this guy doing over here?" And put together a list of common practices (a theorem if you will) to simplify the process of teaching everything.

I can sit here all day and argue a flat 13 on a 5 chord provides a better resolution but if nobody likes it, I shouldn't play it.

 

[Deleted member 5962]

I've been that guy before. It doesn't end well most times.

Another thing I think is a big misunderstanding is the usage of the term "Music Theory" and the way it's taught.

It's easy to see all these "rules" and "don't play this because it clashes with this" as restrictive but the reality is people did whatever sounded good and later people said "What's this guy doing over here?" And put together a list of common practices (a theorem if you will) to simplify the process of teaching everything.

I can sit here all day and argue a flat 13 on a 5 chord provides a better resolution but if nobody likes it, I shouldn't play it.

Great post!