Basic Scales in Music Theory, the Musicians Playground Let’s explore the element of music theory scales. This is where the great musicians understand and know what music scale is being used is how the really neat sounds can occur. Music scales are the structures that make up which notes are used and how chords are constructed within all the key signatures.  Now that sounds like a lot of things to consider. It is! Yet it can be conquered...

A Diminished Scale Swap The polytonal is  a scale inversion of the diminished scale which is inverted by a major third down. As with the diminished scale students don’t really learn about polytonal scales unless they study the former and even then they might not truly understand why this scale is different.  Because we have taken the time to discover the diminished scale in detail the inversion of this scale should go very smoothly. The...

Three Types of Minor Scales – Oh My! The scales that represent the three minors present one of the biggest challenges for music students.  This section will review and clarify the application and use of these scales. The three types of minors present a dilemma as to what each is meant to accomplish.   The in depth reasons of the whys and whats can be accomplished through research. The foundation of the how is what is covered here. An...

The Tension Scale! The diminished scale presents a unique set of circumstances to learn a special type of scale.  Although many students learn about diminished chords the scale is not typically one of the areas that many music students take time to study.  What this really means is that you can invert the scale form and accomplish all twelve note pitch starting points. As we work through the math formula you see how this is accomplished. The...

Praise the Scale The gospel version of the scale is another bluesy scale which is an inversion based on the second note  of the basic blues scale. This scale has a slightly different feel and is used in gospel tunes thus the name of the scale. So lets’ form the pattern of this scale by comparing it to the blues scale. As we stated it is an inversion of the blues scale that starts on the 2nd note of the scale. Interesting enough it’s...

The Structure of Music Starts Here One of the biggest issues associated with learning music is why do we learn scales.  The significance of learning the scales is in application to a song or in composition. The phrases and chords are built around the notes of a scale. The notes of the song will be based on the scale or key signature being used. If you were playing a song with a specific major scale structure, then it would not make since that...