General Discussion Poker Forums

Music theory basics:

Notes
Scales
Keys
Chords

I am going to avoid discussing rhythm for now, as I find that to be completely separate from the difficulties of melodic and harmonic composition. I'm no expert and I haven't really even written many songs, but I have a good ear and can probably help illustrate some basics. Plus I took the AP music theory test and got a 5, but that was like 6 years ago.

Notes

Notes and pitches are of course the building blocks of music. The letters used to define notes are A B C D E F G, and we can add either sharps or flats to these notes to obtain different pitches. In modern western music, notes are defined using a system called "twelve-tone equal temperament" which in laymans terms just means there are 12 different pitches (aka half-steps or semitones) that are equally spaced apart in each octave. The distance between two notes is called an interval and is usually measured by the number of steps between the notes. The 12 semitones are:

A Bb B C Db D Eb E F Gb G Ab

We can also write the notes using sharps:

A A# B C C# D D# E F F# G G#

A# and Bb are the same, in case that isn't apparent.

Scales

Once we understand how notes work we can discuss scales. Scales are just a series of notes in a row that (usually) sound pleasing to the ear and finish and end on the same note in different octaves. The chromatic scale is composed by simply playing the 12 semitones or half-steps described above in a row. On a guitar, you can play any chromatic scale fairly simply as you just run your finger up the fretboard one fret at a time. It is much more difficult to play chromatics on wind instruments as the fingerings change depending on the starting note. This illustrates one of the benefits of guitar; the ability to play in any key with minimal changes to the performance of the song. Of course with a capo, you can play in any key without ANY changes to your performance.

Moving past chromatic scales would be the diatonic scales. Diatonic scales are 7 notes (8 counting the repeated root note in the high octave) that follow a pattern of spacing, unlike the chromatic which contains all tones in a given octave. In other words, the diatonic scale takes the chromatic scale and skips 5 of those notes. The pattern of half-steps and whole-steps (whole step = two half steps obv) is as follows for diatonic scales:

W W H W W W H

Major and minor scales are different variants of diatonic scales. The only difference between a major and minor scale is simply a different starting position on the diatonic. The scale above is actually the major scale. Here is C major:

C D E F G A B C

There are no sharps or flats, and if you follow the pattern you'll see that from C to D is a whole step, D to E another, E to F a half, etc etc.

Minor keys just shift that starting point on our diatonic scale. Instead of the pattern listed above, now we want this pattern of whole and half-steps:

W H W W H W W

If we keep using C as our root note, we have to add sharps and/or flats to get our desired intervals:

C D Eb F G Ab Bb C

We would call this the parallel minor of C. We're starting to see how this stuff is formed and related, but in practice we rarely switch back and forth between parallel majors and minors--instead we tend to look at the relative majors and minors. These are simply scales that share the same key signature; in other words they have the same sharps and flats. Think of your favorite happy song; there's usually a somewhat dark part towards the end but before the final chorus, right? That is called the bridge of the song, and it usually involves a key change to the relative minor before returning for the happy finish.

The relative minor of C is simply the minor scale that has no sharps or flats:

G A B C D E F

Once we understand notes and scales we can move on to keys and chords, but I'm going to have to save that post for later. To be continued!

Plus I took the AP music theory test and got a 5

I have nothing to add other than it must have been pretty sweet to test out of those brutal freshman music theory classes.

Ok, I'm scandinavian, so conventions may differ, but for me the parallel minor to C major isn't C minor but A minor.

It's called parallel due to the fact that they share the same notes, so the C major scale is

C D E F G A B C

the A minor scale is

A B C D E F G A



While C-minor as you listed is

C D Eb F G Ab Bb C

Which is another ballpark



Anyways on my way to bed as it is past midnight, but I'll drop in later.

Btw nice job Tuba ... solid work laying down the building blocks (tho furn really starts when we reach chords and tension ... )

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_key

In music, parallel keys are the major and minor scales that have the same tonic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relative_key

In music, relative keys are the major and minor scales that have the same key signatures.

Sick thread. The jazz guy in me is looking forward to the discussion on modes. gogogo

shit epic fail....gelford's post did help me realize that for the relative minor of C i should have used A as he did in his post. brain fart.

A note to any and all who're interested in learning theory: Go buy a cheap MIDI keyboard. Learning theory with a keyboard in front of you is a million times easier. You don't need to know how to play keyboard, but if you learn theory you should be able to play keyboard so it's a win-win.

shit epic fail....gelford's post did help me realize that for the relative minor of C i should have used A as he did in his post. brain fart.

Meh .. wateva ... btw, I just checked up on it, and over here the we use term parallel to denote keys that share the same tonic.

Hmm... not the thread I expected to find on DC.

Glad to see it though.

Also worth noting is that you can take a more practical view on all of this and simply put it down to tradition. Back in the days when cutting edge top of the charts rock'n'roll consisted of monk donking around in monestaries, they favored the diatonic scales.


I think this might have to do with difficulties in constructing and tuning a piano (hapsichord rather, don't think the piano was invented yet), so the seven white key would be in tune, but the black keys would only be so so in tune.


So this became tradition.


So tradition has given us these 7 notes.


C D E F G A B (C)


This lead to seven scales, but the major and the minor scales are the dominant ones unless you turn to jazz (or classical music).



So what is this rant about, well ... just saying there the 'theory' of scales is just tradition.


So we are left with two scales, C major (C D E F G A B C) and A minor (A B C D E F G A)



If you don't continue Tuba, I'm going to return tonight and write something about tension

OK ... a quick comment about tension.


Note how if you play a C major scale and then play the following notes.


C B C B C B A B .... and then stop ...



Most likely you ear will be frustrated and you'll long to hit a C to end it and realease the tension. The root is C and if you stop on a B, a note that is very close to C, you will feel tension and long for returning to the root which is C.


Anyways, this is the basic way of creating tension in music and is key when discussing harmonies. Since Tuba has covered scales so well, I imagine chords are next.

So we are left with two scales, C major (C D E F G A B C) and A minor (A B C D E F G A)

what do you mean by this? do you mean to say they are the most common scales (and not just particular to C maj and A min, but rather "the major scale" and "the minor scale")?

what do you mean by this? do you mean to say they are the most common scales (and not just particular to C maj and A min, but rather "the major scale" and "the minor scale")?

It means they're relative. Major and minor scales have relatives. C Major and A Minor use the same notes, but use start on a different root note.

For example, E Major E, F♯, G♯, A, B, C♯, D♯, E has the relative minor of C#Minor because it uses the same notes but start on C# instead C♯, D♯, E, F♯, G♯, A, B, C♯

Sick thread. The jazz guy in me is looking forward to the discussion on modes. gogogo

Favorite mode? Mine is Phrygian, made marginally famous by "Phrygian Gates" by John Adams (not the president).