Scale spellingAn important area to understand is the concept of scale spelling. In practise this is something that can be a bit confusing so I thought I'd try and explain it here using examples.
So the first thing is 'What is a scale spelling'. Simply put this is just giving each note in the scale a number. Each major scale has 8 notes (including the octave, more on what an octave is to follow), so the numbers run from 1 to 8. The two main things to bear in mind with scale spellings is that they are all intended to show how the scale you are looking at relates to a major scale and secondly, that just because a scale spelling might contain a flattened note it doesn't mean that the actual note you play is a flattened note (see told you it could be confusing). Let's use the C Major, A Major, C Natural Minor and A Natural minor scales to explain this. The scale spelling for major scales is 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8. This means that the first note in the scale is given the number 1, the second the number 2 and so on (see pretty basic). So notes in the C Major scale are numbered. 1 = C, 2 = D, 3 = E, 4 = F, 5 = G, 6 = A, 7 = B, 8 = C So far so good. Now the scale spelling for a Natural minor scale is 1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7 8 So if you take the 3rd, 6th and 7th notes of the C Major scale (E, A and B) and take them down a fret (towards the head) on your guitar The E becomes Eb, A becomes Ab and B becomes Bb. This means the notes for a C Natural minor scale are C D Eb F G Ab Bb C 1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7 8 So what's confusing about that? Not a lot really until you apply the same logic so something like the A Major and A Natural minor scales. The key signature (key signatures will be explained a bit later on) for the A Major scale is 3 sharps so whilst the scale spelling remains the same. some of the notes are sharpened thus. 1 = A, 2 = B, 3 = C#, 4 = D, 5 = E, 6 = F#, 7 = G#, 8 = A. So where does the confusion come in?. Well if you take the scale spelling for the natural minor scale again to this scale you'll have to again take those notes down by a fret on your guitar. BUT whilst you're flattening a note (remember it’s b3, b6, b7) the notes that you're applying that to are already sharpened by the key signature (C#, F# and G#.) so what you end up with is that the C# becomes a C (not a Cb), the F# becomes a F (not a Fb), and the G# becomes a G (not a Gb), so the notes in the A Natural minor scale are A B C D E F G A 1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7 8 Once you get your head around this you can then use the same logic to work out any scale from its scale spelling as long as you know the key signature of the major scale you’re applying it to. |
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Theory Home Scales - what are they? Major Scale Natural Minor Scale Scale spelling Sharp Keys Flat Keys Pentatonic Scales COMING SOON Blues Scale Chord Construction Major Chords Major 7th Chords Minor Chords Minor 7th Chords Dominant 7th Chords Minor 7th Flat 5 Chords Diminished Chords Augmented Chords Suspended Chords |