using scales

[Sineth]

hello every body, how r u all doing?

now, i learned a couple of sets of scales, but what i wanna know is how to use them in improvising a solo. my bandmates say im only supposed to use the keys that are in that scale, then again, the chromatic scale includes all the keys, so what would be the point. :confused: can somebody plz tell me how?

Thx in advance.

[ImaX]

I'm not very good in soloing in different scales - but if you play a scale every scale sounds different. Like Major sounds positive and Minor sounds negative, some others sound "dreamy" and so on. So if you play some notes of a specific scale in a solo this part of your solo will get the typical sound of the scale you used.

That's how I think it could work, sorry for my limited english in this case :-)

[Andelusion]

I'd suggest you get a few books relating to music theory and scales as this is a huge topic really which appears daunting at first, but the knowledge required to know a lot can be acquired quite quickly if you look in the right places :p

[Antonio Mazzei]

in jazz, i like to improvise with the Half diminished, for example in C :

C D E F# G# A# C --- pure tone scale, also i like to improvise into 5th grade upsetted scale... for example E min7 b5 .. E F G A Bb C D that one is very cool :P

[Liquid Shadow]

The C example you gave was whole tone, not half diminished. You did say "pure tone" so maybe you didn't actually mean that was half diminished?


The second scale (the Em one) is usually referred to as locrian...in my experience. Never heard it called what you said before.



But I suppose you probably have different terminology than we do here.

[Athox]

I find the whole tone scale dissonant, even if the chords are supposed to fit (augmented and what not)... but maybe that's just my freaky ears... :tongue:

Here's a nice scale site, Marc Sabatella's Jazz Primer: http://www.outsideshore.com/primer/primer/
With the chord vs scale chart: http://www.outsideshore.com/primer/primer/ms-primer-4-7.html

Print it and put it up on the wall next to the piano. You know you'll thank me. :wink:

And about the two previous posts:
- The whole tone scale is the term for C-D-E-F#-G#-A#-C.
- Half dimished (locrian#2) in E would be C-D-Eb-F-Gb-Ab-Bb-C. Normal locrian would then be Db instead of D.
- The Em7b5 chord can be used as a consonant base for both E locrian scales (as seen in the link provided), so you're on the same wavelength. :tongue:

[Asho]

I've found it a little hard to improvise with scales, desptie knowing a fair few. My teacher says improvising with chords is much better.

Probably why my improv solos are pretty average.... :tongue:

So learn as many chords as you can, then once you know the key you can string something together cool.

[mlunapiena01]

for ideas on what you can do w/ scales... check out some of the keyboard parts for DT music...a lot of it is ascending or descending scales, or else it's an arpeggio of some sort.... usually, a combination of the two with some sort of tuplet rhythm...

improvising w/ chords generally works better than just improvising with scales b/c we use chords in music for something known as functional harmony, they provide the direction the piece of music is going in and allow for things like key changes & modulations and all sorts of other stuff...

I'd write more, btu I don't think I can do it coherently enough, as I'm really tiread atm, so if you've got any questions, just reply and let me know.

[Bastardo Demono]

ok basically you think of soloing as writing a melody over chords, and use the same ideas as that, only get a bit more showy. first you think of the chords you are playing over, and make sure you are playing in a scale that fits the chord changes, like you dont want to be playing in d minor over an eflat minor triad, because that scale has no "common tones" with that chord. the common tones are notes that the scale and chord have in common. Usually, the chords that work best for that scale are based off every note of that scale. So once you determine the key to be playing in over that chord/chord changes, then starting soloing, with putting emphasis on chord tones, and use non chord tones as passing, neighbor, or suspension tones. Which basically means that when you play notes that arent part of the chord, you try not to emphasize them on strong beats too much and make sure you resolve to a chord tone soon after playing them. As long as you play in a key that relates to the chord you are playing over, and you stay around chord tones at the right moments (strong beats, after playing non chord tones) you should sound cool. also, the chromatic scale is not used for improvising, only as rare florish you dont have to worry about. and I would just stick to major, natural minor, harmonic minor, and pentatonic scales for now. ok that is a basic explanation, hope it helps at all.

[Staccato]

To just stick to the scales can be good, but also bad.. the most important thing to me is the ears. The whole tone scale might sound good to you or maybe it doesn´t.. that´s a decision you have to make. Maybe you´ll change your mind later on, but for now, stick with the things that sounds good to your ears. Pentatonic scales often sounds good.. major and minor are quite accepted too, but it´s a matter of taste. My way of improvising is to always have a goal, a special note.. and then I try to reach it some way... sometimes a use notes in chords.. other times scales.. sometimes I come up with my own special figure, or own scale.. everything that I think sounds good, I use.

[FRETPICK]

I know it sounds boring but the C Major scale is a very good place to start. I think it's so simple that people overlook it as an easy scale. Well it is, but you can get so much info from it!!


Get your basic scale.= C D E F G A B

Then Harmonize it= R 3rd 5th

So C, E , G.

& it will sort of look like this.

5.G
3.E
1.C This = a C MAJOR TRIAD.

The start from D.= R 3rd 5th

5.A
3.F
1.D This = a D MINOR TRAID.

Then start from the other notes.....you get the point? But the formula for this goes.....


MmmMMmO.

This will give you all the chords in that key. Then you just have to move on to the other chords family & scale's.