Questions tagged [scales]
For questions about playing, understanding, or studying scales.
1,298 questions
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What is the sharp notation of the simple degrees for the chromatic scale?
I'm having a hard time finding information on the topic, it would be great if you could help.
As I understand, simple degrees are usually written following the flat notation (1, ♭2, 2, ♭3, 3, 4, ♭5, 5,...
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Can a bass play a scale on two frets? [closed]
I was wondering if there's a way to tune bass so that a scale can be played straight across on 2 frets?
Thank you
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About Harp Pedaling for a Pentatonic Glissando
The C pentatonic scale has 5 notes: C D E G A. Since harp has 7 strings per octave, pedaling is needed. I've come to know that it shall be set as: C D E# F G A B#, in which the pitches "F" ...
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What's the scale/chord?
Fiddling around with my piano I came across this chord:
C - E - G - Ab
I find it most natural to play it back and forth in an arpeggiated manner. I am certain that I have heard it before in a sci-fi/...
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Am I overthinking the scales for these chords? (Jazz-inspired piece, non-jazz musician)
I’m working through a piece with some rich harmony, and I’m trying to choose appropriate scales to play over the chords. It’s not strictly jazz, but it borrows a lot of jazz language — extended chords,...
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Trying to understand the scale(s) and chord progression of a waltz song
I'm trying to analyse one of my favourite songs, "Waltz for One":
I'm learning piano and would like to improvise over it, but the scale of the song isn't clear ...
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Key of Eb but using an E
I am working on a song and have started with the key of Eb for some inspiration. I am finding many times that I want to play an E.
In the verse, I am playing an Eb Major chord and then a G minor ...
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Are there names for these scales (locrian with added ♮6, phrygian with added ♮3)?
My jazz teacher has me practice scales by playing through a song and playing a scale for each measure.
Mostly this involves playing the scale of the current key center starting from the root of the ...
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Why think of the Aeolian mode as an altered *major* scale?
I'm working through the book The Musician's Guide to Aural Skills: Sight Singing, by Murphy, Phillips, Marvin, Clendenning (Third Edition), which in general I am finding to be excellent, but something ...
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Can I keep my thumb on the B♭ Briccialdi key?
A couple of elementary flute books lead me to believe that the standard fingering for the note B♭ on the flute is:
Note
Thumb
Left Hand
Right Hand
Little Finger
B♭(i)
B♮
1 – –
1 – –
D♯
It follows ...
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Pythagoras and his Scale Degrees: Modes [duplicate]
Why did Pythagoras name each scale/modal degree off regions of Greece?
1.) Ionian
2.) Dorian
3.) Phyrigian
4.) Lydian
5.) Mixolydian
6.) Aeolian
7.) Locrian
Are they characteristics of the music of ...
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How do you make reference to this note in a relative way?
Me and my band have an intermdiate knowledge of musical theory, please look at this image to see how we reference each note. In a C minor context:
As you can see, there we have a way to reference all ...
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Chord progression in F but with a stray B note
Longtime lazy play-by-ear guitarist, now working on learning theory (and if it matters, mainly focusing on the ukulele now)
I was fiddling around the other night and came up with a progression that I'...
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Representing notes of the musical scale with color
I know this might sound a bit like the bikeshedding problem, or what's the best pizza topping in the world...
But if you have to choose a way to use color to represent notes of the musical scale (e.g. ...
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Harmonic minor 'A'. How is left hand (bass staff) affected?
I'm following along Alfred's basic adult piano course book. They've introduced a harmonic minor scale, but I'm confused about what happens to the bass staff.
In the book it says "The 7th tone (G) ...
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scale degree notation question
While watching Seth Monahan's Youtube videos on Classical harmony and counterpoint,
I noticed that he used ^1 ^2 ^3 ^4 ^5 ^6 ^7 for minor scale.
I have read harmony books on different genres other ...
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Identity of scale of chord progression I created
While messing around with my piano, and experimenting with different chords, I created a pleasant-sounding chord progression. Problem is, I've spent a long while trying to identify what scale is ...
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Is there a ''mathematical'' reason for the distinction of black/white keys on a piano or is there only a cultural reason?
This question can be found in different forms on the internet and this website. Unfortunately, I am not satisfied with the given answers: They are partly even different from another. So please let me ...
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Fuzzy notes or some clearer, well-known term out there for what I mean?
Pondering about a yet-to-implement feature in a DIY software tool, also to be yet well-documented for other computer musicians who might be interested in the future.
The tool is an interpreter or ...
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Chopin Nocturne in C sharp minor Scales RH and LF correspondence, does one choice make more sense musically than another?
Take the longest scale (measure 56--in this previous discussion some alternatives were given but it does not address my question): The Henle edition I have (shown here) seems to group rather evenly (...
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Major chords on bass guitar
So I've been playing the bass for about a year and a half, I play most nights and play with friends as often as I can. Until now I have only played songs I can get tab for, and spend time learning it ...
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I can generally sing on-key, but I fear that I'll sing off key in front of the audience. What should I do?
So I've been wondering that: I can generally sing a song with correct pitches (is it called on-key singing? Sorry, english is not my first language) without guide melody on home.
But throughout my ...
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Are there widely accepted names for 31edo modes?
I am looking for scales and modes in 31edo, and I found this page:
https://en.xen.wiki/w/31edo_modes
It's overall a nice library of scales. The issue is, the namings are too unique that I cannot find ...
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Why is the key typically the first and/or last note (or chord) of a song?
Is there a strategical reason when composing for the key to commonly be the first and/or last note (or chord) of a song?
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What is a scale consisting of Root, m3, M3, P4, P5, M6, m7 called?
In a chord progression that follows a circle-of-fourths pattern with each chord being a dominant 7 chord (each chord is R, M3, 5, m7), each successive pair of chords contains 7 notes, with one shared ...
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