tips to learn scales
I admit I have been working on learning David's 'essential scales' for far too long. It just seems it should not be this hard.
1- Do you guys envsion the musical scale? In other words do you know the scale such that you could write it down from memory and then play those notes?
2- Learn the sounds from memory and essentially play by ear?
3- Have that 'mental map' David speaks of and envision the physical harp?
Or maybe you are just good at memorizing.
Any hints?
Gary
All major and minor scales and their derivations use the same set of letters, in the same sequence:
A B C D E F G A B C D E F G etc.
with two alterations:
- The scale will start the sequence with the tonic, or home note of that scale so that, for instance, an E scale will go:E F G A B C D E etc (same sequence, just starting at a different point)Most scales with use all seven notes once, never duplicating a letter name. Only scales with more than seven notes in the scale (such as the diminished scale and the chromatic scale) will use a letter name more than once.
- Sharps or flats are added to some or all of the notes. For major scales, only sharps or only flats are used.
GWK-
My approach to teaching scales has always been "By the Numbers" literally and I have attached a simple chart to show what I mean. I do use a "mental map" but it's always to grab a scale # (or degree) NOT a scale note because while the notes may change over the course of an album - the scale degrees remain relative. Example being; we call out a song as a "1, 4, 5 progression with breaks on the 1" not it's "a C, F, G..." It's far easier (for me and YMMV) to just think in scale degrees.
The pic may not display below but the file is shared here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1X_Nn6QwdBEzQJs-rBsTlb5Fg0UvbQ8A7hl1RTX_VVT8/edit?usp=sharing
In practice I suggest starting with just playing the 1,3 & 5 degrees over the chord changes, or pick two adjacent holes and play thru entire songs learning/feeling where the 1, 4 & 5 are in realtion to each other. See if you can take a dirt-simple lick, transcribe it and see if it can "pleasantly" be played thru the 1,4. 5...by pleasant I mean to the ear.
The charts below are for the I, IV, V progression but if we briefly venture into keys for the 3 standard blues positions we can see that in the key of G
1st Position. G---C---D
2nd Position: C---F---G
3rd Position: D---G---A
and voila we've got 99% of 99% of all the blues harp recordings from 1940 - 1970 if you just add the following scales:
D played on a C harp (the V in 1st position)
A played on a C harp (the IV in 3rd position)
Hummel said it best in one of his interviews here that your mind will be blown when you realize ( & internalize) the fact that your 1st postion G licks work as the V in a C Blues and a IV in a D blues. "ka-boom!!!"
Hope it helps some!
<img
HARONICA: Numbered Scales HOLE12345678910 .5 bend 5#73I ChordBLOW4614614614 DRAW51357b2357b2 .5 bend5b73b5b 2b 1 bend 7b2 ex; Key of G1.5 bend 2b HOLE12345678910 .5 bend 3b5b2bIV ChordBLOW1351351351 DRAW2572467246 .5 bend2b5b7b2b 5# 1 bend 46 ex; Key of C1.5 bend 5# HOLE12345678910 .5 bend 2b37V ChordBLOW7b247b247b247b DRAW14613b5613b5 .5 bend2b35#2b 5b 1 bend 3b5 ex; Key of D1.5 bend 5b
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Im now making progress. Got this on anotheer site
1- write the scale down on paper. Memorize it there
2- say the scale outloud
3- Say the scale then play it at the speed no faster than you can say it from memory
It works