Idiot's Guides - Music Theory Read online

  E-flat Major

  E Major

  F Major

  F-sharp Major

  G-flat Major

  G Major

  A-flat Major

  A Major

  B-flat Major

  B Major

  C-flat Major

  Note that several of these scales are enharmonic. (Remember that word from Chapter 1? It means two notes that are identical, but spelled differently.) So C-sharp Major and D-flat Major are just different ways of describing the same notes, as are F-sharp Major and G-flat Major, and B Major and C-flat Major.

  NOTE

  The seventh note of any scale is sometimes called the leading note because it leads up to the tonic of the scale.

  Minor Scales

  Minor scales sound a little less “up” than major scales. This is partly because the third note of the minor scale is a minor interval, whereas the third note of the major scale is a major interval. That little half step between a minor third and a major third makes all the difference in the world!

  Not to confuse you, but whereas there was a single type of major scale, there actually are three types of minor scales: natural, harmonic, and melodic. We’ll look at each scale separately.

  Natural Minor

  The easiest minor scale to construct is the natural minor scale. You can think of the natural minor in terms of its corresponding major scale. When you start and end a major scale on the sixth note, instead of the tonic, you get a natural minor scale.

  Here’s an example: play a C Major scale (C D E F G A B C). Now move up five notes to the sixth note—or just move down two notes. (It’s the same thing—up five or down two—both put you on the A.) Now play an eight-note scale, but using the notes in C Major. What you get—A B C D E F G A—is the A minor (natural) scale.

  NOTE

  If you start your natural minor scale on A (the A minor scale), you will play all white keys on the piano. The A natural minor scale is the only minor scale that uses only the white keys; all the other scales have black keys in them.

  As you can see, each natural minor scale shares the same tones as a specific major scale. The following table shows you which minor scales match up with which major scales.

  Relative Major and Minor Scales

  Major Scale

  Related Natural Minor Scale

  C Major

  A minor

  C-sharp Major

  A-sharp minor

  D-flat Major

  B-flat minor

  D Major

  B minor

  E-flat Major

  C minor

  E Major

  D-flat (C-sharp) minor

  F Major

  D minor

  F-sharp Major

  D-sharp minor

  G-flat Major

  E-flat minor

  G Major

  E minor

  A-flat Major

  F minor

  A Major

  F-sharp (G-flat) minor

  B-flat Major

  G minor

  B Major

  G-sharp minor

  C-flat Major

  A-flat minor

  Every natural minor scale uses the same intervals, as shown in the following table.

  The Intervals of the Natural Minor Scale

  Note

  Half Steps to Next Note

  Tonic

  2

  Second

  1

  Third

  2

  Fourth

  2

  Fifth

  1

  Sixth

  2

  Seventh

  2

  Put another way, the intervals in a natural minor scale go like this: whole, half, whole, whole, half, whole, whole.

  To make things easier for you, the following table shows all the notes in the 15 natural minor scales.

  The 15 Natural Minor Scales

  Scale

  Notes

  C minor

  C-sharp minor

  D minor

  D-sharp minor

  E-flat minor

  E minor

  F minor

  F-sharp minor

  G minor

  G-sharp minor

  A-flat minor

  A minor

  A-sharp minor

  B-flat minor

  B minor

  Harmonic Minor

  The harmonic minor scale is similar to the natural minor scale, except the seventh note is raised a half step. Some musicians prefer this type of minor scale because the seventh note better leads up to the tonic of the scale. (It’s a half step up to the tonic, as opposed to the whole step in the natural minor scale.)

  The following table details the intervals between the notes in the harmonic minor scale.

  The Intervals of the Harmonic Minor Scale

  Note

  Half Steps to Next Note

  Tonic

  2

  Second

  1

  Third

  2

  Fourth

  2

  Fifth

  1

  Sixth

  3

  Seventh

  1

  Put another way, the intervals in a harmonic minor scale go like this: whole, half, whole, whole, half, whole and a half, half.

  To make things easier for you, the following table shows all the notes in the 15 harmonic minor scales.

  The 15 Harmonic Minor Scales

  Scale

  Notes

  C minor

  C-sharp minor

  D minor

  D-sharp minor

  E-flat minor

  E minor

  F minor

  F-sharp minor

  G minor

  G-sharp minor

  A-flat minor

  A minor

  A-sharp minor

  B-flat minor

  B minor

  Note: the “x” you see before several of the notes in the previous table is a double sharp. It means you raise the base note two half steps.

  Melodic Minor

  The only problem with the harmonic minor scale is that the interval between the sixth and seventh notes is three half steps—and you seldom have an interval in a scale wider than two half steps. (It’s just too awkward to sing.) So the melodic minor scale raises both the sixth and seventh notes of the natural minor scale by a half step each, resulting in the following intervals.

  The Intervals of the Melodic Minor Scale

  Note

  Half Steps to Next Note

  Tonic

  2

  Second

  1

  Third

  2

  Fourth

  2

  Fifth

  2

  Sixth

  2

  Seventh

  1

  Put another way, the intervals in the melodic minor scale go like this: whole, half, whole, whole, whole, whole, half.

  To make things easier for you, the following table shows all the notes in the 15 melodic minor scales.

  The 15 Melodic Minor Scales

  Scale

  Notes

  C minor

  C-sharp minor

  D minor

  D-sharp minor

  E-flat minor

  E minor

  F minor

  F-sharp minor

  G minor

  G-sharp minor

  A-flat minor

  A minor

  A-sharp minor

  B-flat minor

  B minor

  As if three minor scales weren’t enough to deal with, some music theorists use this melodic minor scale only when you’re going “up” the scale. (They call this the ascending melodic minor scale.) Going back “down” (the descending melodic minor scale), they use the notes in the natural minor scale. So the sixth and the seventh degrees are raised on the way up, but not on the way down. Theorists are split on this issue, however; some use the melodic
minor scale both ascending and descending, and others use the two different scales. It’s okay to use a single scale, as presented here, as long as you’re aware of the alternate way of doing things.

  In the Mode

  If a scale is a combination of eight successive notes (in alphabetical order, of course), do any eight notes make a scale? Not necessarily. Once you get past the major and minor scales, all the other eight-note combinations aren’t technically called scales; they’re called modes.

  There are seven essential modes, each of which you can think of as starting on a different degree of the major scale. You stay within the relative major scale; you just start on different notes. For example, the Dorian mode starts on the second degree of the major scale. In relation to the C Major scale, the Dorian mode starts on D, and continues upward (D, E, F, G, A, B, C, D). The same holds true for the Phrygian mode, which starts on the third degree of the related major scale—in C Major: E, F, G, A, B, C, D, E.

  NOTE

  It’s convenient to think of modes in relation to a specific major scale, but modes are arrangements of intervals in and of themselves. In practice, any mode can start on any note.

  Modes are important when you’re constructing melodies. When you create a melody based on a specific mode, you get to create a different sound or feel while staying within the notes of a traditional major scale. You just start and stop in different places. (Melodies based around specific modes are called modal melodies.)

  NOTE

  Chronologically, modes were around long before scales. The major and minor scales we use today came after the introduction of the various modes, and were, in fact, based on the Ionian and Aeolian modes, respectively. Modes date all the way back to the ancient Greeks, and the findings of Pythagoras and Aristotle. The number and use of modes were expanded in the era of the medieval church, where they were called church modes and used in the form of plainsong called Gregorian chant.

  Ionian

  If you’re a musician, you play the Ionian mode all the time without really knowing it because the Ionian mode starts on the tonic of the related major scale—and contains the same notes as the major scale. The following table details the half steps between the notes of the Ionian mode.

  The Intervals of the Ionian

  Note

  Half Steps to Next Note

  Tonic

  2

  Second

  2

  Third

  1

  Fourth

  2

  Fifth

  2

  Sixth

  2

  Seventh

  1

  The C Ionian mode consists of the following notes:

  The C Ionian mode—just like the C Major scale.

  Dorian

  The Dorian mode can be thought of as starting on the second note of a major scale. It sounds a little like a natural minor scale, but with a raised sixth. (To get an idea what Dorian mode sounds like, listen to Simon and Garfunkel’s “Scarborough Fair”; it’s composed entirely in Dorian mode.) The intervals between notes in the Dorian mode are as follows.

  The Intervals of Dorian Mode

  Note

  Half Steps to Next Note

  Tonic

  2

  Second

  1

  Third

  2

  Fourth

  2

  Fifth

  2

  Sixth

  1

  Seventh

  2

  D Dorian is relative to the key of C, and consists of the following notes:

  D Dorian mode, relative to the key of C.

  Phrygian

  The Phrygian mode can be thought of as starting on the third note of the related major scale. Like the Dorian mode, it sounds like a natural minor scale—but with a lowered second degree. The intervals between notes in the Phrygian mode are as follows.

  The Intervals of the Phrygian Mode

  Note

  Half Steps to Next Note

  Tonic

  1

  Second

  2

  Third

  2

  Fourth

  2

  Fifth

  1

  Sixth

  2

  Seventh

  2

  E Phrygian is relative to the key of C, and consists of the following notes:

  E Phrygian mode, relative to the key of C.

  Lydian

  The Lydian mode can be thought of as starting on the fourth note of a major scale. It’s an almost-major scale, but with a raised fourth. The intervals between notes in the Lydian mode are as follows.

  The Intervals of the Lydian Mode

  Note

  Half Steps to Next Note

  Tonic

  2

  Second

  2

  Third

  2

  Fourth

  1

  Fifth

  2

  Sixth

  2

  Seventh

  1

  F Lydian mode is relative to the key of C, and consists of the following notes:

  F Lydian mode, relative to the key of C.

  Mixolydian

  The Mixolydian mode can be thought of as starting on the fifth note of the related major scale. Like the Lydian mode, it’s sort of major sounding, but in this case with a lowered seventh. The intervals between notes in the Mixolydian mode are as shown in the following table.

  The Intervals of the Mixolydian

  Note

  Half Steps to Next Note

  Tonic

  2

  Second

  2

  Third

  1

  Fourth

  2

  Fifth

  2

  Sixth

  1

  Seventh

  2

  G Mixolydian mode is relative to the key of C and consists of the following notes:

  G Mixolydian mode in the key of C.

  Aeolian

  The Aeolian mode contains the exact same notes as the natural minor scale. It can be thought of as starting on the sixth note of the related major scale. The intervals between notes in the Aeolian mode are as follows.

  The Intervals of the Aeolian Mode

  Note

  Half Steps to Next Note

  Note

  Half Steps to Next Note

  Tonic

  2

  Second

  1

  Third

  2

  Fourth

  2

  Fifth

  1

  Sixth

  2

  Seventh

  2

  You use the Aeolian mode a lot when you play blues and jazz tunes. A Aeolian is relative to the key of C, and consists of the following notes:

  A Aeolian mode, relative to the key of C.

  Locrian

  The Locrian mode can be thought of as starting on the seventh note of the related major scale. It’s probably the weirdest sounding of all the modes, because all the leading notes are in all the wrong places. Back in olden times, Locrian was a mode that existed in theory only; it wasn’t used in actual music. Today, however, the Locrian mode is used in some jazz music, and in some new music compositions. The intervals between notes in the Locrian mode are as follows.