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But it's not that bad, there are only 7 notes (tones)
C, D, E, F, G, A, B
And then one or two variations of each note, that raise or lower the pitch by a half-step, so there are 21 notes, actually.
C♭, C, C#, D♭, D, D#, E♭, E, E#, F♭, F, F#, G♭, G, G#, A♭, A, A#, B♭, B, B#
But it's not that bad, because the notes are two half-steps away from each other (except for B/C, E/F), so that means a lot of them overlap, so you only need to know 12!
C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#, A, A#, B
or
C, D♭, D, E♭, E, F, G♭, G, A♭, A, B♭, B
C# is equal to D♭!
That's not so much to memorize, is it? Great, let's learn scales!
If you grew up listening to Western music, you probably are very familiar with Major scales. An example of one is the 7 notes from the beginning:
C, D, E, F, G, A, B
I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII
That was the C major scale, because it starts with C. You can assign them roman numerals if you're fancy.
You may be thinking, do I have to learn all 12 major scales? It's not that bad!
A major scale can be constructed from the same intervals starting on any root. Above is the C major scale, because it starts with C.
These intervals are:
W(hole step) W W H(alf step) W W W H.
What if we want to do a D major scale? We can follow the same pattern:
D, E, F#, G#, A, B, C#, D
If you just follow the pattern, you don't need all the possible scales written out for you!
Then there are minor scales, which follow the pattern:
W H W W W H W
C D E♭ F G A B♭ C
Great! Now you know all the major and minor scales! Just kidding, no you don't, there are more forms of major and minor scales with different constructions. Any construction you can think of probably already has a name. A scale made up of all half steps is called "chromatic", for example.
Now let's talk chords.
A chord is the 1st, 3rd, 5th (optionally, 7th and even 9th (which is the 2nd, but higher)) notes in any scale. So a C Major chord would be
C, E, G, (B, D)
Many songs are made up of chord progressions, which you are probably already familiar with. There's one chord, that you hear dominantly for a few measures, then it switches to another chord, and then another, until it repeats. That's standard in rock, pop, blues, jazz, all kinds of western music. The "bedrock" of all those styles is a repeating pattern of chords, and everything else is just placed on top of it.
Here's the hard part. Let's use blues as an example.
The blues follows a basic progression.
For example, in C Major:
C, C, C, C,
F, F, C, C,
G, F, C, G
These are our chords from earlier
These also relate to our scales from earlier.
If you play the scale along with the chord, it will sound in tune.
If you play a note that's not in that scale along, it will sound out of tune.
So if you want to jam along with a song, or improvise a solo, but it sounds bad, that's why! You need to know what chord is being played, and then you need to know what notes are in the corresponding scale, and of course, you need to know how to play those notes on your instrument.
I don't know if I'm capable of recalling to mind all the notes in an F scale, then all the notes in a G scale, then all the notes in a B minor scale, to be able to play the right notes according to the progression of a song. I don't know how anyone does it. Music is hard.
I'll keep practicing.
C, D, E, F, G, A, B
And then one or two variations of each note, that raise or lower the pitch by a half-step, so there are 21 notes, actually.
C♭, C, C#, D♭, D, D#, E♭, E, E#, F♭, F, F#, G♭, G, G#, A♭, A, A#, B♭, B, B#
But it's not that bad, because the notes are two half-steps away from each other (except for B/C, E/F), so that means a lot of them overlap, so you only need to know 12!
C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#, A, A#, B
or
C, D♭, D, E♭, E, F, G♭, G, A♭, A, B♭, B
C# is equal to D♭!
That's not so much to memorize, is it? Great, let's learn scales!
If you grew up listening to Western music, you probably are very familiar with Major scales. An example of one is the 7 notes from the beginning:
C, D, E, F, G, A, B
I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII
That was the C major scale, because it starts with C. You can assign them roman numerals if you're fancy.
You may be thinking, do I have to learn all 12 major scales? It's not that bad!
A major scale can be constructed from the same intervals starting on any root. Above is the C major scale, because it starts with C.
These intervals are:
W(hole step) W W H(alf step) W W W H.
What if we want to do a D major scale? We can follow the same pattern:
D, E, F#, G#, A, B, C#, D
If you just follow the pattern, you don't need all the possible scales written out for you!
Then there are minor scales, which follow the pattern:
W H W W W H W
C D E♭ F G A B♭ C
Great! Now you know all the major and minor scales! Just kidding, no you don't, there are more forms of major and minor scales with different constructions. Any construction you can think of probably already has a name. A scale made up of all half steps is called "chromatic", for example.
Now let's talk chords.
A chord is the 1st, 3rd, 5th (optionally, 7th and even 9th (which is the 2nd, but higher)) notes in any scale. So a C Major chord would be
C, E, G, (B, D)
Many songs are made up of chord progressions, which you are probably already familiar with. There's one chord, that you hear dominantly for a few measures, then it switches to another chord, and then another, until it repeats. That's standard in rock, pop, blues, jazz, all kinds of western music. The "bedrock" of all those styles is a repeating pattern of chords, and everything else is just placed on top of it.
Here's the hard part. Let's use blues as an example.
The blues follows a basic progression.
For example, in C Major:
C, C, C, C,
F, F, C, C,
G, F, C, G
These are our chords from earlier
These also relate to our scales from earlier.
If you play the scale along with the chord, it will sound in tune.
If you play a note that's not in that scale along, it will sound out of tune.
So if you want to jam along with a song, or improvise a solo, but it sounds bad, that's why! You need to know what chord is being played, and then you need to know what notes are in the corresponding scale, and of course, you need to know how to play those notes on your instrument.
I don't know if I'm capable of recalling to mind all the notes in an F scale, then all the notes in a G scale, then all the notes in a B minor scale, to be able to play the right notes according to the progression of a song. I don't know how anyone does it. Music is hard.
I'll keep practicing.
