Music Theory Never Stop Learning

[thomas1168]

Now we will learn about "key construction". Key construction in its most basic sense is simply to give a name to each one of the chromatics in any chosen key. Since there are twelve chromatics there will be twelve steps in key construction. These twelve steps must be memorized in order, and again there is no way around this. If you look closely at them, you will see a pattern in their order, and this makes them fairly easy to remember.

*note : if you do not know what an "interval" is, refer to the glossary for a definition of the term.

What we have here is a collection of intervals, each with their own name. Every chromatic note in the key we are in will have its own name as well as some type of designation as to what kind of note it is. You'll see that we have some major notes, some minor notes, two are called perfects, and we have one called diminished. The perfect 4th and the perfect 5th ARE major intervals.

The twelve intervals in key construction are as follows :
Root
Minor 2nd
Major 2nd
Minor 3rd
Major 3rd
Perfect 4th
Diminished 5th
Perfect 5th
Minor 6th
Major 6th
Minor 7th
Major 7th
Root (octave)
Once you have learned and memorized these twelve intervals in order we can look at what this means. The twelve steps of key construction will help us name any note in an octave that we may be talking about, and will show us where the Ionian mode (major scale) comes from.


In this lesson we will start to learn about the standard modes. These are the seven note scales that we learned and memorized the names of in a previous lesson. If you have not already completed the lessons preceding this one, you should do so before going into this lesson.

First, we will learn the mode called "ionian". This scale is very widely known as the "major scale". Most people already know a mode and they don't even know it, but if you have ever been taught or have heard the "do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do" scale that they teach in most grade schools, then you have a head start.

The "Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, Ti, Do" thing that you have probably heard in the past is actually the ionian mode. Notice it is a seven note scale, and if you are familiar with it, that it has a certain sound. This is a "major" scale and has the "major" sound. Very bright, happy, upbeat, sweet sounding, just the kind of scale you would want to use to write a pretty love song or a children's song. If that's not what you want to write, keep reading because this must be learned just the same.

Now, lets find out where this ionain mode comes from. You do remember your twelve steps of key construction right ? We can find the major scale (ionian mode) simply by using all of the "major intervals". This means that for whatever key we are in, if we use the root, major 2nd, major 3rd, perfect 4th, perfect 5th, major 6th, major 7th and then root again, we will get the ionian mode (the major scale). I will show a diagram here to show you.

Finding The Ionian Mode Using Key Construction :

Key Construction____________Major Intervals_________Ionian Mode

1. Root ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> Root ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> DO
2. Minor 2nd
3. Major 2nd ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> Major 2nd ~~~~~~~~~~~> RE
4. Minor 3rd
5. Major 3rd ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> Major 3rd ~~~~~~~~~~~~> MI
6. Perfect 4th ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> Perfect 4th ~~~~~~~~~~~> FA
7. Diminished 5th
8. Perfect 5th ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> Perfect 5th ~~~~~~~~~~~> SO
9. Minor 6th
10. Major 6th ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> Major 6th ~~~~~~~~~~~> LA
11. Minor 7th
12. Major 7th ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> Major 7th ~~~~~~~~~~~> TI
1. Root (octave) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> Root ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> DO


Notice that this shows us a pattern of intervals to arrive at the major scale or ionian mode. From the root to the major second was a "whole-step". Then we made another whole step to get to the major 3rd. But, from the major 3rd to the perfect 4th there was only a "half-step". If you follow this pattern you will see that to get the ionian scale or mode in any key, you would just apply the proper order of whole and half steps.

The order of intervals (steps) go like this :

Whole, Whole, Half, Whole, Whole, Whole, Half

*note : this is very important and must be learned

If you start on ANY note and move forward following this pattern of intervals, you will find the "ionian mode" (or the major scale) in your chosen key (the note you started on).

In the next lesson we will discuss more about this and actually try a few examples to show you how it works.

Now we are going to use what we learned in the previous lesson and find the ionian mode in any key we choose. If you did not complete the previous lesson then turn around and go there. This one will not do you any good unless you have already learned and memorized the previous lesson.

The first thing we will need to do is to choose a key for our scale. For simplicity in the first example we will use the key of A. So we are going to go ahead and write down all of the chromatics in the key of A. This means we will write out all 12 notes starting with A all the way to the next A.

A, A#, B, C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#, A


Now that we have our chromatics in the key of A, we will extract all of the major intervals from "key construction".

Finding The Ionian Mode Using Key Construction :

Chromatics____________Major Intervals_________Ionian Mode (key of A)

1. A ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> Root ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> A
2. A#
3. B ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> Major 2nd ~~~~~~~~~~~~~> B
4. C
5. C# ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> Major 3rd ~~~~~~~~~~~~~> C#
6. D ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> Perfect 4th ~~~~~~~~~~~~> D
7. D#
8. E ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> Perfect 5th ~~~~~~~~~~~~> E
9. F
10. F# ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> Major 6th ~~~~~~~~~~~~> F#
11. G
12. G# ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> Major 7th ~~~~~~~~~~~~> G#
1. A (octave) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> Root ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> A


What we did here was to use all of the major intervals from key construction and applied them to an actual set of chromatics (key of A in this case). We could have used the chromatics in any key and this would still work the same. If our chromatics started with F and went to the next F at octave, the same intervals would have given us all the right notes for F ionian (major).

Again, since these are the steps key construction tells us we have to use to arrive at all the major intervals, we found this scale using this interval formula :

Whole, Whole, Half, Whole, Whole, Whole, Half

So by simply taking the chromatics in any key you choose and applying the W,W,H,W,W,W,H intervals you can find the major scale in any key. I would like you to try some on your own now and see how you do. I will give you the answers to a couple of them so that you can check your work. If you get both of these two correct on your own then your are doing it correctly and should be able to find all 12 without trouble.

F# ionian F#, G#, A#, B, C#, D#, F, F#

C ionian C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C

Once you have figured all this out we can go on to learning about the other modes. Make sure that you understand this and can find the scale successfully in any key. Check yourself by comparing your answers to the two I have posted above. Since there are only twelve different notes in all, there are only 12 possible ionian scales you could find. You should have no problem finding all of them using this technique.

[thomas1168]

HOPE THIS IS HELPING SOME OF YOU I HAVE BEEN STUDING FOR YEARS AND STILL GO OVER THIS ON A REGULAR BASSIS

AND PLEASE VISIT DWBASS
HE POST SOME REALLY GREAT THINGS TO PRACTICE THESE ARE ALLL STYLE YOU WILL NEED TO HAVE UNDER YOUR THUMB TH BE A ACOMPLISHED BASS PLAYER

THOMAS

[Cherri]

Thank you Thomas!... I see you are a true musician and a teacher. Keep bringing I am listening and learning...

[thomas1168]

Ok next lesson READY
NOTE : YOU CAN LEARN EVERY FUNKY VICTOR , MARCUS JACO ECT. BASS LINE OUT THERE AND STILL WANDER WHY AM I NOT PROGRESSING TO THAT NEXT LEVEL. YOU WILL TEAR UP MARCUS AND THEN YOU WILL BE AT CHURCH AND THE MINISTER OF MUSIC WILL SAY OK THIS IS SOMTHING OF MINE PLAY A Eb PENTITONIC SCALE AND YOUR (OR I WAS) COMPLETELY LOST OF COURSE I PICKED IT UP AFTER HE SHOWED ME BUT I QUICKLY RELILIZED THAT ALL I WAS DOING ON THE BASS IS BEING A PARROT ONLY PLAYING WHAT I HEAR OTHERS PLAY AND IF I DID NOT HEAR A LINE SOMEONE ALREADY CREATED I WAS LOST
SO AFTER I REALLY LEARNED ABOUT MUSIC I COULD UNDERSTAND THE TOTAL CONSTRUCTION OF A BASS LINE OF MUSIC PERIOD

I HAVE BEEN IN THIS POSITION MYSELF SO TO YOU BEGINNERS PLEASE LISTEN TO SOMETHING THAT I HAVE STRUGGLED THROUGH.
SCALES MODES AND TRIADS ARE ESSENTIAL IF YOU PLAN ON BEING A REAL PLAYER EXAMPLE LISTEN TO DWBASS HE HAS PROVIDED EXAMPLES OF ALOT OF DIFFERENT STYLES OF PLAYING AND YOU CAN HEAR THE KNOWLEDGE IN HIS PLAYING

ALSO UNDERSTAND BECAUSE YOU LEARN ALL OF YOUR SCALES ALL OF A SUDDEN YOU WILL BE THIS AWSOME PLAYER OF COURSE NOT

PLAY THEM IN 3 OCTAVES UP AND DOWN THE NECK
MAKE THE MUSICAL ALMOST LIKE A SOLO BUT AT FIRST DO NOT DEVIATE FROM THE SCALE OR MODE YOU ARE IN
I CALL THIS THE GEORGE BENSON EXERCISE

SING / HUM OR LIKE I EXPLAINED IN THE LESSON USE DO RE ME
THIS IS VERY VERY VERY IMPORTANT
SING YOUR SACLES UP AND DOWN THE NECK OUT LOUD I DID NOT LIKE IT AT FIRST MYSELF BUT MAN AFTER A COUPLE YEARS OF PRACTICE YOU WILL BE A HOME IN THE CAR ECT AND THINKING OF SOMETHING MUSICAL HUM IT TO YOURSELF AND WITH OUT EVEN TOUCHING THAT BASS YOU KNOW WHAT KEY YOUR IN MODE YOUR IN
NOW IF THIS NOT YOUR THING THEN GOOD LUCK KEEP PLAYIN

THOMAS
OK ENOUGH HERE WE GO

Now that you know where the ionian mode comes from and how to find it, we can go on and learn about the rest of the modes. There are seven of them all together, one mode for each of the seven notes in ionian. Their names must be memorized in the proper order.

The seven modes are :

1. Ionian
2. Dorian
3. Phrygian
4. Lydian
5. Mixolydian
6. Aeolian
7. Locrian

All seven modes are actually right inside of Ionian because after all, they are only different modes of that one scale. We will learn about the six other modes together by comparing them to Ionian.

 have already mentioned that the other six modes are right there inside Ionian, so you may be wondering where. We have already learned that the "doe, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, doe" thing you learned in grade school was the ionian mode. In this scale using our fictional key of "DOE", the root note or key would be "DOE". So we could call this "DOE Ionian", as it would be the Ionian scale in the key of "DOE".

"Doe Ionian"
Doe, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, Ti, Doe


As long as this scale is in the key of "doe" it will be ionian (or the major scale). This is because we know the intervals between these notes are W,W,H,W,W,W,H. And anytime we use those intervals in that order we will get the ionian mode, regardless of what key we are in (even if its a made up key like this one).

But what happens if we use all the same notes but start with the "Re" note and end with the next "Re" note ?

Now our scale would be :
re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do, re


This would be a completely different scale and we would call it "Re Dorian".

Now you may be asking yourself "if we are using all the same notes as before, why isn't it "re ionian" ?". I will answer that question. Lets think about the intervals that it took to get the sound of the Ionian scale. If the notes are all still the same, then so are their intervals of W,W,H,W,W,W,H. The only problem is that if we are starting on the second note, the intervals are now W,H,W,W,W,H,W.

By starting at the second note we are changing the key of our scale to "Re", and the intervals between the notes will be different. If the intervals are different it will no longer sound like the major scale because it isn't. It is now "Re Dorian". Remember, music notes just go around and around repeating themselves every octave. What makes different scales sound different is their intervals, the space between the notes.

So if we start and stop playing at a different place, the intervals between the notes are now different, and thus we have a different scale. This will become clearer and be more thoroughly explained in coming lessons.

So the 7 modes of this scale would be :

"Do" Ionian
"Re" Dorian
"Mi" Phrygian
"Fa" Lydian
"So" Mixolydian
"La" Aeolian
"Ti" Locrian

If all of these notes are played using the E as your root note, then you will be playing E Aeolian.

As we talked about in the previous lesson, every modal scale you play actually contains seven different scales in seven different keys. Notice how the first note of Ionian falls on the G note. That would make that position G Ionian, and if you played all of the same notes for E Aeolian but used the G note as the root, the whole entire thing would become G Ionian. So what we have here is E Aeolian and six other modes that fall into different keys.

So E Aeolian actually includes these seven scales in thier respective keys :

1. E Aeolian
2. F# Locrian
3. G Ionian
4. A Dorian
5. B Phrygian
6. C Lydian
7. D Mixolydian

I WILL POST THE LAYOUT TODAY OF THE FRET BOARD A JPEG THIS WILL BBE POSTED AS A 6 STRING SO 4 5 AND 6 STRING PLAYERS CAN DOWNLOAD IT
 

[Cherri]

I agree. I know my scales, modes... However, at a point I was stuck, my fingers knew were to go and ears were in left field. Started out saying and singing the notes aloud ---stopped! Now, I am back to it. Thank you for your passion.

[ladybass]

thanks for the knowledge you're spitting, thomas .... a nice refresher ...

[fretai03]

I WILL POST THE LAYOUT TODAY OF THE FRET BOARD A JPEG THIS WILL BBE POSTED AS A 6 STRING SO 4 5 AND 6 STRING PLAYERS CAN DOWNLOAD IT
 

sits patiently waiting...

[fretai03]

Alright Thomas couldn't upload these so I did it for him...

Thomas - you'll probably want to explain these as well...


E AOLIAN



MODE1

[MoeBass6]

What's Up

Thanks man this is some good stuff, I'm in the intermediate stage of my playing and trying to take in all I can get. I still have to try and work my way through some of this info so I may have some questions later. However I'm trying to educate myself on the circle of fifths so any info on that subject will be greatly appreciated.
 Thanks God Bless

[thomas1168]

THANKS FRET THERE ARE 12 MORE TO POST I WILL SEND THEM TO YOU THANKS AGAIN


Ok, I know some of you have been waiting for this one so here it is. On this page THE POST ABOVE BY FRET , you'll see all of the modes as you would play them on your guitar to make up a certain key.

I am going to show all of the modes in the key of E Aeolian first since it is a popular scale for blues, rock, and many other styles of music. I am not going to explain how the diagrams work here as you should understand them by the time you get to this lesson. If you do not understand the diagrams, there is a lesson on them in the first section.

So without further delay, here is the complete key of E Aeolian :

note : this is very important and must be learned

If you start on ANY note and move forward following this pattern of intervals, you will find the "ionian mode" (or the major scale) in your chosen key (the note you started on).
 all of these notes are played using the E as your root note, then you will be playing E Aeolian.

As we talked about in the previous lesson, every modal scale you play actually contains seven different scales in seven different keys. Notice how the first note of Ionian falls on the G note. That would make that position G Ionian, and if you played all of the same notes for E Aeolian but used the G note as the root, the whole entire thing would become G Ionian. So what we have here is E Aeolian and six other modes that fall into different keys.

So E Aeolian actually includes these seven scales in thier respective keys :

1. E Aeolian
2. F# Locrian
3. G Ionian
4. A Dorian
5. B Phrygian
6. C Lydian
7. D MixolydiaN

THE LETTER REPRSENT THE MODE IN THE KEY OF E

A=AEOLIAN
I = IONIAN   ECT.

AS IN MODE 1 EXAMP Notice the optional notes, you must choose one or the other. The notes with the dots in them are NOT the root notes, but rather "optional" notes. There are two in each position and they are the exact same note, so you must choose the one that is more comfortable for you and not

The 7 modal formulas will show us how the other scales relate to ionian. We will start off by assuming that ionian is :

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1

One letter for each of the seven notes. By assuming this information, we can now label the other scales and have something to relate it to. I will explain further below.

The 7 modal formulas are :

IONIAN - 0 sharps, 0 flats   1   2   3   4   5   6   7   1
DORIAN - 2 flats   1   2   b3   4   5   6   b7   1
PHRYGIAN - 4 flats   1   b2   b3   4   5   b6   b7   1
LYDIAN - 1 sharp   1   2   3   #4   5   6   7   1
MIXOLYDIAN - 1 flat   1   2   3   4   5   6   b7   1
AEOLIAN - 3 flats   1   2   b3   4   5   b6   b7   1
LOCRIAN - 5 flats   1   b2   b3   4   b5   b6   b7   1

What this means is that to get dorian (which has two flats) you would take ionian and just flat the 3rd and 7th notes. This is because it will be all of the exact same notes as ionian EXCEPT for the 3rd and the 7th, as the chart above shows.

Its a good idea to have these formulas memorized, but I found them difficult to memorize this way. We will go on to "the order of flats" as covering that now seems to make this easier to remember.


he order of flats is something we learn just to get an idea of how each scale is different from the others. It gives us a kind of spectrum of how each sounds, as well how each mode relates to each other. This is just a way of looking at them in a different sense and in no way changes the order of the modes the way you have already memorized them. The modes are always in the order that you learned them in previous lessons, but since this is the internet and things need to be a clear as possible I figured I try to make it clearer.

What we are going to do is jumble the modes up into the order that they would be in according to the way they sound. This will help us see more clearly the difference between modes and the way they sound, and also helps to make the modal formulas easier to remember.

The Order Of Flats

LYDIAN   IONIAN   MIXOLYDIAN   DORIAN   AEOLIAN   PHRYGIAN   LOCRIAN
1 sharp   --   1 flat   2 flats   3 flats   4 flats   5 flats
#   --   b   bb   bbb   bbbb   bbbbb

You can now see that each of the 7 modes are one neat step away from the next. Its starting to look like these scales aren't a bunch of meaningless theory, but that they actually fit together nice and neatly, each one serving a purpose that the others can't.

We can also now see a spectrum of sounds here, ranging from bright and happy to dark and dissident. Generally, the scales that use major notes with no flats are very happy and bright sounding. The scales that use a lot of flats have a darker mood.

I will give a general and vague sense of what each scale sounds like and what it might be used for. However, my opinions on these will be very general and not something to be taken very seriously, its just a guide to help you get started. Many good musicians can alter the feeling of any scale with playing techniques and such, so just get a basic idea here and then see what you can do with it.

Spectrum of modes based on how they sound

LYDIAN   IONIAN   MIXOLYDIAN   DORIAN   AEOLIAN   PHRYGIAN   LOCRIAN
brightest   ----   ----   ----   ----   ----   darkest


LYDIAN - very bright, upbeat. Good for anything very bright and upbeat such as pop, kids music, etc

IONIAN - very sweet, happy, bright. Perfect for happy songs, love songs, etc. Used for almost all childrens music

MIXOLYDIAN - middle of the road bright scale. Good for light rock, pop, country, etc

DORIAN - perfect middle ground. Not too bright, not to dark. Good for country, rock, blues.

AEOLIAN - gritty, bluesy, warm sounding rock scale. This is the standard rock and blues scale.

PHRYGIAN - dark, classical metal sound. A Randy Rhoads favorite.

LOCRIAN - very dark, dissident, brooding. Good for heavy metal, dark classical, etc


Now that we have looked at what this all means to the 'lehman', we can go on and learn a little more about the details of how this works.

Remember when I said that understanding the order of flats would make memorizing the modal formulas easier ? Now we get to find out why this is. Each of the scales that include flats, which would be 5 of them (most), are really the same as the one before with the addition of one new flat.

LYDIAN   #4   --   --   --   --   --   --
IONIAN   --   0/0   --   --   --   --   --
MIXOLYDIAN   --   --   b7   --   --   --   --
DORIAN   --   --   b7   b3   --   --   --
AEOLIAN   --   --   b7   b3   b6   --   --
PHRYGIAN   --   --   b7   b3   b6   b2   --
LOCRIAN   --   --   b7   b3   b6   b2   b5

So if you can remember the order that the flats come in, memorizing the modal formulas becomes much easier. Once you learn the order of flats, you should have a much better understanding of what makes each scale different, and why each one sounds the way it does.


he order of flats is something we learn just to get an idea of how each scale is different from the others. It gives us a kind of spectrum of how each sounds, as well how each mode relates to each other. This is just a way of looking at them in a different sense and in no way changes the order of the modes the way you have already memorized them. The modes are always in the order that you learned them in previous lessons, but since this is the internet and things need to be a clear as possible I figured I try to make it clearer.

What we are going to do is jumble the modes up into the order that they would be in according to the way they sound. This will help us see more clearly the difference between modes and the way they sound, and also helps to make the modal formulas easier to remember.

The Order Of Flats

LYDIAN   IONIAN   MIXOLYDIAN   DORIAN   AEOLIAN   PHRYGIAN   LOCRIAN
1 sharp   --   1 flat   2 flats   3 flats   4 flats   5 flats
#   --   b   bb   bbb   bbbb   bbbbb

You can now see that each of the 7 modes are one neat step away from the next. Its starting to look like these scales aren't a bunch of meaningless theory, but that they actually fit together nice and neatly, each one serving a purpose that the others can't.

We can also now see a spectrum of sounds here, ranging from bright and happy to dark and dissident. Generally, the scales that use major notes with no flats are very happy and bright sounding. The scales that use a lot of flats have a darker mood.

I will give a general and vague sense of what each scale sounds like and what it might be used for. However, my opinions on these will be very general and not something to be taken very seriously, its just a guide to help you get started. Many good musicians can alter the feeling of any scale with playing techniques and such, so just get a basic idea here and then see what you can do with it.

Spectrum of modes based on how they sound

LYDIAN   IONIAN   MIXOLYDIAN   DORIAN   AEOLIAN   PHRYGIAN   LOCRIAN
brightest   ----   ----   ----   ----   ----   darkest


LYDIAN - very bright, upbeat. Good for anything very bright and upbeat such as pop, kids music, etc

IONIAN - very sweet, happy, bright. Perfect for happy songs, love songs, etc. Used for almost all childrens music

MIXOLYDIAN - middle of the road bright scale. Good for light rock, pop, country, GOSPEL

DORIAN - perfect middle ground. Not too bright, not to dark. Good for country, rock, blues.

AEOLIAN - gritty, bluesy, warm sounding rock scale. This is the standard rock and blues scale.

PHRYGIAN - dark, classical metal sound. A Randy Rhoads favorite.

LOCRIAN - very dark, dissident, brooding. Good for heavy metal, dark classical, etc


Now that we have looked at what this all means to the 'lehman', we can go on and learn a little more about the details of how this works.

Remember when I said that understanding the order of flats would make memorizing the modal formulas easier ? Now we get to find out why this is. Each of the scales that include flats, which would be 5 of them (most), are really the same as the one before with the addition of one new flat.

LYDIAN   #4   --   --   --   --   --   --
IONIAN   --   0/0   --   --   --   --   --
MIXOLYDIAN   --   --   b7   --   --   --   --
DORIAN   --   --   b7   b3   --   --   --
AEOLIAN   --   --   b7   b3   b6   --   --
PHRYGIAN   --   --   b7   b3   b6   b2   --
LOCRIAN   --   --   b7   b3   b6   b2   b5

So if you can remember the order that the flats come in, memorizing the modal formulas becomes much easier. Once you learn the order of flats, you should have a much better understanding of what makes each scale different, and why each one sounds the way it does.

[thomas1168]

TO MAKE SOME OF YOU UNDERSTAND WHY

WHY IS MY MAN SPENDING HOUR TYPING
WHEN I SHOULD BE PRACTICING MYSELF)
BECAUSE I PROMISED MY SELF AFTER I STARTED PLAYING AND ALL THE AWSOME BASS PLAYERS I KNEW WOULD NOT SHARE A THING AND MOST OF THEM WERE CHURCH BASSIST NOT THAT SHOULD MAKE A DIFFERENCE BUT TO ME I FELT IT SHOULD BECAUSE THEY WERE DOING IT TO WORSHIP GOD NOT FOR THEIR GLORY
BUT I WAS WRONG DISAPOINTED AND BITTER SO I PROMISED MY SELF I WOULD BE 360 DEGREES DIFFERENT SO THERE IT IS
I HAD TO GO TO BERKLEE FOR ALL THIS
WOULD HAVE I JUST STUDIED UNDER A GREAT BASSIST INSTEAD OF SCHOOL OF COURSE I WOULD BUT LIKE I SAID ABOVE
THE GUYS I KNEW I HEARD

I DONT KNOW WHAT I AM PLAYING I JUST PLAY LIE LIE LIE
THERE IS A LEVEL THAT YOU CAN NOT REACH WITH OUT UNDERSTANDING THEORY YOU MAY NOTE BE ABLE TO SIT AND WRITE OUT SHEET MUSIC LIKE MOZART BUT YOU UNDERSTAND MUSIC

IT IS A GIFT
I HATE THIS ONE GOD GIVE US ALL TALENTS BUT HE EXPECTS US TO ALSO DEVELOP THEM

I REALLY DONT HAVE THE TIME TO TEACH
NOW IN SOME CASES THAT COULD BE TRUE BUT 9 OUT OF 10 TIMES THAT PERSON IS SELFISH OR INSECURE WITH THEM SELF REGARDLESS OF THEIR PLAYING ABITITY
IT WOULD TAKE ME 15 MINUTES TO TEACH ANYONE ABOUT SCALES AND MODES AND TAKE YOU 5-6 MONTHS TO REALLY GET IT DOWN MABYE WITH ACOUPLE QUESTIONS HERE AND THERE
SO 45 MIN OUT OF SOMEONES TIME IN 6 MONTHS WELL  YOU UNDERSTAND

I PLAY ALL BY EAR
AND SOME PLAYER DO BUT I URGE YOU I YOU DO PLAY WELL BY EAR THAT YOU WILL STILL LEARN YOUR THEORY

LIKE VICTOR W SAYS WOULD YOU SPEAK ENGLISH WITHOUT KNOWING HOW TO READ OR WRITE IT
YOU COULD BUT IMAGINE HOW MUCH MORE YOU WOULD UNDERSTAND ENGLISH IF YOU CAN DO ALL THREE

OK ENOUGH THE EXAMPLES I GAVE ARE PEOPLE YOU SHOULD AVOID FOR YOUR OWN GOOD
MY FIRST TEACHER PLAYED FOR JANET JACKSON OFF AND ON BAD DUDE
BUT EVERY THING HE DID HE WOULD NOT EXPLAIN AND HE MAKE IT MAGICAL SO COMPLICATED
IT DISCOURAGED ME AND HURT MY PLAYING FOR YEARS
NOW THAT I UNDERSTAND THEORY HE WAS ONLY DOING WHAT 1000 OTHER PLAYER DO STANDARD MODES SCALED ECT

RECORD YOURSELF RECORD YOURSELF RECORD YOURSELF

 SO To put all this knowledge to good use, you'll want to start using these scales to write original music, improvise solos any time you want, and play along with any cover song you choose.

In order to do that, you'll have to understand how everything fits together. We'll start off by assuming we are writing a new song using our scales. Pick a scale that you like, in any key you want. Lets say I am going to write a song using E aeolian. Have a look at the E aeolian scale below.



I can use any of these notes to construct my song. Try playing an E minor chord here or a G major, you'll notice all of the notes needed for these chords are present in the scale. I'll go into chords in more detail in the chord lessons, but for now just know that you can use any of the notes shown in the E Aeolian diagram above. Remember, in order for our song to be in E aeolian, the E note here must be our root note.

Lets say my song uses E for the root note, and it also uses a G, A, C, D. You can put any of these notes together in any way you choose to make up your rhythym. As long as the notes you choose are part of this scale, you are on the right track. If you want to know if a particular chord will work, just try it and see if it contains the proper notes. You'll notice that with this scale you can use the E minor, G major, A minor, C major and D major, they will all work here without stepping out of the scale notes. The reason why it is a mixture of major and minor chords will be covered in the lessons on chords.

IF YOU WANT TO KEEP GOIN CAUSE WE CAN STOP ANY TIME

Once I have come up with some riffs and rhythym parts using these notes, I know I have a song that follows this scale. That means that I can now solo at will over it using this scale, because all of the notes in my rhythyms match perfectly with all of the notes I am using to play leads. The beauty of this is that I can now play all over the guitar neck at any time, and with proper phrasing technique, almost everything I do will work perfectly.

Being able to improvise leads freely over a rhythym without ever making a mistake : priceless...

You should also be able to use any of the available notes here to find harmony and melody ideas that will work perfectly. Experiment a little and I think you will be amazed at the possibilities, especially because you will understand what you are playing and will be able to come up with new things more easily and improvise things on the fly successfully

[Cherri]

I have nothing but respect for you man. Awesome. My mentor (Drums) and I were speaking in-depth about people whom have the knowledge to pass along and will not. Each one teach one is not a part of their regime. This is so very true Thomas. I thank you brother for sharing.

[ladybass]

I really appreciate what you have and will share!!   I have already printed this thread to disect.   

I know how you feel thomas.  I'm mostly self-taught and if someone asked me do I teach, I usually tell them that I'm not a teacher, but if they'd like, I could teach them what I know to get them started.

[djgroovin]

You should seriously consider putting all of this into a book.  You could reach a lot more people.

[thomas1168]

Bless you man , thanks
but I take mostly all of this from my berklee course book and my private instruction notes
and clinics see at school If say Victor comes WHICH HE HAS it is not like bass dat 98 he will just solo
the guest artist will play and say OK I PLAYED A E AOLIAN MODE I PLAYED A F# CHRD HERE AND TOTAL EXPLAIN WHY thats where I those explaination of sound come in happy sad ect I got that from other books violin guitar upright bass
BUT I TELL EVERYONE EVERY I MEAN ALL THE BAD PLAYERS I MET OT MEET AND THERES ALLOT AT SCHOOL ASK THEM WHAT HOW WHY AND THEY ALL I MEAN ALL SAY MODES
THANKS I REALLY WAS THINKING OF WRITING A MUSIC BOOK ON THE ELEMENT OF LEARNING THAT WAS MY HARDEST CHALLENGE
HOW TO PRACTICE WHAT TO PRACTICE HOW TO CLEAR YOU MIND WHEN YOU PRACTICE FOCUS
AS YOU CAN SEE I TAKE THIS A BIT SERIOUS

THANKS

[thomas1168]

So now that you know how to play all these scales, I'll bet you are wondering how to make it work with the music you are playing. Maybe you've tried to play some of your scales along with the songs you play a church and it just doesn't sound that good. Well now it's time to learn how to determine the proper scale for a particular song or chord progression, and put all these scales to use in your regular playing. This lesson will show you how to figure out what scale will work best with whatever music you choose. Imagine knowing every note all over the neck that works perfectly with the music you are playing with, that is what this lesson is all about.

For bass players this will help you choose the perfect scale for soloing over anything you choose, and for bass/guitar players, this will help you choose the group of perfect notes to use with the riff your guitarist just wrote, etc. For everyone, it will mean a deeper understanding of the music. When you know every single note all over the guitar or bass neck that will work perfectly with the music, and the root note, you can phrase endlessly at will, improvising riffs and solos on the fly.

To accomplish this, we'll need to use simple deduction. If you remember your Sherlock Holmes, you'll have no problem with this. The idea is to see what notes are being used by the rhythm, and those will show you what scale the song is based on.

In order to accomplish this, you will need to be familiar with the modes and their intervals. For the sake of keeping things simple at first, we will only analyze things using single notes, and we will assume all of the examples use one of the standard modes that we've already learned. There are other scales besides the ones we've learned so far, and most of that will be covered in the advanced section for reasons that will be explained there. For now we'll assume all of our examples are one of the modes we have already learned. We will cover chords and more advanced analyzing after learning the basic method.

The first thing you'll want to do is determine the root note. If you know the notes then you are ready to go to the next step, if not, then you must use your ear to get you started. You can do this quickly by fretting a note on the low E string while listening to a song, and sliding up or down playing each note until you find that one note that sounds better than all the rest. The root note will usually have the characteristic of being the one note that always sounds better, and works with the song almost regardless of when you play it. This is not a guaranteed science because success depends on your ear, but when you try it you should hear what I am talking about.

Once you have determined the root note of the song, you should start learning the other notes involved in the music. Again, if you know the notes used then this is not needed and you may go to the next step. If not, we'll have to go back to using our ear and searching for notes used in the rhythm. Find all of them that you can, as the more you find the easier it will be to analyze.

The next step would be to take the root note and all these notes that are used, and start to decide what it can be and what it can not be. In many cases it is easiest to first figure out what scales it can't be. If none of this makes any sense, don't worry, you will see diagrams and examples of what I am talking about in the next lesson.

Now that you know all of your notes that we need to analyze, lets go to the next lesson and see some examples of what we need to do

For the first example, lets assume that you have determined the song is in the key of E, and also uses the F, G, A, B and C notes. 
bass guitar piano any and every part played in the song.

This one is almost analyzed for us already and I'll bet you can see what it looks like. The first and easiest way to analyze this is to simply look at the pattern. You may see what modal position it looks like.

Is there any way the scale for a song using these notes could be E Ionian ? It should be clear why this could not be E Ionian but I will explain. If you already know the intervals for each scale (and you should), you would know that E Ionian would start with the E note, and then be followed by F# and G#. So it could not be the E major scale as our scale uses F and G. Simply imagine playing the Ionian position starting on the E and you'll see that it would not work.


LOOK AT SOME ISREAL SONGS HE DOES A LOT IN THE KEY OF E  I WOULD BET THAT HIS FAVORITE KEY
THIS IS A GREAT EXERCISE REJOICE ADD OR SUBTRACT NOTES THAT ARE NOT LISTED ABOVE AN DO THE VERY SAME EXERCISE
COULD HE BE USING A E AOLIAN SCALE
POST IT LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU COME UP WITH
ANYWAY LET CONTINUE

WE ARE TAKING ABOUT THE EXAMPLE  EFGABC
So what else can we determine here using the same method ? We can see that this scale starts off with the root, minor 2nd, and the minor 3rd. If you know your modes and their intervals, you will see that there are only two modes that this example could be. The minor 2nd here is the key to this, as this note is only present in two of our modes. These modes would be Phrygian and Locrian. Every other mode that you have learned used the major 2nd, except for Phrygian and Locrian.

So which of these two is it ? The Locrian position would be root (E), minor 2 (F), minor 3 (G), perf 4 (A), dim 5 (A#), minor 6 (C). That clearly couldn't be it, because this scale does not use the A# note, it uses the B. Phrygian would use all of the same notes as locrian except for that A# where phrygian would use the B.

So there you have it, this would be E Phrygian based on the notes we see being used. Since we have a lot of the notes being used, you may have recognized the phrygian position here already. In the next one, we will work with fewer notes to make it a little less recognizable. If you still don't understand how this is done, don't worry JUST EMAIL ME YOU WILL GET IT.

[thomas1168]

PLEASE BE PAITENT WITH ME I AM IN THE PROCESS OF PUTTING TOGETHER SOME GOOD AUDIO CLIPS EXAMPLE THE CAN BE TAKRN FROM PRACTICE TO PLAYING AND UNDERSTOOD IN YOUR EVERY DAY PLAYING

[BassAddict]

You are the bomb man...I have known my modes for a while but I never could figure out how to connect them with the chords being played...Thanks for makin it simpler. God Bless and I can't wait to see the rest of the lesson.

[Cherri]

PLEASE BE PAITENT WITH ME I AM IN THE PROCESS OF PUTTING TOGETHER SOME GOOD AUDIO CLIPS EXAMPLE THE CAN BE TAKRN FROM PRACTICE TO PLAYING AND UNDERSTOOD IN YOUR EVERY DAY PLAYING

Patiently waiting. Hurry up! lol j/k... Patiently waiting.

[jeremyr]

thomas1168,

You my brotha are setting the standard.  I've seen wayyyy to many times where guys won't share info because they don't want someone to be as good as them.  And that's exactly what it boils down to.  THey want to be the only one in the spot light.

You have put that aside and have shown that you are a TRUE God fearing musician.  We all appreciate it.