Chords give the song emotion and give you a solid foundation to write a melody. We covered musical scales first because they give you the knowledge to build chords. This is a super useful skill when writing songs, especially with another person or performing with a band. ![]() Instead of memorizing what letters (notes) are a part of each scale, you can learn the structure of a scale and apply it to whatever key signature you’re in. Using Ws and Hs is a good method for learning scales because it works for every key signature. After hitting the A note, the scale goes like this: So let’s use the example of an A minor scale. And in every minor scale, regardless of key signature, the structure is the same: Minor scales typically sound sad or dark. It may help to reference the image of the piano above if you need to. ![]() You’d start on the A note and continue the scale like this: Let’s say you want to play an A major scale. It goes like this (W = whole step, H = half step): All major scales have the same structure no matter what key you’re in. There are a bunch of different musical scales, but because this guide is for beginners, we’ll only talk about the two main kinds: major scales and minor scales.Ī major scale is one that most people would call “happy” sounding. Now that you understand whole- and half-steps, let’s talk about scales. A whole-step is the distance between a single note and the note that’s two notes before or after it (so two half steps). A half-step is the distance between a single note and the note before or after it. Knowing your scales can help you quickly form harmonies and melodies.įirst, we should talk about whole steps and half steps. the 12 key signatures).Ī musical scale is a group of notes within an octave in order of their pitch, and every scale has seven notes in it. You can choose what key you’re in from the 12 possible notes (i.e. Right in between G and A.Īlso, you’ll notice on the image of the piano that sharps and flats overlap - so an A♭ is actually the same thing as a G#.Īll of this - what tells us whether a note is sharp or flat - is called a “key signature.” So in the key of A major, you would use the A major scale (more on scales below), And an A♭ is lower than an A but not low enough that it’s a G. ![]() Flats are a lower pitch than the letter note but not low enough that it takes you to the previous letter.įor example, an A# is higher than an A but not high enough that it’s a B. Sharps are a higher pitch than the letter note but not high enough that it takes you to the next letter. (You’ll notice there’s no B#/C♭ or E#/F♭). Okay, so on top of the seven letters for the seven notes, there are these things called sharps (shown as #) and flats (shown as ♭).
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