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All tones
Let's first take a look at all the tones that exist:
When you place them on the low E string of your guitar, this is where you'll find them:
Now that you know how the tones are called, how the system of half and whole tones works, and how these tones are located on the E string of your guitar, it's time to talk about scales.
Scales
When you play a melody or solo, you use a selection of tones. These are tones that relate to each other in a
certain way. There is always one tone that forms the basis.
That one tone is called the tonic, or ground tone. In addition to that basic tone, there are other
tones. In general, in Western music, six other tones are used in addition
to the ground tone. You then have seven tones in total (and you can play these again after the octave - as we
saw earlier - so seven different tones).
If you arrange the tones from low to high, and you start on the tonic/ground tone, then you have a scale.
We are going to look at how the tones relate to each other. There are two very important rules :
- Each tone in a scale gets its own letter. Letters only ever appear once;
- The distance between two tones is a semitone or a whole tone.
So we have two rules that apply to scales. There are seven tones. With these two rules, there are still many
ways in which the tones can be arranged.
Earlier, we looked at the mutual relationship of the tones in the C major scale. Those relationships
apply to all major scales.
There is another commonly used relationship between tones, which deviates from that of the major scale. With
that other relationship, you get a minor scale.
First we are going to take a closer look at the major scale. After that we will look at the minor scale.
The major scale
We are going to look at the scale of C major. This scale has already been mentioned a few times. This scale is easy to remember because it does not contain flats or sharps, only root tones:
We have already looked at the relationships between the different tones:
This is the scale of C, because we start on the tone C.
It is the scale of C major because of the relationship between the successive tones:
W W H W W W H
The relationship between the first tone (tonic) C and the third note, E, is especially important. The third tone is called the “third”. In this scale, the distance between C and E is two whole tones. That is a large distance, we call that a major third.
If the distance had been one and a semitone, it would have been a small distance, and then we would have called it a minor third.
Now, however, it is two tones = major third = major.
If a scale is major, it subjectively creates “joyful”, “bright”, “spacious” music. The Major scale is also
called “Major Third Scale”.
Remember: a major scale consists of the tonic (ground tone), with six tones above it. The ratio of these tones is W W H
W W W H.
For a better understanding of the difference between major and minor, listen to the following audio sample. You first hear a major chord, then a minor, then major again, and then minor again. Ask yourself what these different sounds do to you.
The major scale of C on the guitar
When you practice scales on the guitar, you play them from the first tone upwards. You continue (so after the octave you continue playing, you actually start again) until you reach the highest string. Then you play the same scale back down.
One of the "specialities" of a guitar is that you can play the same thing at different places on the neck. The following example is just one way to play the scale of C major.
