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- Jan 17, 2008
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Did a little post about this in the FL studios thread but thought i'd share a few more bits an pieces if anyones interested, but i'll start by copy an pasting the bit from the FL studios thread cos its fairly relevant an pretty handy so if you've read it already an wanna see more skip ahead!
Aswell as your basic major and minor 8 note scales there are 100s of other from all over the world which give interesting sounds and qualities. Two fairly common but very interesting other scales are the diminished and augmented scales.
The diminished scale follows the same pattern throughout which is - semi-tone interval, tone interval, semi-tone interval, tone interval etc etc so basically a C diminished scale is as follows: C, C#, D#, E, F#, G, A, Bb, C
Its got like a creepy, crunchy feel to it so it would work well for dark liquid or heavy jump up tracks.
The pattern for a diminished arpeggio is as follows - Minor third interval (3 semi-tones), Minor third interval, Minor third interval etc so a C diminished arpeggio is as follows:
C, Eb, F#, A, C so basically its just a stripped down version of the scale using only the most essential notes
The augmented scale is kinda cool cos it never seems to resolve itself, its a scale which seems to pose a question to the listener (if that makes sense lol)
The pattern for an augmented scale is reallll simple, its just : tone interval, tone interval, tone interval, tone interval etc etc
so a C augmented scale is as follows: C, D, E, F#, G#, A#, C
An augmented arpeggio is as follows: Major third interval (2 tones, 4 semi-tones), Major third interval, Major third interval etc etc
So a C augmented arpeggio is as follows: C, E, G#, C
Okay now for the new stuff!
One thing a lot of people don't know is that there are a lot of different ways (7 to be precise) of playing your bog standard natural minor scale which give emphasis to different notes an subsequently create different moods and effects - these are called the church modes (shitty name i know but bare with me)
So basically, if we take our basic A natural minor scale the notes used are: A, B, C, D, E, F, G
but we can play it in 7 different ways, simply by starting on a different note for each way (e.g B, C, D, E, F, G, A...... or F, G, A, B, C, D, E)
By changing the root note (the first note) the scale takes on drastically different qualities when played.
The most obvious example being if you start on A you've got your standard natural minor scale which sounds a little unhappy, an if you start on C you've got the good old C major scale which sounds happy an bubbily!
Now when you make some of the other notes the root note you get more interesting effects, for example if we play this scale starting with the note F we have an F lydian scale which gives a bright kinda dreamy quality, an if we start on the note B we've got a B locrian scale which sounds heavy an nasty cos of all those flats!
So yeah if you stick to the same group of notes but play around with putting emphasis on different notes you can create totally different sounds an create different more interesting moods in your music.
Okay this has been a seriously long winded post an anyone whos read to the end is clearly bored as fuck so i'll stop now, when i think of some more helpful stuff i'll post it up in this thread some other time
Aswell as your basic major and minor 8 note scales there are 100s of other from all over the world which give interesting sounds and qualities. Two fairly common but very interesting other scales are the diminished and augmented scales.
The diminished scale follows the same pattern throughout which is - semi-tone interval, tone interval, semi-tone interval, tone interval etc etc so basically a C diminished scale is as follows: C, C#, D#, E, F#, G, A, Bb, C
Its got like a creepy, crunchy feel to it so it would work well for dark liquid or heavy jump up tracks.
The pattern for a diminished arpeggio is as follows - Minor third interval (3 semi-tones), Minor third interval, Minor third interval etc so a C diminished arpeggio is as follows:
C, Eb, F#, A, C so basically its just a stripped down version of the scale using only the most essential notes
The augmented scale is kinda cool cos it never seems to resolve itself, its a scale which seems to pose a question to the listener (if that makes sense lol)
The pattern for an augmented scale is reallll simple, its just : tone interval, tone interval, tone interval, tone interval etc etc
so a C augmented scale is as follows: C, D, E, F#, G#, A#, C
An augmented arpeggio is as follows: Major third interval (2 tones, 4 semi-tones), Major third interval, Major third interval etc etc
So a C augmented arpeggio is as follows: C, E, G#, C
Okay now for the new stuff!
One thing a lot of people don't know is that there are a lot of different ways (7 to be precise) of playing your bog standard natural minor scale which give emphasis to different notes an subsequently create different moods and effects - these are called the church modes (shitty name i know but bare with me)
So basically, if we take our basic A natural minor scale the notes used are: A, B, C, D, E, F, G
but we can play it in 7 different ways, simply by starting on a different note for each way (e.g B, C, D, E, F, G, A...... or F, G, A, B, C, D, E)
By changing the root note (the first note) the scale takes on drastically different qualities when played.
The most obvious example being if you start on A you've got your standard natural minor scale which sounds a little unhappy, an if you start on C you've got the good old C major scale which sounds happy an bubbily!
Now when you make some of the other notes the root note you get more interesting effects, for example if we play this scale starting with the note F we have an F lydian scale which gives a bright kinda dreamy quality, an if we start on the note B we've got a B locrian scale which sounds heavy an nasty cos of all those flats!
So yeah if you stick to the same group of notes but play around with putting emphasis on different notes you can create totally different sounds an create different more interesting moods in your music.
Okay this has been a seriously long winded post an anyone whos read to the end is clearly bored as fuck so i'll stop now, when i think of some more helpful stuff i'll post it up in this thread some other time