Improvising

[taparoo]

If by "work out" you mean that it follows a certain scale, then yes. Were you thinking C major?

[Machtimus]

If by "work out" you mean that it follows a certain scale, then yes. Were you thinking C major?

That little run would definately work better if you thought of it in A minor instead of C major. Put more emphasis on the 1-3-5's on the A minor scale.

[matts420music]

If by "work out" you mean that it follows a certain scale, then yes. Were you thinking C major?

My apoligies, would that work out using Watchtower as an example song.

[Machtimus]

If by "work out" you mean that it follows a certain scale, then yes. Were you thinking C major?

My apoligies, would that work out using Watchtower as an example song.

Read a post above yours.

[matts420music]

If by "work out" you mean that it follows a certain scale, then yes. Were you thinking C major?

That little run would definately work better if you thought of it in A minor instead of C major. Put more emphasis on the 1-3-5's on the A minor scale.

sorry im really new at this stuff (like i said to start this thread), but someone stated that the C Maj scale, is basically the same as the A Min. scale. what do you mean by looking at it as the Am??? and 1-3-5's (do mean focus the scale more on those frets or...?)

[taparoo]

If by "work out" you mean that it follows a certain scale, then yes. Were you thinking C major?

That little run would definately work better if you thought of it in A minor instead of C major. Put more emphasis on the 1-3-5's on the A minor scale.

sorry im really new at this stuff (like i said to start this thread), but someone stated that the C Maj scale, is basically the same as the A Min. scale. what do you mean by looking at it as the Am??? and 1-3-5's (do mean focus the scale more on those frets or...?)

The C major and A minor scales consist of the same notes, just different intervals relating to the tonic (the root note). Take C major: C D E F G A B C, and A minor: A B C D E F G. Same notes, right? The only difference is the intervals - the root (A), the second (B), the third (C) and so on. Machtimus was right in saying that the phrase you posted fit more in Am because it seemed like it emphasized the 1 (root), 3 (third), and 5 (fifth) of the scale more than it did the 1, 3, 5 of the C major scale.

[matts420music]

So if Machtimus was saying that i emphasized the 1-3-5's of the Am scale, wouldn't that be good for the song Watchtower since it is in the key of Am......By the Way THANK YOU guys so much!!! This is really helping me.

[taparoo]

So if Machtimus was saying that i emphasized the 1-3-5's of the Am scale, wouldn't that be good for the song Watchtower since it is in the key of Am......By the Way THANK YOU guys so much!!! This is really helping me.

Yeah, when playing over the Am in Watchtower. But you would want to switch to other notes in the scale to emphasize when the chords change. You'd still be using the same scale, Am, just different notes you'd want to focus on. Like on the G chord you'd want to focus more on the G, B, and D notes (the 1, 3, and 5 of the G chord). And no problem, I enjoy helping others out any way i can.

[matts420music]

[/quote]
Yeah, when playing over the Am in Watchtower. But you would want to switch to other notes in the scale to emphasize when the chords change. You'd still be using the same scale, Am, just different notes you'd want to focus on. Like on the G chord you'd want to focus more on the G, B, and D notes (the 1, 3, and 5 of the G chord). And no problem, I enjoy helping others out any way i can.[/quote]

yea thats what i was trying to do....

Am

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G

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[matts420music]

How do I figure out what key a song is in???

[taparoo]

How do I figure out what key a song is in???

usually you can tell by the chords being played, and the key of a song is most of the time the first chord played (this is not always true). A big part of it is knowing what chords are in what key (this explanation will probably be kinda lengthy, so try to stay with me here ). The general chords of a major key are I ii iii IV V vi viidim - that is, major one chord, minor second chord, minor third chord, major 4 chord, major 5 chord, minor 6 chord, and diminished 7 chord (the upper case roman numerals mean major, the lower case means minor, and the vii you see will often have a degree sign, like in farenheit, to show that it is diminished). You get this formula (I ii iii etc.) by playing with the major scale.

Take the C major scale: C D E F G A B C. Now, you can find out whether a chord will be major, minor, or diminished by looking at every other note - you want a total of three notes - the 1, 3 (major/same thing as regular 3rd or minor 3rd/flat the 3rd by a half step) and the 5 (major or flatted). For example, starting with the first interval of the scale (the root note), the C, take every other note (you want 3 notes first) to determine if it's major, minor, or diminished (major = 1 3 5, minor = 1 b3 5, diminished = 1 b3 b5) - C D E F G A B C. The notes you end up with are C, E, and G, which make up a C major chord, so that's the I chord.
Now, on to the next interval, the 2 (D note). Do the same thing, every other note: C D E F G A B C. You end up with the notes D, F, and A. You'll notice that those notes make up a D minor chord, the one being the D, the minor 3rd being the F (the major 3rd is F#, flat a half step and it becomes F), and the five being A. If you're confused by this you use the D major scale as a reference point: D E F# G A B C# D (notice the 1, 3, and 5). And then you simply do the same thing with every note until you get back to the root, C. You'll notice you get that pattern mentioned above (I ii iii etc.).

That's how you figure chords out in a key for a major key. For minor, it's pretty much the same thing, only you start at a different place. For example, A minor is the same scale as C major only you're starting at a different note: A. Notice that A is the 6th note of the C major scale (or the 6th degree of the scale). This means you start at A, using the same method described above to find the other chords in that key (use every other note yadda yadda). You'll find that you get the same formula above, only shifted: i iidim III iv v VI VII - remember you're starting on the 6th scale degree of C major, so it's the same formula just shifted, so the sixth becomes the one, the 7th the two, the one (same as eigth) the three and so forth. The basic way to determine what key something is in is by looking at what chords are in the progression, and some times the chords will follow the said formula other times they won't.

I don't expect you to totally understand this. Some of this is probably going over your head. And I probably rambled like an incoherent drunkard, but I hope you get something out of that . And feel free to ask more questions.

Also, here's a site that might point you in the right direction: http://www.jazzguitar.be/jazz_guitar_chord_theory.html

[dmfollower]

That was a very imformative thread and i enjoyed reading it. My friend Gabe is constantly trying to teach me theory and it always sounds that sort of info
I think if i just keep reading and thinking about chords and their roots and the like maybe it'll start to stick. Anyway, thanks to all who posted in this thread.

[taparoo]

That was a very imformative thread and i enjoyed reading it. My friend Gabe is constantly trying to teach me theory and it always sounds that sort of info
I think if i just keep reading and thinking about chords and their roots and the like maybe it'll start to stick. Anyway, thanks to all who posted in this thread.

If you have any questions just ask away. I'm sure me and whoever else will try to help you best we can. There's some good sites out there regarding music theory. Some great books, too. I'm currently reading 'The Idiot's Guide To Music Theory', which i'd definitely recommend.

[Nuladion]

How long have you been playing guitar?

[taparoo]

How long have you been playing guitar?

ummm, about 5 years.