What Scales?

[gunnar1104]

I love dave's music very much and enjoy playing he's music greatly, but I am very much a lead guitarist as well and I was wondering what scales a lot of Dave's songs are in. Like what scales Tim would solo in at Luther and Radio city mostly?

[Easy E]

i would start here

http://www.dmbtabs.com/boards/viewtopic ... &sk=t&sd=a

[gunnar1104]

Thanks a lot that realy helps but it's not exactly what I'm looking for. I'm not really great with music theory and terminology but I was speaking more along the lines of Major, Mixolydian, Pentatonic, etc...

[taparoo]

Thanks a lot that realy helps but it's not exactly what I'm looking for. I'm not really great with music theory and terminology but I was speaking more along the lines of Major, Mixolydian, Pentatonic, etc...

It really depends on the song, the chords in the song. Without getting all technical, a more upbeat, 'happier' feeling song (like Lie In Our Graves, or Crash Into Me) generally features chords built from the major scale, while a song with a darker, 'sadder' feel to it is generally built off of a minor scale, like Rhyme And Reason or Captain. More or less you'll find that the first chord of the song is the key of the song, though this is not always the case - LIOG starts on a D, Crush on a Bm - both are the keys the songs are in. The general rule of thumb with pop/rock songs is to use the natural minor scale over a minor key, and the major scale when soloing in a major key. Though this isn't always the case either - there could be some chords that aren't in the natural minor, or the major scale, in which case you'd have to either change scales or use another derivative scale of the major scale (i.e. Mixolydian in which you flat the 7th interval of the scale). If you want to solo over a DMB song, most of the time you won't have to use anything other than the natural minor or the major scale for your solo to 'fit'. I hope somewhere in this rambling response I was able to help

[gunnar1104]

Yes that defenitely hepls, thanks. When you say natural minor sclae is that basically the major scale in a different position on the neck. Sorry if that didn't make since but would this analogy be correct?
minor pentatonic : major pentatonic as natural minor : major?

[taparoo]

Yes that defenitely hepls, thanks. When you say natural minor sclae is that basically the major scale in a different position on the neck. Sorry if that didn't make since but would this analogy be correct?
minor pentatonic : major pentatonic as natural minor : major?

You can think of natural minor as being a major scale, just in a different position on the neck if you like. The A natural minor scale contains the same notes as C major, the big difference being where you emphasize the notes/chords. Chord progressions built around the A minor scale would generally have a more minor/darker sound, and resolve more to the A minor chord. A chord progression built around the C major scale would have a brighter/happier sound and often resolve to the C major chord. Same notes, just a different name and way of looking at things.

[gunnar1104]

So Bm = Dmaj? Em = Gmaj?

[taparoo]

So Bm = Dmaj? Em = Gmaj?

Yup. Same notes, different scale. Bm would be called the relative minor of D major, the same with Em.

[gunnar1104]

Great, thanks for the help.

[fede]

Most DMB songs are in Dmajor, dave seems to like that tone.

So always try starting off there.

Fede

[gunnar1104]

Most DMB songs are in Dmajor, dave seems to like that tone.

So always try starting off there.

Fede

Yeah I noticed that. I wonder if he means to or not, even though I doubt he cares that much what scale you solo in.

[SimsUK]

Yeah I noticed that. I wonder if he means to or not, even though I doubt he cares that much what scale you solo in.

This post does not make sense.

[jmon]

Yeah I noticed that. I wonder if he means to or not, even though I doubt he cares that much what scale you solo in.

This post does not make sense.

My thoughts exactly.

And there is not set rule on this. Lets take crash for example. The song is in the key of E. So lets say you are jamming something diatonically in the 6th degree of E. You can then switch to the 2nd degree of B and hit up something pentatonic. This is what Timmy does all the time and having meet him before as asking this is what he favors. This way he can have a limitless amount of variety while Dave sits on chord.

[gunnar1104]

Ok, can you explain that? it sounds interesting I just don't get it.