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Let me start off by saying thank you for providing such a wonderful forum for flemenquillos to share their questions, thoughts, and ideas. I’m so excited to join this form and finally, learn the flamenco guitar.
My question pertains to scales.
1. What is the function of scales in playing guitar? / How are they used and why are they so important?
2. What are the components of a scale / what makes a scale a scale?
3. Which scales should be practiced in flamenco?
4. How should scales be practiced?
5. How do you change scales from one key to another (say from a scale in A/La to a scale in C/Do)?
Thanking you in advance for any information you can provide.
RE: Can You Tell Me About Scales? (in reply to Lucerom)
Welcome.
Wow what a question(s). What you ask encompasses about 3 months worth of music theory study and I doubt that anyone will have the time to respond in any great depth. There are many good books out there that deal with these topics. Hal Leonard has a Pocket Music Theory book that I particularly like. Short answer, scales are the bases of what composes the music. Though this is an over simplification, a piece of music in the Key of C will contain the notes of the scale of C Major.
There are many different kinds of scales Chromatic, Major, Minor, Relative Minor, Phrygian, Spanish (which is closely related to Phrygian), and the list goes on and on.
Western (western hemisphere) music is considered to be tonal which means its melodies and harmonies tend to be centered around a single musical tone or note. A group of notes arranged around a central note in a certain way is called a scale. The way they are arranged around the center note (tonic) is determined by the kind of scale it is.
It is my understanding that much of flamenco music uses a Spanish scale which is closely related to the Phrygin.
There are literally dozens and dozens of ways to practice scales and numerous positions on the fret board that they can be practiced in.
To change to a different key you simply start out with a different root (starting) note, apply the requisite steps, depending on the type of scale and "wallah" new key.
Honestly, get a good theory book as it is very hard to address these very broad questions on a discussion forum, or limit the scope of your questions. For example, "What is a Major Scale and how is it constructed?"
RE: Can You Tell Me About Scales? (in reply to Gecko)
Guys,
Thanks for your generous feedback. I am amazed by the comaraderie in this forum.
Gecko - I can see now that this is a vast topic and that it would be impractical to answer it in this venue. Thanks for the links.
Duende - I'd be happy to accept your theory papers. You can find my e-mail address in my profile.
I found the answers to most of my questions in this fantastic article from your link. For those who had similar questions to mine, here is the article: http://www.ibreathemusic.com/article/129
RE: Can You Tell Me About Scales? (in reply to Lucerom)
Hey man welcome, The most important thing to learn scales is to know well the shapes in the guitar, the one scale that you have to learn first is the major scale, by knowing that one you just apply whatever the formula of the next scale you would learn next to it. The flamenco scale is the Phrygian mode1 b2 b3 4 5 b6 b7 so it's basically a minor scale with the b2, when you have that just raise a half step the third of the tonic chord and you would have that natural 3 in the scale, wierd stuff...
RE: Can You Tell Me About Scales? (in reply to Lucerom)
Lucerom:
I assume you are just starting to learn guitar. If so I would not get too "wrapped around the axle" with scales at this point. However, to truly understand the music, whatever kind you end up concentrating on scales can be important, particularly if you want to do any improvisation.
Here is how I would approach the matter, others will probably have other suggestions. I would learn how to construct Major, Minor, Relative Minor, Phrygian and Spanish scales. This is not rocket science and should not take you too long to learn how they are constructed.
As far as scale practice goes, here is my approach (note, I play classical guitar, but am a relative new-comer to flamenco myself):
First I determine the Key the music I'm going to practice that day is written in and then I write out that scale. I do this both in text, eg A, B, C, etc and then place the actual notes on blank staff paper (actually I use Finale Guitar for this). It was a great aid in helping me learn standard music notation. Normally I just use 1/4 notes in either 4/4 or 3/4 time.
Then, principally as a warm up exercise, I play that scale in several different positions. I play it a couple of times using free strokes (Tirando), then a couple of times using rest strokes (Apoyando). When doing this I try to maintain proper LH and RH positions.
This will also help you to learn the fret board from the open position to the 12th fret.
Just like in language, one does not need to understand the "rules" of grammer in order to communicate. One's knowleadge of fretboard theory will not necessarily make him understand FLAMENCO music better. You will often find broken "rules" in flamenco anyway. Practice whatever it is you practice (scales, arpegios, rhythm, falseta, song...) with a metronome.
RE: Can You Tell Me About Scales? (in reply to Gecko)
Try this explanation: Western music is based on 8 tones. If you use the same tones but start with different ones you have different scales. OK you know that: so... C D E F G A B C - normal major scale, play C and G chords in play C scale you will hear it's tonality, many songs use it. Now try D E F G A B C D - dorian scale, try playing chords like d minor and G and play the scale, play around "Scarborough fair". You will hear that Scarborough fair melody is minor but sounds kind of exotic , play C dorian and D minor and see what difference in MODALITY it makes. Scarborough fair sound dorian, it's like d minor but with the difference. Once you realize that you will have answer to your question, each scale gives different modality, Mixolydian sounds jazzy, Lydian sounds very "Sartriani-like", major and minor are too common to mention, locrian sounds very very weird and "sartriani-like". But you will gain undertanding of modality if you analize Scarborough fair. At least it worked for me...
This is really cool site that helped me a lot with theory (I'm totally self taught)
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