Question from a beginner about scales

[piper19]

Hi all. I'm just trying to learn some scales now, it all starts to become clear step by step. However I have problems with some songs (I learn scales by playing them over songs). I don't know how I can see the key of a song, and wich scale that is used for that.

For example "While My guitar gently weeps"; I found out that I can use the normal A minor pentatonic, but why is that? Why do these notes sound good with the chords Am, Am/g, D9/F#, F,...

 

Second, the bridge starts with chords A, C#m, F#m,... , so I cannot use the A minor pentatonic anymore. How can I easily found out which scale to use?

So, in short, how can I find out what scale to use, and how can I find the key of a song?

Many thanks

[Poparad]

The chords in a key use the same notes as the melodies/scales that go with them.

By finding the notes that make up all the chords in the progression, you can usually deduce it down to one key that they all will fit into.


The first section of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" is in A minor, and the chords use notes from that scale... almost. The D/F# is outside the key, but it works because it's connecting that bassline of A -> G -> F# -> F.

The section section switches to the parallel major: A major. The chords used in there will fit work with the notes of the A major scale.


Typically, the first and/or last chord of a progression (the chord that everything sounds like it's returning home to) is the key of the progression.

To learn more about the relationship between chords and scales, do a search in this forum for "harmonized scale." There are a lot of threads on this subject.

[Virgman]

Whoops! Poparad beat me to it. I typed while he posted.

I will defer to his expertise.

.

Are you learning these songs by sheet music, tabs, or what?

Sheet music has the key noted up in the left corner of the first bar.

The whys of your question are best answered by you learning some theory about scale/chord relationships. It's a little complicated to explain here.



The particular mode of the major scale sounds good played over its corresponding chord.

This is really what you are doing when you play your scale over a progression. You are hitting good sounding notes at the right time. Notes from corresponding chords & scales.

Do some research on modes & major scale.

[piper19]

Originally posted by Poparad The section section switches to the parallel major: A major. The chords used in there will fit work with the notes of the A major scale. Typically, the first and/or last chord of a progression (the chord that everything sounds like it's returning home to) is the key of the progression.

 

 

Yes, that I found out now, but was not sure.

Will do a search, thanks

[gennation]

Look up Diatonic Theory on the Internet. All of your questions can be answered there.

But, the guys who responded do a fine job also.

Diatonic Theory brings you scales, chords, progessions, songs, and almost everything else in Western music, together.

A good background in it with help you quite a bit, for a long tm too.

[jazzbo]

I'm presenting practically the same information as everybody else, but here is my version

major or minor scale has seven notes.

Triads can be built on any one of those seven notes.

The way you build a triad is to add the note two notes higher and the note four notes higher, which is every other note from your starting note.

For instance, the C major scale is C D E F G A B C.

Build a triad on the C, you get C-E-G.
Build a triad on the D, you get D-F-A.
Build a triad on the E, you get E-G-B.
Build a triad on the F, you get F-A-C.
etc.

C-E-G is a C major chord.
D-F-A is a D minor chord.
etc.

so the chords of the C major scale are
C major
D minor
E minor
F major
G major
A minor
B dim

Every major scale will have this same pattern of chords,
I major
ii minor
iii minor
IV major
V major
vi minor
vii diminished

So let's look at the example of the chorus of this song.... it has A, C#m, F#m Bm E
since it has an A major chord, it must be the key of A, D, or E, with the chord Amaj as I, V, or IV, respectively.
since it has C#m, it can't be key of D, because key of D has C#dim.
since it has Bm, it can't be E. So it must be key of A. Let's check
A
Bm
C#m
D
E
F#m
G#dim
yep, all the chords are from key of Amaj.

You can do the same thing with the verse, which turns out to be in A minor. To find the pattern for a minor key, you just start on the sixth note of a major key. Since A is the sixth note of the C major scale, the A minor scale is

A B C D E F G A

and you find the chords the same way.