Quote:
Originally Posted by TBman
What if I took some scales and actually tried to write a melody or two while staying within the restraints of the scale.
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I just gave a listen to the first two songs that came up for you on Soundcloud and you stayed within whatever key you were playing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TBman
And then, in the tunings I like to use, DADGAD, CGCGCD and CGDGCD, see what scales make sense to use.
Up until this point I just use the peck and test method when developing my own melodies, (which isn't working out too well).
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You can make that determination fairly easily by finding the most common chords within the key. Those will usually be the I, IV, V and VIm. If you want the full gamut, for any key it's I-IIm-IIIm-IV-V-VIm-VIIdim. The notes in the chords will be notes in the key.
For example, if you're playing in the key of C major, the notes in the scale are CDEFGABC (no flats or sharps). Now look at the notes in each chord:
C - CEG
Dm - DFA
Em - EGB
F - FAC
G - GBD
Am - ACE
Bdim - BDF
(note: the V with often be a 7th chord)
It's pretty much the same for minor scales except we reorder it. The relative minor of C is Am, so we begin there:
Am - ACE
Bdim - BDF
C - CEG
Dm - DFA
Em - EGB
F - FAC
G - GBD
Notice the chords are all the same, it's just that we start on the VIm of the major scale. That becomes Im of the minor scale. Thus Im-IIdim-III-IVm-Vm-VI-VII.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TBman
Do you compose within the scales or do you do it as I do, by ear? Answering my own question it's probably a combo of the two.
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I suspect that you're actually staying within a key without realizing it. In your "hunt and peck" method, you hear good notes and sour notes. The sour notes are likely outside of the key.
I've kept this very basic but you'd really benefit from learning the Circle of Fifths. There are tons of videos on it.