Need help.

Anton1983

New member
So I have started to make a song and I have started with a bass line in the key of D# minor.. It starts with the note D# and only uses keys in the scale of D# minor. Then instead of playing D# minor piano chords over the bass I played the piano chords in the key of A# minor over the top and it sounds good.. Which I believe is the fifth above the D# minor scale. Question is... Is the common? What key is the song in now? Similarly I made a song with a bass line in A minor, then played some piano notes (not chords) starting with the note E but only used white keys... Now the E minor scale has an F# in it and I have not used that note because it sounds off... So is the song still in A minor? Are the E piano keys in A minor even though I started with the root note E? Also do i have start a scale at the root note or not? I know there's a lot of info here but would be great if any experts out there could help! Thanks
 
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The only difference between the D# minor scale and the A# minor scale is the B-B# (and the starting note). When you play the white keys under the A minor pattern, you are still using A minor, just starting on E (white keys are C major or A minor, depending on where you start; could also be considered Aeolian Mode). So you're still in D# minor and A minor (which is why the F# sounded wrong).
 
So in the D# minor song even though the bass is D# minor and I play A# minor chords over the top the track is still D# minor correct? Also what your saying is I can play a scale and not have to start at the root note? Thanks for helping
 
Yes, you can be in that key and not start out at the root, although it's true that many songs start out with the chord and bass note that are the root of the key, some don't, and it's more important where the pattern/song resolves to (or, how it ends).
 
You can always modify a scale. Scales are just what we know so far. The blues inventors brought the 5th notes of a scale down one half step to create their unique sound. (look up the blue note on google, it's a flat 5th). As long as all of the instruments and melodies include that new note, you should be okay. It'll sound different and new but that's why we experiment with new things, right?
 
Sort of ^^^^.

Western musical notation is only one way of approaching things, but when choosing to work within that framework, things must make sense and we don't really invent scales willy-nilly. But Western theory and notation can't cover all possibilities in World music, which is the case with the Blues scale-- American bluesmen were not "inventing a new scale," they were applying a West African scale (that has a flatted 5th and 7th) on Western music concepts like major and minor chords.
 
PS-- When "modifying a scale" in the way that Epsilon-144 suggests, you are actually just using whatever standard scale you choose with something called "altered tones."
 
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