TUTORIAL: Learning Scales & Chords

Now if only someone could explain the circle of 5ths and the nashville number system this easily... Very good post. I wish I read your post years ago.
 
Djchev said:
Now if only someone could explain the circle of 5ths and the nashville number system this easily
Click to expand...

Okay, i'll do my best. I've been teaching myself this stuff for the last two years and am currently a first year music major.


THE CIRCLE OF FIFTHS/CIRCLE OF KEYS

Since I am new here, thereby cannot post pictures, I will start by explaining it as a clock.

The scale at the 12 o'clock position is the C Major scale. The notes of the C Major scale are C D E F G A B C. These 8 notes constitute an octave. An octave is nothing but the 8 notes that make up a scale. The intervals (distance) between the notes that build the major scale octave are w-w-h-w-w-w-h, or wholestep-wholestep-halfstep-wholestep-wholestep-wholestep-halfstep. On a piano, the easiest way to see this would be as two white keys separated by a black key. The distance from a white key to a black key is a half step. Going back to the C Major scale, we should see the intervals between the scale notes (the capital letters) as CwDwEhFwGwAwBhC. Because of this arrangement of whole steps and half steps, we can see that the scale(also referred to as a "key") does not contain any SHARPS OR FLATS (otherwise known as "accidentals")
Now, for each note of a scale octave , we assign them degrees.
For example:
1(also referred to as the "root") C
2 D
3 E
4 F If we count up FOUR degrees from our 1st degree (root), we'll end up at our first FLAT(b) scale (counterclockwise) which resides at the 11 o'clock position.
5 G If we count up FIVE degrees from our 1st degree (root), we'll end up at our first SHARP(#) scale (clockwise) which resides at the 1 o'clock position.
6 A
7 B
8 C

From the above, we can deduce that starting from the 12 o'clock position, we move CLOCKWISE in FIFTHS for our sharp keys and we move COUNTERCLOCKWISE in FOURTHS for our flat keys.
Using this system we can then understand how all the other remaining major keys are found and how many accidentals(sharps or flats) are in each:

Flats<---fourths---C---fifths--->Sharps
F....1....G
Bb....2....D
Eb....3....A
Ab....4....E
Db....5....B
Gb....6....F#
Cb....7....C#
So, for example, if we are in the key of Db Major, if we were to count up four degrees(notes) from our root note (1st degree) we would have our next major flat scale in the circle, which is Gb Major.
1 Db
2 Eb
3 F
4 Gb

If we are in the key of G Major and we counted up five degrees(notes) from our root note(1st degree) we would have our next major sharp scale in the circle, which is D Major.
1 G
2 A
3 B
4 C
5 D

Now we are ready to address the issue of accidentals(sharps and flats) a bit more closely.

Going back to our discussion of intervals, I said that the distance between two white keys on a piano separated by a black key is called a whole step and the distance from a white key to a black key and vice-versa is called a half step. For example, if we are looking at the two notes, C and D, these notes are a whole step apart, or two half steps apart (1 wholestep = 2 halfsteps). What do we call the note that lies between C and D? On the piano, this note is the black key separating the white keys C and D. This can be called either C# (C sharp) if moving UP a half step from C or it can be called Db (D flat) if moving DOWN a half step from D. This black key is thus called an Accidental.

On the circle of keys, each key increases by one accidental (sharp or flat) as we move along it.
For example if the key of F Major has only one flat, the following key (Bb Major) will have two flats and so on. Same for the sharps side, if the key of G Major has only one sharp, the next key, (D Major) will have two sharps.

The areas where this gets tricky is when we get to B Major and F# Major on the sharps side and Db Major and Gb Major on the flats side.
These are called enharmonic keys as they have two names depending on which side(sharps or flats) of the circle you're approaching them from.
B Major, which has 5 sharps, is also called Cb Major, which has 7 flats
F# Major, which has 6 sharps, is also called Gb Major, which has 6 flats
Db Major, which has 5 flats, is also called C# Major, which has 7 sharps

Please understand that knowing the circle of keys by heart is the foundation for everything else you will endeavor to learn about harmony and sight reading.

Now, i'll teach you how to memorize the it.
1. Memorize how many accidentals are in each key. Don't worry about building the scale for now, just try to remember the order of the circle of keys. its better to practice writing and saying the following chart as often as you can until you know it by heart:
Counterclockwise from C for flats Clockwise from C for sharps

Flats<---fourths---C...no sharps or flats---fifths--->Sharps
F...1 flat__________G...1 sharp
Bb...2 flats_________D...2 sharps
Eb...3 flats_________A...3 sharps
Ab...4 flats_________E...4 sharps
Db...5 flats_________B...5 sharps
Gb...6 flats_________F#...6 sharps
Cb...7 flats_________C#...7 sharps

2. Once you've got this down cold, next, memorize the filling order for all the keys (which notes are assigned accidentals in each key/scale)

F...1 flat (Bb)
Bb...2 flats (Bb, Eb)
Eb...3 flats (Bb, Eb, Ab)
Ab...4 flats (Bb, Eb, Ab, Db)
Db...5 flats (Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb)
Gb...6 flats (Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, Cb)
Cb...7 flats (Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, Cb, Fb)

G...1 sharp (F#)
D...2 sharps (F#, C#)
A...3 sharps (F#, C#, G#)
E...4 sharps (F#, C#, G#, D#)
B...5 sharps (F#, C#, G#, D#, A#)
F#...6 sharps (F#, C#, G#, D#, A#, E#)
C#...7 sharps (F#, C#, G#, D#, A#, E#, B#)

I know it may seem like alot, but we're only scratching the surface here. One shortcut way to remember this to remember that the filling order for flats is BEADGCF,
and the filling order for sharps is FCGDAEB. Did you notice that the filling order for sharps is the same order of notes flipped backwards? Trust me, knowing this will make memorizing your keys alot simpler.

3. Start building your scales. Using the major scale interval formula mentioned earlier as well as your knowledge of the filling order of accidentals, begin working on constructing these scales. This is perhaps the hardest step, but the most vital. I recommend grabbing a list of major scales off the internet and writing them everyday until you can spell them cold.

---------- Post added 11-26-2011 at 12:03 AM ---------- Previous post was 11-25-2011 at 11:47 PM ----------

I'll tackle the Nashville numbering system later, time for bed, lol.
 
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Anyone got any tutorials on the mode scales (mixolydian...etc) or any of the racial scales such as asian or eastern europian?
 
This is very helpful, thank you for posting this. I'll be studying it, I always have problems remembered minor and major scales.
 
I just printed your info out and looked it over again, excellent explanation, bruh! It is a turbo boost to me learning music theory! My sincere thanks and appreciation...again! :-D
 
This is a nice breakdown of the circle of fifths. Thirds are derived from a stack of four fifths, at least in traditional music theory based on equal temperament.
 
Nice tutorial, but i would say the best way to learn how to play scales is to buy a book, read it properly and try it out. I was taught how to play the piano, but i have seen various videos on youtube and so on that show you the correct fingering and things like that. If you was to combine the book and these videos, im sure anyone would be able to learn the various types of scales in no time
 
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