A Kind Machine
New member
I studied Jazz for a while in school, and I had a teacher who was basically like the Buddha of guitar playing (still is). When I was expressing frustration as to when I should play the Ionian scale and when to use the Lydian scale instead he shared this little pearl of wisdom. The following is a way to construct the "correct" set of scalar tones from any three or four note chord (he calls it "The Sentence", but I am going to paraphrase since it has been a long time):
The correct scale for any triad or four note chord can be found by placing notes one whole step above each of the chord tones, stopping only when you double a note or get 2 consecutive half-steps.
You start from the tonic of the chord and keep adding notes in this fashion until you have a full scale. Some interesting results from this process are:
C - E - G major chord = C - D - E - F# - G - A - B (Lydian scale not Ionian).
C - Eb - Gb - Bb half-diminished chord: C - D - Eb - F - Gb - Ab - Bb (6th mode of the melodic minor modes).
This really helped me see scales in a different light. They are notes that reflect the sentiment of the chords they are associated with, not just notes in a line. I was able to grasp the altered ii/V relationship and chord substitutions much more easily as well.
The correct scale for any triad or four note chord can be found by placing notes one whole step above each of the chord tones, stopping only when you double a note or get 2 consecutive half-steps.
You start from the tonic of the chord and keep adding notes in this fashion until you have a full scale. Some interesting results from this process are:
C - E - G major chord = C - D - E - F# - G - A - B (Lydian scale not Ionian).
C - Eb - Gb - Bb half-diminished chord: C - D - Eb - F - Gb - Ab - Bb (6th mode of the melodic minor modes).
This really helped me see scales in a different light. They are notes that reflect the sentiment of the chords they are associated with, not just notes in a line. I was able to grasp the altered ii/V relationship and chord substitutions much more easily as well.