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{{Advanced Lesson Crumbs|5}}To understand a scale, you need to play it and listen to it in various registers and emphasizing various notes but particularly the tonic. This allows you to make a personal connection with it. I encourage you to try to play through all the scales below. As you become more and more seasoned in hearing scales, you'll be able to identify them more easily, and hear them in your head. And you'll feel a need to use one or more of them to express yourself. Scales are like a dialect or a language - to a foreigner it all sounds weird or goofy, but as you expand your musical palette, you'll notice the intricacies and see their beauty.
This lesson covers a variety of less common Like [[Modes|modes]], some scales. Some are modes can be thought of more common as variations from the standard major and minor scales or each other. Many go beyond the normal practice of using only whole and half step movements from note They can be applied over chord progressions diatonic to notea major/minor scale, incorporating whole + half and even whole + whole jumpsif you only use them for the duration of one chord. Each scale has This is a great way to add a unique feel to a brief synopsis song or solo without having to learn an entirely new way of its origins thinking about melody and tonality, then proceeds into discussion of ideal usage, including whether it can be translated into diatonic chord progressionsharmony.
This The '''Double Harmonic Scale''' is called the double harmonic scale named due to its dual harmonic tetrachords (h + h). It has a very exotic feel due to the augmented 2nds, as well as containing both the m2 and M7 notes around the root. It is most easily arrived at by flattening the 2nd of the Harmonic Major scale. It is also a mode of Hungarian Minor.
Has The '''Hungarian Minor Scale''' has 2 augmented 2nds and 2 consecutive half-steps for a very exotic feel. It's is most easily derived by sharping the perfect 4th of the Harmonic Minor scale. All its half-steps make its tonality ambiguous. It is also Also known as the '''Gypsy Minor scaleScale''', it is traditionally popular in Eastern Europe. It works well over minor and minor/major 7th chords. It is also a mode of the Double Harmonic scale.
!! G/E !! E !! D
Consists The '''Whole-Half Scale''' consists simply of alternating whole and half stepswhen ascending, repeating 4 times before returing to reaching the root noteoctave. There is no clear tonality here - it is a symmetric scale. You can change the root note of the scale to every other note and get the same exact notes and step-sequence. This is often referred to as the diminished scale'''Diminished Scale''', due to its inclusion of the m3, d5, and d7 intervals (M6 = d7), which make up the fully diminished chord.
Basically The '''Half-Whole Scale''' is basically the exact same as above, except the patterns are half then whole instead of whole then half. Every other observation about the whole-half applies to half-whole. It also contains all the notes from the fully diminished chord. Its a symmetric scale without any tonality. Every other note could be the root and you'd get the same notes. It is also a mode of the above whole-half scale.
→Chromatic
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This lesson covers a variety of less common scales. Some are modes of more common scales or each other. Many go beyond the normal practice of using only whole and half step movements from note to note, incorporating whole + half (+) and even whole + whole (*) jumps. Each scale has a brief synopsis of its origins and tonality, then proceeds into discussion of ideal usage, including whether it can be translated into diatonic chord progressions.
== Pre-Reqs ==
* [[Music Theory Basics]] - Learn basics about scales.
* [[Music Theory - Minor Keys]]
* [[Harmonic Minor and Augmented Chords]]
* [[B Diminished]]
* [[Modes]]
== The Lesson ==
Before getting into a lot of scales, we need to understand what scales are. '''Scales''' are most simply put an ordered series of pitches (relative to an arbitrary tonic pitch). What makes scales so interesting is both the ''sequence'' of intervals between adjacent pitches and the intervals each note forms ''against the tonic note'' or other notes in the scale. This gives a scale both a sense of melody and harmony. We build (tertiary) chords off each note of the scale by adding every other note above it, like we have in the major and minor scales. But with exotic scales, rather than getting basic major and minor triads with an occasional diminished, you often get quite a few strange chords. Even when played solo, a scale can convey emotion and cultural or personal association through its melody and harmony.
== Pentatonic ==
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'''Pentatonic''' means 5-note. The following scales consist of 5 distinct tones (excluding octaves). Most of these scales feature the same relative step patterns between notes, but use different tonic notes, with the Eastern In scale being the exclusion.
=== Eastern Pentatonic - Yo ===
R M2 P4 P5 m7 R
w + w + w
The '''Egyptian/Suspended Pentatonic Scale''' is also enharmonic to the more common major and minor Pentatonic scales. This uses the 4th of the Minor Pentatonic as its tonic, which leaves it with no major or minor 3rds or 6ths (which are inverted 3rds) against the root note. As 3rds are commonly used to determine the major/minor quality of a chord, its absence along with the presence of the M2 and P4 creates a suspended sound.
D Egyptian/Suspended Pentatonic
R m3 P4 m6 m7 R
+ w + w w
The '''Minor Blues Scale''' uses the same notes as the Minor Pentatonic scale, but substitutes the 5th for a minor 6th. This scale is enharmonic to the Minor Pentatonic scale, but uses the 5th of that scale as the tonic note here. Comparing the two scales, the Minor Pentatonic feels more stable, with less tension on the 5th as the Minor Blues has on the m6. While a phrase in the Minor Pentatonic could easily sustain or end on the 5th, the Minor Blues will feel more compelled to continue to the minor 7th or back down to the 4th.
E Minor Blues Pentatonic
w w h w h + h
The '''Harmonic major Major Scale''' is the same as the Harmonic Minor scale with a sharped 3rd note, or the Major scale with a flatted 6th. The feel is thus a combination of both of them, creating a very disjointed and exotic sound.
Its diatonic chords are I, ii{{dim}}, iii, iv, V, VI+, vii{{dim}}.
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=== Melodic Minor ===
{{crumbs|blue2|2
|Exotic Scales#Harmonic Major|Harmonic Major
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=== Jazz Minor ===
{{crumbs|blue2|3
|Exotic Scales#Harmonic Major|Harmonic Major
w h w w w w h
The '''Jazz MinorScale''' scale is identical to the ascending Melodic Minor scale, but uses the same notes descending.
Its diatonic chords are i, ii, III+, IV, V, vi{{dim}}, vii{{dim}}.
h + h w h + h
A Double Harmonic
w h + h h + h
Its diatonic chords are i, II{{7}}{{f}}5, III+, V, {{b}}VI{{maj}}{{7}}, vii{{6}}.
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w h w h w h w h
A Whole-Half
h w h w h w h w
A Half-Whole
w w w w w w
Although different from the augmented scale, it the '''Whole Tone Scale''' contains the M3 and a5 of an augmented triad. All of its diatonic chords are augmented triads. Every step in the scale is a whole tone, making it completely symmetric and atonal. It simply seems to wander around aimlessly.
A Whole Tone
h h h h h h h h h h h h
The chromatic scale '''Chromatic Scale''' consists of every note in the 12-tone scale, with its whole-half pattern consisting entirely of half steps. It has no tonality - every note in the scale has as much tension as any other note. Usually, this scale is not played octave to octave but borrowed from for ''chromatic runs'' that span 4-7 notes. It can also be said to be used in [[Atonality and Serialism|atonal]] works.
A Chromatic