To cut a long story short...here is how it is: The 12 notes in music in order of appearance is like this: C-C#-D-D#-E-F-F#-G-G#-A-A#-B... Now, as we all know there is NO E# and NO B#. Now all the notes of a scale are placed at certain INTERVALS. The distance from C to C# is a half step (h) The distance from C to D is a whole step (W) And likewise for all the other notes too. C D E F G A B C This is our good old C Major scale. And now from the ASSUMED C Major scale, let's derive a major scale formula. C D E F G A B C W W h W W W h WWhWWWh-whole whole half whole whole whole half Memorize this correctly and permanently!! Now from this formula we can derive ANY major scale! Ummm let's take E Major.... 'E'...now take a WHOLE step from E...let's see..E to F is a half step...because there is not E#, the immediate next note is F (Look at the 12 notes above). We need a WHOLE step from E...so let's go one more half step ahead...that's F#. Right? E F# W Now again a whole step from F#. Hey, you see that a whole step=2 half steps?? F#...to G to G# E F# G# W W h Now a half step from G# is the IMMEDIATE next note, A. Like this...step-by-step (literally!) we build the E Major scale like this: E F# G# A B C# D# E Now as a RULE, also remember that "Every chord is derived from it's respective scale" What does that mean? Let's give each 'degree' of the scale a number.... C D E F G A B C C=1 D=2 E=3 and so on 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 C D E F G A B C Now time for some more formulae: Major chord= 1-3-5 If we want a C Major chord...we first will write down the C Major scale. Then we use the Major Chord formula 1-3-5. 1=C 3=E 5=G That's it! C-E-G is C Major. That was too easy!! How about Cmb5 (pronounced as C minor flat five)? mb5=1-b3-b5 So, we have C-Eb-Gb Let's try to derive Cadd9 Where is the 9th note???? Let's see... 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 C D E F G A B C D E F G A B C Wow! That's just the same scale written in an increasing order of the frequency. These are two octaves. So, the 9th note of a scale is actually the 2nd note, played HIGHER on the octave, get it? add9=1-3-5-9 C-E-G-D All the examples were given in the scale of C for simplicity. I would recommend doing the same kind of study with all the 12 scales. I hope this lesson could be of help! Suggestions and recommendations are welcome Thanks!
ad,can u give an example for a minor as well as suspended..i got the major though im gettin confused in the above 2....
Major I - III - V Major 6 I - III - V - VI Major 6 add 9 I - III - V - VI - IX Major 7 I - III - V - VII Major 9 I - III - V - VII - IX Dominant 7 I - III - V - bVII Dominant 7b10 I - III - V - bVII - bX Dominant 7 aug 5 I - III - #V - bVII Dominant 7 sus 4 I - IV - V - bVII Dominant 9 I - III - V - bVII - IX Dominant 9 sus 4 I - IV - V - bVII - IX Dominant 9 sus 4 I - IV - V - bVII - IX Dominant 11 I - III - V - bVII - IX - XI Dominant 13 I - III - V - bVII - IX - XI - XIII Augmented I - III - #V Minor I - bIII - V Minor 6 I - bIII - V - VI Minor 7 I - bIII - V - bVII Minor 7 Flat 5 I - bIII - bV - bVII Diminished I - bIII - bV Diminished 7 I - bIII - bV - VI Suspended 4 I - IV - V Suspended 2 I - II - V Add 9 I - III - V - IX
