Music Theory guys... help me come up with clean guitar part?
- Thread starter JayB
- Start date
Omg I wrote a long reply and for some reason I got logged out and the forum didn't recognize my login and I lost everything! lol
So here goes try 2!
It is true that you can generally use just one scale if your song is tonal. In other words the chords revolve around a key. In this case the solo section is in Bb minor or A# minor (they're the same thing). So you wouldn't want to use a C minor scale but an A# minor which it sounds like your brother is using.
The reason why it may sound a little off to you is because for most of the solo he's using too many non chord tones which doesn't work very well for slow melodic songs.
Here are the chords of the solo section:
A# minor, F#, C#, and G#.
The chord tones are as follows: A# C# E# for chord one, F# A# C# for chord two, C# E# G# for chord three, and G# B# D# for chord four.
When the solo kicks in, he's playing a C# which works great since the chord tones are A# C# E#, however for the second chord he's playing E# then C# and then holds a D# instead of using F# A# C#. This may sound strange to your ears.
For the third chord he plays A# and then slides to C#. This isn't so bad since the chord tones are C# E# G#. So the A# may not sound so great but the sliding to the C# sort of makes up for it. He does this on the second pass too, but plays the notes an octave up. Not the best choice of notes but not horrible.
In the fourth chord he plays D# E# A#. This isn't ideal against a G# chord which contain G# B# D#. Remember the last note stands out the most since it's held the longest, so in this case starting on a D# doesn't make up for it.
Your brother must've been offended in the way you asked him. I'm sure he could do better. Like I said, it's not technically wrong, but it would sound a little more pleasing to the ears if it contained more chord tones. I'm also certain this is what's throwing you off.
So here goes try 2!
It is true that you can generally use just one scale if your song is tonal. In other words the chords revolve around a key. In this case the solo section is in Bb minor or A# minor (they're the same thing). So you wouldn't want to use a C minor scale but an A# minor which it sounds like your brother is using.
The reason why it may sound a little off to you is because for most of the solo he's using too many non chord tones which doesn't work very well for slow melodic songs.
Here are the chords of the solo section:
A# minor, F#, C#, and G#.
The chord tones are as follows: A# C# E# for chord one, F# A# C# for chord two, C# E# G# for chord three, and G# B# D# for chord four.
When the solo kicks in, he's playing a C# which works great since the chord tones are A# C# E#, however for the second chord he's playing E# then C# and then holds a D# instead of using F# A# C#. This may sound strange to your ears.
For the third chord he plays A# and then slides to C#. This isn't so bad since the chord tones are C# E# G#. So the A# may not sound so great but the sliding to the C# sort of makes up for it. He does this on the second pass too, but plays the notes an octave up. Not the best choice of notes but not horrible.
In the fourth chord he plays D# E# A#. This isn't ideal against a G# chord which contain G# B# D#. Remember the last note stands out the most since it's held the longest, so in this case starting on a D# doesn't make up for it.
Your brother must've been offended in the way you asked him. I'm sure he could do better. Like I said, it's not technically wrong, but it would sound a little more pleasing to the ears if it contained more chord tones. I'm also certain this is what's throwing you off.
Just to clear this up. Yes, this would be correct if Jay was playing in E standard. But he's in drop C, if he were to look up what notes are in the key of Db he'd play in the wrong key. That is why were talking about Cm and such.
How can I figure out what chords I'm playing in a section? I'm sure there's a website that can help figure this out... I have guitar Pro 6 also if that helps...
Yes if you tried to play an A# minor scale that is fingered for E standard, of course it wouldn't work on a drop C tuned guitar. I figured that was a given. However the image that was posted earlier clearly shows a C minor scale fingered for a dropped C tuned guitar. And this is not the scale he'd want to use if he is soloing over an A# minor section.
In Guitar Pro 5 (hopefully it's the same in GP6) you can select Tools then Scales...
Then select A# and Minor Scale. It'll show a fretboard like the pic that was posted earlier. I'd post it myself but everytime I select the Grab app the fretboard window disappears.
Also, (and this is very important) make sure you're in drop C tuning under Properties. (F6 in mac GP5)
Either way I don't think the scale was the problem in the first place but the note choices.
You'll have to be a little more specific here. Do you mean when you played those 4 chords in the solo section you had no idea what chords they were? If so you're just going to have to slowly learn some basic notes on the guitar. At the very least learn the notes on the 6th and 5th string since most chords start on those strings, especially in metal.
Power chords are popular in metal so I'll start with those.
When you hit the three low open strings of your guitar you're essentially playing a C power chord (or C5). The 6th string is a C, the 5th string is a G and the 4th string is another C.
This is why you often see the shorthand C5 when dealing with power chords because you're playing the root (C) and the 5th (G). In other words if you count up five notes from C (including the C) you get a G.
The 4th string is optional since the note is the same as the root. So you can play all 3 strings (C, G, and another C and octave up) or just the 6th and 5th string (C, and G).
All power chords are like this.
So now if you learn all the notes on the 6th string you will always know which power chord you're playing.
1st fret (barring low 3 strings) would be C#5, 2nd fret would be D5 etc.
Obviously this way of playing power chords (barring low 3 strings) only works in drop tuned guitar and only on the 6th string.
Once you play power chords on the 5 string you would have to use the more traditional index, ring, pinky shape (or index + bar with ring or bar with pinky).
For example index on 5th string 1st fret, ring on 4th string 3rd fret, and pinky on 3rd string 3rd fret would be a G#5 power chord in drop C. Sliding up that same position to the 2nd fret would make it an A5 power chord.
So again, learning the notes on the fretboard is essential to figure out what chords you're playing.
