Tutorial: Breaking down Guitar scales and modes

[nezvers]

Finally I will get more time to sit just for music (damn university)... Really thrilled to start reading!!!!
Man that is deep bow from me for your hours sitting and writing these massive pages!

 

[pikachu69]

I'm wondering about something. Since flats and sharps depend on which way you're going on the fretboard, what do you call a note if you just pick one at random?

As mentioned already, if you are picking one single fret at random that could have two possible names there is no right or wrong name to choose, either is correct. What I would recommend to do in this case is to name it both names. If you get used to saying one name as you pass that fret you may find it difficult to rename it when you need to.

So if you play any random note, for example let's say you pick the open low E on your guitar, you could call it E, D double sharp, or Fb. If you play the 3rd fret on the third string you could call it A#, Bb, or Cbb.

I dont like this explaination sorry, it is quite confusing and not entirely true, musically speaking. The open E string can only be known as an E. There is no such thing as an Fb and the only time you would use a D ## or Cbb is in context of a whole piece of music and even then this is based on the key signature of the piece at the time.
There is no need to over complicate how you think about the notes on the fretboard and learning the 1 or 2 note names on the appropriate fret is more than enough information for the average guitarist unless you are playing classical guitar and maybe jazz.

 

[pikachu69]

Finally I will get more time to sit just for music (damn university)... Really thrilled to start reading!!!!
Man that is deep bow from me for your hours sitting and writing these massive pages!

 

[blackbull]

Thanks for explaining. LOL, I've finally realized why some chords are written like C#/Db I thought that meant like a slide between two chords haha.

 

[pikachu69]

Thanks for explaining. LOL, I've finally realized why some chords are written like C#/Db I thought that meant like a slide between two chords haha.

Those are tricky at first for most people. They simply mean that the lowest note of the chord get changed. The first letter is the chord you play, the second letter is the note the lowest note (root note) of the chord gets changed to. so If you see a chord name like E/Eb I would play an E major barre chord on the A string, 7th fret and change the lowest note (A string 7th fret) down one fret (semitone) tothe 6th fret, Eb. The rest of the chord remains un-changed.

 

[colton]

The open E string can only be known as an E. There is no such thing as an Fb and the only time you would use a D ## or Cbb is in context of a whole piece of music and even then this is based on the key signature of the piece at the time.
There is no need to over complicate how you think about the notes on the fretboard and learning the 1 or 2 note names on the appropriate fret is more than enough information for the average guitarist unless you are playing classical guitar and maybe jazz.

Sorry, some of this is incorrect. No such thing as Fb? I don't mean for this to sound rude, but I think you need to brush up on you're understanding of what enharmonic means. He asked about any random note, so I picked one. You conveniently left out the part I mentioned about context playing an important role when you quoted me. But yes, the vast majority of the time we're going to call it "low E". Just to play devil's advocate though, you talk about scales/modes in your tutorials I presume (I haven't looked at them)? Well, what would call the 7th scale degree if you were playing a Gb Mixolydian scale?

Explaining to someone a little bit about enharmonicism when their question is directly related to it isn't "overcomplicating" anything, this is a concept that is taught in the majority of music fundamental classes. The last sentence might have been, but that's because I was telling him about a small idea that leads to an even bigger concept.

 

[pikachu69]

^^^

Ok, let me say this a different way. You picked the most odd ball exception in music theory to prove your point, to a beginner that is struggling to grasp a much more simple concept than you try to explain and even then your answer did not really flow with his question asked. (I never thought the question asked was to do with enharmonicism for a second)

Yes in some instances (so few you can count them on one hand!) we can use the term Fb (saying there is no such thing was over the top) if you want to use Gb mixolydian or play a harp and are based in Cb major but how often does this happen, really? On a metal based web site none the less. Fb is not a note considered in everyday simple music writing or improvising so really dosnt deserve too much time spent on it.
The idea of my lessons (that you have not read) was to give people with little to no understanding of theory a BASIC understanding of simple scales and modes to get them on their way to improvising etc I never tried to make it an all incompassing theory lesson in fact I state very clearly that my lessons use as little theory as possible.

What you have done is taken it straight to the hard stuff with little to no explaination as to how or why. In my 16 years of teaching I have never found giving people information they dont need at this time useful and it only confuses the matter further and normally puts students off learning more theory.