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Beginner Scales - I'm going in.

I avoided the difficult scales. 4 sharps and three flats is my limit. Then I got a new orchestra piece. 6 flats. Now I'm struggling, really struggling. The 6 flat gear doesn't exist in my brain. Neither does Cb. :w00t:

Ignore them at your peril.

It was realising that the blues in concert E at jam sessions weren't going away anytime soon that made me face up to the gaps in my knowledge. I am living proof of the need to keep on practising them, even after you've got them down. I almost certainly was kidding myself - playing them over an Aebersold playalong did not, in my case, equate to knowing them inside out. Good luck!

I've found going round the circle backwards and fwds playing major and relative minor, really useful. I am getting through them faster but they don't all come easily just yet.

Jx
I have put my circle drawing back on top of the music stack. I think it is going to be a lifetime work.

Today I did some more work on C melodic minor, played the whole tone scale on C, then somewhat in shock, played through all the other whole tone scales too. These are going to take some work, there are places where my fingers flatly deny the instruction from my brain. I played through Nica's Dream and am going to spend a bit of time this evening identifying all the chord symbols in it and working out their associated scales and chord tones.
 
I don't know....im having many blonde moments remembering my flats and sharps . Anyone got a good idea on the best way to learn them? All welcome :)
 
I don't know....im having many blonde moments remembering my flats and sharps . Anyone got a good idea on the best way to learn them? All welcome :)

Most things in music are related to the number 7 so major scales:

C (no sharps/flats) and C# has 7 sharps = 7 sharps or flats together
F has 1 flat and F# has 6 sharps = 7 sharps/flats in total
Bb has 2 flats and B has 5 sharps = 7 sharps or flats
Eb has 3 flats and E has 4 sharps = 7
Ab has 4 flats and A has 3 shaprs = 7
Db has 5 flats and D has 2 sharps = 7
Gb has 6 flats and G has 1 sharp = 7
Cb has 7 flats and C has none = 7

C is always thought of as an easy scale to play as it has no sharps/flats. If you think of C# being just as easy as all notes are sharp. If you play the scale of F# major don't think what notes are sharp, try and think all notes are sharp except B and so on for other scales. I hope you find this an easy way and I haven't confused you. :)

Edit - this also works for the natural minor scale:
C minor - 3 flats, C# minor - 4 sharps = 7
and so on :)
 
Thanks Jbt. I shall have to draw the circle of fifths as cannot purchase that lovely clock for the time being
A wonderful exercise is to draw and label the circle from memory. If you can do that, you really know it!

@Sue If asked to play the Cb scale, I always cheat and play the B scale instead. Thanks for your post. I had never seen that relationship by adding the flats and sharps before. Or as one of my students called them the B's and tic-tack-toes. Today it would be the B's and hashtags. :)
 
Most things in music are related to the number 7 so major scales:

C (no sharps/flats) and C# has 7 sharps = 7 sharps or flats together
F has 1 flat and F# has 6 sharps = 7 sharps/flats in total
Bb has 2 flats and B has 5 sharps = 7 sharps or flats
Eb has 3 flats and E has 4 sharps = 7
Ab has 4 flats and A has 3 shaprs = 7
Db has 5 flats and D has 2 sharps = 7
Gb has 6 flats and G has 1 sharp = 7
Cb has 7 flats and C has none = 7

C is always thought of as an easy scale to play as it has no sharps/flats. If you think of C# being just as easy as all notes are sharp. If you play the scale of F# major don't think what notes are sharp, try and think all notes are sharp except B and so on for other scales. I hope you find this an easy way and I haven't confused you. :)

Edit - this also works for the natural minor scale:
C minor - 3 flats, C# minor - 4 sharps = 7
and so on :)
Omg!!! Not really being a natural muso or mathematician I could battle with that. But thankyou I will writ it down and try my best:)
 
Also....the terrible thing is I forget where they are on the sax!!! Concentration maybe? Have a lot going on at the moment.:(
 
I don't know....im having many blonde moments remembering my flats and sharps . Anyone got a good idea on the best way to learn them? All welcome :)

I'm not sure what you are looking for. So this may be obvious, but I'm wondering if you have been told the mnemonics for the sharps and flats in key signatures?

The sharps in a key signature go like this:
Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle (F#, C#, G#, D#, A#, E#, B#)
and the flats in a key signature are the same thing in reverse:
Battle Ends And Down Goes Charles' Father (Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, Cb, Fb)
 
I don't know....im having many blonde moments remembering my flats and sharps . Anyone got a good idea on the best way to learn them? All welcome :)
Love that clock! Here's one that Pete prepared earlier: The Cycle of 4ths in Jazz My teacher drew me up an amazing one with all the modes for every key, it looks a bit like a dart board
 
I'm not sure what you are looking for. So this may be obvious, but I'm wondering if you have been told the mnemonics for the sharps and flats in key signatures?

The sharps in a key signature go like this:
Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle (F#, C#, G#, D#, A#, E#, B#)
and the flats in a key signature are the same thing in reverse:
Battle Ends And Down Goes Charles' Father (Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, Cb, Fb)
no I haven't. Thanks. Basically self taught. Will write that down too :)
 
If asked to play the Cb scale, I always cheat and play the B scale instead.
Doesn't help if the dots are in Cb. Or do you transpose on the fly and cope with the move from sharps to flats as well?
 
Doesn't help if the dots are in Cb. Or do you transpose on the fly and cope with the move from sharps to flats as well?
If it is just a simple major scale and you have memorized it you just note where it starts and ends and don't even read the dots whether it is written as B or Cb. The same applies for the chromatic scale. Once it is learned and memorized, one no longer reads the notes on the page. You just note where it begins and ends and play the pattern under your fingers. I think it is called "tactile" memory and is learned by countless repetitions of the pattern.
 
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Reactions: Sue
If it is just a simple major scale and you have memorized it you just note where it starts and ends and don't even read the dots whether it is written as B or Cb. The same applies for the chromatic scale. Once it is learned and memorized, one no longer reads the notes on the page. You just note where it begins and ends and play the pattern under your fingers. I think it is called "tactile" memory and is learned by countless repetitions of the pattern.

Yes, but if you're playing a piece of music and not the scale...
 
no I haven't. Thanks. Basically self taught. Will write that down too

For a major key in sharps, you look at the last sharp in the key signature, and go up a semitone.
So if there are 3 sharps in the key signature, I recite "Father Charles Goes" (F#, C#, G#), then take at the last one (G#), go up a semitone, and I am in the key of A. (I think of the eager last sharp as the leading note of the key.)

For a major key in flats, you look at the next-to-last flat in the key signature, and that tells you the key.
So if there are 4 flats, I recite "Battle Ends And Down" (Bb, Eb, Ab, Db), then I choose the next-to-last (Ab), and that's the key I am in. (So the lazy next-to-last flat is the key.)
 
Yes, but if you're playing a piece of music and not the scale...
Sorry I misunderstood the question. If I am playing a piece in Cb I read the notes, but why on earth would I be playing a piece in that key????? That would be Ebb Concert if I am on alto. :eek:
 
Sorry I'm not making myself clear.

Dots are in Gb. Cb is one of the notes in the scale. As I haven't played/learned the scale I have to think about the fingering when I have to play a Cb.
 

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