Beginner Transposing

[Pete Thomas]

Whole tone scales? Give the bloke a break.

Indeed, this is a question from a beginner still learning what a major scale is. First things first!

 

[lydian]

Whole tone scales? Give the bloke a break.

C'mon, you can't ask a guy named Lydian to not mention the whole tone scale ;-) Besides, most of the beginners around here are pretty gung ho. They learn more scales in a week than I've learned in my 40 years of playing. Whole tone scales should be a cakewalk. Anyway, the point was to illustrate what whole step intervals look like around E and B, not to add to the confusion.

 

[LostCircuits]

Thanks @spike sorry for the tears Ive been crying since I picked the darn thing up.. I cant wait to get back to some lessons in Jan I should writelist of things this really isn't the place for my madness....I was thinking that from a sharp or flat to the next natural was 1/2 a step and from a natural to a natural was a whole step..Would the answer be B...thank you @spike please only laughter at my posts....

I wasn't laughing about you, I was just laughing. And I can tell you that I have pulled this on some know-it-all guitar players more than a few times in jams when I asked them to change the key from E to E# or from F to Fb and they started looking at their fret board trying to figure out how to do these changes.

So don't feel bad, it's more common than you think.

 

[mizmar]

Besides, most of the beginners around here are pretty gung ho. They learn more scales in a week than I've learned in my 40 years of playing.

You've not really been following the discussion, have you?

 

[LostCircuits]

Isn't there a joke about the guitarist who tuned their guitar and then welded the machine heads in position.

There are guitars with set screws / locking mechanisms for the tuning machines, like the Parker NiteFly but to be fair, their carbon fiber necks held the tuning better than anything else I have seen.

 

[Dr G]

you know I was having a pop at myself right...lol

Yes. You know you misspelled "poop", right?

 

[Dr G]

There are guitars with set screws / locking mechanisms for the tuning machines, like the Parker NiteFly but to be fair, their carbon fiber necks held the tuning better than anything else I have seen.

Yeah, gotta love locking nuts - then when the string stretches, you have to take a timeout to tune your guitar.

I like old electrics - I used to specialize in setting up Strats so they'd stay in tune (with or without the trem block locked in place). I'd say that it's really not that difficult, but some people find a way to make the simplest task impossible to perform.

 

[Colin the Bear]

The odd thing with music is that once you learn something you feel like you've always known it.

 

[Dr G]

The odd thing with music is that once you learn something you feel like you've always known it.

Sometimes, Colin, you are truly profound - and correct.

Wiring the brain for transposing is interesting. I can easily transpose concert pitch music to Bb, but that's about it. I have to think when transposing the opposite way (playing flute while reading a clarinet part, for instance), and playing alto flute while reading tenor sax makes the back of my head sweat.

 

[Colin the Bear]

I find it easier to play Eb or Bb from a concert sheet than to faff about transposing it. I can remember the first time I saw someone do it I was in awe.

The stuff I've picked up on here is invauable. Although sometimes the explanations go a bit deeper than my understanding. But each time I am taken a litte deeper. Just need to live long enough to get to the bottom of it all.

 

[LostCircuits]

The odd thing with music is that once you learn something you feel like you've always known it.

It's not just music, it applies really everywhere, provided that there is interest in the matter. During my teaching tenure I always tried to achieve that students left the room telling each other that there wasn't really anything new that I taught them.

 

[LostCircuits]

Yeah, gotta love locking nuts - then when the string stretches, you have to take a timeout to tune your guitar.

I like old electrics - I used to specialize in setting up Strats so they'd stay in tune (with or without the trem block locked in place). I'd say that it's really not that difficult, but some people find a way to make the simplest task impossible to perform.

I used them once. End of story

 

[lydian]

You've not really been following the discussion, have you?

I don't understand. OP has been playing for years and knows all his scales, including pentatonics and blues. It was years before I'd ever heard of a blues scale or pentatonic scale. I don't see how putting the whole tone scale out there to make a point is so far out of line. Yes, he has apparently missed a very fundamental concept along the way. But I tend to understand something better the more examples I have, so what harm have I done? How else would you illustrate the different intervals in scales? And are intervals not the subject of this discussion?

 

[mizmar]

But I tend to understand something better the more examples I have,

Some folks do. Others can, accidentally, mix examples up... different strokes for different folks.

 

[eb424]

I don't understand. OP has been playing for years and knows all his scales, including pentatonics and blues. It was years before I'd ever heard of a blues scale or pentatonic scale. I don't see how putting the whole tone scale out there to make a point is so far out of line. Yes, he has apparently missed a very fundamental concept along the way. But I tend to understand something better the more examples I have, so what harm have I done? How else would you illustrate the different intervals in scales? And are intervals not the subject of this discussion?

Did someone else start this thread....or am i missing something aside from the locking nut to understand it all..lol..tend to only use the scale required for the songs I play do practice a few but main focus is playing songs...think if ive understood it right and whole tones are intervals between naturals that have sharps or flats and a semi tone is an interval between say e and f or b to c where there are none its been worth it...

 

[LostCircuits]

Did someone else start this thread....or am i missing something aside from the locking nut to understand it all..lol..tend to only use the scale required for the songs I play do practice a few but main focus is playing songs...think if ive understood it right and whole tones are intervals between naturals that have sharps or flats and a semi tone is an interval between say e and f or b to c where there are none its been worth it...

Hey, you are at the Cafe! You are supposed to get a lot of ancillary information that you are going to be able to use in your next life. And after reading the posts, you will be able to discuss this topic with anyone, you heard all the arguments and banter, and you can tell anyone who disagrees to lock his nuts and wait for the strings to stretch in order to take a timeout.
I think it's second to none information, marvelous at the very least!

 

[lydian]

Did someone else start this thread....or am i missing something aside from the locking nut to understand it all..lol..tend to only use the scale required for the songs I play do practice a few but main focus is playing songs...think if ive understood it right and whole tones are intervals between naturals that have sharps or flats and a semi tone is an interval between say e and f or b to c where there are none its been worth it...

I'm the one who has completely misread the room. Apologies for any confusion I have caused.

 

[LostCircuits]

I'm the one who has completely misread the room. Apologies for any confusion I have caused.

It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken!

 

[Dr G]

It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken!

General Tso!

Tangy, too.

 

[mizmar]

General Tso!

Tangy, too.

I'd never heard of that. I might try to cook it, I quite like American food. Thanks.