David Mason
From:
Cambridge, MD, USA
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Posted 30 Mar 2014 9:46 pm |
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One thing that comes up over and over here (partly cause I say it over and over  ) is that it is INVALUABLE for you to write out your own charts. If yo go into Open Office or WORD you can make blank tables easily enough, EXCEL is great for it. If you've got a ten string, you'll want a table with about 13 or 14 rows and columns, so you can write string gauges, fret position (1-3-5-7-9-12) etc.
Besides the fact that you can make them any way you want (a lot of people will use colored pencils to mark the roots, fifths, thirds etc) - the main reason it is so effective is because you are running the information past an entirely different set of brain cells, and the more different ways you study or envision things the better they are retained.
This is why college study guides tell students to re-copy their own class notes, if there a list in a textbook that seems "likely" to show up on a test - write out the darn thing your own self, too. And, even if you're like me and your voice is an affront to anything called music, it's still a real good idea to croak, hiss, or gurgle along verbally as you work on melodies. As scales are kind-of dull at times, one thing I do a lot (and inflict on students) is play them in moving fragments - assume do-re-mi-fah-so-la-ti-do is 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8. These kind-of crawl up and down centipedally, and within them you'll hear some building blocks that exist in thousands of songs:
1-2-3, 2-3-4, 3-4-5, 4-5-6, 5-6-7, 6-7-8 ->
ascending triplets going up
6-7-8, 5-6-7, 4-5-6, 3-4-5, 2-3-4, 1-2-3 ->
ascending triplets going down
3-2-1, 4-3-2, 5-4-3, 6-5-4, 7-6-5, 8-7-6 ->
descending triplets going up
8-7-6, 7-6-5, 6-5-4, 5-4-3, 4-3-2, 3-2-1 - >
descending triplets going down
1-2-3-4, 2-3-4-5, 3-4-5-6, 4-5-6-7, 5-6-7-8, 6-7-8-9 ->
ascending 4's going up
6-7-8-9, 5-6-7-8, 4-5-6-7, 3-4-5-6, 2-3-4-5, 1-2-3-4 ->
ascending 4's going down
4-3-2-1, 5-4-3-2, 6-5-4-3, 7-6-5-4, 8-7-6-5, 9-8-7-6 ->
descending 4's going up
9-8-7-6, 8-7-6-5, 7-6-5-4, 6-5-4-3, 5-4-3-2, 4-3-2-1 ->
descending 4's going down
1-3-5, 2-4-6, 3-5-7, 4-6-8, 5-7-9, 6-8-10->
ascending chord triplets going up
5-3-1, 6-4-2, 7-5-3, 8-6-4, 9-7-3, 10-6-8->
descending chord triplets going up
1-3-5-7, 2-4-6-8, 3-5-7-9, 4-6-8-10, 5-7-9-11 ->
ascending chord 4's going up
11-9-7-5, 10-8-6-4, 9-7-5-3, 8-6-4-2, 7-5-3-1 ->
descending chord 4's going down
Ascending intervals going UP ~~~ Descending intervals going UP
Ascending intervals going DOWN ~~ Descending intervals going DOWN
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
If it was me, I'd cut 'n' paste that, print up a bunch and stick 'em all over the place. But I don't have to cause I already did.
Your question seems to bear on "harmonizing" the scale tone? Each note can be harmonized in 3rds, 4ths, 5ths and 6ths. 2nds & 7ths too, but not too often! Leaving out harmonizing underneath the lead voice for now:
to harmonize in 3rds you play the scale tone, and the second scale note above it - not right next door, but down one house. Like C and an E, D and an F, in the system above it would go like 1+3, 2+4, 3+5, 4+6 etc.
to harmonize in 4ths, you skip up two scale tones, to 1+4, 2+5, 3+6, 4+7 etc.
In 5ths, 1+5, 2+6, 3+7, 4+8....
1n 6ths, 1+6, 2+7, 3+8, 4+9 (9=2 up an octave)
If you toy with this a bit, you'll find something eerie about harmonizing in 4th and 5ths - they're the same thing upside down, same with harmonizing the pairs of notes in 3rds and 6ths. But this should keep you busy until 2017 or so.  |
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