• Here’s the fingering for all 12 major scales…

    This lesson comes from pages 35 and 36 of the second version of my home study course (it isn’t out yet but I’ve been writing it for like 2.5 years now). Check it out…

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    Using the power of tetrachords to play any major scale you want!

    On Friday, I taught you how to look at chords according to the number of notes they have.

    This introduced us to names like “tetrads,” “pentads,” “hexads,” “heptads,” and of course, the “triad.” These are names for collection of notes played at the same time (i.e. – “chords”).

    Today, I want to talk about the other side of things — the names of collection of notes played one after the other (i.e. – “scales”). And specifically, I want to focus on the tetrachord.

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    Are you naming your scales correctly?

    For the past couple of days, I’ve been stuck on teaching you how to name chords correctly.

    Today, I want to shift the focus to scales because I’ve seen many people incorrectly write their major scales. For example, here’s are some common mistakes…

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    Discover the shortcut to playing minor pentatonic scales

    About a month ago, I posted a lesson on how to play pentatonic scales. As you learned in that post, this scale is called “pentatonic” because it has 5 notes. “Penta” is an ancient Greek prefix meaning “five.”

    We unraveled the numerical names for other scales too. Like… [more]

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    These melodic minor chords will have you sounding like a pro…

    In this exercise, I taught you the melodic minor scale. It was around the time we were talking heavily about minor concepts.

    In this lesson, I want to take it a step further and introduce you to the chords that are naturally created by the melodic minor scale. But first, let’s review…

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    What everybody ought to know about melodic minor scales

    secondary dominantLately we’ve been talking about minor scales. Yesterday, I introduced the harmonic minor scale and how easy it is to play when you know your natural minor scales.

    Today, I’ll go a step further and teach you how to form the melodic minor scale.

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    The secret to playing harmonic minor scales

    advancedmusiciansmall.jpgSo by now, you’re probably familiar with how to create minor scales. When I say “minor scale,” I’m usually talking about the natural minor scale (the most common). Sometimes, the “natural” part makes all the difference when you’re differentiating between other types of minor scales like the “harmonic” and “melodic.”

    And that’s exactly what I want to talk about today… the harmonic minor scale.

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