Using scale notes effectively
As a guitarist, your note choice and rhythm determine whether you connect with your listeners and band members alike. Done well, the experience is memorable.
A foundational skill is to make your listeners aware of the sound flavour of a scale based around some note, that is, to create a tonality.
Please try A first look at scales first.
Below you’ll learn how to:
- make listeners more aware of a note in a piece of music
- create a tonality using notes for the sound flavour known as the major scale.
Singers are lucky. They don’t have to locate notes on instrument.
Here's how to create a tonality
- You choose a particular scale for its sound flavour (major scale is very common).
- You draw most attention to an arbitrary note choice along with two other notes at required block numbers from it. We call that arbitrary note the tonal centre.
- These required block numbers are 4 and 7.
- You give the other four notes less attention.
- Seven of the twelve possible notes are used above.For a sung melody, these notes will usually be within one or two octaves (one or two adjacent blocks). You sparingly, if at all, use the remaining five notes for ear candy.
How to draw attention to a note
Here are some ways:
- Play it first after silence.
- Play it last before silence.
- Play it on a strong beat.
- Play it at highest pitch in surrounding notes.
- Play it at lowest pitch in surrounding notes.
- Play if louder.
- Hold the note longer.
