The Most Important Musical Concept You Need to Know
There are many musical concepts that are important to know and understand to get a better picture of how music works, but none are more important than the topic of today’s blog/podcast episode.
The Major Scale.
Every song you have ever heard has used the major scale to organize the notes and chords used in the song. No matter the instrument you are learning, knowing how to build notes and chords in a major scale is the most important skill to have as a musician.
The Major Scale informs us:
What notes naturally fit together in a key and which ones don’t. Since most every song exists inside of a major scale (even songs in minor) This gives us language around what our ears naturally hear.
What chords to use naturally and which ones don’t naturally occur. This gives our music direction and function and tells us which chords “fit” inside the key and which ones deviate away from the key.
What scales to use as a starting spot for creating melodies and improvising- Knowing the major scale allows us to create melodies and solos that will fit over the chords we used in the key.
What shapes to use on the guitar and the bass- This gives our guitar playing a starting point, and informs us what chords we’re using. The major scale also gives us the patterns to use on guitar and bass to give us a launching point in our playing.
What notes and chords create tension, and which notes resolve that tension. Since music is all tension and release, we need to know which notes and chords create tension, and which ones resolve it.
How to build the relative minor scale. We use the relative major scale as a starting point to know which notes naturally exist inside the minor scales.
Learning how to build a major scale is the best first step to making music theory make sense for you. I have created a free guide gift for you that walks you through the 9 building blocks of music theory and I would be honored if you’d check it out!
Interested in learning more? Schedule your free call with me and lets talk about your goals and make it happen!
Talk soon,
Kevin
KF MUSIC STUDIO
