by Travis Atkins
If you are a serious musician you will want to learn some scales to help warm you up. The reason why you would play scales is to help loosen up your fingers and get you mentally prepared for performance or further practice.
A scale is a series of notes that are played in either ascending or descending order, or both. There are different types of scales. The most common scales played during warm-ups are major and minor scales and musicians who warm up with these scales will usually play them one or two octaves at a time.
The major scale has a different series of half and whole steps than do the minor scales. The major scale has whole steps between steps 1 and 2, 4 and 5, and 6 and 7. The half steps of the major scale are between steps 3 and 4 of the scale and steps 7 and 8 of the scale.
The whole step/half step formation of the major scale is indicated as below. A W indicates the whole steps and an H indicates the half steps. The 1 2/2 steps in the descending melodic scale below is representing below by WH.
Whole Step/Half Step Configuration of the major scale:
W W H W W W H
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Musicians who warm up with major scales also warm up with minor scales as well. The whole step/half step configuration of three different minor scales is listed as follows:
Natural Minor Scale
W H W W H W W
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
The notes, random
From tuning, wander into the heat
Like a new insect chirping in the scrub,
Untired at noon. A chord gathers and spills....
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)
Harmonic Minor Scale
W H W W H WH H
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Melodic Minor Scale
Ascending
W H W W W W H
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Descending
W W H W W H W
8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
The above scale patterns are true no matter what key you play in, and no matter how many sharps or flats are in the key signature (the order of sharps or flats displayed on a staff to signify the key of a song). The only difference you will encounter while playing the above scale formations in different keys is that you have to use different fingering techniques in order to be able to play them. However, for the most part the above scale formulas can be used to practice any scales starting from any note on an instrument.
You can often find exercise books to help you, as well. Some of these are even marked with both letter names of the notes in the scale as well as the above markings. You should start out playing them at a slow and comfortable pace and then challenge yourself to play them faster and faster. Not only that but each one should be practiced in both ascending and descending order. Note that the fingering is often slightly different on the way back down from the scale as it is on the way up the scale.
Give me the keys. I feel for the common chord again,
Sliding by semi-tones till I sink to a minor,—yes,
And I blunt it into a ninth, and I stand on alien ground,
Surveying a while the heights I rolled from into the deep;
Which, hark, I have dared and done, for my resting-place is found,
The C Major of this life: so, now I will try to sleep.
—Robert Browning (1812–1889)
Another useful practice for aspiring musicians is to practice various chord progressions. Chords are a group of notes played together to produce a harmonic effect. Each chord has a number and a letter assigned to it, and chord numbers and letters are referred to interchangeably. The bottom note of all chords is the root of the chord, and is the note of the chord that gives each chord its name (number and/or letter assigned to it).
Two of the most common major chord progressions are listed as follows both in number format and letter format for the key of C:
Major Chord Progression #1
I IV V I
C F G C
I IV V V7 I
C F G G7 G
Several variations of the above chord progressions can be played in this key as well as the other keys in which music are played. The above chords are built from the major scale of the key of C. If someone wants to learn chords in other keys they can use the above chord progression formulas to construct the chords. This is done because no matter what key you play in the chords are almost always played the same way, with the same fingers.
Minor chords are also easy to learn and practice. For example, when you play the "I" chord, all you have to do is lower the 2nd note of the chord, which is usually referred to as "3", because it is the third note of a musical scale. The notes played in other minor scales are the same as in major, but the only difference is some of the notes in these scales may be lowered or raise a half step, depending upon which numbered chord you are playing.
Also, you should note that it is important to practice all of the above chords in different inversions. There are three inversions for every root chord (The root chord is usually referred to as the root position of the chord). The inversions of each chord are called first, second and third inversion. Each is played with a different set of fingers, and some chords are played differently in the right hand than in the left hand (if you are playing piano).
You can find plenty of scale and chord books to help you on your journey to become the best musician possible. The more you learn in any position the more chance you have to earn money. This is true in the music industry as well. The above tips will help you as you prepare your music for performance.
Learning and practicing chords is especially useful for guitar players and piano players. Groups of wind instrumentalists can also get together and practice the above chord progressions as well. Those who want to learn more complex chords can find great resources both for free and for a small fee, in many places such as the Internet, library, or music store.