Help with theory!

[epic507]

Hey all! Just got my new Agile Interceptor Pro 727 which I will have pics of soon. Been too busy playing it to post pics. But I just wrote a song on it and I have questions of what scale or mode I'm using. I'm new to music theory so I just want to know if this is right. I'm playing a D# scale with a sharpened 6th. What is that? I can't find any modes that match that? Please help.

 

[Mr. Big Noodles]

Hey all! Just got my new Agile Interceptor Pro 727 which I will have pics of soon. Been too busy playing it to post pics. But I just wrote a song on it and I have questions of what scale or mode I'm using. I'm new to music theory so I just want to know if this is right. I'm playing a D# scale with a sharpened 6th. What is that? I can't find any modes that match that? Please help.

So, your scale is D# E# Fx G# A# B#x Cx?
Looks better on Eb: Eb F G Ab Bb C# D

I'd call it D# (or Eb) major #6. Starting from Cx (or D), it's Cx/D locrian #7, which seems like it might have a name somewhere.

It could also be that you are using notes that are not in the scale, or that the B#x/C# is really C#/Db, the b7, and that the sixth is still in there somewhere.

This thread is probably going to get moved in a while.

 

[JohnIce]

This belongs in the Music Theory & Lessons section, but kudos on you for taking the time to learn what it is you're playing! Theory rocks! And just for the record, anything SchecterWhore ever tells you is absolutely right and unquestionable, he is the theory Yoda of SS.org, so read carefully and learn

 

[epic507]

What does the "x" on the end of the F and B# and C mean? Like I said I'm pretty new to this. Thanks a ton!

 

[distressed_romeo]

What does the "x" on the end of the F and B# and C mean? Like I said I'm pretty new to this. Thanks a ton!

A double sharp: the note's sharpened by a whole tone.

 

[epic507]

Gotcha! Thanks!

 

[Mr. Big Noodles]

A double sharp: the note's sharpened by a whole tone.

Yep, # = sharp, x = double sharp, #x = triple sharp, xx = quardruple sharp.

This belongs in the Music Theory & Lessons section, but kudos on you for taking the time to learn what it is you're playing! Theory rocks! And just for the record, anything SchecterWhore ever tells you is absolutely right and unquestionable, he is the theory Yoda of SS.org, so read carefully and learn

Believe it or not, I know somebody who kicks my ass when it comes to understanding theory. I mean, there's no question. I'm not entirely infallible, I just sound that way sometimes.

Anyway, I was thinking, and you might have a bebop scale going on there. Bebop musicians use an eight-note scale to play over certain chords, adding a note to serve a function within the context of the harmony. In this case, the scale is
1 2 3 4 5 6 b7 7, and is referred to as "bebop dominant" by some musicians. It's used over a dominant chord, 1 3 5 b7, (as the name suggests), and the raised seventh acts as a leading tone to the root of the dominant chord.

 

[scottro202]

Yep, # = sharp, x = double sharp, #x = triple sharp, xx = quardruple sharp.



Believe it or not, I know somebody who kicks my ass when it comes to understanding theory. I mean, there's no question. I'm not entirely infallible, I just sound that way sometimes.

Anyway, I was thinking, and you might have a bebop scale going on there. Bebop musicians use an eight-note scale to play over certain chords, adding a note to serve a function within the context of the harmony. In this case, the scale is
1 2 3 4 5 6 b7 7, and is referred to as "bebop dominant" by some musicians. It's used over a dominant chord, 1 3 5 b7, (as the name suggests), and the raised seventh acts as a leading tone to the root of the dominant chord.

So, is the bebop scale a major scale with an added minor 7th?

 

[Mr. Big Noodles]

So, is the bebop scale a major scale with an added minor 7th?

Well, the bebop scales are a family of scales that are usually derived from modes of the major scale. The one we're talking about here is the bebop dominant scale, which is a mixolydian scale with an added major seventh. It's the same formula as major + b7, but as we are thinking of it in terms of a dominant chord, the b7 is diatonic, and the ∆7 is the added note.

Here are some other bebop scales:

Bebop major - 1 2 3 4 5 #5/b6 6 7
Bebop dorian - 1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7 7
Bebop locrian ♮2 - 1 2 b3 4 b5 6 b7 7

I know that the bebop major, dominant, are correct, but I snagged the dorian and locrian example from the Guitar Grimoire, and if you've ever talked to me about the Guitar Grimoire book on scales and modes, you'll know that I don't like it. You'll see on Wikipedia's page on bebop scales that they are not in agreement with the Grimoire's definition of bebop dorian: Bebop scale - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia