I was actually looking some stuff up because I was interested, so I figure I'll share it with you guys:

By now you're probably familiar with the chromatic scale - A A# B C C# D D# E F F# G G# (of course, you could also write it with flats instead of sharps, but whatever). This is called twelve-tone equal temperament (not to be confused with twelve-tone music, which is totally different), because it divides an octave into twelve equal intervals. This is what western music is based on. Why? I don't know. People a lot better qualified than me decided on that.

But twelve-tone equal temperament is not the only system out there. Another way of doing things is, say, 24-tone equal temperament, though you'll also hear of 22-tone, 31-tone, even 88-tone.

An octave, as seen earlier in this thread, is the doubling of the frequency of a sound. Standard-pitch A, for example, 440Hz, would have its octave at 880Hz. The ratio between tones in any even-tempered tuning is a constant. As in, the frequency of A# divided by the frequency of A in 12-TET is the same as the frequency of B divided by A# and of C divided by B and so on. It turns out that in any N-tone even-tempered tuning, this ratio is the Nth root of 2 (that is, the number X such that X to the N is 2). In 12-TET this is about 1.059. In 24-TET this is about 1.029, which also happens to be the square root of the 12-TET ratio.

Back to notes. In 12-TET, as we said, there are 12 steps from root to octave. These 12 steps are called semitones. Various numbers of semitones up give intervals, like we discussed earlier - seven semitones up is a perfect fifth, four semitones up is a major third. You may recognize these, as well - a root, a major third, and a perfect fifth make up a major chord. Throw in a major seventh (11 semitones up from root, 1 semitone below octave) and you get a major seventh chord.

However, in other scales, you get even more intervals. In 24-TET, instead of being divided into 12 semitones, the octave is divided into 24 quarter tones. Two quarter tones are equal to a semitone. So you still can have a major third, eight quarter tones up from root, and a perfect fifth, 14 quarter tones up, but how about a neutral third, seven quarter tones up? Neutral seconds and sevenths are also possible, as are other sounds.

Most instruments these days won't do quarter-tones. Fretless strings, trombones, programmable keyboards, sure, but not your regular guitar, not without a new fingerboard. So, what's the use? Well, there is a major genre of music that uses quarter-tones (actually, microtones, but quarter-tones are the best approximation), as well as a rather odd interval system for scales. Tomorrow, if I remember, I'll talk about Arabic music, quarter-tones, and their ajnas/maqabat scales.

Originally Posted By Hemi-Cuda: Originally Posted By Gone_Shootin: Okay, my next question, can you use the scale for any given note in the chord that you're playing over. For example an open G has (from low to high) G-B-D-G-B-G in it. Can a player also use B & D scales as well in this situation? I guess the B & D would be called the harmony notes, right? Well you want to follow the scale of the root note only. Any G chord will have a root note of a G.

I knew that I got that idea from somewhere. I was re-watching the video of the Dear Giutar Hero column with Leslie West of Mountian in the Guitar World Holiday 2007 CD ROM. So anyway, question 4 dealt with the song "Theme From An Imaginary Western" & in the answer he went into some detail about when He was recording the solo. The song was writen in A & so He started to play a solo in A. It was either the producer or the songwriter (I'm not sure which) told Leslie that every key has a Relative Minor which in that case was F# Minor. So, that's how that solo was played, in F# Minor.

I Googled & came up with this Wikipedia article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relative_key

Originally Posted By Gone_Shootin: Originally Posted By Hemi-Cuda: Originally Posted By Gone_Shootin: Okay, my next question, can you use the scale for any given note in the chord that you're playing over. For example an open G has (from low to high) G-B-D-G-B-G in it. Can a player also use B & D scales as well in this situation? I guess the B & D would be called the harmony notes, right? Well you want to follow the scale of the root note only. Any G chord will have a root note of a G. I knew that I got that idea from somewhere. I was re-watching the video of the Dear Giutar Hero column with Leslie West of Mountian in the Guitar World Holiday 2007 CD ROM. So anyway, question 4 dealt with the song "Theme From An Imaginary Western" & in the answer he went into some detail about when He was recording the solo. The song was writen in A & so He started to play a solo in A. It was either the producer or the songwriter (I'm not sure which) told Leslie that every key has a Relative Minor which in that case was F# Minor. So, that's how that solo was played, in F# Minor. I Googled & came up with this Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relative_key

F# minor and A major are essentially the same scale, just different starting notes.
The relative minor of every scale is the same eight notes as the major scale, but starting on the note a minor third below. So, take C major for instance. If you begin on the note a minor third below C, which is A, and play the notes of a C major scale you are playing an A minor scale. D minor is, of course, the saddest key of all.

Really for most rock-n-roll guitar solo type stuff that most here seem to be talking about you are going to sound better to yourself playing more of a pentatonic scale, or "blues" scale. As the name suggests, a pentatonic scale has five notes. The tonic, the flat third, the fourth, the fifth, and the dominant seventh. In the key of C, these would be C, E flat, F, G, and B flat. Then you can add in "blue" notes, like F#/Gflat.

I'm a keyboard player, so I may have a different perspective to put on some of this.
I've had many, many years of music theory.

This is a cool thread. I would've loved to have had something like this back in my high school rock band days,

check this page out for all scales www.all-guitar-chords.com they have scales too. you tube has a lot of music to learn from too.

Here's an interesting concept: To play quarter tone music, just have two guitar players tune their instruments a quarter tone apart, and play their own parts as required.

Has it been done?

Or, for one player, a double neck guitar, each a six string, tuned a quarter tone apart. But he'd have to be mad fast in switching between necks!


A custom fingerboard could be cut by any shop that uses computer-generated fingerboard
scales and /or CNC slotting. It would be an extension of the standard scale lengths, but with the nut end being the start of the cut sequence for the 12th slot. (Technically, the 12th
slot would be the cut-thru, defining the nut position.)

CJ

Originally Posted By Quintin: Good thread. I remember how to read "normal" sheet music, from my band days back in middle and high school, but guitar stuff is like trying to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphics. I've been picking up Guitar World mags and the way the sheet music is written in the back of the book is totally alien to me, but I'm sure it's second hand to a guitarist. Wanna break it down for me?

It's called "tablature" - and it doesn;t give you the timing of the notes, just the string and fret, (and technique) to play them. There should be a tab key somewhere in the magazine...

Hemi, are you tuning to standard E? I've always downtuned to B, but I'm pretty sure all the same theories apply. All my scales seem to work.

Sure, go ahead and explain.

Some of my upper-level physics students (in high school) call music theory their "hard class".

http://randscullard.com/CircleOfFifths/

http://www.zentao.com/guitar/theory/

HTH

Not theory here, but I've learned that a very good way for me to pick up chord progressions (at least) is to try to find a video of someone playing it who's LEFT handed. (Or find a real live left handed player to learn from.)

For some reason it's much easier for me to pick up the fingerings and chord shapes from a mirror image than it is to watch another right handed player.

Does this happen for any of you, too?


CJ

I can assure you, I'm not on THAT level. Yet. I may never get there.

It's funny: I can tune to A-440 by ear to within a fraction of 1 Hz (because the sound of an A-440 tuning fork clamped between my teeth is burned into my brain)
but ask me what key something's being played in, or what chord is being played, and it's a guessing game. Yet I started to play in 1984.

I seem to have a very poor "chord sound memory".



CJ

Can we talk minor pentatonic scale for a moment? Let me assure you that I'm a total beginner and so some of the terms that I'm using may not even make sense in the context of the question being asked. If this is the case, I welcome correction.

Let's consider the E Natural Minor Scale ... Based on the fact that the scale is derived by the using the follow pattern of tones: W 1/2 W W 1/2 W W, I can derive the notes in the E minor scale:

E, F#, G, A, B, C, D, E

The tonic is E, the dominant is B. So, I believe the minor pentatonic scale in E is a subset of those notes, right? In other words, it would be: E, G, A, C, D ... ? (CAGED)

Why then do the graphics showing the frets for this scale on the web indicate that the notes are: E, G, A, B, D, E? What the heck? I thought the only notes that made up a pentatonic scale were C, A, G, E, D? Where does this B come from and why isn't it C instead?