Chords for Music Scales Explained in 6 Minutes

Hey, what's up everyone?
I'm Peggy and in today's video we're going to be learning about notes and scales.
This knowledge is going to help take your songwriting to the next level and help you write beautiful melodies.
Let's dive in.
Oh my god, oh I had it so good before when I was just chatting and now I have no idea what I said. _
_ _ Scales are like an artist's color palette.
Knowing all the colors available to you will help you access musical mastery.
To discover your color palette, it's important to know how scales are formed. With notes!
As you may know, notes come from vibrations.
Every sound [C#] you hear comes from [B] an object that is vibrating.
Every vibration has a frequency and those are labeled with notes.
It's pretty simple and in Western music we usually only use 12 different notes.
The letters of the alphabet from A to G are used to label all 12 notes.
The piano is the best instrument to show you this on because the notes are right there.
_ _ _ _ _ [E] _
_ _ [G] _ _ Yes, [C#] there are only 7 notes, but the black keys are there to fill in the other 5.
The black keys are relative to the white keys and we give them one of two names, either sharp or flat.
Indicate a flat with a small B or a sharp with a hashtag after the letter.
Sharps raise a note by one step and flats lower them by one step.
For instance, the black key above C is called C sharp.
_ _ But the same key is also below D, so we can call it D flat.
_ [F#] Both names are used and it depends on the musical context or the musical key that we're in.
If you look at the piano, you'll see that it's huge.
It can be pretty overwhelming, but it's important to remember that there are only 12 different notes.
Phew!
An octave is the distance from one note to the next [C] same note, either lower or higher.
For instance, this is a C and this is also a C.
_ The only difference is that one is higher than the other. _ _ _ _
Another relationship is the half step and the whole step, also known as the semitone and tone.
The half step goes from a note to the one right next to it.
[C#] _
For the whole step, [C] skip a note and land on the next one.
[D] _
_ [C] You've probably heard someone say, what key is that in?
Or, let's play it in this key signature.
A musical key is the organization of seven notes that sound good together.
C major is a great key signature for us to look at because it uses all of the white keys on the piano.
Let's check it out.
If we look at all of the white keys starting from C, it will show us the major scale formula.
_ [D] _ _ _ [F] _ _
[A] _ _ _ [C] _ _ The major scale is something you should memorize to make your musical life easier.
The major scale is comprised of the whole steps and half steps that we covered earlier.
Let's take a look.
_ [D] Whole step, [E] whole step, [F] half [G] step, whole step, whole [B] step, whole step, [C] half step.
[G] You can also just say, W-W-H, W-W-W-H.
Try it with me.
W-W-H, W-W-W _ -H.
To keep things fresh, let's try applying this formula to a different key.
Let's try starting on G.
You might get some black keys.
So, we start with G, _ whole step to [A] A, whole step to B, [B] _ half step to C.
[C] _ No black keys yet.
Whole step [D] to D, whole step to [E] E.
Then, we need a whole step, but the next note is F, which is a half step away.
So what we need is F-sharp, [F#] _
which then leads us to a [G] half step back home to G.
Start on any white key to practice.
Follow the formula and the musical alphabet and be careful not to skip or repeat any [E] letters.
It's true that if a scale starts on a black key, it could have [D#] two names.
For instance, D-sharp or E-flat.
So which one do you use?
That's a great question.
When we start on a black key, use flat key names to build your scale.
Let me demonstrate this for clarity.
This black key is called D-sharp or E-flat.
Let's try to build the scale starting with D-sharp.
Remember, we're not going to skip or repeat any letter names.
So, D-sharp, whole step [F] to E-sharp, then whole step [G] to F-double-sharp.
That's [D#] a G.
And I think this is maybe a little confusing.
Let's try it with flats.
Starting with E-flat, we have a whole step to [F] F, a whole step to G,
[G] half step A-flat, [G#] _ whole step [A#] B-flat, whole step [C] C, whole step [D] D,
and a half step back to E-flat.
[D#] _ _ That's [B] way easier.
Now you can go ahead and practice this.
Start with any key and follow the musical alphabet and major scale formula.
Now you can play a major scale starting on any note.
Have fun!
Once you've internalized the major scale, you can use the notes out of order to create beautiful melodies.
Pick a key, select a few notes, and add a sense of rhythm.
It only takes a few notes to make a great melody.
_ [E] _ _ _ _ _ [F#m] _
_ _ [D] _ [A] _ _ [F#m] So that's that, everyone.
Almost everything you need to know about notes and scales.
Comment below with what you want to learn next.
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Phew!
I love this reaction!