Eastern European scales and making chords November 15, 2014 2 CommentsYou can’t have chords without scales. Even if you just throw some randomly chosen notes together, those notes would be part of a scale. You can’t really escape scales. People try. “Too technical,” and “Aren’t they just for soloing?” are a couple of things I hear when the topic arises. “Too technical” translates to “I don’t want to practice.” And the answer to “Aren’t they just for soloing?” is “no.” They’re also for inventing chords. I admit, it’s easier to look at a page full of chord diagrams, and make your fingers conform to what’s there. Developing a creative, curious mind takes a bit more effort. It’s kind of worth it to do the work. It stretches your mind, and it stretches your ear. Eastern Europe This scale might sound strange. Or beautiful. Both are great. Once you get used to it, it becomes something that adds color, rather than a random, weird sound. Let’s start by building a random, weird sound… Here’s a scale from Eastern Europe Making chords: Unfamiliar to familiar Place your middle finger on the C on the A string, 3rd fret, and your index finger on the F# on the high E string, 2nd fret. Add the open B string. Or you can use the B at the 4th fret of the G string (that’ll make the next move a bit more challenging, though…) Might sound a bit different than what you’re used to. Might not. In any case, let’s reduce the tension. Move the F# to the G on the 3rd fret of the E string (leave the C and the B where they are), and play the new chord. Might still sound a bit strange. Try moving the C to the open string D (or the D on the A string, fret 5). Better? The point here is to use the scale to randomly choose notes with which to build chords you would never have otherwise found. And then to resolve those chords by moving the notes in the chord to new notes. This is a process of discovery and experimentation, of trial and error. The point is to take the stuff you’re used to (and maybe getting bored of?) and add interest. Familiar to unfamiliar Another way to approach this is to go from familiar to unfamiliar. Place your index finger on the G, 3rd fret, high E string; middle finger on Eb, 4th fret, B string; ring finger on C, 5th fret, G string. That’s a C minor chord. Now just move the fingers to other notes in the scale and back. The G can go back to the F#; the Eb can go to the D; the C can go to the B. These can move together or one at a time. Work with this, and you’ll find ways to introduce this kind of sound into your regular playing and writing. Check my posts on scale-tone chords for more shapes like this. http://davewallmusic.com/scale-tone-triads-1/ http://davewallmusic.com/scale-tone-triads-2/ http://davewallmusic.com/scale-tone-triads-3/ guitar, songwritingShare : Tweet ‹ 100 posts Speed and relaxation ›
Sam Lightfoot-Loftus on January 16, 2019 at 7:13 pm Do you have any more scales that would fit an Eastern European style? This one is great but would love to learn more! Reply
dwall on January 20, 2019 at 12:10 am Hi. There are quite a lot. Google Hungarian Minor, Hungarian Major, and Minor Gypsy scales for a start. This page is pretty good: https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/around_the_world-turkey_fasil_style/ Look up Turkish Maqams. There’s a lot to explore there! Hope that helps.