How To Apply Scales In Actual Music

Hello once again! How was your scale practice (in case you were in real need for them)? I really hope that it helped you and that you have somehow mastered them.


So now that you know these scales, it's time that you knew how to apply them properly, that is in a given chord progression and in time with the beat or rhythm.


Chord Progression


In the previous articles called Understanding Chord Progressions pt 1 & 2, I asked you to derive the chord progression that fall under the key of C Major and hopefully you followed it and learned how to derive it from its corresponding scale which is the C Major scale.


We had
                C    Dm    Em    F    G    Am    Bdim
                I      ii       iii     IV   V    vi      vii ^O


Notice the Roman Numeral below each chord. This is frequently used in music theory and we make use of it in this context because it is actually a formula which makes it easier for guitarists like you and me to formulate all the chords in a given key and thereby making song writing a lot easier.


Now let me explain a little bit about them.


I - is the root  of the chord progression which is a major chord (uppercase)
ii - is the second of the chord progression which is a minor chord (lowercase)
iii - is the third of the chord progression which is a minor chord
IV - is the fourth of the chord progressions which is a major chord
V - is the fifth of the minor chord progression which is a major chord
vi - is the sixth of the chord progression which is a minor chord
vii o - is the seventh of the chord which is a diminished chord (lowercase with a superscript 'o') 
 
Try writing the down the Major chord progressions for all the other 11 keys (from C# to B) if you haven't done so already, when you have time.

For now, let's have fun. Try recording yourself playing the chord progression above and play with that recording the corresponding scale up and down the neck and listen to how it blends into the chord progression. So what's the corresponding scale then?


Yes, it's the C major scale!

After you have done this, you might be surprised how the C major scale seem to perfectly fit into the other chords with different names. It is because  they (both notes and chords) all fall under the C major scale.

Continue doing this and just have fun. In the future we will discuss on refining this by knowing what notes of the scale are best suitable to play for any given chord on that scale.

To be continued...