Imagine that you have a great idea for a new song. Maybe it came in the form of a tune in your head and because you are a disciplined songwriter and have your Songwriter’s Kit at hand, the tune is now recorded in your portable device, waiting for you to transform it into a #1 hit. Today, we are going to review some basic music theory concepts to continue our series of articles on How To Write a Song.
The Major Scale:
It is the most basic of the musical scales. It is formed by 7 different notes which are c-d-e-f-g-a-b-c(8) meaning seven different notes and and eight note which is the same as the first one, but one octave higher. The major scale correspond to the following syllables as well: do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-si/ti-(do) which means the same as the single letter notation. In a piano, the Do major scale would be:
If you prefer the guitar, the Do major scale can be played like this:
There are plenty of sites in the Internet where you can do a lot of research about the major scale for other instruments and how to play it in different ways to help you memorize them. The goal here is that you can identify the notes of your new melody.
In order to help you to enhance your musical ear and be able to identify the notes of a song, we are going to do an exercise which will consist on listening to a tune and then trying to identify the notes. In the following link, you will hear a version of good-morning-to-you in C major. Try to identify the notes using a keyboard or a guitar and compare your answers with the one provided.
Try not to see the answers before you have spent some time figuring out the notes of the song. The following is the guitar tablature for “Good Morning to You”:
At the beginning the exercise may seem difficult, but after some practice it will come naturally, specially if you have some musical background. The goal now is to find more tunes and repeat the exercise until you get familiar with your instrument.
Some music that is pretty easy to listen and guess the notes would be:
- Christmas songs.
- Children music.
- Folk tunes.
- Classical etudes.
- Some pop songs.
Now that you know the major scale, it is time to check the different Key Signatures which will enable you to play your songs in a variety of tones. This is specially helpful when you want to arrange a song which will suit to your voice range. The C major scale is just one of the possible major scales in western music, in fact, there is a scale for every key signature. (Ex. C, C#, D, etc.)
In the next article of our series on How to Write a Song, we will construct a major scale by its intervals to understand how it works in different key signatures. In the meantime you can do some research in the Internet to be ready for the next lesson.