# Favorite Scales?



## Fiesta_Jack (Jul 23, 2010)

Working more on expanding my theory, so I figured I'd pose the question... Fellow blue-noters, what are some of your favorite scales to noodle to?


----------



## LizardKing (Jul 23, 2010)

Shit, I thought this was about reptiles or something.


----------



## Bittertooth (Jul 23, 2010)

Other than major and minor, I like to do stuff in the mixolydian and dorian scales when I'm improvising on the piano. i also like the scale that's like a minor scale except it has a major 7th instead of a minor one, but i don't know what that one's called.


----------



## Subrosa (Jul 23, 2010)

Try arpeggio scales for something different, they're hard though.


----------



## SwaggleTooth (Jul 23, 2010)

CHROMATIC 

also known as: the only scale.


----------



## GatodeCafe (Jul 23, 2010)

I really dig working the modes of the major/minor scale in a lot of cases, but I'm also intensely interested in the concept of "modal pentatonics". It's a japanese/asian concept, for the most part that cuts scales down to their essence of five notes. A classic example is the in-sen scale (Or aeolian/lydian pentatonic) which can be played with A-B-C-E-F in the key of A minor or F major. Run down those notes and think about the million koto songs with the exact same riff.

http://www.guitar9.com/columnist232.html

I also dig symmetrical scales, i.e. Whole-tone, Diminished, etc.. Great for quick runs or extended freakouts. They're great because the whole tone scale is deliberately atonal, while the diminished scale sounds off because it's actually pulling in too many tonal directions at once, so in that way they're sort of opposites.



Bittertooth said:


> Other than major and minor, I like to do stuff in the mixolydian and dorian scales when I'm improvising on the piano. i also like the scale that's like a minor scale except it has a major 7th instead of a minor one, but i don't know what that one's called.



Harmonic minor. double harmonic minor is also a treat. It's just harmonic minor with a sharp fourth. It's more mathematically elegant, IMHO than straight harmonic minor and it gives you a slightly bluesier sound due to the sharp fourth passing tone.

You can also play the harmonic minor scales as harmonic major by thinking of the fifth tone as the root note. i.e. play A harmonic minor (A minor with a G#) and add in an E pedal tone. Try to have your melodic lines ending on E and it gives you quite a different but still satisfying effect. It's actually unique in the fact that it's one of the few scales where a Dom7 chord is considered tonally consonant. Weird right?


----------



## ThisisGabe (Jul 25, 2010)

Arabic scale is my absolute favorite:
1 2b 3 4 5 6b 7

in the C scale:
C Db E F G Ab B


----------



## Shred Uhh Sore Us (Jul 25, 2010)

Locrian, Aeolian, Harmonic Minor, and Pentatonic(major and minor) are my favorites in any key.


----------



## greg-the-fox (Jul 25, 2010)

Dorian and Mixolydian.


----------



## Draco Fire (Jul 25, 2010)

Ab Dorian. Kind of an odd one, but I enjoy it none-the-less. I also rather like the D minor scale, or anything in D minor...the saddest of all keys.


----------



## Commiecomrade (Jul 26, 2010)

Pentatonic, Harmonic Minor, and F minor (seriously sad songs are in F minor - Gary Jules' Mad World, for example) but my favorite is the double harmonic. I think it's all the Nile songs.

I'd also like to add my favorite chord progression for no reason at all:

C min; Ab maj; F maj; F sus4; F maj; C maj


----------

