You’re Using Scales Wrong

So, let’s re-imagine scales and chords.

The Hard Truth (Sort Of…)

All musicians do it: we describe scale formulas starting at 1. Doing so makes describing scales, modes, and chords so easy once you get used to it. A Major Triad uses degrees 1, 3, and 5. A Maj7 chord uses degrees 1, 3, 5, and 7. There a formula, or set of numbered degrees, for everything in music. But we’re going to stop that today put 1 at the center of our scale. At least we will to highlight this concept.

Everything Returns to One

Below is the Chromatic Scale with the first degree, or Tonic, at the center. We’ll use the Chromatic Scale because it uses all of the notes possible in western music, aka: the twelve tone system. We can see from this diagram that the Perfect 5^th and Perfect 4^th degrees are the same distance away from the Tonic. The difference is that starting at the 5^th degree we ascend to the Tonic, while starting at the 4^th degree we descend to the Tonic. Either way, the distance is an interval known as a “Fourth”.

The other interval shown is the TriTone. Notice that we can start at the Diminished 5^th or the Augmented Fourth and arrive at the Tonic and it is a TriTone interval (aka three whole steps) both ascending and descending.

These are just a few ways of showing that we can move to the Tonic using the same interval, but from different staring points.

Another way to imagine distance to/from the Tonic is in groups. Below we have three color-coded groups. There’s nothing magical about this. It all has to do with the distance to/from the Tonic and nothing else.

In the next diagram we can see that the two 7^th degrees and two 2^nd degrees are the same distance from the Tonic. More specifically, the 7^th and b2nd are a half-step away from the Tonic and the b7th and 2^nd are a whole step away from the Tonic.

Thinking about distance in terms of groups can be handy. In the way we can group b2, 2, b7, and 7 as being near the Tonic. Degrees b3, 3, b6, and 6 are a little farther away from the Tonic. Degrees 4, #4, b5, and 5 are the farthest away from the Tonic.

Another way of wording these groups from closest to Tonic to farthest from Tonic is “Twos & Sevens”, “Threes & Sixes”, and “Perfects and TriTones”.

Putting It to Use

Check out the Maj7 and m7 chords below. A Maj7 uses degrees 1-3-5-7 and a m7 uses degrees 1-b3-5-b7. Having formulas like this is great! Now notice how a degree is used from each colored group. Again, there’s no mystical thing going on here. We simply have two things going for us in terms of practicality: (1) the notes have space and (2) there is no symmetry. Many of the of the chords and arpeggios that have little to no tension will be spaced out like this simply because they use odd numbered degrees.

That’s just how it works out. But it does give us something interesting to consider when using melodies that move to the Tonic. In the same chart below look at the pairs of degrees with odd numbers. Got it? Good. Now look at the pairs of degrees with even numbers. If you use any even degrees, you will break the spacing.

This is apparent in chords like the augmented chord (or +), minor 6 (m6), and the sus (aka sus4). Below are all three of these chords. If you are used to augmented chords, the you know that the formula 1-3-#5 can also be thought of as stacked major third intervals. In other words, the distance from 1 to 3 is a major third interval, which is the same interval from 3 to #5, and from #5 ascending to 1.

With only one interval used we can think of an augmented chord as a symmetrical chord because the distance from one note to the next is the same everywhere ascending and descending.

There are other chords that have symmetries built into them that do not use the same interval. Below we can also see that the m6 and sus4 chord use a Tonic note, but also have notes that are equally distance from the Tonic. The m6 uses a minor third interval ascending and descending from the Tonic. The sus4 uses a perfect fourth interval ascending and descending from the Tonic.

Having a few chord structures with symmetry related to the Tonic can be helpful when using approach notes and enclosures because they help you to mirror or space out intervals. If you are approaching the Tonic and want to mirror intervals, then a melodic line using “2 then b7 to 1” is on par with “b7 then 2 to 1”. In C Major this would be D, Bb, C or Bb, D, C.

We can use the same thinking to avoid mirroring. Playing “b7 to b2 to 1” or “Bb to Db to C” has us using Bb a whole step away from C followed by Db a half-step away from C. It’s like closing in on the Tonic note from both sides. Similarly, we can also play “2 to 7 to 1” as “D to B to C”.  This also has us using D a whole step away from Tonic followed by B a half-step from the Tonic.

Make This Concept Your Own

Whether you are into voice leading, enclosures, or are just getting started, it’s good to learn that everything moves to the Tonic early on. This doesn’t mean that you always have to move to it quickly. It just means that the Tonic is our final destination. There are plenty of great songs out there that avoid the Tonic like the plague until the final moment rolls in.

Below is the Chromatic Scale across two octaves so you can see how the 9s, 11s, and 13s fit in. Try using chords, scales, arpeggios, and enclosures along with anything you can come up with and watch how there three colored groups below affect the sound. You’ll quickly notice that spreading out notes into each group causes little to no tension, while re-using groups can cause a whole lot of crazy tension. Chords like G7(#9) played as G-B-D-F-A# ramp up the tension by using notes that occupy the b3rd and 3^rd degrees positions. Yes, you can keep B as the 3^rd in the first octave and place A# as the #9 in the second octave, but that rub of a b3rd and 3^rd is still lingering.

Have fun exploring moving to and from the Tonic and let everyone know what you think in the comments. We’re all here to learn and group efforts are always effective. Thanks for reading!