Ultimate collection of scales and modes

viz

Ha! Go on, go nuts! The melodic minor ones are all useful (super loc, half dim, acoustic a la Simpsons), as are the neapolitan major. Those 27 scales are all the ones with only tones and semitones. Then the famous ones with augmented 2nds (harmonic minor, flamenco, snake charmer, some of the persian and hungarian ones)

Hertz32

God, my scale knowledge is rather shabby to say the least and it's been getting in the way of making meaningful progress. Now I have no excuse, thanks @Viz

frankus

How is this used to inform?

Dazzle, sure... it's dazzling

I've a bookcase of Guitar books I'm plodding through, I read a normal book 3-4 times so I know I've got it all and to that end I spend a year on 6 to 8 books (of all factual types - psychology, philosophy, martial arts, fitness, psychology, counselling, motivation, coaching etc).

6 to 8 books a year - but when I've finished, I understand that author utterly or at least have a complete tautology based on the book.

So I'm easy with my own ploddy approach to acquiring knowledge, because it fits with this "I fear not the man who has practiced 10000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10000 times".

I see this like a collection of something, it doesn't seem to have an application.

viz

Good luck Hertz lol; You're right Frank, it is just supposed to be a collection though it was interesting for me to do it and learn about it. I did actually find an application for it myself - I used it to write music in the Persian family of scales and it certainly helped me in stretching my creative juices, and I also think it could be a good visual and audible representation of a scale, well lots of scales, so if someone were to hear the word Dorian and wonder what that meant / sounded like, they could find this useful - but please, everyone, nobody has to try and find a use for it! It was just me having a little explore.

DulcetJones

I feel that we don't need to know everything, when I want to make a song or solo sound different I peruse a few scale books and references until I find one I think will work.  Then I learn it on the fretboard until I can improvise comfortably with it, use it for the song I'm working on, then leave it.  If a scale really moves me I'll keep it in my mind and use it automatically until I get bored with it.

frankus

viz said:

You're right Frank, it is just supposed to be a collection though it was interesting for me to do it and learn about it. I did actually find an application for it myself - I used it to write music in the Persian family of scales and it certainly helped me in stretching my creative juices, and I also think it could be a good visual and audible representation of a scale, well lots of scales, so if someone were to hear the word Dorian and wonder what that meant / sounded like, they could find this useful - but please, everyone, nobody has to try and find a use for it! It was just me having a little explore.

I used to think a bit like that, I remember setting up millions of ringtones on my crappy old nokia for all the scales, but ultimately I just navigate from the major scale. To be honest that's what anyone does - C persian, Cmajor flat 2nd,5th and 6th - so kinda like a phrygian dominant but with a flat 5th. The major becomes the rosetta stone, that way intervals kick in, well in my mind.

I like your stacked graph approach, I used a circle of fifths as that gives an imediate comparison that quickly identifies modes too, also it's easy to map chord inversions to such a structure. I even started drafting a kaleidoscope of neighbouring scales/modes which spiralled out of control when I realised that it's easier to represent scales and chords using two cycles of fifths offset by a minor third at that point I stepped away from the kool-aid fountain

I don't mean to undermine the work you've done, or steal your thunder - my only concern was people were looking at this as having a direct correlation to their musical ability and feeling they needed to stop slacking. To my mind this is slacking - of a sort fun but not to be equated to progress on the guitar.

viz

Don't worry mate - I know from our discussions your approach is definitely not theory for theory's sake. Neither is mine by the way - I do work quite hard on the playing too. But yep. This is an encyclopedia not a recipe book.

frankus said:
 
ultimately I just navigate from the major scale. To be honest that's what anyone does - C persian, Cmajor flat 2nd,5th and 6th - so kinda like a phrygian dominant but with a flat 5th.

Oh, btw the Persian scale also has a major 7th, unlike phrygian dominant, as you can see from my compendium. 

frankus

Mine really was theory for theory's sake, when I figured out the toroidal helix of 5ths it has no bearing on music at all - I even started prototyping that as a sculpture with paper and pins, the 2 cycle of fifths offset by a 3rd is really good for chords and inversions, but Pat Martino has got all that stuff covered.

The part of my brain that visualises these complex patterns has nothing to do with the part of my brain that hears or plays music... much like the part of my brain that remembers combinations in sparring (muscle memory) has no comprehension of the names for these combinations - so when I'm told to do "jab cross upper-cut cross hook hitch round house cross hook round-house" ... pause... sparring, no hesitation, no need for a label it's a well rehearsed set of actions.

Now in music, all I want to do is profess what I've experienced, indicate what inspired me to experience and most of all,  get good at the things that matter to me. Composing isn't one of those things I'd want to approach other than by being a guiding listener. To that end a broad musical repertoire seems the more wholistic and complete means for me.

pollyWantsAHacker

Do hope the following is a useful tool to someone:

http://www.spottyguitarmodes.com/

Best wishes.

hairboy

Wow. This is amazingly useful stuff. Thank you for taking your time to make this!

viz

hairboy said:

Wow. This is amazingly useful stuff. Thank you for taking your time to make this!

Really glad it's useful! I must upload my new one, as it has all the octatonics and pentatonics, plus the frequences for all major tuning systems! 

On second thoughts maybe I won't inflict all that on the public. 

DulcetJones

I decided to look into this as I'm getting back into teaching after a 12 year absence but I don't have Excel.  I have Open Office
 but it won't open this kind of file.  So I went to Guitar TV and tried to sign up and something seems to be wrong with the sign up process, I fill in the form and it flashes like it did something but nothing happens.  No confirmation email and it doesn't recognize my login info.  Is there any other way I can access this? 

viz

Bother - yes, I'll pm you

mgaw

could you also let me know the alternate way of accessing the data

adampeter

Thanks @viz ;great work