Dont Pick the Scale First

0:00So if you had some chords and let's say C major F major, then you could always say okay, what scales go with that? Well, I would always start with the simplest scale and the simple scale is let's assume that all the other tones that we are not playing right now which is namely scaled on two four six and seven that those steps are not altered and if that was true that would be the Ionian. Okay, but the moment you bring in line writing you might realize because what the B flat actually sounds great when I transition over the bar line here because it's a chromatic thing and okay So now it's not the Ionian out of a sudden. It's the mixoludian. So that is also a choice. You might recognize Scale turn minus seven was great, but I stumbled on the A flat. This also sounded great. Okay, so that's a choice and you might also say, well, guess what? I played the minus two right there as well. This also sounded great. These are all of the scales that potentially can go along with that chord.

1:09And the good news is you can decide later when you tackle the line writing. I would never decide what scale I want to use if I don't have any information about those scale tones. At this point when I only play that I don't know if I like the B flat over the natural B. I don't know the moment I play either a B or a B flat then it's clear to me. And then I can either say it's the Ionian or the mixoludian. This one does not work. Do you know why? It does not work because it would give us three chromatics in a row. So we had these three guys in one line. That's not possible. You can't have a chromatic step and another chromatic step directly followed by each other. If you see something like that, then it's a defined exception because it is still art what we do. And that's why I don't like the term rules. Well, maybe if it sounds good in that context, then I would use it and I don't care if that's allowed or not. But at least I know, okay, I can't base this on any of our seven tone scales.