April

Quick Thoughts Archive from our Facebook Fan Page

Posted In: Band Management, Career Building, For Businesses, For Educators, For Worship, Marketing & Promotion, Music Theory, Recording, Uncategorized by claybutlermusic

As many of you may already know, the MusicIsMyBiz Blog also has a Facebook page. In addition to alerts when there’s new blog post or article, I also interject some “Quick Thoughts of the Day”. Some are inspirational. Some are educational. Some are simply probing questions to get you thinking. I thought it would be fun to post these here on the blog as an archive of sorts.

February 2, 2010

Thought of the day: “Lack of preparation clouds your purpose.”

February 4, 2010

Self-Reflection Question of the Day: “What’s holding you back from reaching your full potential?”

February 13, 2010

Tip for the day: Remember to spend time honing your craft. Great production work doesn’t make up for bad playing or songwriting. A pig in a dress is still a pig!

February 23, 2010

Success is your own fault! You never grow until you learn to take responsibility for your successes and your failures.

March 5, 2010

While having “a good voice and a dream” is a starting point, make no mistake; the music business isn’t at all easy. What else you got?

March 18. 2010

Thought for the day: Never assume you have arrived. You can always strive to be better. The moment you stop pushing forward is the moment you appear to be moving backward to those who are committed to forging ahead!

March 26, 2010

Don’t be disappointed when someone declines your services because they “aren’t cheap”. This just means that their needs don’t match the value of your services. Your talent, expertise, and time are valuable!

April 15, 2010

Quick thought for the day: There’s a distinct difference between the roles of manager and booking agent. Your manager should understand the workings of the music industry. He should know where “the money” comes from in music, where it goes, and how to protect yourself. If he doesn’t, he shouldn’t be your manager.

April 16, 2010

Remember that anyone who has a vested interest in your success by helping you succeed will want a return on their investment. It’s only fair, and it’s how the music biz works. If someone helps you to succeed, then he shares in your success. He’ll also have incentive to work harder for you.

April 23, 2010

Quick thought for the day: If you’re thinking about “breaking into the biz”, learn as much as you can FIRST. You don’t become a doctor without going to med school. You don’t become an auto mechanic without learning how to work on cars. So, what makes someone think they can become a songwriter or artist without lear…ning the craft AND business?

If you haven’t yet become a fan (now “like”), go ahead and do it now by going to www.facebook.com/MusicIsMyBiz! Then tell all your Facebook friends.

Do you have any Quick Thoughts you’d like to share? Post yours in in the comments section!

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January

27

Your Music Ministry: A Real-World Business Model

Posted In: Band Management, Career Building, For Businesses, For Worship, Marketing & Promotion, Music Theory, Uncategorized by claybutlermusic

Many churches prefer not to think about it, but, like it or not, a church’s music and multimedia ministry is a part of the music and entertainment industry. If music and multimedia is a commodity for day-to-day operations, you are indeed a part of the music biz.

Anyone who is in business will tell you that you must study and analyze your competition in order to survive. In music ministry, we are in competition with the secular entertainment market. In order to draw people in and engage them, our “product” (in this case, the worship experience) must offer a viable substitute to what congregants can get anywhere else. A growth-focused contemporary church’s music, video, multimedia, and visual experience must rival what people find on the radio or at a concert–relevant and “in the now”. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that worship is a concert or performance, but let’s face the facts: those things get people through your doors. Now that you’ve drawn them in, it’s the substance that’s combined with the experience that creates true relevance.

So, how can we build a vibrant and relevant music ministry? Let’s take a cue from a real-world business model, by adapting what works in the secular markets, and putting it to work to help further the Kingdom of God.

Sales and Marketing. In music ministry you’re engaged in sales and marketing. You’re basically getting someone else to “buy in” to a ministry opportunity with their time and talents. You must publicize available positions, special events, etc. If no one knows, then no one will volunteer or participate.
Human Resources. You’re also responsible for seeking the right person for the “job”. You’re saddled with the task of conducting auditions and interviews. This task is a weighty responsibility for any ministry team, because desperation to fill a given position most often results in a poor decision.
Public Relations. Your team must portray the image of your parent company, in this case, the church. This image must be exuded both inside and outside the church’s walls.
Employee Evaluation. A ministry’s responsibility is to constantly asses the work ethic, attendance, and attitude of each “employee”. Furthermore, you must assess each team member’s competency in his/her job. Are they growing and learning their instrument? Are they progressing with their musical knowledge? Can they pull their weight? Are they growing spiritually?
Legal Department. Churches all over the world break the law every week, and they don’t even know it. It’s the ministry’s moral obligation to understand intellectual property rights and the church’s legal responsibilities as it pertains to those rights. You also often deal with member contracts once players are recruited.
Maintenance and Quality Control. The ministry must supply a quality product (i.e. worship experience) each week. So, the ministry must seek out and address areas of weakness and constantly look for ways to improve.
Research and Development. Again, to compete and survive, you must analyze and learn from the competition. A ministry must learn from the most current trends and seek out ways to push forward. You must research and implement new ways to improve and become more productive. You must test ways to make your product become a viable substitute to what’s on the radio and in other entertainment.

While this is just a basic overview, there are many other parallels and lessons to draw from the business world when it comes to building a vibrant ministry team. See www.butlerproductionsmultimedia.com/seminars to bring this and similar information to your church.

Comment and tell your ministry’s Startup Story!

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January

25

My 50th on My 30th

Posted In: Band Management, Career Building, For Businesses, For Educators, For Worship, Marketing & Promotion, Music Theory, Recording, Uncategorized by claybutlermusic

Today marks two milestones. First, I turn 30 today. Second, it’s our 50th blog post!

I don’t really feel like I’m “in my thirties”. Looking back, I did achieve one of my major goals of owning my own business and working for myself while still in my twenties. I’m so blessed that I get to do what I love–making music–for a living (sometimes in my pajamas). I like being able to say that I’m an author, musician, and an entrepreneur. More than that, I love being able to help others down that same path with the MusicIsMyBiz blog, classes, seminars, and books. Life is good.

So, this marks our 50th blog post! It’s been my goal to create a place where aspiring musicians can go for information about the music business. It’s a place where teachers and business owners can learn how to use audio to improve their productivity and achieve their goals. It’s a place where churches and ministries can learn how go grow, improve, and protect themselves when it comes to music and multimedia. If you use music or audio in day-to-day activities, then MusicIsMyBiz is designed for YOU.

It’s my desire that you succeed. That’s why I’m unveiling our new book on MusicIsMyBiz.com on such a day as today. If you’ve ever wanted to learn how to record and produce your own music, then I’ve put together the beginner’s guide, Recording Basics: A Beginner’s Guide to Producing Music. We’ll cover all the necessary information to get you started producing and recording music for yourself or for others.

Basic Acoustics
Digital Audio
Common Studio Equipment
Microphone Techniques
Recording Common Instruments
Microphone Types
Microphone Placement Techniques
Tracking a Live Band
Mixing Guidelines
Thinking Like a Producer
Chord Charts and Song Matrices
Musical Arranging
Audio Editing Principles
Introduction to the Mastering Process
Plus lots more…

As a bonus, you’ll receive the guide Home Recording Savvy: Tricks to Tracking Great Sounds at Home. Let’s face it, many times we can’t afford the luxury of a professional recording studio, especially when starting out. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t get great sounds, even if you’re recording at home. With this additional guide, you will learn great tips and techniques that you can apply in the home recording environment.

If you’re a budding songwriter who wants to make your own demos, or if you’re an aspiring producer who wants to work with other artists, then this book is for you. Check it out. If you don’t think the information you learn from reading this book helps to make your recording skills better, then let me know within 30 days, and I’ll give you a refund. You’ve really got nothing to lose.

Recording Basics Ebook

$19.95 Blog readers, receive a $5.00 DISCOUNT by entering the Discount Code MIMB.

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November

1

Taking your Worship Band to the Next Level

Posted In: Band Management, For Worship, Music Theory, Uncategorized by claybutlermusic

Worship bands are becoming increasingly popular in today’s churches. While many worship bands truly have a heart for worship music and leading others, often they find themselves struggling when it comes to balance, sound, and overall musical cohesion. Here are some simple steps to help improve the quality of your praise and worship band.

STEP 1. Learn to listen to each other. The job of each musician is to fit appropriately within the context of the band. Doing so requires each member to be acutely aware of what each other member is playing. As you practice and “perform” (I’ll use that term, although we don’t consider worship as a performance), try to maintain an awareness of your musical surroundings by focusing less on simply your part and more on how your part fits in musically with the rest of the group.

STEP 2. Building on the listening aspect, the band should ensure that each instrument is playing in its own octave range. This means, for example, the keyboardist should not be playing in the same octave range of the acoustic guitarist. What this approach does is to give each instrument its own “sonic space”, so that each player is heard equally. Not only does this improve the overall blend of the band by eliminating sonic competition between instruments, it makes your sound tech’s job tremendously easier. Here’s an example: the bass takes the lowest octave range, the keyboard handles the lower midrange, the electric guitar shines in the midrange, and the acoustic guitar’s bright strum sound sparkles nicely in the higher frequency range (achieved with a combination of EQ and using the capo higher on the neck. While this is a very basic example, parts could swap places for difference songs, or even between different sections within the same song.

STEP 3. Pay close attention to the kick-bass relationship. This, again, requires those listening skills from Step 1. The relationship between the kick drum and bass guitar is extremely important. The drummer and bassist should always be listening to each other, playing the same (or complimentary) pattern. Although this sounds obvious, it is indeed surprising the number bands, particularly those with younger musicians, which don’t understand this principle.

STEP 4. Play in the holes. Between each line of the vocal, there’s generally a space that could be occupied with a musical fill. If the vocalist isn’t already doing ad-libs between each line, consider adding these fills with other instruments to lend a more polished sound. If you have both a keyboardist and a lead guitarist, for instance, have the keyboardist fill the holes in the verse, while the lead guitarist fills in the chorus. To hear an example of this step, try listening to any current pop, country, or contemporary Christian song.

STEP 5. Utilize density and dynamics. All instruments shouldn’t be playing full-on all the time. In fact, all instruments shouldn’t play playing all the time. Guide the congregation by manipulating the dynamics (intensity of playing) and the density (the number of instruments playing at a given time). Density can also be achieved in other ways, such as arpeggiating versus strumming chords. The band Hillsong are particularly strong in this regard during their live worship sets. Here are some Hillsong live DVDs.

STEP 6. Finally, don’t reinvent the wheel. Congregates relate to what they are familiar with. So, listen to other bands within the worship genre to find out what works and what doesn’t. Also, don’t be afraid to study other genres of music, such as pop, country, R&B, Gospel, and rock. Doing so will keep you musically current-sounding and relevant to your congregation. Much time, effort, and expense is spent crafting hit songs on current mainstream radio. Studying the mechanics of all these diverse genres of music will invariably give you a wealth of time-tested techniques to incorporate into your worship music.

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September

15

Music Theory: Modal Chord Progressions

Posted In: For Businesses, Marketing & Promotion, Music Theory, Uncategorized by claybutlermusic

In the previous post from our “10 Things Every Musician Should Know” series, we began to look at how modes are constructed. We showed you how to alter a major scale to arrive at modes. Today, we’re going to look at what modes to play based on the given chord progression.

We’ve already established that the pattern of chord qualities for a major scale is as follows:

1M, 2m, 3m, 4M, 5M, 6m, 7d, 1M

If we shift to modes, not only do we shift the order of the intervals between the notes (whole step or half step), but we also shift the order of the chord qualities (major, minor, augmented, diminished). In the last post, we showed how those intervals changed. Now we’re going to build chords from each scale degree (flats denoted with lowercase “b”).

Ionian (Major) - 1M, 2m, 3m, 4M, 5M, 6m, 7d, 1M
Dorian - 1m, 2m, b3M, 4M, 5m, 6d, b7M, 1m
Phrygian - 1m, b2M, b3M, 4m, 5d, b6M, b7m, 1m
Lydian - 1M, 2M, 3m, #4d, 5M, 6m, 7m, 1M
Mixolydian - 1M, 2m, 3d, 4M, 5m, 6m, b7M, 1M
Aeolian (Natural Minor) - 1m, 2d, b3M, 4m, 5m, b6M, b7M, 1m
Locrian - 1d , b2M, b3m, 4m, b5M, b6M, b7m, 1d

PRACTICAL USES OF MODES

So, as an example, let’s look at a common chord progression one of the major modes:

E A D E

Now, let’s convert that to scale degrees:

1M 4M b7M 1M

Judging from this information, we can base our playing around a Mixolydian mode.

Let’s look now at a common progression in a minor mode:

Em A D Em

If we convert this to scale degrees, we have:

1m 4M b7M 1m

In this case, we can base our playing around the Dorian mode.

If you begin to think in terms of modes based on the chords within a song, it can really open up the possibilities of your playing. It can help you break out of the typical pentatonic box (not that there’s anything wrong with that–I am a guitarist, too) and help you to stay true to the chords underneath your melodies and solos. It does take a lot of memorization and practice to get used to modes, but understanding them will help make you a better musician.

Stay tuned for our next post, when we get rhythmic.

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September

11

Music Theory: Going Modal

Posted In: Music Theory, Uncategorized by claybutlermusic

It’s time for yet another Installment of “10 Things Every Musician Should Know“. This time, we’re going to talk about Modes. We won’t discuss much about the history of Modes (although it’s rather interesting), but we will talk about their practical application.

Modes, for all intents and purposes, are “shifted” scales. Given a major scale, if you shift the starting note without altering your pattern of whole steps and half steps, you essentially have a mode. Modes, to most musicians, have a voo-doo-like mystique about them, but once you wrap your mind around the theory, they become fairly easy to understand and use. In fact, most musicians use chord progressions based off of modes without realizing it.

In the list below, we’re going to take each scale degree of a parent major scale and give its mode. We’ll also tell the pattern of whole steps (W) and half steps (h).

Ionian (Major): W W h W W W h
Dorian: W h W W W h W
Phrygian: h W W W h W W
Lydian: W W W h W W h
Mixolydian: W W h W W h W
Aeolian (Natural Minor): W h W W h W W
Locrian: h W W h W W W

Another way to think about modes while you’re playing is to think of it as altering a major scale. See the list below (flat is denoted with a lowercase “b”).

Ionian (Major) - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1
Dorian - 1 2 b3 4 5 6 b7 1
Phrygian - 1 b2 b3 4 5 b6 b7 1
Lydian - 1 2 3 #4 5 6 7 1
Mixolydian - 1 2 3 4 5 6 b7 1
Aeolian (Natural Minor) - 1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7 1
Locrian - 1 b2 b3 4 b5 b6 b7 1

This will get you started knowing how modes are constructed. In our next post we’ll go into greater detail by describing when to use modes based on the chord progression of the song you’re playing.

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September

10

Music Theory: Relative Majors and Minors

Posted In: Music Theory, Uncategorized by claybutlermusic

Once again, we’re expanding the series, “10 Things Every Musician Should Know“. Today, we’re going to deal with Relative Majors and Minors.

Every Major key has a relative minor key. This means that they share the same key signature, which, in turn means that the same accidentals are used to build the keys. There are a couple of ways to determine the relative minor of a major key (or chord). In our last post, “Datonic Triads: Chords by Key“, I mentioned that the relative minor of a major scale was found by using the 6th note in the scale as the starting note. So, the sixth note of the C major scale is “A”, therefore its relative minor is A Minor.

The second way to find the relative minor is to start at the first note in the scale and go down a minor third. A minor third consists of a half step, followed by a whole step. So, for C Major, we start on C, go down a half step to B, then a whole step to A. It just so happens that this process also leads you to the 6th scale degree.

Now that we know how to find the relative minor for each key/chord, here’s a list so you can commit them to memory:

C = Am
G = Em
D = Bm
A = F#m
E = C#m
B = G#m
F# = D#m or Gb = Ebm
C# = A#m or Db = Bbm
Ab = Fm
Eb = Cm
Bb = Gm
F = Dm

Tune in next time, when we go modal. Until then, here’s that handy tool again to help with finding relative minors, in case you missed it.

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September

8

Diatonic Triads: Chords by Key

Posted In: Music Theory, Uncategorized by claybutlermusic

I hope everyone had a great Labor Day yesterday. It’s back to the grind today, so I bring you all another installment in the series “10 Things Every Musician Should Know“. We’ve established how to build a scale using the correct pattern of whole steps and half steps. Then we determined how the pattern worked using accidentals (sharps/flats) and which accidentals are present in each key. The next logical step is to build triads (chords) from each scale degree.

In Western music, our music is most commonly based on Tertian Harmony, meaning that our harmonies (chords) are built in “thirds”. Triads are three-note chords ascending in thirds. If we’re building a C Major triad, we’ll build our triad from the scale degrees 1, 3, and 5 in C Major, or in this case C, E, and G. We could dig way deeper into the theory behind thirds, but that would take too long for this particular post. If you have any questions, please post a question in the comments section, and I’ll be glad to answer it for you.

Now that we know a little about how triads are made, we need to talk about yet another pattern to remember: the pattern of chord qualities by scale degree. “Chord quality” is just the term for denoting whether a chord is Major, minor, Augmented, or diminished. If the scale is truly a major scale, then the pattern will always be as follows (abbreviations of qualities in parenthesis):

1=Major (Maj or M)
2=minor (min or m)
3=minor
4=Major
5=Major
6=minor
7=diminished (dim or d)
1=Major

If you’re building triads from the minor key, your pattern will be different. Although we will more thoroughly discuss relative minors for each major key in a later post, the relative minor of any key is found by starting on the 6th scale degree There are two ways you can write out the pattern in natural minor.

You can write it in its relative major key by calling your starting degree “6″, and your pattern will be as follows:

6min, 7dim, 1Maj, 2min, 3min, 4Maj, 5Maj, 6dim

Or you can write it as the minor key by calling your starting chord “1″. Then you have:

1min, 2dim, 3Maj, 4min, 5min, 6Maj, 7Maj, 1dim

Regardless of whether you write it as the relative major or as the minor key, the pattern remains the same for Natural Minor.

CHORDS BY KEY

Now that we should know how to build our scales and which chord qualities to use by scale degree, we can determine which chords are in each key. Here’s a list:

C Major = C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am, Bdim, C
G Major = G, Am, Bm, C, D, Em, F#dim, G
D Major = D, Em, F#m, G, A, Bm, C#dim, D
A Major = A, Bm, C#m, D, E, F#m, G#dim, A
E Major = E, F#m, G#m, A, B, C#m, D#dim, E
B Major = B, C#m, D#m, E, F#, G#m, A#dim, B
F# Major = F#, G#m, A#m, B, C#, D#m, E#dim, F#
C# Major = C#, D#m, E#m, F#, G#, A#m, B#dim, C#

Now for the flat keys (using the lowercase b as a flat symbol):

C Major = C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am, Bdim, C
F Major = F, Gm, Am, Bb, C, Dm, Edim, F
Bb Major = Bb, Cm, Dm, Eb, F, Gm, Adim, B
Eb Major = Eb, Fm, Gm, Ab, Bb, Cm, Ddim, Eb
Ab Major = Ab, Bbm, Cm, Db, Eb, F, Gdim, Ab
Db Major = Db, Ebm, Fm, Gb, Ab, Bb, Cdim, Db
Gb Major = Gb, Abm, Bbm, Cb, Db, Ebm, Fdim, Gb
Cb Major = Cb, Dbm, Ebm, Fb, Gb, Abm, Bbdim, Cb

Here’s a handy tool to assist you with learning the chords by key. Check back for the next post, when we discuss Relative Minors in more detail. As always, I welcome your questions and comments!

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September

4

Music Theory: Accidentals are No Accident

Posted In: Music Theory, Uncategorized by claybutlermusic

Yesterday’s post dealt with building a scale using whole steps and half steps, which is part of the series “10 Things that Every Musician Should Know”. Today, we’re going to take the concept one step further by telling what role accidentals, or sharps/flats, play in scale building.

We’ve already established that scales are built by using a specific pattern of whole steps and half steps, and that C Major (or it’s relative A minor) is the only one that can get away with using only white keys. The rest have to alter certain notes in order to conform to that pattern. If the note spacing is too wide (a whole step when we need a half step), we reduce it by making the next note a flatted note. If the note spacing is not wide enough (a half step when we need a whole step), then we sharp the next note. Here’s an example below.

If we move from C to D on the piano to start a scale here’s what we end up with:

D (whole) E (HALF) F (WHOLE) G (whole) A (whole) B (HALF) C (WHOLE) D

As we can see from the ones in bold, this pattern does not make a major scale. (Actually it’s the Dorian mode, which we’ll cover in a later post). So, we need to use accidentals, in this case # (sharp) in order to conform the scale to the correct pattern of whole steps and half steps. Here’s the corrected pattern:

D (whole) E (whole) F# (half) G (whole) A (whole) B (whole) C# (half) D

We now have a true major scale. Here’s an example using flats. Since there’s no easy way to denote a flat other than the lowercase “b”, I’m going to stick with spelling it out.

Let’s try an E flat scale. The accidentals are in bold.

E flat (whole) F (whole) G (half) A flat (whole) B flat (whole) C (whole) D (half) E flat

So, in essence, sharps and flats exist for the sole purpose of conforming scales to the correct pattern. Once we understand this, the mystique of the accidental subsides and we have a very functional tool for making and understanding music.

ACCIDENTALS BY KEY

If you’ve ever looked at a piece of music and wondered what the groups of sharps or flats are at the beginning of each line, here’s the answer: that’s the Key Signature. This simply tells us which sharps or flats are needed to conform that scale to the correct pattern of whole steps and half steps. They also follow a pattern called the “Circle of Fifths” (here’s a great Circle of Fifths tool to help you with keys and key signatures).

Below is a list of major keys and their key signatures using the circle of fifths pattern. It’s a good idea to commit these to memory, as you’ll eventually have to use this knowledge on the fly at a gig or in a recording session.

C = No sharps/flats
G = 1 Sharp. Accidentals Present = F#
D = 2 Sharps. Accidentals Present = F#, C#
A = 3 Sharps. Accidentals Present = F#, C#, G#
E = 4 Sharps. Accidentals Present = F#, C#, G#, D#
B = 5 Sharps. Accidentals Present = F#, C#, G#, D#, A#
F# = 6 Sharps. Accidentals Present = F#, C#, G#, D#, A#, E#
C# = 7 Sharps. Accidentals Present = F#, C#, G#, D#, A#, E#, B#

Now for the Flats (using the dreaded “lowercase b” to save space).

C = No sharps/flats
F = 1 flat. Accidentals Present = Bb
Bb = 2 flats. Accidentals Present = Bb, Eb
Eb = 3 flats. Accidentals Present = Bb, Eb, Ab
Ab = 4 flats. Accidentals Present = Bb, Eb, Ab, Db
Db = 5 flats. Accidentals Present = Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb
Gb = 6 flats. Accidentals Present = Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, Cb
Cb = 7 flats. Accidentals Present = Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, Cb, Fb

Commit these to memory. You’ll thank me later. Here’s a handy tool that will assist you with key signatures. Stay tuned to learn which chords are present in each key!

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September

3

Music Theory: Building a Scale

Posted In: Music Theory, Uncategorized by claybutlermusic

In the post “10 Things that Every Musician Should Know”, the first on the list was how to build a scale using whole steps and half steps. In this entry, we’re going to deal with just that.

Music is about patterns. In western music (not the country/western variety, but music from our side of the world), we have specific tonal patterns that are present. We’ve come to inherently expect these certain patterns as we listen to music. The most basic of these patterns are the major and minor scales. From a melodic, and even harmonic, standpoint, the building of these scales is perhaps the most important information that musicians should know. Let’s see how these patterns work:

Scales are built up of a specific sequence of “whole steps” and “half steps”. “Half steps”, on a piano, are notes that are on adjacent keys (for instance, two white keys without a black key in between, or a white key next to a black key). On a guitar or bass, a half step is the distance between one fret to the next. “Whole steps” are two half steps. These, on a piano, are notes that are a key apart, like a white key with a black key in between. On a guitar or bass, it’s notes that are two frets apart. Now that we’re armed with that information, let’s see how they are arranged to form a Major Scale.

The MAJOR SCALE

A scale is made of of seven notes, each with a whole step or half step between. Going up eight notes brings us to the same note as the first, only an octave higher. We will assign each note in the scale a number (called a “scale degree”) and denote their distances apart to make the Major scale:

1 (whole) 2 (whole) 3 (half) 4 (whole) 5 (whole) 6 (whole) 7 (half) 1

The C scale is the only naturally occurring major scale on the piano that is possible if you use only white keys. (The C on a piano is the white key that’s just before the set of two black keys.) Really, you can start on any note you want to make a scale. As long as you follow that set pattern of whole steps and half steps, you will have a major scale. Just know that if you start on a note other than C, you’ll have to use black keys, which we call “accidentals” (sharps or flats).

The MINOR SCALE

A minor scale still contains seven notes, but the pattern of whole steps and half steps changes. There are different types of minor scales, but we’re only going to deal with the Natural Minor. Here’s the pattern for the natural minor scale:

1 (whole) 2 (half) 3 (whole) 4 (whole) 5 (half) 6 (whole) 7 (whole) 1

The A minor scale is the only naturally occurring minor scale on the piano that is possible by using only white notes. Therefore C Major and A Minor are “relatives” of each other. (We’ll talk more about relative majors, minors, and other modes in upcoming posts.) Again, you can start on any note you want, as long as you follow that pattern. In our next post, we’ll show you how Accidentals help conform scales to the correct pattern of whole steps and half steps.

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