Music Scales and the Secret of What Diatonic Means

Scales Defined

• A scale is a division of an octave by intervals.
• A scale is succession of tones with exact relationships among the tones.
• A scale is succession of tones that divides exactly one octave. 

Typical Scale Divisions 

• A 5-tone scale is a pentatonic scale (e.g., pentatonic minor, pentatonic major).
• A 6-tone scale is a hexatonic scale (e.g., blues scale). 
• A 7-tone scale is a heptatonic scale (e.g., natural major scale, natural minor scale).

Diatonic Scale

• The prefix dia means through.
• A diatonic gets played from tonic through its octave.
• A diatonic scale is merely a scale that includes a Perfect 8 interval. 
• Said another way, diatonic scale is any scale played through all of the tones of the scale with a second tonic played at its next pitch, which is the first higher multiple of frequency of the tone.
• Any scale can be a diatonic scale if the octave tone of the tonic gets played.

Scale Degrees

• A scale degree is the place occupied by a tone of a scale.
• For pentatonic scales, there are five degrees:
  1, 2, 3, 4, 5
• For hexatonic scales, there are six degrees:
  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
  For heptatonic scales, there are seven degrees:
  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

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Riptide Guitar’s Guitar Circle of Fourths

Many try to teach from the Circle of Fifths.  The Circle of Fifths is useful for general music theory.

The Circle of Fifths diagrams the relationship of the 12 tones of Western music. Specifically, the Circle of Fifths arranges the 12 tones of music so the next tone is a P5. On the guitar, a P5 is seven frets higher than the last tone.

As you should recall from the lesson on intervals, intervals have inverse relationships, which depend on the direction you’re going. So the inverse of P5 is a P4.

In the above, the sequence for the major keys follows the Circle of Fifths. Each successive tone is a P5 above the preceding tone. Circling in the opposite heading, the Circle of Fifths becomes a Circle of Fourths.

You should know already that from Low pitch E, the intervals (successive tones) of the strings are perfect fourths (P4) from head to toes, except between G and B, which is a Major 3rd (M3). So instead of a Circle of Fifths, guitarists should want a Circle of Fourths. 

But guitarists shouldn’t want any old Circle of Fourths. Guitarists should want the Riptide Guitar’s Guitar Circle of Fourths™. It’s a Circle of Fourths made for guitarists!

The Guitar Circle of Fourths starts with E the same as the guitar does. And this Guitar Circle of Fourths is so powerful that you will learn guitar so much faster with it.

Let’s see how you can put to work the Guitar Circle of Fourths straight away. Let’s use the Guitar Circle of Fourths to learn the Circle of Fourths on the guitar once and forever. 

As an added bonus, you can work on your fret-board mastery. 

The E at the 12 o’clock matches the low E on your guitar, that is the E closest to your chin. 

1. Pluck the first four strings as open to sound E-A-D-G.
2. The next string is B. Fret the 1st fret on B, which is C.
3. Now remember, the E strings are the same, so skip the high E and circle back to low E.
4. Fret the 1st fret on low E, which is F.
5. Fret the 1st fret on A, which is B♭.
6. Fret the 1st fret on D, which is E♭. 
7. Fret the 1st fret on G, which is A♭. 
8. Fret the 2nd fret on B, which is a D♭. 
9. Fret the 2nd fret on E, which is a G♭. 
10. Now remember, the E strings are the same, so circle back to low E.
11. The next string is A. Fret the 2nd fret on A, which is a B. 

So once you get this into your mind, permanently, you will have the Guitar Circle of Fourths always at your finger tips. And with this, not only can you learn the fret board with ease, but you can master it.

It’s really this simple. If you know the name of a tone on one fret, you can figure out the names of the tones above or below using the Guitar Circle of Fourths.

How awesome is that?

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What is a Key?

Keys on a Piano

• There are 88 keys — 52 white and 36 black. 
• The black keys get divided into groups of twos and threes. 
• There is no division of the white keys. 
• There are 12 keys, one for each tone of Western music.
• The 76 other keys are pitches of the 12 tones.

What is a Key?

• A key is a family of tones having fixed relation of one to another. 
• There are seven tones to a key. 
• The tone of a key from which all other tones resolve is the key tone. 
• Another name for the key tone is the tonic.

Key Names

• In Lesson 1, you learned the tone names: 
  C, C♯ or D♭ , D, D♯ or E♭, E, F, F♯ or G♭, G, G♯ or A♭, A, A♯ or B♭, B
• There are 17 tone names for 12 tones as ten tone names name the same tones.

Major Keys and Minor Keys

• There are 24 keys: 12 major keys and 12 minor keys.
• Each major key and each minor key has a collection of chords that sound right when played in whatever successive order because tonal relationships exist among these chords.
• The names of the keys use the same names as the 12 tones with the words major or minor said after the tone name.C, G, D, A, E, B, G♭, D♭, A♭, E♭, B♭, F

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