Scale Segments

By applying scale segments to our existing chord in their various inversion, we get very expressive melodic words. What are scale segments? Scale segments are small parts of the scale played relative to the chord. Click here to listen to the entire major scale. So, what we do in scale segments, we join the spaces between intervals in the chord with scale movement.

In our last discussion about intervals, I showed you how all triads, or three note chords, are all composed of 2 intervals. For triads, it's usually 3rd's, 5ths, 4th's and 6th's. Let's take the C major chord in first position. This chord is comprised of 2 thirds. Click here to listen. Now, we're going to add in the note between the C and E, the D. Click here to listen to the chord with a scale segment for the first three notes followed by the second third. Everybody has heard this melodic word. It's a very common one in our melodic vocabulary. It also is going to have a whole section devoted to it, in the part of our course called chord scales. Now let's do the same thing with the second third of our chord. We're going to fill in the space between the E and the G with the F. Click here to listen to our new structure. This is also a commonly used melodic word.

Now let's do the same thing with chords in first inversion. Click here to listen to the chord in first inversion. We're going to fill in the space between the E and the G again with the note F. Click here to listen to this melodic word. Also, a recognizable melodic word. Now, let's do the same with fourth between G and C, we're going to add the notes A and B. Click here to listen to this melodic word. I think you can readily see that this alteration to the basic chord starts to yield very expressive statements, and starts to spice up our straight chords.

Let's apply this same technique to chords in second inversion. We'll first fill the notes between C and E with the D note. Click here to list to listen to this new melodic word. Here again, this is another easily recognizable figure. Now, let's fill in the space of the fourth with the A and B notes. Click here to listen.

We'll apply the same procedure to 4 note major chords

Root 1 up ______ Root 1 down ______ Root 2 up _____ Root 2 down ______ Root 3 up _____ Root 3 down

1st Inv 1 up ______ 1st Inv 1 down ______ 1st Inv 2 up _____ 1st Inv 2 down ______ 1st Inv 3 up _____ Ist Inv 3 down

2nd Inv 1 up ______ 2nd Inv 1 down ______ 2nd Inv 2 up _____ 2nd Inv 2 down ______ 2nd Inv 3 up _____ 2nd Inv 3Down

So far, we've been applying this to just the basic inversions of the chord. However, remember our original variations of each chord in all three inversions?? Each chord had 6 variations for each inversions. Things get REALLY rich with variety when we start applying scale segments to all our variations. Below are the original melodic word variations, with scale segments. Each one yields 12 variations, a total of 36 new variations. If we add the 4 note chords, it gives 54 new variations. And that's just for one chord. As you listen to all of this, it's possible you'll recognize these as having been used in some melody your familiar with. But suffice to say, you'll never run out of variety. And we still haven't added color notes, chord scales, sixth chords, pentatonics and sequence. From this point on, the number of our melodic words is going to grow quite large, quite rapidly.

In the list below, first you'll hear the chord variation, followed by the chord with 2 scale segments, one for each interval in the chord. The most often used one, and the more supple one will be the first, Variation a, the second, Variation b will be the less used one. This will be true mostly for variations 2 through 4. The reason for this, short scale segments work best. Click here and on thirds and fourths, to listen to examples with scale segments between thirds and fourths. A third or fourth preceded by or followed by another interval is more agile than say, a scale segment for a sixth followed by a third. So, keep this in mind as you listen to these new melodic words based on our original variations. As you become familiar with these, you'll find some you gravitate more easy to than others, some that you have definitely already heard in some other song.

Root Position Variation 1 _____ Variation 1a _____ Variation 1b Variation 2_____ Variation 2a _____ Variation 2b Variation 3 _____ Variation 3a _____ Variation 3b Variation 4 _____ Variation 4a _____ Variation 4b Variation 5 _____ Variation 5a _____ Variation 5b Variation 6 _____ Variation 6a _____ Variation 6b

1st Inversion Variation 1 _____ Variation 1a _____ Variation 1b Variation 2_____ Variation 2a _____ Variation 2b Variation 3 _____ Variation 3a _____ Variation 3b Variation 4 _____ Variation 4a _____ Variation 4b Variation 5 _____ Variation 5a _____ Variation 5b Variation 6 _____ Variation 6a _____ Variation 6b

2nd Inversion Variation 1 _____ Variation 1a _____ Variation 1b Variation 2_____ Variation 2a _____ Variation 2b Variation 3 _____ Variation 3a _____ Variation 3b Variation 4 _____ Variation 4a _____ Variation 4b Variation 5 _____ Variation 5a _____ Variation 5b Variation 6 _____ Variation 6a _____ Variation 6b

Variations are related by number. So, you create sequences by combining Variation 3a, root position, Variation 3a 1st inversion and Variation 3a 2nd inversion. The reason for this is that they all have the same pattern for movement. Similar patterns are what make memorable sequences. We'll discuss sequences in depth in the sequence section.

Putting it all Together

In this next example we're going to use the following melodic words:

Variation 6a Second Inversion ____ F chord scale _____ G chord scale

Click here for Music Example