G Major Scale Audio

[Cesar Sergeantson]

Besidesintervals and chords, we now consider another important musical construct that is referred to as a musical scale. Again, adopting a rather simplistic view, a scale can be regarded as a set of notes, where the elements are typically ordered by ascending pitch. While a chord may be thought of as a vertical structure, a scale is usually associated to horizontal structures. Assuming the principle of octave equivalence, scales typically span a single octave, with higher or lower octaves simply repeating the pattern. In this way, a musical scale can be regarded as a division of the octave space into a certain number of scale steps, where each scale step is an interval between two successive notes.

As first example, we consider the twelve-tone equal-tempered scale, where an octave is subdivided into twelve scale steps. This scale is also referred to as chromatic scale. In this case, all scale steps correspond to the same interval having a size of one semitone (or $100$ cents). Due to enharmonic equivalence, there are various spellings and score notations to represent a chromatic scale. Two of them are shown in the following figure. Furthermore, we provide a piano recording as well as a synthesized version of the chromatic scale (generated in the next code cell).

In the following, we only consider scales that are subsets of the chromatic scale, where the scale steps can be specified in semitones. In the context of scales, the minor second (one semitone) is also referred to as a half step and the major second (two semitones) as a whole step. As with chords, there are two scale types that are of particular importance in Western music theory. The first scale type is known as a major scale, which is made up of seven notes and a repeated octave. The first note of a major scale is called the key note of the scale. Starting with the key note, the sequence of intervals between the successive notes of a major scale is as follows (using C4 as key note):

The second scale type we consider is known as the (natural) minor scale. Similar to a major scale, a minor scale consists of seven notes and a repeated octave. This time, however, the sequence of intervals between the notes is as follows (using C4 as key note):

Again, there are twelve minor scales with naming conventions similar to those of the minor chords. Both major and minor scales can be subsumed under the general term diatonic scale, which is (by definition) a seven-pitch scale with five whole steps and two half steps for each octave, where the two half steps are separated from each other by either two or three whole steps.

There are many more scales used in Western music and beyond. For example, besides the minor scale introduced above (also referred to as the natural minor scale), there are other types of minor scales called the harmonic minor and melodic minor scale. The notes of the harmonic minor scale are the same as the natural minor except that the seventh degree is raised by one semitone, resulting in an augmented second between the sixth and seventh degrees. We have already mentioned the chromatic scale, which involves twelve pitches. There are other scales such as the pentatonic scale consisting of five pitches, the whole tone scale consisting of six pitches, or the octatonic scale (diminished scale) consisting of eight pitches. In the following code cell, we generate synthesized versions of these scales.

Similarly, one can travel along the circle in a counterclockwise fashion by descending fifths, which corresponds to ascending fourths. Proceeding in a circle of fourths introduces an additional flat in the resulting key signature.

When I create a new song in C Major and import Audio Loops (Blue Loops) from the Loops browser into the project that when I play over the song with one of the Software piano instruments using the internal keyboard I discover that when I play the C Major scale over it its sounds hopelessly out of tune but when I play the C Minor scale over it, it is perfectly in tune!

I have also discovered that when I create a song and listen to it in C Major and C Minor that both songs sound exactly the same. They appear to use the same chords and notes and have the exact same harmony.

Does anyone know whats happening here? Both these keys are completely different but sound exactly the same. It is almost as if somehow C Major has been labelled wrongly in Logic Pro X and is in fact C Minor? The two keys sound exactly the same. But when I create a song in C Major and play over it with the C Major scale on the internal piano these notes which should be harmony sound completely out of tune. But when I play the C Minor scale over the same chords these notes sound perfectly in tune. And this leads me to believe that the C Major is actually C Minor?

I want to work on some demo songs using the Logic Pro X loops and I want to write these songs in a particular key say C Major Scale. Is there any way I can write songs in a specific key like C Major Scale using the Logic Pro X loops?

I do know chords and scales too. I was just confused about the fact that in Logic Pro X when you create a new project you are allowed to choose a key for this project. I chose C Major then added loops which of course change to the C Major the project key. But I found when I played the C Major Scale over this song/project the C Major scale notes were out of tune. I then discovered that the C Minor scale notes on the piano played perfectly over the song which I thought was being saved and created in C Major.

When I preview this Bring It Synth Loop using the Play In - C Major Or Song Key setting (The key of my song is C Major) here I am finding that the actual key of the song with just this one Bring It Synth Loop (and no other loops) is A sharp/ B Flat Major Scale (A sharp, C, D, D sharp, F, G, A) So for some reason when I create a song in C Major it is actually A sharp Major/B Flat Major Scale.

I want to be able to create a song in C Major so that a vocalist can sing in that key. Can you test this Bring It Synth Loop at your end. The tempo of my track is 120 though I am not sure if that should affect the key.

Answer: Jangus when I play a chord it is displayed accurately in the digital screen at the top of the Tracks area but it does not display a single not like C or D etc. Is there a way to do this? To test it I played two C notes an octave apart and it then the digital display lists the information at the top labelling these notes at Cno3. Similarly when I play two D notes or E notes it reflects this accurately at the top in the screen too. Does this mean that my synthesizer is in key? I do believe it is.

Answer: Jangus I am using the Korg Triton Exreme as my keyboard. I checked its scales against scales played in tutorials on Youtube in Piano theory lessons and it is always pefectly in tune. I have checked this against many different websites and the notes are always in tune as they should be when I have run through the different scales and notes.

So what you are saying is that Apple and with Logic Pro X when you set the Key for your project that you are not actually selecting a scale ie a C Major Scale or A Flat Major Scale what you are actually doing is selecting a Root Note is that right? So the Root Note for example the C note its just a basis for the song and just gives a clue about which key scales and which chords can be used in conjunction with this Root Note. These could be Minor Or Major right?

Does Logic Pro X allow you to actually choose a conventional Key for your song? Say for example I want to compose a song in C Major and use C Major scale notes for the melody and C Major Chords ie triads or sevenths for the chords. Does Logic Pro X allow you to do this to actually select the key of the song? And what would be the best way to do this?

And if you are allowed to choose a Key for the song which allows you to use conventional notes in the scale and chords from that one particular scale which loops would go with that Scale? For example if I select C Major as my Key for my song, I know I can use the notes C, D, E, F, G, A, B for the melody and the associated triads and seventh chords etc But which Loops would work perfectly harmonically with this key? Because as I said when I import loops into a project I cannot get it to stay in one particular key. I want to find a way to create a song in one particular key so that when I bring a vocalist in to sing on the track I can say that this song is in their preferred key.

Getting acquainted with the Loops Browser will reveal many useful features. If you check at the Scale searching criteria (just above the selection buttons) you will notice that selecting major as option will make disappear the "Bring it Synth" loop from the list, as it was originally composed/played in minor. In such case, the loop will keep its original notes intervals to keep the original feeling. You could transpose either from the region inspector or from the Global track. The latter will affect the whole project. If you intend to modify the notes intervals, you could try using Flex Pitch (which works fairly well if you are working on a monophonic audio material).

You said you wanted more information in order to give a more precise and full answer. Well I have a singer coming over to my apartment to do some singing for me. She is not trained but prefers to sing in C Major Scale. And so what I would like to do is compose a brand new song using some of the Logic Pro X loops in the "Major Loops Section". I want to use these loops to create a song that ultimately ends up in C Major Scale so that the singer would feel comfortable singing the song.

3a8082e126