Which do you prefer playing in? Major or minor?

[dragonzmad]

Minor is soo much easier to play in. It seems all the great "licks" are in pentatonic minor with the 2nd (or 9th) from time to time. I've been working on playing in minor quite a bit lately just to get better feel for the type of stuff I like to do. I know that one minor key is also a different major key but I don't fully understand how to play move gracefully around the relative minor when playing in major. I'm working on it.

[StickNaving]

I'm not sure how to vote on this one. I'm equally strong with either scale. When I'm improvising, I go through phases. For awhile I played almost exclusively in minor. Lately I've been playing a lot of melodic lines in major keys.

My band plays almost exclusively in minor keys though. Not that they leave much room for me to do much anyway.

[Naveed Afzal]

Jazz Melodic Minor thank You very much....

[Led_Zeppelin678]

I'm partial to A Major in particular right now...I'm writing a song with a few different movements, which is in A Major, so I'm trying to get a good feel for it.

[bass face]

i like minor better, i just cant seem to make major slcaes sound right when im playing, they sound really choppy

[Aukai]

i like minor better, i just cant seem to make major slcaes sound right when im playing, they sound really choppy

I'm not sure if you listen to jazz, but I was transcribing a John coltrane solo from "flamenco sketches", the first bit of his solo was over a major scale, he made such good use out of it, made me consider using it again.

I'm confused by your question, you mean in a Major or Minor Key, or just using a major or minor scale?

[funkyhoney]

i love E major, but only for funk

[Riouken]

I'd say E minor is better for Funk.

[Jamie]

Jazz Melodic Minor thank You very much....


Just curious, what differences to the melodic minor make it a jazz melodic minor?

[Jamie]

I'd say E minor is better for Funk.


E minor pentatonic is where its at for funk! :D

[Aukai]

E minor pentatonic is where its at for funk! :D

The penetatonic is a minor scale? That would make the blues one too right? If so , Blues scale is where the funk is at! or Mixolyidian

[Naveed Afzal]

Just curious, what differences to the melodic minor make it a jazz melodic minor?


My Understanding is that its the same Ascending and it is Descending, where as the Melodic Minor is different Descending(b6 and b7). Thats what ive gotten from it, for my jury since im a Jazz major i had to play the Jazz Melodic Minor, but i realized when i was in my piano class he just said melodic minor, i held of on asnwering and then, when he was giving us the degrees the 6 and 7th were flat descending...

I could be wrong, as ive never asked, this is just my observation...

Oh yeah... i like Bb and Eb Jazz Melodic Minor... i perfer Bb and Eb in all the minor scales....

[Jamie]

Naveed: Ahhhh, I see :) So a normal Melodic Minor is b6 b7 ascending, natural minor descending, but jazz melodic minor is b6 b7 ascending and descending.

Thanks, that makes sense :)


I also know there's a scale where you ascend as melodic and go down as harmonic minor... I don't know its name though.


If I remember correctly, the blues scale is a pentatonic with a b5 in...

Major Pentatonic: 1 2 3 5 6

Minor Pentatonic: 1 b3 4 5 b7

Blues: 1 b3 4 b5 5 b7


:)

[dragonzmad]

E minor pentatonic is where its at for funk! :D

My favorite keys E and D...

I love E minor. Blues in E minor is such a beautiful thing. Fills in E minor are such a beautiful thing. E minor is such a beautiful thing. pentatonic is the way to go and occasionally throw in that 9th and the 6th when you want

[Aukai]

yeh its just an extra note, but i love it, so I can do stuff like this

G|------7---------------|
D|-7h9-----7h8p7-------|
A|-----------------10-7-|
E|-----------------------|

So your telling me this is a Major penetonic

G|-------------7--9-|
D|-------7--9-------|
A|-7--9-------------|
E|-------------------|

this is a minor penetonic?

G|--------------7--9-|
D|--------7--9-------|
A|-7--10-------------|
E|--------------------|

If so, I always used just the minor penatonic...

[Naveed Afzal]

Naveed: Ahhhh, I see :) So a normal Melodic Minor is b6 b7 ascending, natural minor descending, but jazz melodic minor is b6 b7 ascending and descending.


wow its late and im having a brain fart, natural minor is b3 b6 and b7 (wow whens the last time you used the Natural MINOR!?!?!)
Derived from the natural Minor
The Harmonic is b3 b6 #7
Ascending Melodic is b3 #6 #7
and Dscending its natural b3, b6 b7

or something like this...
The Jazz Melodic is just the b3 with the #6 and #7 (since its derived form the Minor i dont mean to confuse anyone by saying #6 and #7)

[Aukai]

b3 on the melodic minor scale? It looks like a crazy major/minor hybrid!

[Naveed Afzal]

man... ive learned so much in so little time, my brains turned to mush...

I had to learn the Minor, Jazz Melodic, and Harmonic Minor forms in a few days... it was confusing, because the shapes are very similar and im play two octaves... remember which name went with which was challenging, i just had to remember the huge 3 fret jumps etc, and if u asked me tommorow i'd prob be wrong... i still dont remember them... i just know i know 4 modes now, an dont know the names of them.

[Naveed Afzal]

b3 on the melodic minor scale? It looks like a crazy major/minor hybrid!

Exactly, why not call it the Major Melodic? essentialy its not major or minor... its missing the flat 6 and 7s... so isnt it MORE Major?

its kinda like Dom7s... arent they really Minor? they have the minor feel, and they have the b7, but then they do have #3 if you derive it form the Minor scale, but its really just a Major 3rd... and Diminished, is it really a minor chord? 2 minor 3rds.... yikes...
Aye carumba...

[Aukai]

man... ive learned so much in so little time, my brains turned to mush...

I had to learn the Minor, Jazz Melodic, and Harmonic Minor forms in a few days... it was confusing, because the shapes are very similar and im play two octaves... remember which name went with which was challenging, i just had to remember the huge 3 fret jumps etc, and if u asked me tommorow i'd prob be wrong... i still dont remember them... i just know i know 4 modes now, an dont know the names of them.

Hell man, I know exactly what you mean, I learned more theory in my first semester of college than in my entire high school jazz band years. I got Major and Bebop Scales in all 12 keys, 2 octaves up, Dorian and Mixolydian modes, all 12 keys and 2 octaves up. Had to learn all 7th chord qualities, learned out to construct a walking bassline, and learned to solo decently now. So much and it drives me crazy, cause I know that I can almost solo where I don't have to think about it...its like right on the tip of my tongue, so frusterating...

And I showed up to one of my Jazz Improv classes drunk one day, its just me and my teacher, pretty much lessons...and I swear to god he was drunk too...he had his head down on his arm, down on his piano, and he was playing chords with one hand.

[Naveed Afzal]

^ dude, i was walking so well, but since this semesters ended, ive htia brick wall, all my walks sounds the same no matter the tune...

I walking to the A Train today, and it sounded so familiar i wnated to punch myself in the face, so i only practice 40 minutes instead of 2hrs.

[Aukai]

I haven't run into that yet, but I only have written 3 walking basslines, The hardest thing hes had me do so far...I had all 12 keys of 12 bar blues written down on a paper, but no notes, just so I had chord references. Everytime we finished 12 bars, he changed the key we played in and I had to make a new bassline at first I was like...C...ok..F...ok...Bb...this isn't that bad....E Wtf?! I had never walked in any sharp key...so yeh that was a bit unnerving.

[Naveed Afzal]

Well at this point in the game im into my 2nd year of playing... so its all a thinking game for me... thinking about the fretboard, and the chord tones, and the next measure. So really ive bene really on those staight 1,2,3,4 lines and Playing The Root and 3rds on the turn around

Has he had you go thru the Tri Tone Substitutions?

[Aukai]

I getting into my 2nd semester(2nd semester of my first year) And I think hes going to start teaching me tritone substitution(I might need alittle explaination on what this is, I can't really remember), have me transcribe more, and hes going to teach me some jazz piano, so I can recongnize harmonies and use them in my bass playing. I also learned last semester how to use circle of fifths to change keys of pieces...when i finally figured it out i was like...oh duh...

[Alma]

I really like the minor pentatonic and the blues pentatonic.

My favourite scale/mode would have to be mixolydian :cool: Good ol' dominant 7th.

[Aukai]

I dunno, sometimes I dislike the Mixolyid, but I love Dorian mode, such a cool minor.

[SixnStones]

i prefer to play in ........ the dark

[Aukai]

i prefer to play in ........ the dark, na.ked


fixe'd

[Bass_swede]

minor as for whole songs. But it tends to be easier to create background lines to the guitar in major alot of the time..

[peeted]

i dont realy think of it as major and minor that much any more, i tend to wander between the two (say if im playing in e minor i might go to g major or visa versa) and wen it comes to harmonic minor fills and stuff i just add em were my ear sees fit, you can get some nice sounds masing a song in a major key but using chords diatonic to the harmonic version of the relative minor to the major kay your playing in.

[Raiven]

8 note dominant scale is fun and "hip"

[burtonbassist_101]

i likes me major :thumb:

[bottlerocket]

Minor...I find it easier to jam around in and love the sound and feeling you get. It works great in my music, too.

:thumb:

-Gav

[EADG]

Minor.. but given the choice of mode I prefer Mixolydian and Lydian.

[HaVIC5]

The thing about minor and major scales are that they are the names for the tonalities of the classical era. It took great skill in knowing how to correctly write melodies and harmonies using these scales in that idiom, and nobody could just go at it like we do these days in jamming. Major/minor tonality implies much more structure than we're used to. For the popular veins of music, a different structure is required, but the descriptions of natural major and minor remain. On average, as evidenced by this thread, people will cite minor as their preferred out of the two, because it closest resembles the various synthetic scales that most of popular music is based off of.

[ElKapitan]

i play generic metal so its usually minor all the way apart from some breaks and bridges which sometimes stray off into major stuff

[Radiobass81]

Major.

Although I always improv with the pentatonic/blues scale.

[Rasta Rocker]

I find jammin in minor scales easier, I also find a groove in minor scales easier too. The Hungarian minor scale is pretty righteous too, havent gotten much out of it though.

[Radiobass81]

/lame post

I like playing the sixth position on a Cmaj scale.

/lame

[kilian]

Major.

Although I always improv with the pentatonic/blues scale.
Same thing here! :D

Only.. The BB614 > 'Ray.

[PaulR]

Mmmmmmmiiinnooooorrrrrr

[jaco jr]

minor
whenever i pickup a bass these days whatever i start playing is minor, the only time i really use major is for powermetal:thumb:

[jazzfunkboy]

which do you like better? left or right?

[Radiobass81]

Same thing here! :D

Only.. The BB614 > 'Ray.
Ahem.

No.

[tim_commerfordism]

I just use everything.

Blues. Major. Minor. Pentatonic. Teh l0t.

[neal_672]

Personally i tend to play more in major, but to be honest i don't have much of a preference...

[Roo_bass]

Major, probably.

[RHCPaddict]

E minor
Then I just do blues scales and other things for funky solos and stuff.
Then majors for other things.

[JBass]

i love A minor...i feel likeor scales always seem to happy but minor scales sound like eerie and mysterious

[Manticore Guy]

I usually prefer harmonic minor, and then Major.