Any and all musicians...
What are your thoughts on learning scale and progression by learning tunes?
My example would be I learned to play lead guitar by learning a few fiddle tunes at first, then learning to improvise and thus learning scale. Though I can't read music and don't know the names of the scale. Yet I began this journey in music about seven years ago and now can learn to play most any song my ear. Not always without flaw but always recognizable and with practice quite well.
Not suggesting this is the best way... More wondering if I'm lost and hopeless now. I never have had a chance to have lessons or learn to read music. I tried learning scale and it confused me, same with music. Now I can look at a scale diagram and play it but didn't learn that way...
My hope is to major in music in college. Is this kinda a silly dream since I've never learned music theory at all?
I play mandolin, ukelele, piano and guitar. All four well enough that the worship band leader at the church I try to attend always ask me to sit in. I can play along with anyone even if I don't know the song... My point is am I too far behind to catch up?
Will post a video of my playing and singing soon... Maybe that's needed to answer my questions
My teacher taught me scales/chord progressions like this....
E.g. The common Western Major scale
1 2 34 5 6 78
In the key of C that would be
C D EF G A BC
Between C and D is a whole step as you're jumping the #/b
Between E and F is a half step as they are right beside each other
So you can start on whatever note on the fretboard and go from that note whole step, whole step, half step, whole step, whole step, whole step, half step...
I.e. if you wanted an A Major Scale, you would start on the A and go
A B C#D E F# G#
[I am sure you are familiar with the 12 notes on the fretboard?]
So the notes of the Major Scale is then where you get your chords from if you [but you can introduce chords from other keys as well].
Within the Major scale you will always have a Major, minor, minor, Major, Major, minor, diminished
So in C Major Scale
C Major
D minor
E minor
F major
G major
A minor
B diminished
A Major scale
A Major
B minor
C# minor
D major
E major
F# minor
G# dimished
So if you then rename these with numbers 1-7
C D EF G A BC
1 2 34 5 6 78
You then get your chord formulas...
Triad chords (using 3 notes)
Major chord, you take 1 3 5
Minor chord you take 1 b3 5
So C Major chord, take the 1 3 5
C E G
D Major 1 b3 5
D F A
Then you just use only those notes down the fretboard to form the chord.. you can form it anywhere on the fretboard using those notes and you can improvise your leads to the chords based upon the 7 notes in these scales.
Then you can practice chord progressions, for example a common one would be 1, 4, 5 chord progression
So you would go C, F, G
or A, D, E
you can then automatically transpose these chord progressions to any key when you know the scales and improvise lead with them. Hope that makes sense haha.