Best way to remember scales...?

[2ZrgE]

When you think about scales do you remember in your head that "F-maj has one flat (B-flat)" or that "D-min has one flat (B-flat)"...?

I am trying to learn to remember then and I am not sure which is more convenient memory rule.

Usually it is majors that are thought to us first but I suppose that you could argument that remembering minor scales is better as most modern music are in minor scale...?"

You need only one scale. A-minor. Especially when creating EDM.

Natural has no sharps, but don't forget harmonic/melodic with one sharp/two when going up.

Easy...

[MadBrain]

Scales are like Pokémon. Gotta learn 'em all!

[arbogast]

For me, the best (but not only) way to learn scales was to pratice them on piano. In that way I gained not only an inner 'picture' of each scale, but also a sense of musical understanding. Patience and slow practicing works well.

[stikygum]

I remember the scales by thinking about the Major scale. Think of the C Major scale (all white keys) if you get stuck not remembering the order of semi tones and whole tones. Not sure if this is the best way, but I've found it to be easy and not as complex as memorizing the Circle of Fifths.

All the Minor scales are flattening the Major Scale in their own way. Use the Major Scale to find out what is on any Minor Scale like this below.


So if you know the Major Scale, to get the:

Natural Minor - flatten the 3rd, 6th, and 7th

Harmonic Minor - flatten the 3rd and 6th

Melodic Minor (ascending) - flatten just the 3rd
Melodic Minor (descending) - (same as Natural Minor) so flatten the 3rd, 6th, and 7th

And if you want, Pentatonic is:

Major Pentatonic - remove the 4th and 7th (of Major Scale)
Minor Pentatonic - remove 2nd and 6th of Natural Minor Scale

So in this way, all you have to remember is what (note) position to flatten or remove. The Circle of Fifths is confusing. I should learn it, but it's more complex memorization. One of these times when I find the right method I will, but what I listed above is the simplest way I see that the scales can be approached.

[2ZrgE]

For me, the best (but not only) way to learn scales was to pratice them on piano. In that way I gained not only an inner 'picture' of each scale, but also a sense of musical understanding. Patience and slow practicing works well.

+1.

That's the fastest and most musical way. Learn the scales, main chords and cadences, and you will never have any problems constructing nice sounding chord sequences. Actually the western harmonic system is quite easy to understand once you get the relationship between the notes.

May I ask the OP why you want to learn them? Because for producing wihtin a Daw you don't really need 24 different scales...

[tapper mike]

For me, the best (but not only) way to learn scales was to pratice them on piano. In that way I gained not only an inner 'picture' of each scale, but also a sense of musical understanding. Patience and slow practicing works well.

+1.

That's the fastest and most musical way. Learn the scales, main chords and cadences, and you will never have any problems constructing nice sounding chord sequences. Actually the western harmonic system is quite easy to understand once you get the relationship between the notes.

May I ask the OP why you want to learn them? Because for producing wihtin a Daw you don't really need 24 different scales...

Agreed.
I used to practice a different key everyday (circle of 5ths) Although I must say that learning songs goes further in retaining harmony. It's not just about holding your fingers down into a "shape" it's more about how you move from one shape to the next. For that one really needs to learn songs (also helps with rhythmic development) After I learned my first two chords every chord I learned thereafter was in the context of a progression / song.

[jancivil]

May I ask the OP why you want to learn them? Because for producing wihtin a Daw you don't really need 24 different scales...

Do you really know to know anything to 'produce'? As a matter of musicianship this is kind of just basic. 24? I suppose that's a major scale and a 'natural' minor scale on 12 different tonics. There are a couple other minor scales. The intervals is where doing music comes in. I would say the "best way to remember" is to know what the intervals are. And I reinforce learn it in some music. Such as 'harmonic' and 'melodic' minor, there were musical ideas behind them.

[She Changed Her Mind]

I don't know. Just pretend I am not familiar with scales

[jancivil]

Well, saying there are 24 scales is really saying there are 2 but 12 transpositions of the 2.
So look at it this way: I never quite obtained a lot of facility on a keyboard. I can get around but I'm not going to spin some scales in performance and impress.
It's odd to see a guitarist talk about practicing different keys a lot, at least guitar in itself, because the fingering is replicated until you run out of fretboard.

But on keys, the fact of 12 keys, the way the keyboard is laid out means fingering problems. But in composing and getting some note-ons onto the piano roll, I don't have any issue of keys mentally; there is one construction, of intervals.
Your major scale goes up two whole tones to get to one of our most salient features, the major third. Semitone to the 4, now tone to the perfect fifth. Now fron here two tones to the major seventh and a semitone to reiterate the 1 at the 'octave'.
It's assymetrical from a certain vantage point: Up to this P4th is 5 semitones. From there to the octave is 7 semitones. This is visually obvious from the vantage point of C to next C on keyboard.

(Your natural minor is a permutation of the major scale construction; pertinent to relative minor, same key signature, same set.)

Now, one should probably heed circle of fifths. A rising fourth or falling fifth is one sharp or one flat away, is considered the least distance away from your starting place.
It would tend to help reveal the sense of change of key/scale on a keyboard particularly.

I don't remember any 'way to remember scales'. First I was on trumpet; I don't remember any abstractions, I honestly don't know what I did.
I learned songs in different keys, I remember only trying to get songs right. I remember buying sheet music which was for C instruments and vaguely remember learning what a transposing instrument meant after some confusion there.
I doubt I was very focused on scales on the guitar in the beginning, I learned things off of records and concepts dawned on me as I encountered how something worked in a song. Later I got more competitive and ran scales for a bit. But on a guitar there isn't a real difference as an obstacle like some things, so a new key was just a new angle on the one thing, maybe like a new color.