does "western" music mostly consists of Major/Minor scales?

Chords, scales, harmony, melody, etc.
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BertKoor wrote: Sun Jan 23, 2022 12:12 am
soonnixx wrote: Sat Jan 22, 2022 2:46 pm We are now in the 22nd century
Nope, last time I checked we were still in the 21st.
hes got time travelling trousers.

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Another thought: what you're looking at might be just the key, eg C or Am. This is not the same thing as the used scale, eg C Mixolydian or A Pentatonic. The key and scale are separate (but obviously somewhat related) properties of a song.
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BertKoor wrote: Sun Jan 23, 2022 12:13 pm Another thought: what you're looking at might be just the key, eg C or Am. This is not the same thing as the used scale, eg C Mixolydian or A Pentatonic. The key and scale are separate (but obviously somewhat related) properties of a song.
Yes, definitely. And the scale changes on all the "color chords" if the song uses color chords!

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BertKoor wrote: Sun Jan 23, 2022 12:13 pm Another thought: what you're looking at might be just the key, eg C or Am. This is not the same thing as the used scale, eg C Mixolydian or A Pentatonic. The key and scale are separate (but obviously somewhat related) properties of a song.
Obviously you can use any notes you want, but if a piece, or section of music is in C major it is likely that most of the notes in use will be derived from the scale of C major. I'm not quite sure I follow what you mean about C mixolydian for example.

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Farnaby wrote: Sun Jan 23, 2022 6:36 pm Obviously you can use any notes you want, but if a piece, or section of music is in C major it is likely that most of the notes in use will be derived from the scale of C major. I'm not quite sure I follow what you mean about C mixolydian for example.
Blues stuff (C7-F7-G7) or rock stuff (C-Bb-F). We'd say C major... well "major" ;)

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I suppose blues is a kind of special case, where almost all chords have flattened 7ths, and yet we say for example blues in C. I guess it is debatable.

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Ditto! I agree with you. Blues is not a good example.

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C mixolydian doesn't have any real meaning in a key. If you 'modulate' to C mixo from C major, what you're almost certainly doing is moving to F and the Bb explained as F major scale. There is no reason to attribute multiple names to a scale, it's wasted mentation/time.

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jancivil wrote: Mon Jan 24, 2022 2:32 am C mixolydian doesn't have any real meaning in a key. If you 'modulate' to C mixo from C major, what you're almost certainly doing is moving to F...
Almost, you say. You are right. Almost.
Seeing it as a F or whatever is just a result of the standard "music theory" indoctrination and the stylistic progression I-IV-V.
Modes are modes for a reason. They have their own tonic, tonal centre and characteristic intervals with regards to a root and pivot chords. :roll:

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I think what Jan is saying is that the supposed mixolydian is simply a modulation (usually), i.e. by flattening the 7th you tend to move from I to IV. In other words it wasn't really modal in the first place. Music doesn't suddenly become 'modal' just because you have flattened the 7th.
However the blues 7th progressions remain an oddity even by this definition.

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Mixolydian scale <> mixolydian mode.

Or is there another word for that major scale with diminished 7th I missed?
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BertKoor wrote: Mon Jan 24, 2022 10:57 am Mixolydian scale <> mixolydian mode.

Or is there another word for that major scale with diminished 7th I missed?
I think a lot of people get confused by this. You can play around with different scales/modes melodically while the underlying music/harmony is firmly tonal.

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BertKoor wrote: Mon Jan 24, 2022 10:57 am Mixolydian scale <> mixolydian mode.

Or is there another word for that major scale with diminished 7th I missed?
Yes, there is. It's got the true natural scale ("major").
What is known as a "natural" major is and has been inherited by preference of a certain style of music, mainly used by a specific group of... people. Then it becomes a reference scale for all other modes, who "from that point on" will have to be written as a deviation from the preferred one, the Chosen One. :hihi:
And also its root chord is called Dominant... for a reason.
Last edited by Pashkuli on Mon Jan 24, 2022 12:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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What on earth are you on about

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Farnaby wrote: Mon Jan 24, 2022 12:25 pm What on earth are you on about
See, the thing is... Ionian mode (a.k.a. "natural" major) is not really so natural.
It has been a preferred mode and that is all. That is why it has been called "natural".
But it is not.

The so called Dominant chord and its mode is the natural major.
It happens naturally within the overtones of a single resonant note.
The undertones though are more close to the Sub-Dominant structure.

It is just a mode, Ionian mode. Nothing natural about it. Just because it has been preferred does not make it more natural. Because it is not.

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