| LearnJazzPiano.com archives: Enigmatic scale | |
| RobM -- 02/04/2004, 07:26:20 -- #581 | |
| I have just come across a scale called the enigmatic scale: R b2 3 b5 b6 b7 7 8 - see http://www.apassion4jazz.net/scales.html Can anyone tell me more about this scale - where it comes from, how it is used, etc, who uses it? Thanks, Rob | |
| smg -- 02/04/2004, 13:13:12 -- #611 | |
| I just took a look at the page,good link BTW..here's my take on it,and other scales like it:it's close to the altered scale minus the b3 and with a maj.7 added,and I'm assuming that the webmaster included it based on something they'd composed or played over a dom7(I'd suggest e-mailing them and asking them about it for confirmation of this),usually tonic-maj7-b7 in a scale is a pretty good indication of it being blues-based,as far as the rest of it goes,scales which are situation-specific can be created from a line played over a given chord and which are not necessarily something to practice (unless you want to,like it's sound)and apply as you would more standard scales(including scales which are considered "standard" in jazz but would be seen as "esoteric"by pop-oriented musicians).In this case,familiaring yourself with the altered scale and it's applications as well as blues scale forms that use the notes indicated above would give you the concepts involved in this "composite" scale that you could use to play other similar "scalar runs".....as far as looking to trace the derivation of this scale historically/culturally which is definitely a part of learning other scales (i.e.E-F-A-B-D-E and the places around the world you find it),I think you'd be wasting your time.... | |
| RobM -- 02/05/2004, 02:40:50 -- #646 | |
| Thanks, Gary - the chart on that page is excerpted from a book by DC Dowdell, so maybe this scale is something he's come up with. | |
| Ryan -- 02/05/2004, 04:55:21 -- #653 | |
| No, he didn't invent it, but Verdi supposedly did in one of his opera's! I haven't checked it out, but it's said to be in his Ave Maria of 1897. | |
| Ryan -- 02/05/2004, 04:56:20 -- #654 | |
| That is he used it; I'm not sure if he's the inventor, but the scale has been around for quite some time! | |
| Adriano -- 02/05/2004, 06:36:51 -- #659 | |
| Verdi has used this scale in "Ave Maria" (from "Four Sacred Pieces"); also John McLaughlin with the Mahavishnu Orchestra and rock guitar player Joe Satriani in his tune "The Enigmatic" (from the "Not of this Earth" C.D.). Joe has written a couple of instructional columns in guitar magazines explaining the use of the enigmatic scale. He proposes also some posible progressions: I bii iii #IV #V #vi vii + sus4 maj. maj.-5 + dim.triad sus4 maj.-5 min. sus#4 maj. (-3) (-9) sus2 I sometimes use the fourth mode of this scale over 7th. chords (intervals: R, 2, 3, 4, b5, 5, -7). Good luck. | |
| RobM -- 02/05/2004, 06:46:48 -- #660 | |
| Wow thanks Adriano. I'll try that out, and its 4th mode. While we're on unusual scales, here's an encyclopaedic list: http://home.swipnet.se/freakguitar/scales.html I'm assuming a lot of the "exotic" ones have been slightly artificially fitted into Western tonality like the blues scale was? | |
| smg -- 02/05/2004, 10:08:25 -- #671 | |
| I stand corrected with this..thanks to Ryan and Adriano for the info... | |
| smg -- 02/05/2004, 10:11:46 -- #672 | |
| BTW thanks for another good link!!! Right now I'm working on some stuff I'm going to post over at "360" in the next day or so which gets into the subject of scales along with some other things..... | |
| smg -- 02/04/2004, 13:13:12 -- #611 | |
| I just took a look at the page,good link BTW..here's my take on it,and other scales like it:it's close to the altered scale minus the b3 and with a maj.7 added,and I'm assuming that the webmaster included it based on something they'd composed or played over a dom7(I'd suggest e-mailing them and asking them about it for confirmation of this),usually tonic-maj7-b7 in a scale is a pretty good indication of it being blues-based,as far as the rest of it goes,scales which are situation-specific can be created from a line played over a given chord and which are not necessarily something to practice (unless you want to,like it's sound)and apply as you would more standard scales(including scales which are considered "standard" in jazz but would be seen as "esoteric"by pop-oriented musicians).In this case,familiaring yourself with the altered scale and it's applications as well as blues scale forms that use the notes indicated above would give you the concepts involved in this "composite" scale that you could use to play other similar "scalar runs".....as far as looking to trace the derivation of this scale historically/culturally which is definitely a part of learning other scales (i.e.E-F-A-B-D-E and the places around the world you find it),I think you'd be wasting your time.... | |
| RobM -- 02/05/2004, 02:40:50 -- #646 | |
| Thanks, Gary - the chart on that page is excerpted from a book by DC Dowdell, so maybe this scale is something he's come up with. | |
| Ryan -- 02/05/2004, 04:55:21 -- #653 | |
| No, he didn't invent it, but Verdi supposedly did in one of his opera's! I haven't checked it out, but it's said to be in his Ave Maria of 1897. | |
| Ryan -- 02/05/2004, 04:56:20 -- #654 | |
| That is he used it; I'm not sure if he's the inventor, but the scale has been around for quite some time! | |
| Adriano -- 02/05/2004, 06:36:51 -- #659 | |
| Verdi has used this scale in "Ave Maria" (from "Four Sacred Pieces"); also John McLaughlin with the Mahavishnu Orchestra and rock guitar player Joe Satriani in his tune "The Enigmatic" (from the "Not of this Earth" C.D.). Joe has written a couple of instructional columns in guitar magazines explaining the use of the enigmatic scale. He proposes also some posible progressions: I bii iii #IV #V #vi vii + sus4 maj. maj.-5 + dim.triad sus4 maj.-5 min. sus#4 maj. (-3) (-9) sus2 I sometimes use the fourth mode of this scale over 7th. chords (intervals: R, 2, 3, 4, b5, 5, -7). Good luck. | |
| RobM -- 02/05/2004, 06:46:48 -- #660 | |
| Wow thanks Adriano. I'll try that out, and its 4th mode. While we're on unusual scales, here's an encyclopaedic list: http://home.swipnet.se/freakguitar/scales.html I'm assuming a lot of the "exotic" ones have been slightly artificially fitted into Western tonality like the blues scale was? | |
| smg -- 02/05/2004, 10:08:25 -- #671 | |
| I stand corrected with this..thanks to Ryan and Adriano for the info... | |
| smg -- 02/05/2004, 10:11:46 -- #672 | |
| BTW thanks for another good link!!! Right now I'm working on some stuff I'm going to post over at "360" in the next day or so which gets into the subject of scales along with some other things..... | |
| Copyright © 2005 by Scot Ranney. All rights reserved. | |
| Click Here for more information about performances and clinics. Click Here to sign up for Scot's music announcements. | |