contructing major scales lesson

[nikkiyoung]

I m just learning about scales and was doing the work sheet in Constructing major scales and and while i was doing the Gb scale your answer sheet says there is a Cb, through all my reading s on scales i thought that there was no Cb. Any help on this would be great Thanx.:) :confused:

[jaytee]

i KNOW i cant say it better than shawn...so try this link :)


http://www.cyberfret.com/q-and-a/1/index.htm




--jt

[nikkiyoung]

JayTee,
Thnx for your help. i went to the link and read what it said. its still confuses me though seeing that everything ive read up on scales says theres no Cb but i will take your advice and carry on and just have fun with it ;) Thanx again.
Nikki

[cyberfret]

There is definitely a Cb note. There are also double flats (lowering 2 half steps) and double sharps (raising 2 half steps) as well.....not to confuse the issue, but F double sharp is the same sound as a G note. So a Cb is the same sound as a B note. In the simplest sense you would probably just call the note B. But in the case of a Gb major scale there is not a B in the scale, but there is a Cb. It is a matter what name you would give the same sounding note. Just think of every major scale as having every letter represented. So you have to have some sort of G A B C D E F and back to G.

So if you called Cb a B you would have this for a major scale. Gb Ab Bb B Db Eb F Gb. So you have 2 B letters, and no C. That is because it should be a Cb and not B. So a Gb major scale is Gb Ab Bb Cb Db Eb F Gb.

Saying that there is not a Cb or Fb, or a B# or E# is just not true. If you are learning the names of the notes on the neck of the guitar, you are most likely going to call an Cb a B.....But it is also an A double sharp :) What you call a particular note just depends on the situation.

--Shawn

[jaytee]

yeah ....

i dont think its anything to get real uptight about.....but you need to be aware that things like Cb exist....you just wouldnt normally call it that unless you are naming a scale....its the kind of thing i like to think of as a "technicality"....

maybe i try too hard not to let the details weigh me down until i think im ready to take them on....studying theory is important...but who's grading me besides me? id rather enjoy my time playing....i have a lifetime to learn to play and to learn WHY it all works....ill do BOTH in my own time....thats all i mean by "perfection is not required"...dont let the technicalities weigh you down....

--jt