A Steve Vai Scale Challenge For You

[Liarspoker]

Had a fun chat with Steve last night. Anyone fancy writing or improvising with the scale mentioned?
He's such a nice guy and has some very interesting projects planning including releasing some orchestral compositions!!

[Boss Man Zwiebelsohn]

I always play sex-a-tonic.

[pauln]

[Bobby Timmons]

Surprise, the scale already existed ha.

That wasn't the only premise of the clip tho. At the beginning he said he knows what the individual notes sound like anyway regardless of it needing to be outlined by a scale.

[Mick-7]

Had a fun chat with Steve last night. Anyone fancy writing or improvising with the scale mentioned? He's such a nice guy and has some very interesting projects planning including releasing some orchestral compositions!!

As stated, that's a South Indian scale named purvi that. A purvi that = A-Bb-C#-D#-E-F-G#. You could play it over Gm7(b5)/C7(alt), but it doesn't contain the tonic notes of those chords so one is tempted to add it.

John McLaughlin has used Indian scales for improvisation, especially in his band Shakti. In a past life, I spent some time using the Indian scales for improvisation but concluded it wasn't all that productive - but if I ever decide to form a Shakti cover band, I'll need to learn them again.

[Christian Miller]

Sounds quite bluesy to me


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Mick-7]

Sounds quite bluesy to me

Yeah, from the scale's "dorian mode"

That would be: Bb-Db-Eb-E-F-Ab-A. Not bad.

[A. Kingstone]

I'd bunch the chromatics.

1 b2 3 #4 5 b6 7

7 1 b2 3
#4 5 b6

B C C# E

F# G G#

Have I messed up?

[Mick-7]

I'd bunch the chromatics.

1 b2 3 #4 5 b6 7

7 1 b2 3
#4 5 b6

B C C# E

F# G G#

Have I messed up?

That would be correct if you started from the 7th degree of the scale, why does that appeal to you?

[A. Kingstone]

That would be correct if you started from the 7th degree of the scale, why does that appeal to you?

Makes it easy to organise and like Saint Christian said 'it's bluesy'.

[bako]

C Db E F# G Ab B

Interesting. It has 2 groups of 3 consecutive half steps: F#GAb and BCDb

In skipped note pairs: CE DbF# EG F#Ab GB AbC BDb

In skipped note trios: CEG DbF#Ab EGB F#AbC GBDb AbCE BDbF#

In skipped note quartets: CEGB DbF#AbC EGBDb F#AbCE GBDbF# AbCEG BDbF#Ab

I VI II V in drop II voice led

CGBE CGAbE CF#AbDb BF#GDb

modal Heart and Soul or Rhythm Changes variant.

[pauln]

If you add the flat third and natural 6th,
and play its 6th mode, it's a nine tone
scale called G#/Ab Moorish Phrygian

G# A B B# C# D# D## F# F##
(G# A B C C# D# E F# G)
or
Ab Bbb Cb C Db Eb E Gb G
(Ab A B C Db Eb E Gb G)

So like Phrygian, but even more(ish)!

[Boss Man Zwiebelsohn]

If you add some more notes you end up with the so called twelve-tone chromatic scale. It has 12 modes which all sound the same. Schönberg used it a lot.

[Mick-7]

If you add the flat third and natural 6th, and play its 6th mode, it's a nine tone scale called G#/Ab Moorish Phrygian

So like Phrygian, but even more(ish)!

A more moorish scale? Who ordered that!

If you add some more notes you end up with the so called twelve-tone chromatic scale. It has 12 modes which all sound the same. Schönberg used it a lot.

Beware, you're headed into Nicholas Slonimsky land... where there be dragons!

[Boss Man Zwiebelsohn]

Had a fun chat with Steve last night. Anyone fancy writing or improvising with the scale mentioned?
He's such a nice guy and has some very interesting projects planning including releasing some orchestral compositions!!

Isn't he basically saying he is playing by ear?

[bako]

Isn't he basically saying he is playing by ear?

Theory is an experiment to try if it seems worth exploring to inform your ear, or you can come in the other door with or without theory as in Pauln's case.

[Boss Man Zwiebelsohn]

[...] Beware, you're headed into Nicholas Slonimsky land... where there be dragons!

My patron saint is St. George, so I do not fear dragons. And (fortunately) my first (virtual, through his books) jazz mentor was Höfner endorser Werner Pöhlert (I might have told this before LOL), who prevented me from digging too deep into Berklee-oid CST.



EDIT: Of course someone might prefer this over Pöhlert's books. Or this. Or this.

EDIT 2: I just saw that the author of the books I mentioned posted here as well 10 years ago.

EDIT 3: I have to admit that I really like the TeX esthetics of those books with Don Knuth's classic font.

[pauln]

Theory is an experiment to try if it seems worth exploring to inform your ear, or you can come in the other door with or without theory as in Pauln's case.

Funny story; not sure if this answers or raises more questions...

[Mick-7]

The Cochrane "Beyond Slonimsky" book sounds interesting, but more like dumbing down Slonimsky's work than transcending it.

Two other South Indian scales that have no Western equivalents (that I know of)

Marwa That: 1-b2-3-#4-5-6-7 (in C: C-Db-E-F#-G-A-B)

Todi That: 1-b2-b3-#4-5-b6-7 (in C: C-Db-Eb-F#-G-Ab-B)

And then there is: Hungarian Minor [Todi That w/Nat 2nd & Harmonic minor w/ #4th]: 1-2-b3-#4-5-b6-7 (in C: C-D-Eb-F#-G-Ab-B)

[Liarspoker]

Here is Steve talking about his Zeus in Chains App. You could be in one of his videos!!