UNIVERSAL SCALE FORMS FOR GUITAR FROM INDIAN CLASSICAL MUSIC Robert Schneider Dedicated to Tanner Olin Smith Listening to music from the 1960s and ‘70s, it seems like guitar and keyboard players had access to some very exotic musical scales, sort of at the intersection of scales from folk music, jazz, Indian music, blues and other forms—and informed by lysergic vision quests, no doubt. Like check out solos from the Byrds or Strawberry Alarm Clock or Piper at the Gates of Dawn, or for instance the electric sitar and organ solos on “Do It Again” by Steely Dan. Those are crazy scales and I have no idea what the soloists are doing; it feels really mysterious like lost ancient knowledge. Looking in a similar direction, I offer here a method to build new musical scales on guitar, based on ideas from Hindustani (i.e. North Indian) classical music theory. The Western tradition of classical/folk/popular music mainly uses the major and minor scales, along with a few less common scales like harmonic minor. By contrast, Hindustani classical music uses 10 equally prominent scales, which include the Western major and minor scales (but not harmonic minor). These 7-tone Indian scales (same number of tones per octave as Western scales) are called Thaat (sounds like “tot”), and are constructed by a special rule about how you flatten or sharpen tones. You begin with a major scale in any key, and alter certain tones to form new scales. Of the seven tones in the major scale octave, the root note and fifth are never altered, they are fixed tones. The second, third, sixth and seventh tones in the octave can be “flatted” (or not) but never raised. The fourth tone in the scale can be “sharped” (or not) but never lowered. The 10 classical Thaat arise from this construction. An easy calculation gives a total of 2 b = 32 different scales that can be built by this method. These include all the classical Indian and Western cases (including the harmonic minor scale), plus twenty or so other, new scales. The left-hand diagram below represents the guitar fretboard at any point on the neck, and can be used to map out these scales by filling in certain dots. The black and boldface-white circles represent the root and fifth tones, respectively, which are part of every scale. For the rest of the dots inside the oval blobs, one of each pair is selected for the scale. The second, color diagram gives a key to the way octaves repeat: oval blobs of the same color (note there are two different shades of blue) represent different octaves or fingerings of the same note, so blobs of the same color should have the same choices (first or second) of dots included in the scale... or you can just mark dots off however you like and not worry about different octaves having the same sequence of notes.

Universal Scale Forms From Indian Classical …rpschne/Universal Scale Forms From...So you can build lots of interesting scales using this universal template, and experiment with them

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Page 1: Universal Scale Forms From Indian Classical …rpschne/Universal Scale Forms From...So you can build lots of interesting scales using this universal template, and experiment with them

UNIVERSALSCALEFORMSFORGUITARFROMINDIANCLASSICALMUSICRobertSchneider

DedicatedtoTannerOlinSmith

Listeningtomusicfromthe1960sand‘70s,itseemslikeguitarandkeyboardplayershadaccesstosomeveryexoticmusicalscales,sortofattheintersectionofscalesfromfolkmusic,jazz,Indianmusic,bluesandotherforms—andinformedbylysergicvisionquests,nodoubt.LikecheckoutsolosfromtheByrdsorStrawberryAlarmClockorPiperattheGatesofDawn,orforinstancetheelectricsitarandorgansoloson“DoItAgain”bySteelyDan.ThosearecrazyscalesandIhavenoideawhatthesoloistsaredoing;itfeelsreallymysteriouslikelostancientknowledge.Lookinginasimilardirection,Iofferhereamethodtobuildnewmusicalscalesonguitar,basedonideasfromHindustani(i.e.NorthIndian)classicalmusictheory.TheWestern tradition of classical/folk/popularmusicmainly uses themajor andminorscales,alongwithafewlesscommonscaleslikeharmonicminor.Bycontrast,Hindustaniclassicalmusic uses 10 equally prominent scales, which include theWesternmajor andminorscales(butnotharmonicminor).These7-toneIndianscales(samenumberoftonesperoctaveasWesternscales)arecalledThaat(soundslike“tot”),andareconstructedbyaspecialruleabouthowyouflattenorsharpentones.Youbeginwithamajorscaleinanykey,andaltercertaintonestoformnewscales.Oftheseventonesinthemajorscaleoctave,therootnoteandfifthareneveraltered,theyarefixedtones.Thesecond,third,sixthandseventhtonesintheoctavecanbe“flatted”(ornot)butneverraised.Thefourthtoneinthescalecanbe“sharped”(ornot)butneverlowered.The10classicalThaatarisefromthisconstruction.Aneasycalculationgivesatotalof2b = 32differentscalesthatcanbebuiltbythismethod.These include all the classical Indian andWestern cases (including the harmonicminorscale), plus twenty or so other, new scales. The left-hand diagram below represents theguitarfretboardatanypointontheneck,andcanbeusedtomapoutthesescalesbyfillingin certain dots. The black and boldface-white circles represent the root and fifth tones,respectively,whicharepartofeveryscale.Fortherestofthedotsinsidetheovalblobs,oneofeachpairisselectedforthescale.Thesecond,colordiagramgivesakeytothewayoctavesrepeat:ovalblobsofthesamecolor(notetherearetwodifferentshadesofblue)representdifferentoctavesorfingeringsofthesamenote,soblobsofthesamecolorshouldhavethesamechoices(firstorsecond)ofdotsincludedinthescale...oryoucanjustmarkdotsoffhoweveryoulikeandnotworryaboutdifferentoctaveshavingthesamesequenceofnotes.

Page 2: Universal Scale Forms From Indian Classical …rpschne/Universal Scale Forms From...So you can build lots of interesting scales using this universal template, and experiment with them

Soyoucanbuildlotsofinterestingscalesusingthisuniversaltemplate,andexperimentwiththemon guitar—of course, the scale constructionprinciples apply to any instrument.Asexamples of what these diagrams look like, here are the ten traditional Thaat and anadditionaloneconstructedbythesamerules,plusafewblankdiagramsfornewscales:

NoticethatBilavalThaatistheWesternmajorscale,KafiThaatistheminorscaleandNewThaat#1istheharmonicminor.Ishouldemphasize,I’mnotanexpertonHindustanimusictheory—I just love the beautiful music of India, and used combinatorics to work outadditionalscalesfromthelittletheoryIdoknow.IlearnedabouttheclassicalThaatinafewmusiclessonswithRajPandya,arenownedIndianmusicianandteacherbasedinKentucky.Mr.Pandyagreatlyexpandedmyunderstandingofmusic:inthefirstlesson,hespokeoftheuniverseasanenergyfieldripplingwithlifeandcreativity,andrelatedthistosoundwaves.Ifyouareinterestedtolearnmore,therearemanygoodresourcesonHindustanimusicoutthere;forinstance,checkoutTheRagaGuideCDandbookset(NimbusRecords,1999).

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