Aeolian?

Posted: Thu Dec 25, 2003 6:03 pm

I'm a bit confused about this scale. On every site or in every book they seem to interpret this scale differently. A friend of mine told me that the only good way of playing (c)aeolian is:

C, D#, F, F#, G, A#

What do you guys think? On some of these chord and scales sites they tell me differently..

Posted: Thu Dec 25, 2003 10:37 pm

that's definitely NOT the C aeolian mode, play a C minor scale top to bottom, that's the C aeolian mode, play a C major scale from it's sixth degree, now are playing the A aeolian mode...

hope this helps

Posted: Fri Dec 26, 2003 3:13 am

Ahh i see. Well i'm no pro in playing piano, so care to give me the keys for C aeolian?

Thnx Smile

Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2004 8:57 pm

A to A, no sharps or flats

Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2004 9:19 pm

Yeah but C Aeolian is the Eb Scale from C to C. In other words C, D Eb, F, G, Ab, Bb. Also called the natural minor. More specifically still, in steps, which is really the correct way: 1,2,b3,4,5,b6, b7.

But as a Minor SCALE it sucks.

Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2004 10:39 pm

Natural Minor doesn't suck as a scale - it may as an bebop improvising tool for some or from a purely melodic perspective in attempting to create a strictly aeolian melody - because there are no leading tones - but a lot has been done with it and can be done with it if the functional aspects of harmonic progression are handled in other fashions or ignored.

The Scale you wrote (if spelled correctly) should be C Eb F F# G Bb - a C Blues Scale
Sounds great in any language.

Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2004 6:42 am

That should be, the scale originally written by Dave N is a blues scale. Not the correctly notated aeolian scale that henryrobbinett identified.

Phil

Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2004 9:34 am

The reason I said the scale "sucks" is, as you stated, it has no leading tone. This will turn the scale into, by western definition, what we commonly refer to as a scale. Something that has a dominant/tonic relationship. There's no Dominant chord in the "natural" minor. Harmonic and Melodic Minors rectify this problem. I think of that "scale" as the Aeolian mode and if I think minor I tend to raise the 7th degree so I turn the V chord into a dominant 7th. Hope I haven't put all of you to sleep. Surprised

Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2004 10:24 am

I have to agree with Henry (except for the part about it sucking).

If the tonic is c, the scale will consist of the following notes and triads:

C D Eb F G Ab Bb

There are semitones between the 2nd and 3rd degrees and the 5th and 6th degrees, with wholetones between all other consecutive degrees. Using this formula the aeolian mode can be built on any starting note.

I happen to find this to be a quieting peaceful mode of the diatonic scale.

Rod

Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2004 9:57 pm

I like the aeolian scale... it's the descending form of the melodic minor, so you use it a lot more than you think... with just the harmonic minor, you get that weird eastern-sounding Aug2 (not always desired)... with only the ascending version of the melodic, descending passages aren't always as effective imho... plus there's always all that music that happened last century and a little before, where the natural minor used correctly can sound very pleasing, leading tone or not... just think how many leading tones get left off (or at best implied) in a lot of today's commerical music... it's all what you do with the materials, not how much you limit yourself... at least, that's my very humble 2 cents...

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