Scales

What scales can be described as dark, agressive, angry and melancholy? Like I am currently learning the major ones like C, A, G etc. and I was just wondring what scales would fit those moods?
(if you write them out that would be much appreciated but naming them will suffice)

The Harmonic Minor scale might satisfy you. The interval formula is:

1-2-b3-4-5-b6-7

In Amin, the note names would be:

A-B-C-D-E-F-G#

Very exotic sounding...

Isn't that what Malmsteen uses?
BTW how do I use 1-2-b3-4-5-b6-7 and A-B-C-D-E-F-G#?

When you ask how to use it, do you mean in what harmonic context, or are you asking about the intervals, or what?

The Harmonic Minor is obviously a minor scale; so for instance, if you were playing a song in the key of Amin, you could play the Amin Harmonic Scale over the top of it.

But what really sounds cool is to let your low E string drone while playing an "A" Harmonic Minor!

Visit the following link to see the fingering patterns for the Harmonic Minor, as well as a ton of other scales:

http://www.wholenote.com/basics/scales.asp

Wow, that site is excellent!!!, thnx. In terms of using it, i don't really know much theory at all, like i've heard that sort of terminology but thats as far as my knowledge goes. (Thats why I am trying to learn scales and stuff)

Awesome. Yeah, WholeNote is a great site. I've learned a lot from there over the years.

To me, learning theory is a blast. I know that when I learned intervals, things started making more sense. As a result, it's all much more enjoyable!

Yeh, I've just started learning theory to greater extent than before. A guitar is musical instrument which means that musical theory is an integral part of mastering it. It's one thing learning songs note for note using tabs and its completely another to not only start composing your own material and also understanding where those notes are comming from.

In relation to intervals, can you explain what they are because I don't really understand them.

An interval is simply the distance between two given notes. For instance, if you're familiar with half steps and whole steps, you already know a minor 2nd (b2) and a Major 2nd (2).

Half Step=moving one note up=minor 2nd
Whole Step=moving two notes up=Major 2nd

The interval names continue until you complete the octave, then you get into Compound Intervals (intervals larger than an octave), but I would worry about the Simple Intervals first.

There are tons of books, and probably some great websites that should help you grasp the concept of intervals. Below are the simple interval names and what they would look like if you saw a scale of chord formula. Some of them have more than one given name, but are essentially the same thing. Don't let any of that confuse you yet!

Unison/Root (1)
minor 2nd (b2)
Major 2nd (2)
minor 3rd (b3)
Major 3rd (3)
Perfect 4th (4)
Aug 4th/Dim 5th (#4/b5)
Perfect 5th (5)
Aug 5th/minor 6th (#5/b6)
Major 6th (6)
minor 7th (b7)
Major 7th (7)

if you want a good book on every scale concieveable, check out
the guitar grimiore-scales and modes.
it wont teach you much about theory, but its got every scale imaginable,
including stuff ive never heard of, like hungarian minor, and i went
to berklee!!

I envy you, vulture2600. I would love to be able to attend Berklee. However, being in Texas makes that seem like an impossibility. Housing would be extremely expensive in Boston, not to mention the cost to go to school there. How did you manage to attend?

I'm considering the on-line courses that they offer. Do you know anything about these?

well i only went for one year (but i improved like 10fold in that
first semester). my parents picked up about 15 grand and im payin
back about the same amount in loans.
yes its very expensive to live in boston. i had a VERY small 2 bedroom apt split 4 ways, 1750 a month, and that was 3 years ago. studios were
minimum of a grand.
the one thing i did not like about berklee tho is that if you are from outside
the continental US, it was pretty much guaranteed that berklee would
give you a full scholarship including room and board and the plane
ticket over. (it explains the high tuition.....)
however. if you can go for at least a year, do it, and never put your
axe down. i had a guitar in my hands on an average of 5 hours a day,
and that was considered takin it easy! there were some students
who considered 10 hours slackin off....

btw, i dont know anything about their online classes, i didnt know
they had any (fudge, i coulda saved my self 30 grand....)
hehe. anyways, they may be fine and good, but nothing like the
experience of actually going there. there are so many resources
available (when i went there, there were a good half dozen computer
labs, each station was a g3 or a g4 each witha triton and some rack gear)
and 3500 students to connect and jam with.

Around $30,000 for a year! That's crazy! What kind of certificate did you get?

They're on-line courses are at http://www.berkleemusic.com/

You can get what they call a Master Certificate for anywhere between $7-8,000, depending on what you major in. I doubt that the Master Certificate is actually considered a Master's Degree though. But I'm sure someone could learn a ton. I'm seriously considering this sometime down the road... Actually attending would be so much better, but I just don't see it happening unless I won the lotto! I don't like being in debt.

Yeh, thanx for that Inspired, I also found a great book where intervals are explained, in fact I read through the chapter with them a while back but because I was only starting out, I didn't understand anything and sort of gave up on learning theory, but now its making more sense. And that Berklee site is great, who would have thought that institutions such as this would offer free lessons.

certificate? the only certificate i got was from highschool, and
that only shows i know how to BS my way thru 8th grade level classes!!
i only went for one year, too broke to continue. you can finish there
witha BS in music tho if you go for 4 years or a diploma if you
dont take any Gen-Ed's.

Berklee gives you a certificate whenever you complete one of their on-line certificate programs. It might just be a gimmick to give people another reason to sign up. I mean, who wouldn't want an official Berklee "Master Certificate" hanging on their wall?!

lmao!

lydian is a really exotic sounding mode, steve vai'ish
and i like to start on the fith while using harmonic minors sounds more eastern. for eg. start on E if using an A harmonic minor. very malmsteen
and i also love the sound of diminished scales and arpeggios.