question about chord tones

drewphishes

drewphishes

Supporting Member
Feb 14, 2017
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#1
SO in a major scale the chords are
1 major
2 mino
3 minor
4 major
5 major
6 minor
7 diminished
root major

My question is if I am in C and I play a D minor can I just play a d minor scale there and its still all the same notes of c? same with like an E minor etc
 
#2
There are 12 notes in the musical alphabet, and you can play any of the 12 you like, so long as they sound good to you and the audience.

If the song is in the key of C major, then the 7 notes C, D, E, F, G, A, and B will sound "diatonic" or "inside" the key. The other 5 notes are "allowed" but might sound "outside," "jazzy" or "dissonant."

The notes that are most likely to sound good in a bass line under a D minor chord are the "chord tones": D, F, A.
 
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#3
Basically yes. But there are a lot of different forms of minor scales and some of them, for various reasons, will include notes (the other 5) that Mushroo mentioned. There are indeed 7 notes in a major scale and reordering them will produce the various scales (sometimes called modes, or chord scales) that you mentioned. And while all the scales you asked about do use the same notes, scales, more than just a series of notes, outline a tonality. For instance many older rock tunes will use a progression of C, Am, F, G7, C. Scales built on these chords all use the same collection of notes, but it would be perhaps a curious choice to deal with A minor during the entire progression. (Try this during a song like "Stand By Me". Let the band play the progression and bass player just work with an A minor scale). In the end, it all is dictated by style, needs of the music and what your ear will tolerate.
 
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#5
Take a moment to check out my new video, lesson web site. It's totally free and will provide you with many of the answers you're looking for. That being said, to answer your question playing over a D minor chord in the key of C would indicate the Dorian mode (the second mode of the major scale). The difference between the Dorian Mode and the Natural Minor Scale is one note - the 6th. In the natural minor scale, the 6th degree is flatted, in the Dorian Mode the 6th degree is natural

D Natural Minor: D, E, F, G, A, Bb, C (key of D Minor or F Major)
D Dorian Mode: D, E, F, G, A, B, C (key of C Major)

The Core Method - Michael Dimin
 
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