Scales and arpeggios are the building blocks of tunes.
Just as there are "rudiments" for drummers (flams, rolls, paradiddles, etc.) which are the building blocks for drum "tunes", there are these melodic and harmonic "rudiments" for putting together tunes.
For example, let's take the tune "Fischer's Hornpipe" (which I love on the fife):
3(ABc|dAFA GBAG|FAFA GBAG|FDFD GEGE|FDFD E2 3(ABc|
dAFA GBAG|FAFA GBAG|FGAB cAcA|d2d2d2::
cd|ecAc ecge|fdAd fdgf|ecAc ecgf|edcB A2GA|
BGDG BGdB|AFDF AFdA|BdcB AGFE|D2d2d2:|
This tune is built out of pieces of scales and arpeggios almost exclusively.
If you analyze it (and know a bit of theory), you'll see that each measure has a piece of either the D major scale (or a related mode) or an arpeggio over the chords D G or A (7). If you can find an abc rendition of Fischer's with guitar chords in it, you can get an even clearer picture of the harmonic structure, and then the "rudiments" make more sense.
If you can play in the key of D (or G or A) without thinking about it, the tunes will flow, and every new tune you learn in that key (or close to it) will be that much easier. The less you have to think about your fingers, the more you can concentrate on *MAKING MUSIC*, which is what it's all about, no?
What does it mean to practice the scales?
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Doug_Tipple
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I think that classically trained musicians are more inclined to practice with scales because they have been instructed to do so. Your average folk musician is probably more concerned with playing tunes. In my piano class I remember working with the major scale in all of the keys with both hands. Up and down the keyboard my hands did go. Since all of the keys of a piano are laid out in a row, it is easier to visualize the intervals.
The piano keyboard also helps you visualize and understand the different modes. For example, starting with C and playing all white keys, you play the Major scale or Ionian mode. You can see that for this scale the half tone intervals are between the 3rd and 4th and the 7th and 8th notes of the diatonic scale. If you start with D and play all white keys, you have the Dorian mode with the half-tone intervals being shifted accordingly. Do this with every note of the scale and you have your basic modes. Of course, if you want more complexity than this, you can get it quickly by opening the door of world music, minor scales, whole tone scales, etc. If you need even more complexity to satisfy your innate curiosity, go back and reread Talasiga's explanation of the modes. I have to admit that thinking about modes too much makes me moody. Now I just like to pick up an instrument and play a tune. I have found that a jig or a hornpipe is best for banishing the moodly mode blues.
The piano keyboard also helps you visualize and understand the different modes. For example, starting with C and playing all white keys, you play the Major scale or Ionian mode. You can see that for this scale the half tone intervals are between the 3rd and 4th and the 7th and 8th notes of the diatonic scale. If you start with D and play all white keys, you have the Dorian mode with the half-tone intervals being shifted accordingly. Do this with every note of the scale and you have your basic modes. Of course, if you want more complexity than this, you can get it quickly by opening the door of world music, minor scales, whole tone scales, etc. If you need even more complexity to satisfy your innate curiosity, go back and reread Talasiga's explanation of the modes. I have to admit that thinking about modes too much makes me moody. Now I just like to pick up an instrument and play a tune. I have found that a jig or a hornpipe is best for banishing the moodly mode blues.
