DG Piano Scales How-to

The DG Piano Scales Android application is very easy to use.

The screen is divided into three regions, as shown in the following figure:

There are three regions: 1 pull-down list, 1 button grid, and one central graphics frame:

• The red pull-down list contains a list of 249 distinct scales to apply to any chosen key;
• the list includes the most common scales used in modern classical, folk, and jazz music styles, as well as some very exotic scales from around the world.
• The blue button grid contains the 12 keys, or roots, on which you want to transpose a scale;
• these are labelled C, C#, D, etc.
• the central frame (in yellow) displays the keyboard, and, when tapped, switches between note names and interval names.

When you are operating the application, all you have to do is to choose one scale from the pull-down list, and one key from the button grid.

Immediately after, the chosen scale is displayed on the central frame, the yellow area on the figure shown above.

For the currently displayed scale, you may tap consecutively on the different keys (with the blue button grid), to transpose this scale into other keys.

This is particularly useful to find a key that is easier to play. Specially if you are a string instrument player, you'd tend to prefer keys such as D,E,G, or, A.

The central frame displays the chosen scale graphically, and also by name (on the bottom).

When you tap on the fretboard, it switches between displaying the notes of the scale, or the intervals.

The intervals are particularly important for a musician, because it will help you identify where the root is, and its relationship to the other notes in the scale. Also, by studying the intervals, you come to understand and deduce the possible chords for producing harmonies in that scale.

This application is ideal to help you explore and learn the scales, which you may use to compose new melodies.

Feel free to explore and discover melodies and matching chord harmonies.

On the figure above, for example, examining the intervals in the "Hebrew" scale shown (also known as "Phrygian dominant", "Spanish Gypsy", "Freygish", "Bidad", "Bayati maqam" scale), you can deduce that it is a major scale, because it has an M3, and P5. For the F# key, the chords would be:

Using this table, a simple I-III-VI-II-V-I progression on this scale could be: F# | A#dim | Daug | G6 | C#dim7 | F#.

The keyboard shows 2 octaves, which is sufficient to show you the main scale, and to deduce chord voicings.

The circles in pink color represent the notes of the scale.

If you are a newbie, we suggest you start by learning all the major, minor scales on the main keys.

Feel free to explore middle-Eastern scales such as Persian, Isfahan, Husayni, Egyptian, and Oriental Pentatonics, such as Javanese, Kumoi, Hirajoshi, etc.