Gospel Scales

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"Gospel Scales"
Praise the Scale

The gospel version of the scale is another bluesy scale which is an inversion based on the second note of the basic blues scale.

This scale has a slightly different feel and is used in gospel tunes thus the name of the scale.

So lets' form the pattern of this scale by comparing it to the blues scale.

As we stated it is an inversion of the blues scale that starts on the 2nd note of the scale. Interesting enough it's a minor 3rd up from the blues root.

You might even call it a mode of the blues scale.

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Making Blue Notes Gospel

OK, the most direct way to look at the gospel is to expand out an existing scale for the blues by one note and compare the two.

So here you go.

A Blues and C Gospel Pentatonic

As you can see we use the same notes but simply start on the 2nd note which is a m3rd up.

Constructing the Gospel Scale

These scales are developed mathematically using half, whole, and minor 3rd steps (3H). To make sure we understand the pattern we will build the 'C' Gospel scale.

The Intervals
1 - 2 - m3 - 3 - 5 - 6 - 8
The Notes
C - D - Eb - E - G - A - C
The Steps
S + W + H + H + 3H + W + 3H

On the Keyboard

Knowing the gospel scale in C, F, Bb, A and G will allow you to work easily with a number of songs constructed in the gospel genre.

Our 'More scales workbooks' help you work through all the relationships for all the 12 tones scales and scale use. Consider it as additional study to improve your music theory knowledge.

Learning Resources

Scales Workshop

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Learning scales is intimidating for the beginning student.