These are the results of a scientific experment conducted by me..

if you apply a naked flame from a cigar lighter or a match to a cockroach they die and then burst into flames....

the temperatures involved in a nuclear reaction are quite a lot higher than my lighter flame.....

mode dudes.... here's a little thing I wrote for the folks in the Petrucci forum....

modes were originally established in the Middle Ages and were known by the Greek names for 1st, 2nd, 3rd ect so... 1- D to D = Proteus 2- E to E = Deutreus 3- F to F = Tritus etc.... There was a distinction made between 'authentic' and 'plagal' modes [to do with the 'final']. The whole series of modes was later renamed [when I don't know - but it was quite a few hundred years ago] and the Greek names that we know today were applied in the belief [at the time] that they corresponded to the 'ancient Greek modes'. How close this relationship is to the true ancient modes is I just don't know...

r6rocker - the theorists that changed the names of the modes to Greek believed that the modes themselves originated in ancient Greece... this however does not mean that it is true.. only that these Greek names 'stuck'.

modes don't = positions... they are scales in their own right that are derived from a 'parent' scale [the major scale].

Non Smoker - dude.. I got the mail... we can take appart the modes 'in public'.. that way some other folks in here may also gain something... share the wealth... so to speak....

I'll try not to make each post too long....

All you theory bods....Anyone who fancies jumping in with an opinion or idea feal free... if you're on the right path then you'll be confirming what you know which is a good thing... if you're a little off here and there we can correct it which is also a good thing...

a win-win situation..

theory posse - here goes.. this may seem a little simplistic for some folks but I guess that I have to start somewhere... it may as well be at the start...more experienced guys - hang on in there... the fun stuff will turn up later....... the first thing I want you to think about and understand [before we get into all the nasty math] is "what is a scale?"....... trickier question than you'd think at first glance...

The word 'scale' originates from the Italian 'escala' which literally means steps. So we can stick with the 'steps' idea to explain a few things...

So, think of a flight of stairs where there are 12 steps....

The distance between each step is called an 'interval' and is measured in 'semi tones'.... so there are 12 semi tones from the bottom to the top. The top is called an 'octave' because the interval is 12 semi tones [6 tones] from the bottom....

The bottom step is called the 'tonic'... [more about this another time..]

A scale defines the steps that are available for use within the octave..... Some scales have 7 notes, some have 5 notes... The 'chromatic' scale has all of the notes.....

The thing determining the way that a scale sounds [it's 'tonality'] are the distances that the notes within the scale have with respect to the tonic [bottom step....]... for example... from the bottom step, then next step available is not the one right above but the one after.. which is an interval of 1 tone [two semi tones = 1 tone]. From there, the next available step is 1 tone again. From there, the next is a semi tone... and so on...

What we are doing is establishing a template of intervals [steps that are available] to chop up an octave...

different scales like minor, major etc have different templates of intervals... almost like saying.. "for a major scale, you can only tread on these steps, but for a minor scale, the steps avaiable are a little different....

masterdrummer - one more thing with respect to your friend and Satch / Vai... this is a little something I did for fun..... on my IUMA site, album 3 is a track called Speaking in Tongues... it's my own little imagination playing a game.... "what if Satch played over a Vai track????".... and this is how I imagined that it would sound..... within my own capabilities that is...lol lol

theory posse - so here's the next bit.. let's look at a scale. A nice place to start is the 'diatonic major' scale. This can be used as the basic building block upon which the majority of all theory is based. I can therefore use the major scale as an item with with most other stuff can be compared....

So, we now understand that a scale is like climbing a flight of stairs where you can only stand on specific steps... we can take this further...

A 'diatonic major' scale contains 7 steps [degrees] and they have names.

1 - tonic

2 - super tonic

3 - mediant

4 - sub dominant

5 - dominant

6 - sub mediant

7 - leading note

These names are useful because they allow you to talk about and analyse music without getting too hung up about all of those nasty sharps and flats.

The major scale consists of a series of predetermined distances [intervals] from the tonic and these have names. I'll add the intervalic distance in terms of fret number where the tonic of the scale is an open string so that it can be applied to a guitar.

The 'spelling' of a major scale

1 - tonic ---------- n/a-------------- open string

2 - super tonic --- major 2nd ----- fret 2

3 - median -------- major 3rd ----- fret 4

4 - sub dominant - perfect 4th -- fret 5

5 - dominant ------ perfect 5th ---fret 7

6 - sub mediant -- major 6th ----- fret 9

7 - leading note -- major 7th ----- fret 11

1 - tonic [up one octave] --------- fret 12

Note that this is not how you'd finger a scale [we'll get to that later].. this is just to demonstrate who the octave is divided using the template of intervals that corresponds to the major scale.

The short hand way of writing this is as follows:

1-2-3-4-5-6-7

The numbers have nothing infront of them to indicate that they have been altered therefore this is a major scale...

For example: the minor scale in short hand is:

1-2-b3-4-5-b6-b7

[where the 'b' marking indicates that the note is 1 semi tone / 1 fret below the corresponding note in the major scale]

don't worry too much about the minor scale at this point though... we'll look at them later in more detail...

Matt King - If you recall when we last spoke we was talking about 'inspiration and subject material'... I've been thinking on this a little more so here's a little theory for you to consider....

Music is an audio representation of pure emotion [sadness, rage, fear, awe, beauty, joy, angst, love, triumph, and the list goes on]....folks listen to music and this in turn causes the emotions to be stirred [which is why music is such a big part of our lives... enhancing the atmosphere in a film, soldiers marching to battle, prayer, ceremony etc etc]...

The link that joins music to emotion is a bi-directional one.

Not only are emotions stirred by hearing music, emotions themselves are the finest reason for a composer to create music.

Therefore, think on what it is that you want to represent.... this way you are writing with a better sense of purpose.. [as I did with Satan, Mutha, The Rape, Talking to Stone - and you know the stories behind them...]

let your imagination listen to and guide your inner ear based around the emotional content...

let your knowledge refine and add structure to the results.. this way your creation plays like a film...it has a beginning, takes you one an emotional journey to some conclusion..

let your technique express to the full what you have created...

pure passion.. there are moany that are technically amazing.. but do they 'move' you or sound like a sewing machine... so an exciting performance that is technically 85% will blow away a flawless performance with no soul...