When writing your own songs...

This is more music theory question.

When writing your own songs, do you write (the main part) of the song in just one scale? Or do you combine scales (like Blues, Am scales together).

And the same question goes, how would you write a guitar solo? With only one or combined scales?

Second... How do different scales affect the sound? If I play in Blues scale, what different "character/feeling" would song have compared if it was written in Cmajor for example.
Or to be more specific, what kind of songs would you write with a different scales? What could you write with Melodic what with Harmonic scales...

I hope you understand my point If anyone can help... please!

Thanks

Oh, and I'm asking this because I don't have any musical theory knowledge.
So I'm trying to learn it slowly.

[jimihendrix]

hey there...i usually play around with chords until something sounds cohesive and flows together...this conveys a mood which leads to thinking about what type of lyrics would fit...the solo is the very last consideration...

[MattM]

well there are scales, and then there are modes.the term scale more refers to the main step pattern...or a series of notes running up or down in a stepwise fashion. modes are different patterns of intervals of a scale. for example, if i am writing a song the key of C, this is what the main scale i would play in C would be....

C D E F G A B C

thats called the major scale. here are some mode scales....

Ionian C D E F G A B C Modern Major Scale
Dorian D E F G A B C D
Phrygian E F G A B C D E
Lydian F G A B C D E F
Mixolydian G A B C D E F G
Aeolian A B C D E F G A (Modern Minor Scale)
Locrian B C D E F G A B

the answer is yes you can use different modes and scales. you can play different modes against different chords to make different sounds, but only certain ones will sound right with another chord.
and no one really "writes" a guitar solo....its more like improvisation. you can combine different modes with chord changes, but rock and blues will mostly use dorian mode and mixolydian mode.
hope this helps....i hope i explianed it right.

[nroberts]

Originally Posted by Lazo

Second... How do different scales affect the sound? If I play in Blues scale, what different "character/feeling" would song have compared if it was written in Cmajor for example.

Can't really be described sufficiently. These are two obvious different scales so I can say the blues scale would be more sad and bluesy...obviously. To have that mean anything to you is a different matter. I can only suggest you try different scales and see what speaks to you and how.

It might also help to think of scales in the terms of the chords within them. For instance, a minor scale (any mode with b3) is going to construct a minor chord. If you play a minor chord you can instantly see what the overall tone of the minor scales should be.