Bohemian Rhapsody in 9 different scales

Download your FREE, 21-day RipX trial: hitnmix.com
Each musical scales has its own distinctive sound, its own tonality, and one of the best ways to compare those sounds is to take a piece of music, like Bohemian Rhapsody, and adapt it into a series of different scales. So that's what we're going today, starting with Bohemian Rhapsody's native Major scale and then venturing through a wide range of other scales including Lydian, Melodic Minor, Phrygian Dominant, Locrian and more!
The outro music to this video is my track "The Longest March" which you can hear in full on Spotify: open.spotify.com/artist/0wKKJ... 🎶
And, an extra special thanks goes to Douglas Lind, Vidad Flowers, Ivan Pang, Waylon Fairbanks, Jon Dye, Austin Russell, Christopher Ryan, Toot & Paul Peijzel, the channel’s Patreon saints! 😇
DISCLAIMER: The opinions within this video are those of David Bennett Music and not necessarily those of Hit’n’Mix Ltd. The creators of RipX, Hit’n’Mix Ltd, do not condone ripping of audio without the appropriate copyright permissions. David Bennett Music takes full legal responsibility and is fully liable for the choice of songs and artist trademarks used in this video and any editing and mixing applied to them. David Bennett Music indemnifies Hit’n’Mix Ltd against any costs arising from said use of songs and trademarks. No copyright infringement is intended, and this video is for private learning, study purposes, and parody only.
SUPPORT ME ON PATREON: / davidbennettpiano 🎹
0:00 Introduction
0:54 Major scale (original)
1:22 Natural minor
1:52 Lydian
3:14 Mixolydian
4:40 Harmonic minor
6:20 Melodic minor
7:41 RipX
8:40 Harmonic Major
9:33 Phrygian Dominant
11:14 Locrian
12:40 Outro

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Download your FREE, 21-day RipX trial: hitnmix.com 🎤🎤🎶🎶

[@ITAC85]

Hey, just a note to you, you didn't have to isolate the lead vocal. The multitrack to the song has leaked forever ago, which features the dry lead vocal.

[@ScarletEdge]

@@ITAC85 The point was to introduce people to the app.

[@Mindsi]

The black leg miner😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂🎉🎉🎉🎉not really a scale but funny nonetheless less😂😂😂😂😂

[@richy3417]

Fuck me, this is amazing. I actually choked up there for a bit... good work ;)

[@notarbolz926]

The melodic minor one actually sounded very beautiful and haunting.

[@malcolmmann436]

Very James Bond!

[@BordelAmbiant]

Not extensively, the 4th measure has still flaws...

[@DarthCalculus]

It was so much better than the other minors

[@user-yw7ku1yz2i]

Because of the Melodic Minor scale the Bohemian Rhapsody became a song for the halloween

[@NcJ_Beatz]

sounds like a scene from a musical about a cop

[@CassandraForAGlobalTroy]

I wasn't expecting it, but the Locrian is deliciously haunting and menacing in its tone.

[@hman2912]

It sounded more pleasant than some of the others

[@tomfrascina5846]

I came to the comments to say, it actually fits the song well

[@colbytaylor9805]

Very sad there was no mention of super Locrian/altered scale

[@jennoscura2381]

Locrian is awesome. A lot of my music is in C Locrian. It's what I default to when noodling on the keyboard.

[@Fire_Axus]

@@colbytaylor9805 your feelings are irrational

[@chapig2305]

how is nobody commenting about the amazing software? I am impressed by the accuracy and precision of the isolated tracks, and how natural the tracks sounds even when pitch shifted, great video

[@bobthegreat297]

agreed it is super cool

[@adamnoakes2550]

Yeah it's mind blowing when you stop to think about it, digital magic. The kind of thing that would've utterly astonished producers/recording engineers if it had suddenly appeared in say the late 80s and 90s, when a lot of older music was being remastered for CD release.

[@shateq]

I'm not commenting because it's expensive

[@ardiris2715]

I have no need for it.

[@iau]

It's crazy. Separating stems is like automatically removing the background from a video, but the video frist went through a blender and was spit as a single one dimensional line.

[@tnsnamesoralong]

00:56 Major scale (original) 01:26 Natural minor 02:38 Lydian 04:00 Mixolydian 05:33 Harmonic minor 07:14 Melodic minor 08:57 Harmonic Major 10:49 Phrygian Dominant 12:11 Locrian

[@crowspikestudio]

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@avijatsinharoy8944]

The lydian note on the word " gun " sounds so bright that I am getting psychopathic vibes from it.

[@dongentle6896]

Almost orgasmic wasn’t it?😂

[@nevazhnoktoprivate]

Полностью с вами солидарен! Почему Фредди её тут не использовал?!

[@pcap8810]

it was really unsettling

[@AAA.AAA006]

​@@nevazhnoktoprivatewhile it sounds cool, it doesn't fit with the song

[@paulmdevenney]

I had never understood that harmonic and melodic minor were complimentary. That version sounded so awesome!

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Melodic minor can certainly be confusing! 😊

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

Especially the G♭ and first Cdim sounded great, but the second Cdim didn't really work together. Almost too haunting.

[@daviih4576]

Can we just appreciate the work that David put into making this video. What a awesome man

[@peterbernhard7415]

I wonder if you correctly state about what the comments section has been provided for by KZbin (in for some "meta" ...;-) ) - -- P.S. As a foreign speaker, I wonder about the usage of "just" (more seriously: in my language, German, there is "einfach" and "gerade" which are not interchangeable if you refer to time or easiness. Sorry for getting bubbly: referring to results, I must consider myself a slow thinker and speaker too. I take time, hopefully not yours, which was not my intention. Hence: Thank you for letting me speak up at your place.

[@charliezard64]

@@peterbernhard7415huh?

[@peterbernhard7415]

Never mind! Thanks for your feedback. Just let me know if I shall delete my comment for being too long or in case the "irony" is too cumbersome. Thank you for letting me mutter at your space, being polite I hereby wish you the best!! @@charliezard64

[@bernicerogers2383]

​@@peterbernhard7415The word "just" is redundant in this sentence. We modern English speakers tend to add unnecessary words purely to sound friendly or polite.

[@bernicerogers2383]

​@@peterbernhard7415Englischsprachige haben weitaus weniger Interesse an ihrer eigenen Sprache als andere

[@Suprnova182]

I would actually pay for a harmonic minor version of this song. The scale is simply the best

[@asktheraccoon]

it has vampire in castle theme vibe

[@hensoakira]

Sounds more cinematic and darker

[@johnhill762]

Yes I loved it and would pay for that version too! Sounds better than the original song for me.

[@vannillaAJofficial204]

harmonic minor versions of any minor scale will immediately make it more spooky especially if the scale in question is d or a minor imo, the sharpened 7th in either of these scales just makes them even more... haunting (in a good way)

[@marshwetland3808]

Well, guess Freddy's estate should get right on that, using this software.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

That harmonic/melodic minor pair has some really great chords.

[@vannillaAJofficial204]

agreed working with harmonic/melodic minor chords is honestly a lot more fun than with natural minor chords

[@Pierre61]

Man, I wish you'd have been my music teacher (I'm 62, so I accept there are some inherent difficulties with that). I only ever learned this stuff theoretically, and it was a grind. Listening to your explanation makes it so clear. Well played sir.

[@paulkervin330]

Yes. I would love a music theory course from David!

[@bikedawg]

now i understand what this shit is all about! no teacher ever explained it to me, much less the practicality of it. mindlessly practicing scales had no explanation on why it even matters.

[@MRK0405]

This is SUPER trippy…In a good way. I love different chord feelings

[@ThomasMeeson]

That was a brilliant demonstration of the purposes of the melodic minor scale

[@davidgerrard8661]

Melodic minor sounds great

[@anthonykanes3279]

This was my favourite too!

[@benkendall5562]

Yeah I think I like it better than the original 😂

[@davidgerrard8661]

@@benkendall5562 steady on! 😂

[@ChristianSamsel]

Came to the comment section to write the same

[@renny1712]

The “b3” nope all the ones with minor 3rd do not work… The melody is screaming for a major 3rd…

[@leokimvideo]

This blew my mind apart

[@DavidBennettPiano]

😍

[@acidgaming399]

Hope you’re okay

[@jackstaposition]

Brilliant! I was hoping you would do another one of these! Here are some scale suggestions for a potential third instalment: - Lydian Dominant - Mixolydian b6 - Dorian b2 - Double Harmonic - Harmonic Minor Inverse (Mixolydian b2) - Ultraphrygian - Pentatonic (would be fun to hear a song fully pentatonic in both melody and harmony) - Octatonic/Diminished - Whole Tone These are some of my favourite videos of yours, keep up the quality content!

[@Ruigi01]

Octatonic and whole tone would be hard as they have different number of notes, but I'd be interested to see how he did it. Pentatonic would be easier as you could just move them to the note a half step away.

[@Henrix1998]

Most of those don't have harmony unless you use notes outside the scale for chords

[@pantheon777]

@@Ruigi01 makes me wonder how Phygian/Locrian Mixed could sound like

[@romanvolotov]

I fell in love with double harmonic after Hans Zimmer's Dune ost so I'm all for it

[@wrtyioo]

Naturale minor with rased 4th, the lydian mode.

[@DingusMcBride]

This has potential to be a great series. We want more!

[@kevinmalloy514]

Locrian Is BoRiNg, David. Use *SUPER LOCRIAN*

[@Foodgeek]

Harmonic minor chords with melodic mintor melody was gorgeous :D

[@David-yl6bc]

I do not know why, but it sounds like it would be the Muse of it to me.

[@ActaeaMusic]

I love dark and twisted music so I actually really loved that Locrian version!

[@margaretschultz6209]

I haven't gotten to it yet but now I'm imagining a Marilyn Manson cover

[@FacuGuitarra]

Lydian always has that ethereal sound that fits almost everywhere.

[@JamesSmith-uc8tk]

It's crazy to me as someone with almost no music theory knowledge how much of a change it was by going from major to Lydian. As you showed, it's only one change, but it made a huge difference. To me, the sound of the passage was almost nails on a chalkboard bad when moved to Lydian. The Harmonic Major also did something similar.

[@mikegood2054]

The key of B-flat having a flattened 6 just sounds so good in bohemian rhapsody. That two note G-flat octave into the two note F octave being played is just... beautiful.

[@Isa-tn7ex]

Minor seconds in octaves sound so heartbreaking. It fits the tone I think- reminds me of Schubert’s Gute Nacht, which does the same thing. I completely agree with you ❤

[@Zemaj]

Afterwards, I had to listen to the original version again to ‘reset’ my scrambled brain.

[@Denuhm]

I absolutely understand how much work it would be, but I’d love to hear all of these as the full track.

[@kidgloves2]

Now I want to hear the whole song in melodic minor

[@aharris206]

Phrygian Dominant has always been my favorite. It has such a . . . hidden oasis in the desert sound :D

[@naointeressa2251]

An extended version of this music using each mode to intensify each phase of this music would be very cool

[@lambda1863]

I loved the melodic minor one and id love to try to use it in a song

[@jcarty123]

Then check out _Yesterday_ - the scale is D melodic minor; although the chords are loosely grouped around F tonic which makes the scale harder to identify.

[@lambda1863]

@jcarty123 ik yesterday its a great song I tried to make a song in F melodic minor but it didn't really go anywhere

[@Fire_Axus]

your feelings are irrational

[@jackstaposition]

Brilliant! I was hoping you were going to make another one of these! Here’s some more scale suggestions for a potential next instalment: - Lydian Dominant - Mixolydian b6 - Dorian b2 - Harmonic Minor Inverse (Mixolydian b2) - Double Harmonic - Phrygian b4 - Pentatonic (would be interesting to hear a fully pentatonic melody and harmony) - Octatonic/Diminished - Whole Tone As for a potential song, I feel using one with the axis progression would be a nice “canvas”, such as Don’t Stop Believing. Keep on making quality content!

[@internetuser8922]

Phyrgian dominant & melodic minor sounded the best to me. I was surprised how dissonant Lydian sounded to my ears.

[@julioalmagro5956]

Same!!

[@brandon8or]

That’s very interesting, it was the complete opposite for me!😮

[@victoro9969]

It sounded dissonant for me, but it was wonderfully beautiful.

[@TertiaryQuota]

I feel like Lydian sounded genuinely so bad, idk why it's liked

[@ftumschk]

I was looking forward to the Locrian version, and it didn't disappoint. What an intriguing sound!

[@andrewpappas9311]

Each of the different scales give whole new meanings to those lyrics and I absolutely love it, the music just got more and more haunting as it went on and it was awesome

[@jakez199456]

I gotta say my favorite is the Melodic Minor out of these but these are always fun listening to

[@dlrbrts]

This is one of those rare cases where the sponsor/ad element of a video is 100% relevant to the remainder of the content.

[@petrajaros8637]

This was so helpful! Thank you for your fantastic work as always!

[@nenasadie]

That was brilliant! Locrian was so sinister, and I appreciate what you did to make that work.

[@BustyCatbot]

I personally think that the natural minor one sounds the most "darkly epic" to me, which works really well for the lyrics in the verse used.

[@henryandersson7141]

I totally agree. A fanstastic piece of music became even better...

[@JulienNeel]

This was thoroughly entertaining and informative, thank you!

[@animamunde9112]

The best demonstration of modes. Thank you.

[@markushalfmad]

The natural minor version is really interesting, it sounds more suitable to the lyrics, or so I feel. I wonder how the entire song would sound in that scale.

[@dimiaraujo90]

I really enjoyed the Melodic Minor and the Harmonic Minor, but why weren't the regular Dorian and Phrygian modes used/shown in the video??

[@Macjxo]

Thank you so much for this video! It's absolutly wonderful to understand the importance of scales!

[@luigilamacchia1253]

Fantastic explanation of modes ! Lydian was really a surprise. Thank you😊

[@GuitarEncyclopedia]

Wow David, what an ingenious idea to put these scales through the paces of such a well known melody! It made me realise how much can be done by changing modes. Thank you!

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Glad you like it!

[@Lyvey]

great video as always ! i’d love to see a video where you go over the chord functions and what the functions actually **are**, like why does V chord feel the way it does.

[@prepcoin_nl4362]

The simple answer is voice leading, three formulas in particular: The VII - I (Leading tone function), II - I, and V - I (especially in the bass.) These all tend to have a cadential effect and cadences (expected or realized) tend to be what creates a feeling of function. That's why modern music often sounds less functional because there tends to be relatively loose (or sometimes non-existent) voice leading. It's also why strange non-triads can sound functional (like augmented sixths for instance that have always managed to elude any sort of chord or scale labeling)

[@stevehunt2125]

The harmonic minor was beautiful. Wonderful video thanks!

[@thejaxon]

I think David should make a whole video explaining the harmonic major scale, it doesnt get talked about very often and is really beautiful, and I would like to know some songs that use it.

[@juanmoralesvideo]

Amazing video! I'm from South America and our default minor scale, in our folkloric music, is the melodic minor. So, the natural minor sounds a little "unfinished" or "unpolished" to my (but I like it anyway).

[@paullackey8813]

Melodic minor worked very well.

[@myersred8]

I absolutely LOVE these RIP X treatments of classic rock hits. VERY hands-on instructional. Very educational.

[@Silbee12]

This is excellent, thank you for your hard work.

[@fortunefavorsthebold3459]

Brilliant transpositions! Hearing new versions of Queen is close enough to hearing new Queen songs that it gave me chills! Love it!

[@MrGodzilla333]

mystical musical tour

[@jsabuilds2404]

I really enjoy the videos where you change the mode/scale of a song. Very fascinating.

[@pedro_a_martins]

Love this videos! They're really insightful into understanding the different scales

[@MrFLUIZZLE]

Great concept! I love it.

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Glad you like it!

[@alessandrosummer]

I actually didn't mind the natural minor and the melodic minor versions! In the other cases... it sounded really weird

[@pierpimpi]

Great job! Thanks for sharing

[@carlstenger5893]

Excellent demonstration. Thanks so much!

[@wingofafly]

Another brilliant video. I learn more about music theory from David's videos than from playing guitar for 25 years.

[@slicksalmon6948]

Fascinating, but I missed Dorian and straight Phrygian.

[@johnmeggers5059]

Once again, David, you've blown me away with another fascinating video.

[@joseluisleal1103]

Impressive job. Thank you very much for this, David.

[@mikehatfield7084]

Very interesting - btw any reason why Dorian wasn't used?

[@londonbobby]

I really liked the melodic minor, it worked very well for this excerpt of the song.

[@marklar9156]

I agree. But while it was very smooth and pleasant sounding here I usually like the harmonic minor more. Harmonic major is also a cool sounding scale which I'm going to use more in the future (so far have done only one track using it).

[@nut6043]

Thanks for this video! Was just trying to understand modes and really having a constant reference helps a lot with figuring out how the scale feels!

[@regularly_priced]

It would be awesome to hear this in the Mixolydian ♭6 scale; I feel like that would sound amazing in this song. It has a feeling of wonder that you don’t get with many other scales.

[@rubenrodriguez-vo2db]

Congrats for this awesom work! I specially enjoyed lydian and harmonic minor versions.😊

[@waluigithemaster6864]

Lydian was my favorite. I always learn a lot about music theory from these videos 👍

[@abdallamusico1188]

Maravilha de didática! Muito obrigado!

[@haithamkarajay2460]

Amazing idea and amazing explanation 👌 Thank you!

[@DavidMillsom]

Marvelous tutorial, David. Thanks.

[@shishael2080]

Please do it again including the Dorian Scale!

[@nicejob1589]

Also would have loved to hear the Dorian and the Phrygian

[@DressedForDrowning]

So good! I love these comparison-videos.

[@vandalsgarage]

Mixolydian is a beautiful mode. I used it extensively when I was studying music theory, many years ago

[@xitheris1758]

Locrian is the scale of suffering.

[@conlanger]

Typically

[@kaeleb1968]

The Natural Minor version left me wanting more! Thank you David for putting this together!

[@8run0n]

Absolutely loved this video. Amazing stuff. Thank you! I've never seen or heard anyone do this to a time so always assumed it was impossible. All versions sound great but I do have my favourites. Thanks again.

[@Merczid]

What an enchanting and beautiful outro music!! 🤩

[@justinatest9456]

This seems both ambitious, and potentially very fruitful and enlightening. Looking forward to it. My mind is willing, but my ear is spongy and weak... I was so interested and hopeful when the illusion of modes broke, and I understood how simple the concept is. But I just can't really hear them, except in extreme cases like Phrygian and Lydian.

[@pantheon777]

Love it soooo much. I was hoping you would do some similar things to say, Taylor Swift or Ed Sheeran. Basically: make current pop songs sound more interesting with modes

[@PlasticBubbleCosplay]

Love hearing the different scales, and your descriptions of the scales compared to the Major Scale are much easier to remember :-)

[@kaystride7561]

I love this video. I've been asking myself for years why the ascending harmonic minor scale differs from when it's descending. And this is the first time i got the explanation. But apart from that , everything else has also been wonderfully explained. Excellent video !!!! Many thanks , David 👍🏼👍🏼

[@mdue72]

I was expecting dorian along with the other keys

[@rome8180]

I thought the melodic minor and the Mixolydian worked the best. The rest were pretty awkward, even for scales I normally love like Lydian and Phrygian dominant.

[@system.machine]

Loved it! Left me wanting to hear the rest of the song in each of those alterations.

[@judek4639]

Thank you, so useful for understanding scales in musical context

[@marcorock101]

That minor scale version sounded incredibly dark and awesome Would be nice to see a cover version in a dark tv show or movie

[@lupo10]

Yes I enjoyed that as well 👍

[@jokerwashere1656]

Alexander Källström made a minor cover of it!

[@lupo10]

@@jokerwashere1656 kzbin.info/www/bejne/rpS8e3p4jbeHoKMsi=aZHoYuY6x2ULEbaT

[@Xebelan]

Phrygian sounds cosmic. Locrian is utterly devastating-- something terrible is in progress and it sounds amazing. These are my favs-- I would love to hear the full Bohemian Rhapsody rendered in both versions.

[@conny81]

Great stuff!! Really the next level... Good work!

[@stephenmcg4299]

Loved the background on the Phrygian dominant.

[@DavidBennettPiano]

😊

[@mattslater167]

This was awesome. I really liked the Locrian version. Next time, my requests are Hungarian Minor and Double Harmonic (or miss Phrygian Major if you're nasty). And/or the two Locrian variants in Harmonic Minor that produce full diminished I chords: Locrian major 6th and Locrian double-flat 7th.

[@shivlan]

Wonderful video! I love this song, and it was fascinating to see it through those different lenses. I also enjoyed the tiny bit of history for some of the scales

[@pgantioch8362]

I just can’t get enough of David’s great videos. He always expands my musical mind.

[@willstanton7823]

Lydian hurt my ears. :(

[@colinbanning9416]

Yeah that is NOTICEABLY bad

[@CommanderGinyu]

I generally don’t understand why Lydian is always being associated with bright and cheerful. When in reality the tritone gives it a really unsettling eerie feeling.

[@WillChomicaRollout]

@@colinbanning9416I dont think it bad I think is pretty bright

[@willstanton7823]

@@CommanderGinyu It's highly dependent on context. When writing a song in Lydian you have to be aware not to hit certain notes and avoiding certain chords. When done well it can be absolute magic.

[@JayCee-hw4zc]

That's the best explanation I've ever been given as to why the melodic scale is different going up compared to going down. Thankyou. Explain more stuff to me, I love it!!!!!

[@csengo70]

Jaw dropping video!!! Wow! And the RipX software is something else. Amazing stuff!

[@Spinz99]

Very nice. It takes you through a whole bouquet of musical colours. 🎹

[@curtcampbell2913]

David, Thank you for suggesting RipX. I've been arranging Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now) and the software made it so much easier to isolate the parts. You're doing great work! Keep at it.