scales SCALES

ok so i pretty much understand the the circle of fiths ( i think) but could some one explain to me exactly what scales are and how the are used in an actual song, i heard andrew say that scales are used in music alot. and what about the tonic and dominate i think the tonic is sorta like the note that the whole piece is supposed to like gravitate around, right? and one more thing the sharps or flats at the begging of a song i know those tell me what key it is actually in but do they have any like effect on were i sould put my hands on the keyboard i know when the trable clef comesto the bottem staff and vise virca it means i need to play higher on the keyboard but i dont think i undertsand were.o and with the sharps or flats that tell the key how to i tell if it is a major key or a minor key.
i know there is like a billion questions here but i have had them rollin around in my noggin and i absolutly refuse to play a piece if i dont complty understand it lest the techniche police come and hall my bum away for life and sorry for my poor grammer i dont want to take the time to go back and fix them while i could do somthing so much more intersting.
thanks so much for any help
-king Ayy Don (the first)

Hi Well, I can take some of the top of my head, cause Im going for a jog hehe

Scales got their own moods!!
Majors = Often happy, light ect ect
Minors = Often sad, dark ect

Also the different scales got their own unique mood!
So to create a mood you want if you want to compose, you should
know the different scales ect so you can pick the right one to create a piece!

I tried to start a Nocturne in G# minor! But I didnt seam to get anything done, no ideas popping up, everything I tried didnt sound right at all! So I decided to read about scale-moods, and study what scales other composer had used to create Nocturnes! And to my releaf I found out that G# minor is a Horrible scale to create a Nocturne in cause of the strange mood it creates. So I moved down to the F# minor instead, which is a gloomy, dark and mysterious-type of scale, and the ideas almost stuck and ran me down right away

Thats basically what scales are! They have also been describes on the forum as: Notes that sounds good together

Basically for all scales is that the 5th note(Dominant) of the scales Is very strong! This means, it provides a great, strong sound to the tonic(1st note in a scale), which is the Home-Key/note and where you want to land to create the seance of completion Also the 3d note is strong and the 7th (which is the leading note) is Very strong when going back to the Tonic!

So if you learn all the scales, how to play them, what the mean, how they feel ect; Your basis for learning songs will be much greater! Not only cause you know the territory well, but also musically since you might get a clearer image of what the Composer are trying to tell by choosing a scale like that! ... ect

Hope its a little clearer now