Ok, we have started down the road of music theroy. It is the best possible way for you to become a good/very good/excellent guitar player. We showed how each note in a scale has an associated number and how we can use those numbers to make up chords. We discussed intervals and built chords based on them. Believe it or not the material given up to this point could easily take a person six months to a year to really understand. So don't feel like you've been left in the dust so far.
Let's expound on chord formulas after we discuss the intervals once again.
We have a major key named C major, we like it because it has no sharps or flats and makes it the easiest key to discuss music theory. Ok let's proceed into this idea of the C major scale by looking at it from different perspectives. Note you should be able by now to visualize the C major scale in you mind by now. You definitely should be able to play it back and forth through at least one octave by now, but are better off if you can play mulitple octaves. Do you know what an octave is?
guitar octaves - Google Search
Ok here we go: Let's list the notes of the C major scale again.
C D E F G A B C
Now lets remember what the major chord formula is from an interval perspective it is 1-3-5, so starting on the C above add the third and fifth notes to make a C major chord that would be C-E-G. Simple now isn't it?
Ok now lets take all of the same notes again and starting with C, lets make a list of all other possible scales in the key of C. That effort looks like this.
C D E F G A B C
D E F G A B C D
E F G A B C D E
F G A B C D E F
G A B C D E F G
A B C D E F G A
B C D E F G A B
See how we made new scales (keys) all from every note in the key of C?
Now picture what we are doing on the guitar fretboard. We are simply starting each successive scale with the next note of the C major scale.
So what's good about this? Well it serves us two purposes, it allows us to see chord construction easier, and it introduces us to a new concept known as modes. We won't cover modes in this lesson rather we will cover chord construction. Now using the chord formula for a major chord lets use this same table and contrstuct the chords for each of these scales using the first, third and fifth notes.
C D E F G A B C = C E G = C major
D E F G A B C D = D F A = D minor
E F G A B C D E = E G B = E minor
F G A B C D E F = F A C = F major
G A B C D E F G = G B D = G major
A B C D E F G A = A C E = A minor
B C D E F G A B = B D F = B dim
Guess what? That's the same thing we learned in the last lesson, but it's a better visual tool than what was explained before. Lets leave this and discuss other chord construction formulas. One of the best guitar players of all time, Joe Pass, said that he doesn't worry much about different chords too much other than to know if they are based on Major, Minor, or Dominant structures. Let's just look at the major chord family and the formulas. Note that all have a 1-3-5 root structure with other notes added. It's those other notes that give the chord name a different name seen in the column Symbol. The Symbol column is the Guitar Player's typical chord shorthand to describe the intervals of the chord. Many piano players won't have a clue what these Symbols mean. Piano players typically read sheet music and don't use shorthand. Most guitar players, on the otherhand use chord shorthand.
Formula Chord Type Symbol
1-3-5 Major M, Maj
1-3-5-4 Added Fourth add4
1-3-5-6 Sixth 6
1-3-5-6-9 Six Nine 6/9
1-3-5-7 Major 7th Maj7
1-3-5-7-9 Major Ninth Maj9
1-3-5-7- (9)-11 Major Eleventh Maj11
1-3-5-7-(9)-(11)-13 Major Thirteenth Maj13
1-3-5-7- #11 Major seven sharp eleventh Maj7#11
1-3-b5 Major Flat Five Majb5
For this week, take some time learning these chord forms on your guitar neck, next week we'll talk about minor chord forumlas and provide some links to help you see these and others.
Have a good week.