In this video I show the most common 7th chord shapes, it’s all pretty self explanatory! for the theory you can also checkout these other lessons:

http://www.trueguitarist.com/understanding-how-triads-and-other-chords-are-built

http://www.trueguitarist.com/from-the-major-scale-to-the-harmonized-scale-pt-2-7th-chords

And the shapes I use are here:

http://www.trueguitarist.com/LESSON%20MATERIAL/7th%20chords.jpg

We have seen in previous lessons how to build the harmonized scale from the major scale. In this video I show the application on guitar in three different keys, using 7th chords.

This is what I play in the video:

You can find the most used 7th chords here as well:

Most common 7th chord shapes on guitar

where m=minor, M=major, P=perfect, dim=diminished, aug=augmented.

If you look closely, you will notice that the notes that are contained in the C major scale (being the example from the note C) are all a major or a perfect intervals.

C-D Major 2nd

C-E Major 3rd

C-F  Perfect 4th

C-G Prefect 5th

C-A Major 6th

C-B Major 7th

This stands true for all the major scales in every key.  So another quick way to find at what interval distance two notes are, is to calculate from the major scale.

How do I calculate intervals on guitar?

To  calculate intervals on guitar is not difficult at all as everything translate in exactly the same way. If I know the notes on the guitar neck this is all very simple as all I need to do is make the calculation like I did above. (Eg: if I am playing a C on the 3rd fret, 5th string and an F# 4th fret 4th string , that is a augmented 4th, just like above).

After a while you will see a some recurring ‘shapes’  and you will learn to quickly recognise an interval by the shape it draws on the fretboard, just like you do with chords: the following is an attempt to summarize all these shapes. Maybe not complete, but I hope it will help.

Click on the images below to download the interval charts PDF files:

Both these resources are from ‘The Guitar Kit Pro’, where the files will be higher resolution and unbranded: read all about it here: ‘The Guitar Kit Pro’ . Keep supporting this site by purchasing the products on the Shop page, thanks!

We have seen in the previous lesson al the major triads in close (or closed) position. As already stated if these notes of the triad (or ‘voices’) are contained within an octave we call it in ‘close’ or ‘closed’ position, as opposite as ‘spread’ position (more than an octave). Just watch the video where I go through all the most popular shapes for the latter.

OTHER TRIADS

Just like for the close position, it is really simple to find other (minor, augmented, diminished) triads from the major triad.

Major triad – R,3,5 – C,E,G

Minor triad – R,m3,5 – C,Eb,G (Lower the 3rd one 1/2 step)

Augmented triad – R, 3, #5 – C,E,G# (Raise the 5th one 1/2 step)

Diminished triad – R,m3,dim5 – C,Eb,Gb (Lower both the 3rd and 5th one 1/2 step)

Download -here- the page with all the triad inversions on a printable PDF file or click the image below (2 pages, both close and spread voicings).

In this lesson I go through all inversions for the most popular major triad ‘shapes’ on guitar.

The theory behind triads is quite simple: a major triad is basically the 1st, 3rd and 5th note of a major scale. If analysed in intervals:  from the root I will have a first note that is a major 3rd apart and a second note that is a perfect 5th apart. As an example, for the key of C major (C,D,E,F,G,A,B)  my C major triad will be C,E,G (C-E major 3rd, C-G perfect 5th).

If these notes (or ‘voices’) are contained within an octave we call this ‘close’ or ‘closed’ position, as opposite as ‘spread’ position (more than an octave). We will see the triads in Spread Position in another lesson.

INVERSIONS

When the triad is in its Root-3rd-5th configuration we call it ‘root position’ – C,E,G

If we move the root up an octave we have the first inversion – 3rd, 5th, Root – E,G,C

If we then move the 3rd up an octave we have the second inversion – 5th, Root, 3rd - G,C,E

OTHER TRIADS

It is really simple to find other (minor, augmented, diminished) triads from the major triad.

Major triad – R,3,5 – C,E,G

Minor triad – R,m3,5 – C,Eb,G (Lower the 3rd one 1/2 step)

Augmented triad – R, 3, #5 – C,E,G# (Raise the 5th one 1/2 step)

Diminished triad – R,m3,dim5 – C,Eb,Gb (Lower both the 3rd and 5th one 1/2 step)

Download -here- the page with all the inversions on a printable PDF file or click the image below.

Let’s now go back to the basic theory post (quite successful over 10k views just the day I posted!) , and let’s see how things apply to guitar…just read the explanatins in red and watch the videos!

Let’s start again:

The natural sounds are:

You might also find in some books the name of these notes in Italian (nothing to do with ‘solfege’!) Do,Re,Mi,Fa,Sol,La,Si and in German C,D,E,F,G,A,H.

Sharps and flats.

# = sharp: raises the given note of a half step.

One half-step on guitar is a fret, easy. When you move up a fret (from the headstock to the body of the guitar) you are playing two notes that are a semitone/half-step apart from each other. From G natural to G# you would move up one fret.

## = double sharp: raises the given note of two half steps (also noted ‘x’).

From G natural to G## you would move up two frets.

b = flat: lowers the given note of a half step.

From G natural to Gb you would move down one fret.

bb = double flat: lowers the given note of two half steps.

From G natural to Gbb you would move down two frets.

= natural: cancels sharps and flats (double natural cancels double sharps and flats).

The Chromatic scale.

In this first video I start from the chromatic scale and show you how to build a major scale:


The chromatic scale contains all 12 natural and altered sound (using sharps and flats).

Notes called with a different name, but identifying the same sound, are called enharmonic (i.e.: C# e Db). The shortest distance between two sound of the chromatic scale is a Half Step, the distance of a fret on the guitar.

Intervals.

An interval is the distance between two notes.

Intervals of a second, third, sixths and seventh are called major. If a major interval is raised by an half step it is calledaugmented. If a major interval is lowered by an half step it is called minor. If lowered by two half steps, diminuished.

Intervals of a fourth, fifth and octave are called perfect. If a perfect interval is raised by an half step it is calledaugmented. If a perfect interval is lowered by an half step it is called diminuished (note the difference).

All the intervals from the tonic of a major scale to any other note of tha scale are major or perfect (i.e. between C and D=major 2nd, C e E=major 3rd, C e F=perfect 4th, and so on…)

Intervals can also be calculated summing up half steps: one half-step on guitar is a fret, easy. When you move a fret up (from the headstock to the body of the guitar) you are playing two notes that are a semitone/half-step apart from each other.

where m=minor, M=major, P=perfect, dim=diminuished, aug=augmented.

How to build a major scale.

Read the theory and watch the video below:

The spacing of the notes in a major scales follow this rule:

WWHWWWH

Where W = Whole step (a major second)  H= Half step

Example : C major

To build major sales in other keys use exclusively either sharps or flats choosing the notes so that a note with the same name is never repeated. In doing so you will only use Diatonic half steps (given by two notes with different name, i.e. C-Db, opposite to Chromatic half steps given by two notes with the same name, as in D –D#).

ON GUITAR:

Major scale – fixed position patterns

The Major scale template above is from TrueGuitarist.com’s ‘The Guitar Kit’, a free collection of guitar templates.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD ‘THE GUITAR KIT’ FOR ALL THE SCALES AND TEMPLATES YOU’LL EVER NEED!!

This is a list of all the major scales in all keys. The order follows the amount of sharps and flats in the key.

Keys with flats.

Keys with sharps.

Relative minor (key)

Every major key has one relative minor which is made of the same notes, but starting from the sixth note. In other words, starting a minor third below (or a major sixth above) the root of the major scale. For example if we take C major its relative minor is A minor, spelled A B C D E F G.

On guitar: To play the relative minor, just start two notes before the note in the red circle.

Circle of fifths.

The circle of fifths one of the most used ways to summarize all I explained so far. It is very useful to memorize how many and which alterations a specific key has.

I find very useful to memorize FCGDAEB and the same sequence backwards BEADGCF. The first is the order of sharps the second, of flats. So if a key has, for example, 3 sharps (A major) they will be the first 3 notes in the first seqence (F# C# G#).

Harmonized major scale – How to build chords.

A practical application on guitar:

In the example below every note of a major scale identifies a ‘degree’ of the scale. In the example I have used C major, but this is valid for every other major scale in any key.

If I stack on every degree two more notes a diatonic third apart (basically every other one) I end up with different kinds of triads (triad=group of three notes). These triads are shown in the example below. If we analyse the intervals between notes:

a Major Triad has a Maj 3rd and a Perf 5th (Eg. C-E-G: C-E=maj 3rd , C-G Perf 5th).

a Minor Triad has a min 3rd and a Perf 5th.

a Diminuished Triad has a min 3rd and a diminuished 5th.

You will have the same series of chords in all the other keys Eg: F major: F, Gm, Am, Bb, C, Dm, Em.

Already with this knowledge we can understand how to Analyze simple songs or how to write pop songs:

If we stack another note a diatonic third apart from the last note of the above triads we will have Seventh chords.

This again is valid for all the 12 keys. This concept is vital to understand how songs are built and how to pick the correct scale for a solo.

On Guitar this note choice for 7th chords might not work…let’s see some more popular choices to play this on guitar:

With this we can now analyse more complex songs like a simple jazz standard…watch the video:

I hope you enjoyed this lesson!

What follows is just a brief summary of basic theory and harmony necessary to understand practical applications on your instrument.

The natural sounds are:

You might also find in some books the name of these notes in Italian (nothing to do with ‘solfege’!) Do,Re,Mi,Fa,Sol,La,Si and in German C,D,E,F,G,A,H.

Sharps and flats.

# = sharp: raises the given note of a half step.

## = double sharp: raises the given note of two half steps (also noted ‘x’).

b = flat: lowers the given note of a half step.

bb = double flat: lowers the given note of two half steps.

= natural: cancels sharps and flats (double natural cancels double sharps and flats).

The Chromatic scale.

The chromatic scale contains all 12 natural and altered sound (using sharps and flats).

Notes called with a different name, but identifying the same sound, are called enharmonic (i.e.: C# e Db). The shortest distance between two sound of the chromatic scale is a Half Step, the distance of a fret on the guitar.

Intervals.

An interval is the distance between two notes.

Intervals of a second, third, sixths and seventh are called major. If a major interval is raised by an half step it is called augmented. If a major interval is lowered by an half step it is called minor. If lowered by two half steps, diminished.

Intervals of a fourth, fifth and octave are called perfect. If a perfect interval is raised by an half step it is calledaugmented. If a perfect interval is lowered by an half step it is called diminished (note the difference).

All the intervals from the tonic of a major scale to any other note of tha scale are major or perfect (i.e. between C and D=major 2nd, C e E=major 3rd, C e F=perfect 4th, and so on…)

Intervals can also be calculated summing up half steps:

where m=minor, M=major, P=perfect, dim=diminished, aug=augmented.

How to build a major scale.

The spacing of the notes in a major scales follow this rule:

WWHWWWH

Where W = Whole step (a major second)  H= Half step

Example : C major

To build major sales in other keys use exclusively either sharps or flats choosing the notes so that a note with the same name is never repeated. In doing so you will only use Diatonic half steps (given by two notes with different name, i.e. C-Db, opposite to Chromatic half steps given by two notes with the same name, as in D –D#).

This is a list of all the major scales in all keys. The order follows the amount of sharps and flats in the key.

Keys with flats.

Keys with sharps.

Relative minor (key)

Every major key has one relative minor which is made of the same notes, but starting from the sixth note. In other words, starting a minor third below (or a major sixth above) the root of the major scale. For example if we take C major its relative minor is A minor, spelled A B C D E F G.

Circle of fifths.

The circle of fifths one of the most used ways to summarize all I explained so far. It is very useful to memorize how many and which alterations a specific key has.

I find very useful to memorize FCGDAEB and the same sequence backwards BEADGCF. The first is the order of sharps the second, of flats. So if a key has, for example, 3 sharps (A major) they will be the first 3 notes in the first seqence (F# C# G#).

Harmonized major scale – How to build chords.

In the example below every note of a major scale identifies a ‘degree’ of the scale. In the example I have used C major, but this is valid for every other major scale in any key.

If I stack on every degree two more notes a diatonic third apart (basically every other one) I end up with different kinds of triads (triad=group of three notes). These triads are shown in the example below. If we analyse the intervals between notes:

a Major Triad has a Maj 3rd and a Perf 5th (Eg. C-E-G: C-E=maj 3rd , C-G Perf 5th).

a Minor Triad has a min 3rd and a Perf 5th.

a Diminished Triad has a min 3rd and a diminished 5th.

You will have the same series of chords in all the other keys Eg: F major: F, Gm, Am, Bb, C, Dm, Em.

If we stack another note a diatonic third apart from the last note of the above triads we will have Seventh chords.

This again is valid for all the 12 keys. This concept is vital to understand how songs are built and how to pick the correct scale for a solo.

]]> http://www.trueguitarist.com/basic-music-theory-for-beginners/feed/ 10 http://www.trueguitarist.com/chord-scale-exercise/ http://www.trueguitarist.com/chord-scale-exercise/#comments Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:52:13 +0000 Gianni http://www.TrueGuitarist.com/?p=56

Printable PDF: Chord-Scale Ex.

This is an introduction to how to use the right scale for the chord of the moment. I will not be talking about modes yet as I find this creates a bit of confusion at this stage. We have seen how on every degree (=note) of the scale we can build a triad of some kind and add a 7^th to it. These are three examples so you can have the most popular ‘chord shapes’ to play with and on 3 different string sets.

The first is an example in G major: the roots of the chords are all on the 6^th string.

To find the correct scale for the chords just play a G major scale starting from the degree the chord sits on (like I do in the video).

G maj7 = G major from G to G (1^st degree)

Am7     =  G major from A to A (2^nd degree)

Bm7     = G major from B to B (3^rd degree)

And so on…I am sure you get the idea.

The next is an example in C major: the roots of the chords are all on the 5^th string. Watch the video and find the related scales

And again this is an example in F major: the roots of the chords are all on the 4^th string. You know what to do…

In this video I show some examples of very simple chord progressions that originate from the Harmonized Major Scale.

When I say ‘one, four, five’ I mean the song is built by the 1st, the 4th and 5th chord of the harmonized scale. So such song would be C major, F major, and G major and if I wanted to write its structure I’d write it with roman numerals: I IV V. as an example you can think of songs like ‘Twist and shout’, ‘La Bamba’ or similar…again this is just the very basic stuff!

Other common structures are II V I (‘two, five, one’ = Dm G C in C major), I VI IV V and so on…

As I said this is just the beginning, I’ll show you how to understand more complicated songs. Also, will post in the near future  a list of analyzed chords progressions patterns for you to use in your songs.

We have already seen how to find the triads that belong to the major harmonized scale.

..adding the 7th is very simple. If we stack another note a diatonic third apart from the last note we have found, we will have Seventh chords. As a matter of fact, the notes we have used to build the triad where the 1st, 3rd and 5th note of the major scale…the one we are adding is the 7th note of the scale. In C major it will give us the following 7th chords.

Cmaj7 Dm7  Em7    Fmaj7       G7      Am7   Bm7(b5)

Here you will find the most common 7th chords guitar shapes, just print out the file.

Printable file: Common 7th chords