Remember when we talked about key signatures a few posts ago? Well, truth be told, even key signatures can fool you. For instance, that bit of notation with the three flats? Yes, three flats does indicate a key of Eb major, but every major key has a relative minor and the relative minor of Eb is C minor. So is that particular snippet of music in Eb major or C minor?

The trouble is that we really can’t tell, at least not given what we were given to work with in that particular example. Having some information on harmony would give us some help. For instance, if Eb major was supposed to be played over the first two measures and Bb or Bb7 over the second, then we could (relatively) safely say it was in Eb. If Cm were the chord over the first two verses and Bb over the second two, then we’d still be a little unsure of which of the two choices to go with. But if Cm were the first chord and G7 (G, B, D and F – the D and F being the melody notes here), then you could go with C minor as the key with a little more certainty.

One of the problems here is language. Many musicians use the words “key” and “tonal center” interchangeably. But any key can have different tonal centers other than the root note of the key, as we see all the time with relative minors.

To give yourself a better grip on minor keys, you might want to take a look at an old Guitar Column at Guitar Noise called Minor Progress. There you’ll read about the fact that there are three minor scales to deal with! Each has a different way of resolving the feeling of “home” or of the tonal center, if you will.

Another easy (and obvious!) thing you can do to familiarize yourself with chord progressions in minor keys is to listen to songs in minor keys. Listen, for instance, to a song like Neil Young’s Like a Hurricane and compare it to Dion’s Runaway. Don’t laugh! They both start out with Am chords and then progress from Am to G and then to F. Like a Hurricane then changes to Em and back to G (and you might already know somewhere in the back of your mind that Em is the relative minor of G) while Runaway goes from F to E7, giving it a much different feel even though both songs share the same tonal center of A minor.

One last point to keep in mind is that any song can change keys. These keys changes can be temporary shifts, or modulations, or can leave the original tonal center far in the dust. This is one reason why it’s important to look at a lot of songs in segments or sections, when trying to determine just what key you may be in when soloing.

Speaking of which, we have covered quite a bit of this information (and will be covering even more in the near future) in our Turning Scales into Solos series at Guitar Noise. If you’ve not yet read any of these, you can find the very first one, Choosing Colors, here.

I realize that the discussion on this particular topic is far from complete, but hopefully you have enough to get started. Please feel free to post any further questions you might have right here or on the Guitar Noise Forum pages.

Until next time…

Peace

If you’ve got any questions, we at Guitar Noise are always happy to answer them. Just send any of your questions to David at dhodgeguitar@aol.com. He (or another Guitar Noise contributor) may not answer immediately but he will definitely answer!

More on Determining the Key of a Song

• Determining the Key of a Song (Part 1)
• Determining the Key of a Song (Part 2)

Determining the Key of a Song (Part 3) was written by David Hodge for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

Sometimes it’s the use of a chord progression. I’ve already mentioned an old Guitar Column at Guitar Noise called Five to One. Nothing really sounds more like coming home than hearing a V to I chord progression, such as G to C in the key of C. Using a seventh chord for the V (that would make our example G7 to C) makes the progression even stronger. If you hear this progression at the end of a song, or at the end of a verse of a song, then you have another strong indication of key.

Some songs take this a step further, going from IV to V to I (F to G to C in the key of C) or from ii to V to I (Dm to G to C). This latter progression is used a lot in jazz, but you’ll find it in songs across all genres. Both these progressions help to solidify the feeling of coming home. They create a strong sense of a tonal center, which in the case of our examples would be C major.

So you can understand why so many musicians will tell you that one of the most important skills you can develop is your ear. Being able to hone is on the sense of tonality is vital. But it’s also a lot easier to do with help. If you listen to enough music, and start to understand what chord progressions you’re hearing, you can’t help but get better at picking up chord progressions. As you do that, you’ll also start to pick up on the sense of key and you won’t have to even ask what key a song is in after a while.

If you don’t think you can pick this up on your own, then get help. There are more than enough ways to get a chord chart for most songs. Granted, they may not all be right (and this is especially true of Internet tablature), but it will give you a place to start from. If your Internet tab says that a progression is F to G to C and the F doesn’t sound correct, try other chords and see if you can find the correct one.

Listen intently to songs. Can you hear the difference between a major and minor chord? Can you hear a chord and say that it’s a seventh? Or a major seventh? This is where it all starts. We’ve a number of articles on ear training at Guitar Noise. You can’t go wrong by starting off with the trilogy of Happy New Ear, Unearthing the Structure and Solving the Puzzle.

Of course, there’s still more to cover on this subject. And in our next post we’ll take a look at songs in minor keys.

Peace

If you’ve got any questions, we at Guitar Noise are always happy to answer them. Just send any of your questions to David at dhodgeguitar@aol.com. He (or another Guitar Noise contributor) may not answer immediately but he will definitely answer!

More on Determining the Key of a Song

• Determining the Key of a Song (Part 1)
• Determining the Key of a Song (Part 3)

Determining the Key of a Song (Part 2) was written by David Hodge for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

Hello David;

I have a question for you – how can you tell what key a song is in? I thought that it was in the key of the first note or chord of the song, but that does not seem to hold true. I have a Fender GDEC Amp that has drum and bass background and there is a key switch to set what key the song is in. At times if I set it to the first chord the bass sounds fine, but at other times the bass notes seem not to match the chord I would be playing, so I am wondering if I am wrong for how to tell what key the song is in. I also have a song book that all the songs are suppose to be in the key of C, but some songs start with a Am chord or a F chord, etc.

Hope you can help me with this question, I really enjoy the Newsletter and the Pods that you and the people at Guitar Noise put out. Keep up the good work; it has helped me and, I am sure, many others.

Thank you.

Right off the bat, we need to establish a few things. What do we mean when we talk about the key of a song? This alone is something that many people quibble about. Let’s go with the obvious answer first – if you have a piece of sheet music (music notation, not just guitar tablature), then the key of a piece of music is given to you right at the start. It’s called the key signature, and you’ll find it just after the clef at the beginning of a line of music, like this:

Here you can see three flat symbols (they look like slightly squashed “b”s), which indicates that this particular piece is in Eb. You can find all twelve possible key signatures listed out for you in Your Very Own Rosetta Stone, as well as other articles on the Guitar Noise Beginners’ Lessons page.

Recognizing the key signature, though, is just one part of the puzzle, one we’ll return to in a moment after we deal with how to determine the key of a song when we don’t have the music handy.

And, naturally, this too requires a small diversion. Remember that music theory is never meant to be an answer as much as it is an explanation of why things are the way they are, music-wise – why we like certain combinations of sounds, why some chord progressions just seem meant for each other, things like that. There will always be exceptions to any “general rule,” sometimes thousands of them. That’s just the way it is.

Back on track – if you go on the assumption that the starting chord of any given song will be the key of your song, you will often be correct. Often enough to beat the house, in fact. But there are, as you’ve pointed out, more than enough exceptions that make using this method as a way to determine the key of a song questionable.

One of our old Guitar Columns at Guitar Noise, titled Five to One, explains keys as “feeling at home,” or having the sensation that it’s okay for a song to end at a particular place. Even more than the starting chord, the final chord should give one the satisfaction that the song has played out to a final conclusion. So if you look for the final chord of the song as being your indicator for the key to the song, you’ll do even better than you would by going by the first chord. Better still if the beginning and ending chords are the same.

But none of this is foolproof. Even having the key signature can occasionally put you on the wrong path. And we’ll pick up from this point next time…

Peace

If you’ve got any questions, we at Guitar Noise are always happy to answer them. Just send any of your questions to David at dhodgeguitar@aol.com. He (or another Guitar Noise contributor) may not answer immediately but he will definitely answer!

More on Determining the Key of a Song

• Determining the Key of a Song (Part 2)
• Determining the Key of a Song (Part 3)

Determining the Key of a Song (Part 1) was written by David Hodge for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

The main focus of this lesson is to instruct on how to play the simplest of chords on a keyboard while showing how to obtain them with some small amount of understanding. Hopefully, this will help the guitarist understand how chords are played on the guitar easier than using the guitar alone. It will also provide the guitarist with a quick introduction to the keyboard. By using the information provided below, the guitarist can more easily figure out what notes are being played with particular chords.

Having some small amount of musical training while I was young, I can say where things usually begin when a new student is being taught piano. It starts at middle C.

Middle C – The Starting Point

So, where is middle C? The placement of middle C on a musical staff can be researched on the person’s own time. I am sure it is found in a number of other places on the Internet. This lesson will show how to finger all the major chords, minor chords, and dominant 7th chords, hopefully without overwhelming you with music theory. So, let us have a look at a diagram of the some keyboards.

Note that middle C is off centre and not the middle note in the keyboard. This is because this and many other keyboards as well as full-size pianos are not symmetrical about middle C. The reasoning behind that is for some other topic of research that goes into the development of music as a whole. What is important is that you can learn how to locate middle C with a little practice.

Other common sizes for keyboards are 73 keys, 76 keys, and 88 keys. These can be seen below in Figure 3, Figure 4 and Figure 5, respectively.

While middle C is not usually (see Figure 3) in the middle of the keyboard, it is almost there. It makes a practical place to start in terms of range of musical sounds. It also makes a very good place to start when studying music theory.

The C Major Scale

The notes of the C major scale are:

Each note in the C major scale can be numbered using regular numerals and Roman numerals:

Note that I listed the next C in the scale while showing an octave instead of stopping at B as shown in Figure 2. This has to do with showing the formula for a major scale. This will make learning how to apply the formula to other notes easier later.

Notice that when the C major scale is numbered using Roman numerals, some are numbered with capital letters and some are numbered with lower case letters. (Jumping a little bit ahead, all chords in the C major family are built using only notes from the C major scale.)

When playing chords in the C major family, very little thinking has to be done because only the white keys are played. When each finger of the right hand assigned to one key, everything falls into place. If you place the thumb of the right hand on middle C, the rest of the fingers will each fall on one key naturally. Refer to Figure 6 below as an example.

So, start by playing the C major chord, commonly referred to as C. Place the thumb of the right hand on middle C (or any C), skip using the index finger, place the middle finger on E, skip the ring finger, and place the little finger on G. That is the simplest C chord you can make. To play the D minor (commonly shown as Dm) chord, just move the hand to the right one white key so the thumb plays D, the middle finger plays F, and the little finger plays A. To play the E minor chord (commonly shown as Em), move the hand to the right one white key. This is the same for all successive chords for the C major scale.

Now go back to the C major scale where it is numbered with Roman numerals. Those notes numbered with capital Roman numerals have chords that are major chords. Those numbered with lower case Roman numerals have chords that are minor chords. The exception to this last statement is the vii° chord. The vii° chord is a diminished chord. (It is a chord with a minor 3rd and a 5th that is lowered by a half a step. This information can be left for later exploration of knowledge of music theory.)

So:

Chord Names

When it comes to playing chords an octave higher, it is easy using a piano or other keyboard instrument. When playing guitar it is different because you can form different version of the same chord in different places on the fingerboard. If playing an electric guitar it is easier to play chords one octave higher because the fingers can be placed that high on the fretboard (fingerboard) more easily due to the way the guitar is built.

For the C major scale, the chords are shown for the respective note below:

Difference between Major Chords and Minor Chords

A full chord must be constructed of at least three notes. Any chord in the family of the C major scale (and any major scale for that matter) begins with the note which is the name of the chord, the third note up from that note and the fifth note up from the note of the name of the chord. For a C chord, that means the chord is made up of the notes C (I), E (iii), and G (V) of the C major scale.

What makes a minor chord minor? The answer is that the 2nd note in the chord (the major 3rd) is made a minor 3rd. This means that the 2nd note is reduced by a half-step. Example: D notes: D, F#, A – note that F# is not a note in the C major scale. Now it can be seen that the D chord is not a chord in the C major chord family. Dm note: D, F, A – note that the major 3rd (F#) is reduced to F.

I once saw a musical play about a couple of piano students that made humorous the stories their careers starting from their early days. The piano teacher asked the question of the students “What makes a minor chord sound minor?” The answer was that a minor chord sounds sad whereas a major chord sounds happy. When you play a minor chord in comparison this generally sounds true.

Just using the knowledge associated with the C major scale we know where the major chords are for the notes: C, F and G. We the know the minor chords are for the notes D, E, A, and the diminished chord is associated with the note B. Remember, the method for playing all of the chords in the C major scale is provided in the paragraph below Figure 6. All chords in the C major chord family can be played by using the thumb, the middle finger and the little finger. Actually, for later use and knowledge, the same holds true for playing the chords to the left of the right hand but starting with the little finger and moving to the right. The fingers used on the left hand are the little finger, the middle finger and the thumb.

Extending the Knowledge of Minor Chords to Find the Rest of the Major Chords on the Keyboard

Figure 7 shows an octave of keys from the notes C to C. The top of the figure shows how an octave normally looks while the bottom of the figure shows the octave as if the black keys in the octave were extended to the full length of the white keys. The extension of the black keys is done to show that there is movement of one half-step between all keys, black or white even though some white keys have no black keys between them. Note that there is no sharp (#) or flat (b) between the notes E and F and B and C.

Aside: However, the movement from the notes E to F and B to C or the movement of F to E and C to B is still only one half-step. This is important to understand because using this knowledge along with of what notes are in the C major scale allows us to figure out for ourselves the formula for the major scale if we so wish. More importantly, with this knowledge, if we forget the formula for the major scale, we can refer to the C major scale to figure out the formula.

Because we know what makes a minor chord minor, we can extend that knowledge to figure out what the major chords are for the notes D, E and A by using the chords Dm, Em and Am. Place the right-hand fingers on a keyboard for one of the minor chords mentioned. Just move the middle finger (the one on the 2nd note of the chord) up a half-step. To moved up a half-step is to move up by one key – black or white. Refer to Figure 7 above for reference.

Using Dm to find D: Using the notes D, F and A => move the middle finger up by one half-step gives the notes D, F# and A. Refer to Figure 8 as an example. Imagine moving the fingers from the notes indicated on the bottom chord of Figure 8, Dm to the top chord of Figure 8, D.

Using Em to find E: Using the notes E, G and B => move the middle finger up by one half-step gives the notes E, G# and B.

Using Am to find A: Using the notes A, C and E => move the middle finger up by one half-step gives the notes A, C# and E.

Using Bdim to find B: Using the notes B, D and F => move the middle finger up by one half-step and the little finger up by one half-step gives the notes B, D# and F#.

We can also use the above knowledge to figure out what the minor chords are what the minor chords are for C, F and G. To do this, simply finger the chord and move the middle finger down one half-step. Cm has the notes C, Eb and G. Fm has the notes F, Ab and C. Gm has the notes G, Bb and D.

Now it is possible to figure out all of the major and minor chords for all the notes on the keyboard. It is good to note that this method is easiest to use for the white keys. The only chord that has not be explicitly discussed is Bdim. Bdim has a minor 3rd and a minor 5th. You should be able to figure out or research what the notes are for the chords B and a Bm. You could also use the major scale formula to obtain the B major scale and work from there.

NOTE: It is important to reference the keyboard (a real one or the diagrams) when studying this material to have a visual aid.

The Major Scale Formula

The major scale (as well as every other scale) has a set formula. However, if you know the C major scale and the key spacing, you can figure out the formula every time. Again, it is important to know that there are no black keys between the keys B and C, and E and F.

Half-Steps and Whole-Steps:

A half-step is a movement (up or down) form one key to the one immediately next to it. (Refer to Figure 7). Examples: C to C#, G# to A, E to F, B to C, A# to A, C to B or G to
F#.

A whole-step is a movement of 2 half-steps. Examples: C to D, E to F#, A# to C or F to D#.

C Major Scale Formula:

• W = Whole-step
• H = Half-step

By using the major scale formula you can figure out all the major scales. This information can be used in many ways. Such as figuring out all of the major chords on the keyboard. However, because a major chord is made up of the 1st note of the chord, the major 3rd from the 1st note of the chord, and the major 5th from the 1st note of the chord the major scale formula will provide you with the major chords in the root note chord family for the root (I) note, the fourth (IV) and the fifth (V) notes of the major scales. Again, remember that you have already been provided with the method of figuring out all the major and minor chords for all the keys on the keyboard. Stick with the white keys for now.

Notes Aside

By figuring out all of the major scales and putting them in ascending order you end up with half of the Cycle of Fifths. This is information used for chord progressions in many songs. The numbering of the notes in the chord family (originally presented in the scale) is also often used in chord progressions of songs.

When figuring out a major scale, it is a good indication that it is correct if the 7th note is a half-step below the 8th note.

If the chords in the music you are playing are contained within the major scale, you can use that scale to solo.

Dominant Seventh Chords

Dominant 7th chords are often associated with a bluesy sound. To figure out how to play a dominant 7th chord, reduce the (major) 7th by a half-step and fit it into the chord fingering. Dominant 7th chords are written as follows: A7, B7, C7, etc.

The 7th of the C major scale is B. The dominant 7th is A#/Bb. A# and Bb are the same note. They are called equivalent harmonics. The notes of the C7 chord are C, E, G, and A# or C, E, G, and Bb.

Applying This Knowledge to the Guitar

One of the main advantages to learning about music theory using a keyboard is that the keyboard is a much more linear instrument than the guitar. One key follows directly after another. On the guitar, when you get to the last fret on one string, the next note on the next string is not the next note as it is on the keyboard. The same note of the same pitch appears at more than one place on the guitar.

To take this theory and apply it to guitar remember that standard tuning on a 6 string guitar is (low to high): E A D G B e. You can remember this by using the letters of standard tuning as an acronym for

Eddie Ate Dynamite, Good Bye
Eddie.

Another piece of information that is important to know about the guitar is that a movement of 1 fret (up or down) is a movement of a half-step. A movement of 2 frets is a whole-step. Now you can pick out scales and chords on the guitar as well as the keyboard.

The rest is for you to explore.

How To Play Simple Chords On Keyboard And Guitar was written by Bruce Fleming for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

• Why should I learn music theory?
• How do I memorize all this theory stuff?
• What is the best way to memorize the notes in each key?
• How do I read time signatures?
• How do I find out what key a song is in?
• How do I transpose songs into different keys?
• Why do we use more than 3 strings to make a chord?
• What is an interval?
• What is a relative minor?
• What are passing tones?
• What is dissonance?
• What does the 7 in C7 mean?
• What is the difference between a 7th and a major 7th?
• What is the difference between A9 and Asus2?
• What is the difference between C Ionian and D Dorian?
• What are 13th chords?
• What are diminished chords?
• How are diminished power chords formed?
• What does IV of IV mean?
• When do I use E sharp instead of F?
• Is a chord change in a I-IV-V progression also a key change?
• What key is House of the Rising Sun in?

Why should I learn music theory?

Theory can increase your ability as a player dramatically, and since it’s always a good idea to learn more, theory is another bit of knowledge to acquire. Theory can help you work with other musicians such as keyboardists, horn players, other stringed instrument players. Theory can dramatically help you form a song, understand what other people are talking about, and learn about the basic structure of music in its “theoretical” form.

From scales, to keys, to chord construction – they all involve theory, and knowing it will help you resolve any confusion you might encounter. It also helps in communicating your music to others – mainly musicians, but yes, others.

So the bottom line is, why not? Theory might seem hard, but didn’t another hobby that you took up and now enjoy seem hard at first?

To get started or brush up on theory read the article Theory Without Tears and then check out our music theory for guitar page.

How do I memorize all this theory stuff?

One of the biggest problems that faces any beginner is worrying about the tremendous amount of things to practice and memorize. I’ve been playing for over 25 years and I am still finding out new things to practice and memorize! No lie.

Like it or not, you cannot learn everything at once. No one can. But as long as you are enjoying playing you will keep practicing and you will one day wonder if there ever was a time when you didn’t know the things you know now.

What you need to do is to develop a practice plan, a way to focus on a few things at once. If you haven’t done so, you might want to read my piece on practicing called A Question of Balance. It might give you some help in this area.

You should definitely learn where all the notes on the fretboard are. I tell my students not to memorize the whole fretboard right off. Start with the “main frets” – the notes on the fifth and seventh frets, for instance. See, if you know what the notes are at certain point on the fretboard, you’ve taken away a lot of the “tremendousness” of the task. How much of a stretch would it be to then learn the third and ninth frets? You’ve got a third of it already down!

And you might want to start out with a simple pentatonic scale (I recommend learn the Em pentatonic (E, G, A, B, D) first since it’s one of the easiest to memorize) but you should do this in such a way that it’s fun. Work a practice based around some songs you like or make a tape recording of yourself playing the blues in E and then try to come up with some leads.

The more you enjoy yourself the more you will want to learn.

What is the best way to memorize the notes in each key?

I don’t know if this will be easy or not, but there is a distinct pattern to learning these. And it’s really not that hard. The main thing to remember is that they always go in sequence. If a key has two flats, for instance, one of those flatted notes is the same as the flatted note in the key with one flat. If that sounds confusing, hopefully it won’t be as we move along.

First off, we agree that C has no flats and no sharps. What I like to do is to progress in either direction from there. Usually, when I hit Gb or F# I call it quits because they are the same key.

Okay, flats first. The easiest thing (for me) to remember is that the keys progress in 4ths (F, for instance, is the fourth of C) and that the flatted note is also the fourth in the new scale. In the example of the key of F, Bb is the fourth. Not only is it the fourth, though, it is also the next key in the sequence! This makes things very easy:

C – 0 flats
F – 1 flat (Bb)
Bb – 2 flats (Bb, Eb)
Eb – 3 flats (Bb, Eb, Ab)
Ab – 4 flats (Bb, Eb, Ab, Db)
Db – 5 flats (Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb)
Gb – 6 flats (Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, Cb)

Now sharps are a little harder, but there are a couple of ways to look at it. First off, going from C to G (which is the key with one sharp) is moving in the intervals of fifths. The next key after G would be the fifth of G which is D. For me, the key is remembering that the newest sharp will always be a half step lower than the root. G has one sharp and it is F#, which is that half step lower. D is next so it will have F# (because it has to carry over to the next key) and the new sharp will be C#. Here we go:

C – 0 sharps
G – 1 sharp (F#)
D – 2 sharps (F#, C#)
A – 3 sharps (F#, C#, G#)
E – 4 sharps (F#, C#, G#, D#)
B – 5 sharps (F#, C#, G#, D#, A#)
F# – 6 sharps (F#, C#, G#, D#, A#, E#)

If you remember that flats progress in fourths and sharps progress in fifths and simply remember the first flat or sharp, then it’s as simple as this:

Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, Cb
F#, C#, G#, D#, A#, E#

I hope that this helps. It may not seem like it but after a while it becomes second nature to not only know these, but also the relative minors!

How do I read time signatures?

The time signature (along with the key signature) is one of the first things you encounter when you read music, so you might as well learn just what it means at some point, no? The time signature usually consists of two numbers written one on top of the other, almost like a fraction except there is no line (other than the lines of the staff and that doesn’t count). These provide you with two important pieces of information about the song that you are going to play. The top number tells you how many beats are in a measure (and we learned about measures in Before You Accuse Me). The lower number (the “denominator” if you will, the number that sits on the bottom) indicates which note is going to count as “one beat.” The vast majority of music you are likely to encounter will be in 4/4 timing:

Sometimes you will see “4/4″ timing written out as “C.” “C” and “4/4″ are interchangeable. And if you’re really interested in a theory of the origins of this symbol, check out the “Email of the Week” in this old newsletter: Newsletter Vol 2 # 4.

As well as “C” there is also a “C” with a vertical line slashing it – (C)

It looks like the symbol for a penny. This is known, appropriately enough, as “cut time,” or

There are also songs, many marches in fact, which are in 2/4 time. And you have undoubtedly heard songs that use 3/4 timing as well. Waltzes are in 3/4:

Probably eighty-five to ninety percent of all songs are written in either of these two time signatures. 6/8 timing is very similar to 3/4 in that it has the same kind of “triplet” feel. It’s easier to count in groups of threes rather than sets of six, isn’t it?

For a complete lesson on time signatures check out the article Timing is Everything. There is also a detailed explanation with examples in the article House of the Rising Sun.

How do I find out what key a song is in?

At the beginning of each piece of music, the staff will be followed by two important pieces of information – the key signature and the time signature.

You may not know this, but sheet music is often much more helpful than TABS in ways that benefit the player who is not concerned with playing things note per note. The key signature is the number of sharps or flats (or the lack thereof) that appear immediately after the clef. This will, much more often than not, tell you what key a song is in. Notice I said sharps or flats, not both. We’ll come back to this in a moment.

If you’ve read any of the beginner’s theory pieces (Theory Without Tears or The Musical Genome Project) you are well aware that there are more than seven notes. There are actually twelve. Some are designated by just a letter, while others are a letter and a symbol like this – # – or this – b. The “#” means “sharp” or “one half step above the note of the letter. C#, for example, is a half step above C. A “b” is a flat sign, meaning that we have moved a half step down from the note of the letter. Eb is a half step below E. And let’s note here that this does indeed mean that some notes actually share the same name. “Ab” and “G#” are, for our purposes, the same note. Here’s a handy chart:

In musical notation, the symbols for flats and sharps are called accidentals. There is also an accidental for “natural” meaning that the note should be the straight letter value, neither flat nor sharp.

Why on earth would you even need a “natural” symbol? Well, that should become clear momentarily. Suppose you were writing out a song in the key of E, a fairly common key for guitar music. There are four sharps in the E major scale. See for yourself:

E F# G# A B C# D# E

Would you want to have to put a sharp notation every time you wrote one of these four notes? Of course not. What you would do is write out your sharps ahead of time, at the very beginning of the piece. This is like a big billboard saying, “Hey! Whenever you see an F, it’s supposed to be an F#, okay?” This is what the key signature does. So, how do you know what key a song is in? Well, you may not believe this, but there are rules! These rules are dictated by the formation of the major scale. Here’s a run down:

• Key of C – no flats, no sharps
• Key of G – 1 sharp: F#
• Key of D – 2 sharps: F#, C#
• Key of A – 3 sharps: F#, C#, G#
• Key of E – 4 sharps: F#, C#, G#, D#
• Key of B – 5 sharps – F#, C#, G#, D#, A#
• Key of F – 1 flat: Bb
• Key of Bb – 2 flats: Bb, Eb
• Key of Eb – 3 flats: Bb, Eb, Ab
• Key of Ab – 4 flats: Bb, Eb, Ab, Db
• Key of Db – 5 flats: Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb

There is a lot more to figuring out what key a song is in. For more on this topic we suggest you read the series Determining the Key of a Song. And to learn more about key signatures you should check out Your very Own Rosetta Stone and Key Changes.

How do I transpose songs into different keys?

If you ever decide to play music with musicians other than guitarists (and bass players don’t count!) you will very quickly run into a situation where one of you knows a particular song in one key while the other knows it in another. The guitar has a natural disinclination towards keys that contain flats. Unless you’re incredibly adept at barre chords knowing how to transpose a song will prove to be an invaluable skill. And not only is it easy to learn, it’s actually a lot of fun when you get the hang of it.

You will need a capo for transposing so you might want to read The Under Appreciated Art of Using a Capo first.

This is how it works. If I put my capo on the first fret, every chord I play has now moved up a half step. An A chord is now a Bb (or A#). An E minor is now F minor. If I put it on the fourth fret, everything is now up two whole steps (four half steps). A C is now an E. An A minor is a C# minor. The following chart will give you some of the basic chord transpositions:

As well as reading The Under Appreciated Art of Using a Capo you should also check out Turning Notes Into Stone for a more complete lesson on transposing keys.

Why do we use more than 3 strings to make a chord?

The reason why we just don’t play three strings only is because that would very hard to do, especially if you were strumming fast.

Chords are made up of multiples of the three notes. All the three note thing tells you is that you’ll see those three notes only, in that chord. The reason why you learn those other chords with sevenths and nineths is because they help with tonal variety and connect melodic phrases sometimes better than triads can.

As far as knowing which ones to use, the notes in that chord you want to use should be in the key you are in. If they are not, then there should be a reason for using that chord. For instance, in the key of C major, there is no A7 chord right? But if you use it and resolve directly to a d minor chord, a chord in the key of C Major, it’ll sound great.

What is an interval?

Here’s our C major scale:

do re mi fa sol la te do
C D E F G A B C

An interval is the distance from one note to the next. We name the intervals according to their place on the major scale. From C to E, for instance, is called a third (okay, a major third). From C to A is a sixth. D to B is also a sixth. Do you see this? The starting note becomes your root and B is the sixth note in a D major scale. Using this same logic, D to F is not a third, but a MINOR third. How about E to A? Right, it’s a fourth. And E to C? Right again, E to C is a minor sixth. An eighth, from C to C, D to D, F# to F#, and so on, is called an OCTAVE. I’m sure you’re all familiar with that one.

For detailed lessons on intervals check out the lessons Happy New Ear and A Study On Intervals.

What is a relative minor?

Try playing a G chord followed by the E minor. Can you hear how similar they are? If we look at the notes that make up the chord, we see the following:

Notice that these chords share two of their three notes. This is because E minor is the RELATIVE MINOR of G major. The relative minor shares the same notes in the major scale, but it’s root is the sixth of the major. Here’s our G major scale:

In order to find the relative minor we look for the sixth and make that the root. Therefore, E minor is the relative minor of G major and the E minor scale would look like this:

Here’s a chart of a few major/relative minor keys you can use (but please feel free to make out one of your own, listing all twelve possibilities as a test!):

This answer is a small extract from the article Happy New Ear. be sure to check out the complete article for more exercises and examples.

What are passing tones?

This is a note in the melody (or the chord) that is taking part in the transition from one chord to another. Passing tones help to create “tension” between the melody and the accompaniment that is released when the melody and the chord are “resolved.”

Good music, much like art, theater, literature, or relationships and life, for that matter, tends to be a series of tensions and resolutions (or releases) of varying intensities.

A lot more has been written about this in the article Multiple Personality Disorder.

What is dissonance?

A question on harmony, or perhaps the antithesis of harmony: What do people mean by “dissonance” and other such terms when talking about chord changes?

Dissonance, according to the dictionary, is “an inharmonious combination of sounds; discord; any lack of harmony or agreement.”

When we listen to music, certain notes sound pleasing when played together. For many people, the interval of a major third (C and E, for instance, or G and B, etc.) is perhaps the most pleasant, or harmonious sound.

Dissonance is when we create a sound that is not harmonious. There are degrees to how harsh the dissonance can be. If you were to play a C (5th fret, G string) and a C# (2nd fret, B string) together, it would sound as if the notes are clashing.

In a sense, they are – you feel that this combination of notes wants to turn into something else. It’s almost as if you’ve caught them in mid-metamorphosis. Play these notes again and now slide your finger on the C down to B (4th fret, G string) and at the same time slide the C# up to D (3rd fret, B string). Can you hear how the dissonance completely disappears? It’s the interplay between dissonance and harmony that helps to add a dramatic, almost dynamic aspect to a song.

Dissonance can be created in countless ways. You can add a dissonant note to a chord (even via a melody or bass line), you can play one chord on top of another, or you can play a string of chords while holding one note steady in the bass.

But the thing to remember is that not everyone hears the same sorts of dissonance. It’s a matter of what you’re used to. That C/C# thing we mentioned earlier? A jazz player would write it off as a C#maj7 and might not think of it as dissonant at all.

What does the 7 in C7 mean?

Whenever you see a number after a chord, it refers to the note in that particular scale that you should add to the basic chord. If you know that the C scale (C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C), then C6, for example, is the basic C chord (C, E, G) plus the 6th, which is A.

But sevenths are a different matter. If you see a “Cmaj7,” then this would be C, E, G and B, which is the major seventh. A regular “7″ chord means that you want to add a FLATTED seventh note – a major seven which is lowered a half step so that it is one full step below the root. So a “C7″ would be C, E, G and Bb.

We go over the formation of these and other chords quite thoroughly in The Power of Three and Building Additions and Suspensions. If you haven’t already done so, you might want to give those a once-over.

What is the difference between a 7th and a major 7th?

Unlike a major or minor chord where the third is a major or minor third, the seventh chord is a minor seventh unless we specify that it is a major. If I say play an A, you automatically play an A major. If I say play an A7, we automatically add the G note (minor seventh) to the chord. Only if I ask for an Amaj7 will you play the natural seventh (G#).

In music theory, a seventh is traditionally used to make a transition from the root (or I) to the subdominant (IV). This transition is called a resolution. Even the use of this term “resolution” implies that a seventh chord is incomplete, that there must be a following chord that will bring it (and our ears) to a final point.

For further study on sevenths check out the articles Happy New Ear, Sevens Threes and Nines and Building Additions (and Suspensions).

What is the difference between A9 and Asus2?

One of the problems in music is that people often ignore (or simply don’t know) the “standard” notation. I have been guilty of this myself simply because it can be very tedious to write out “Aadd9″ all the time! There’s also another problem that is less apparent and we’ll come to that in a moment. First, let’s define the notes of the chords involved, shall we?

Okay, technically, there are very big differences between A9, Aadd9 and Asus2. If you’ve read Building Additions (and Suspensions) you might already have a handle on this. Let’s start with an A major chord:

A: A, C#, E

Any “suspended” chord means that you are replacing the third of the chord (in this case the C#) with something else, normally the 2 or 4. So an Asus2 is this:

Asus2: A, B, E

An Aadd9 is adding the ninth (in this case the B) in addition to the rest of the A major chord. To me, there is no difference between a “2″ chord and an “add9.” So the Aadd9 is as follows:

Aadd9: A, C#, E, B

And finally, any “9″ chord should, technically speaking, include the 7th. Usually it is the flatted (or dominant) 7th but it could easily be the major 7th as well:

A9(usually): A, C#, E, G, B

A9(w/major 7th): A, C#, E, G#, B

Okay, I hope that clears up what these chords actually are. Now let’s look at why there is often confusion as to what to call the chord. Suppose you see a chord written out as follows:

E – open
B – open
G – 2nd fret
D – 2nd fret
A – open
E – don’t play

Here the notes are A, E and B. Technically, this would be an Asus2, since there is no C# to be found. But the guitar is not like the piano where you always have all the necessary notes (relatively) close at hand. Often, especially with chords that have more than four notes, you end up leaving one or more off. If you were playing this chord with a pianist, you would sound okay whether the pianist were playing an A9, an Aadd9 or even an A11 or A13. If you wanted to play a true A9, then you’d need the G and C# notes so this would be one possible fingering:

E – open (E)
B – 2nd fret (C#)
G – 4th fret (B)
D – 5th fret (G)
A – open (A)
E – don’t play

And you can see where that might be a pain. This is why it’s important to not only know what notes a chord is made up of but also what voicings will give you exactly what you are looking for. For instance, when I see A2 or Aadd9, I tend to play it like this:

E – open
B – open
G – 6th fret (C#)
D – 7th fret (A)
A – open
E – don’t play

The bottom line is that whoever is writing out the chords often calls it whatever he or she thinks it is. For better or worse. The best thing is to also have in your power to know what else it could be. Sometimes it is up to you to make the call but, as always, knowing what choices you have at your disposal helps matters immensely.

What is the difference between C Ionian and D Dorian?

If C Ionian is C D E F G A B C and D Dorian is D E F G A B C D, then what is the difference between the two?

The difference is not so obvious. To fully appreciate the difference, you need to play a chord that has a C in it over the C Ionian, and play a chord that has D in it over D Dorian. This will light up the mode. You can’t really hear the difference by just playing the scale by itself.

By the way, you don’t have to play them in order, or diatonically. But you really need to emphasize the mode you want by ending on that note. So for Dorian, you really want to end that melodic phrase with a D note.

What are 13th chords?

When building a chord like “C13th,” there are seven notes shown. The most notes that can be covered by one hand on the fretboard at one time is six. So, which note (s) do you leave out in order to actually play the chord?

As you can imagine, there’s a lot of debate amongst music theorists as to what is the “proper” thing to do in such a situation when you have a chord that has more notes than you are able to produce.

Traditionally, the fifth or the third would be left out (usually in that order). Believe it or not, there are instances, though, when the root is the “missing” note.

But the real determining factor is what notes you are able to finger (or not finger) on your fretboard. For instance, if you strum your guitar (standard tuning) without putting any fingers on the fretboard at all you would have an A11. The notes, from low to high, would be E (fifth), A (root), D (eleventh), G (seventh), B (ninth) and E (fifth again). Here the third (C#) is the missing note. You could always add this by playing it on the 1st (or 6th) string but it sounds perfectly fine as it is.

Generally a good rule of thumb with 9th, 11th, and 13th chords is to really try to include the seventh along with the root in order to give it some sense of identity.

What are diminished chords?

Diminished chords are very cool, and easy to understand. Diminished chords serve a cadential function just like a dominant 7. Just like all bar chords these are universal shapes and can be moved anywhere on the fretboard and you will come out with a diminished chord as long as the shape is retained.

For the complete answer read What are diminished chords?

How are diminished power chords formed?

Technically speaking there really is no such thing as the diminished power chord. A power chord by definition is, as you pointed out, simply the root and the fifth of a scale. The term “power chord” is strictly a contrivance of the electric guitarist. You can, however, play two notes, one being the first, or root, and the other being a diminished fifth. This is called playing an interval. It is also a very interesting interval, theory wise, because the diminished fifth is as far away as you can get from the root.

For the complete answer read How are diminished power chords formed?

What does IV of IV mean?

There are times (quite often in fact) when you will be playing a song in one key, just for example, let’s say the key of C, and you will come upon a chord which doesn’t really exist in that particular key, but hey, there it is. It sounds perfectly fine though (in the context of whatever particular chord progression that you’re playing) so maybe you won’t think about exactly how this chord “fits” in.

Let’s look at a few chord progressions in C to demonstrate this, okay? Try them out yourself if you want to.

1. C Bb F C
2. C E7 Am Dm D7 G C
3. C A D G C

Now, as we were saying, since the key of C has no flats or sharps, any chord that contains any flat or sharp is not actually part of the key of C. Where did it come from?

What music theory tries to do is to look at these chords in terms of how they fit into the flow of the chord progression. All chord progressions are simply movements from one point to the next, hopefully they will eventually bring us back to the home (or root) chord.

Sometimes in moving from one point to the next, we are actually “borrowing” chords from other keys (here the Bb in #1, the E7 and D7 in #2 and the A and D in #3). Theory tries to label these chords in terms of the keys from which they are borrowed. We (usually) try to determine where they came from by where they are going to (how they are resolved).

Just to make sure we’re on the same page, let’s look at the primary and secondary chords in the key of C major, shall we?

Are you with me? Okay, in example one (C, Bb, F, C) we need to ask about that Bb. C, F, C we already can make out as I, IV, I. Since the Bb is aiding in the transition from C to F, let’s theorize (I know bad pun) that Bb must have some relation to F. And sure enough if we look at the chords in an F major scale we will see:

In the F scale, Bb is IV. But what we want to do as music theorists is to give the Bb some kind of context in the key of C. So we have to relate it somehow to a chord in the key of C and that’s exactly what we do – we call it IV “of” IV, meaning that it is the IV of F (which is the IV of C).

Almost always (and yes there are ALWAYS exceptions) an “of” chord will be a IV or V of something. In example #2 (C, E7, Am, Dm, D7, G, C) we borrow two chords (the E7 and D7) from other places. Again if you listen to where the chords take you, it’s fairly easy to establish that the E7 is resolving to Am and the D7 to G. So we would write out this progression like this:

Are you still with me on this? Because sometimes, just to show you how tricky things can get, a chord might not be resolving to one of the chords of a given key. Then you have to be a bit of a detective to figure things out. Example #3 (C, A, D, G, C) is a typical example of this sort of thing. Here not only are A and D obviously “borrowed” from other keys, but the A resolves to the D which, since D is not part of the C chord group, presents us with a bit of a problem.

What we do in this case is to work backwards. Let’s mark what we know, okay?

Since G is the resolution for the D chord, we can (and rightly so!) make the case for D to be V of V. But that still leaves us with the A chord. But since A is the V of D, we basically create a secondary layer to describe how the A relates to the G. A would be V of V in G, correct? So we basically write that out in terms of the G to the C -

Aren’t you sorry you asked!!!

Seriously, This is an absolutely fascinating concept that many writers use (even though they may not know it). If you’d like to get a bit better handle on it, I suggest you read my column You Say You Want A Resolution.

When do I use E sharp instead of F?

I was talking to a friend who is a music teacher and to test me he asked me what the seventh would be in a F#maj7 chord. I eventually said the answer was F, he said the answer was actually E#. I was a bit confused by this, I am familiar with the enharmonic principle, but I had never heard anyone mention E#. So I went and dug out my books and looked up a couple of illustrations of the circle of fifths, and sure enough under F# in all the illustrations were the notes F#,G#,A#,B,C#,D#…and E#.

It’s questions like this that give music theorists a bad name…

Okay, technically you are both right. But in terms of the “classical” way of looking at things, E# is considered the correct answer. Why? Because if you look at the key signature for F#, there are six sharps (F#, C#, G#, D#, A#, and E#). And it’s the same thing when you look at the key of Gb – there will be a “Cb” in there. So the rule of thumb is to think of how the key signature would be written in standard notation and then to use that as your guideline.

This sort of thing though is what tends to scare good people away from music. It’s no skin off anyone’s nose to say, “Yes you are correct, however, this is how most scholars would like you to answer this…”

And in case you are interested – it is possible to argue the case that E# and F are NOT necessarily the same note. Think about this – on a violin or similar stringed instrument that has no frets (including the fretless bass guitar), it is wholly possible to make your notes sharper or flatter than they would be on a guitar, piano or any other instrument. It is simply a matter of moving your finger an infinitesimal distance one way or the other from the core note. This is why you have to have a great ear to play one of those things…

Is a chord change in a I-IV-V progression also a key change?

Technically the key of a song does NOT change with each chord change – things could get very weird if that were the case. For example, in the key of A you could solo for four bars on the A minor pentatonic scale then use the D minor pentatonic scale for two bars and back to A. You shouldn’t think of the switch to D as a “key change” per se but you can take advantage of the brief shift in modality to use a D minor pentatonic scale for the lead over these two measures. You can also use the same logic if you so desire to play an E minor pentatonic in the one measure of E (V) that comes up later on.

Two interesting things: the A minor pentatonic (A, C, D, E, G) could be used throughout the entire blues progrssion (I, IV, V). But if you wanted to try something interesting, you could also use the D minor pentatonic (D, F, G, A, C) either throughout the entire song or at least through the two measures of A after the two measures of D, just to spice things up a bit and create a very interesting feel.

What key is House of the Rising Sun in?

House of the Rising Sun is an incredibly interesting song because it flits between all three of the minor scales (natural, harmonic and melodic), never staying in one scale for long. However, it is always in A minor.

You could go a couple of different ways with this. First off, A minor pentatonic (A C D E G) will work over most of the progression. The only thing that could really hurt would be wailing on the G note over the E chord. True, G is a blue note in the E blues scale and the E minor pentatonic so if you use it wisely you may be fine.

What would also work would be to remember that leads are built upon more than just scales. Using chord shapes along “chord substitutions” will give you some very cool lines. For instance, Am is made up of A, C and E. If you kept those notes cycling in a triplet like this:

E – 12 – - – - – - – - – -
B – - – - 13 – - – - – - -
G – - – - – - – 14 – - – -

through the first part of the chord progression, you’d have this:

and that would sound very dynamic.

For more on this song check out the song lesson House of The Rising Sun and find out some intersting history in Legendary House.

Music Theory FAQ was written by Guitar Noise Staff for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

Next, we are going to “code” these chords by changing them to a “number.” Using the key of C major, once again, as our example, we would convert our chords like this:

C=1, Dm=2, Em=3, F=4, G=5, Am=6, and Bdim=7

Music theory uses these numbers to describe the “position” of a chord, in the context of its particular key. So, in the key of C, a “1-4-5-6″ chord progression would be the C, F, G, and A minor chords. Easy so far? Oh yea!

One of the reasons why this method is used is because you might find yourself in a situation where you might have to “transpose” a song. Transposing a song means, playing it in any key that is different from the one in which it is written, or the one in which you originally learned it. Therefore, transposing is much easier when you know the number system.

The secret to understanding this method, is realizing that the sequence of “chord types” are the same when transposing, whatever key they are played in. This means, in the key of D, a “1-4-5-6″ chord progression would be the D major, G major, A major, and B minor chords. Just like we did in the key of C, we used this numbering method to “code” the chords.

By learning the notes in all twelve diatonic major scales, as well as the chord sequence, transposing or reading a chord chart becomes easy. Of course, anything new requires practice, and patience! Remember, the relationships between the individual chords described by the sequence of numbers remain the same, and only the actual pitches will change. Just like we did with the key of C and D examples. By the way, diatonic means notes that are “true” to that particular scale.

If you know how to form barre chords, play a G major barre chord with the root note on the sixth string/third fret. Next, play a B minor barre chord with the root note on the fifth string/second fret. This will be the “1″ and “3″ chords in the key of G. Now, move these two “shapes” up the fretboard one whole step. Once you’ve moved these two chord shapes up one whole step, you will now be playing the “1″ and “3″ chords in the key of A. These two chords in the key of A will now be the A major barre chord and the C# minor barre chord. If you were going to “transpose” a song in the key of G, with a “1-3″ chord progression, to the key of A, again with a “1-3″ chord progression, this is one way to go about it. Remember that music and math are closely related. Maintain your chord shapes, and compensate for open string chords. Having fun?

Now, what if you were in a Nashville studio, and were given a chord chart labeled “Country Ballad Demo”: (key of E) Intro: 1-6-4-5-1 (2x), would you know what to do? Easy, just remember your chord sequence for the (major scale); first identify what the 1-6-4-5 notes are, then identify and associate the correct chords that are placed with those numbers.

Here is your chord sequence for the key of E: 1=E major, 2=F# minor, 3=G# minor, 4=A major, 5=B major, 6=C# minor, 7=D# diminished. Now you can find what your demo “intro” will be; (E, C#minor, A, B, and E: “1-6-4-5-1″.) The (2x) means that you you play the intro chord progression (you guessed it) twice. The tempo and all other elements of the song would be outlined at the start of the session. This is a general idea of what you could expect in a recording studio. Also, when performing onstage, it is common to use chord charts with The Number System in some bands.

As we have seen, learning The Number System involves counting the number of steps up the major scale. The numbers are there to identify where the chords are positioned in the scale, and the chord types. Two main reasons that you would want to transpose a chord progression are: to find a good key for the vocalist, and to find the best fingering for a riff or chord shape. When you transpose a chord progression to the most appropriate new key, you’ve just solved your problems. Learning and mastering barre chords is essential for making everything easier on yourself. It is so much simpler to move a barre chord because your fingering stays the same. If you don’t have one already, get a book on barre chord shapes and general music theory. This will be very helpful in the speed of learning.

Here is an example of some of the things you would study in music theory. “As far as learning about chords, there are four different triads to study. (A triad is a combination of three notes played together.) Here are the four triads: major, minor, augmented, and diminished. With any given triad, when you change the order of the notes, it is called inversion. Any one of those three notes could hold the root position. With every triad there are three inversions; root position, first inversion, and the second inversion. With each inversion you will have different sounds, and what I call the “mood” of the chord.” Confused yet? It gets easier with a good detailed book. The best thing to do is take one area of study at a time. Remember that learning The Number System and knowing your chords go hand in hand. So a good place to start in music theory is chord study.

I like to give a basic outline of a lesson, and let you discover the rest. I think it’s more fun and rewarding when you discover something on your own. It can take a little longer, but it will make you a better musician. You will have to spend more time on the subject, and put in more practice and thought, but as mentioned the rewards will be greater!

Have fun with everything you learn, and always try to apply what you’ve just learned to your older lessons.

About the Author

Jimmy is a working musician in a country/classic rock cover band. He has been playing guitar since 1979, and started in his first band in 1981. Having taught guitar for over eight years in several music stores, he still considers himself a student and loves the idea of learning. He was awarded a scholarship to the Atlanta Institute of Music, and has appeared in two different guitar magazines: Guitar FTPM, and recently in Guitar Player. His idea of success is making a living doing what you love, and being a good provider.For more on Jimmy, please visit his website.

The Number System was written by Special to Guitar Noise for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

We’ll start with some basics:

What is a chord substitution?

It’s using one chord in place of another (or part of another) in a chord progression.

Why would you want to substitute a chord?

Well, you might have a progression that sounds good, but you want to see if it can sound better. Substituting chords can dress things up a bit. Or if you’re playing in a highly improvisational format, changing a chord to something close is one way to throw ideas at the soloist.

How does chord substitution work?

In two major ways: first, the chord might be close to the original – so it sounds ‘mostly’ right. If the chord called for is C major (made of C-E-G notes), you might try A minor (A-C-E) or E minor (E-G-B), which each have two of the same notes… it’s the one note that’s different which makes it a substitution. This is easiest to see in standard notation:

In the second way, the chord is different from the original, but leads naturally into it. These substitutions are usually for just part of the duration. In the following example, F major is played for two bars in the original progression. You might try C7 for the first bar, and F major for the second bar. The C7 naturally resolves to F, so even if the C7 is a bit of a leap from where you ‘should’ be in the progression, it leads you right back to the path you were originally on.

Original:

Substitution:

Now that we’ve covered the basics, I’ll go through fourteen different substitution ideas, and why each one works.

#1: Chord extensions . You can always add things to the core notes of a chord – playing C6 instead of C, or G9 instead of G7. Since all of the notes of the original chord are also in the substitution, they retain the original idea of the harmony. The one thing to pay attention to is the seventh note of the chord – if it’s a dominant chord to begin with (having a b7 note), you’ll want to keep a b7 tone in the substitution. If it’s a major chord to begin with, you’ll want to add a major (natural) seventh if you use one. Minor chords are the switch hitters – you can extend them either way… choose the one that places the seventh (7 or b7) in key.

Original:

Substitution:

#2 – Chord simplifications . These are the opposite of extensions – you can use a diminished triad, like Bº (B-D-F) in place of a 7 th chord a major third lower – in this case, G7 (G-B-D-F). That works because the notes of the diminished triad are completely contained in the seventh chord:

Other simplifications can snag just a portion of the original chord – if D9 (D-F#-A-C-E) is called for, a D triad works… as does Am or F#º. Each of those has three tones out of the original chord’s five:

#3 – Chord suspensions . Suspended chords replace the third with a fourth, and that creates tension that wants to resolve – the fourth wants to move down a half step to the third. Use these for the first half of a chord – use Fsus-F-C or F-Csus-C in place of F-C.

Original:

Substitution:

#4 – Secondary Dominants . You can always use the dominant chord of your target for just part of the original chord’s duration. We did this with C7 and F just a little while ago, using a measure of each instead of playing two measures of F. This is called a secondary dominant, which I covered in an earlier article. Secondary dominants actually work for any chord in a progression, not just a dominant chord.

Original:

Substitution:

#5 – Relative majors and minors . If the original chord is minor, the major chord built on the third (C for an Am chord) will work as a chord substitution; if the original is major, the minor based on the sixth will work. In both cases, the substituted chord will have two of the original chord’s three tones:

#6 – Minor chords a third above a major . Like the relative minor (the sixth above a major), this chord will share two tones with the original:

#7 – Back and fourths (a term I invented to explain this one to students!) We’ve all seen how a blues progression moves I-IV-I before the V7-I cadence; you can use a chord of the same type, a fourth higher, for any chord – as long as you make a chord ‘sandwich’ (original-substitution-original). If the progression goes C-F-G7, you can play C-F-Bb-F-G7.

Original:

Substitution:

#8 – Diminished 7 th chords a third above a dominant chord . Since the simplification of a seventh chord into a diminished triad (substituting B-D-F for G-B-D-F) works, you can combine the simplification and extension to create a new substitution – using Bº7 (1-3-5-bb7, or B-D-F-Ab). The new chord will share three tones with the original.

#9 – Dominant 7 th chords a minor third above a dominant chord . This one will share two tones – instead of G7 (G-B-D-F), you’d play Bb7 (Bb-D-F-Ab). You still have two tones in common. I’m showing this chord inverted, so you can more easily see how close they are:

#10 – The tritone substitution . A tritone is three whole steps from the original chord. If the original is dominant – a 7 th , 9 th , 11 th , or 13 th chord – you can use any dominant chord that’s three whole steps up from the root of the original.

For example, if the original is G7 (G-B-D-F), a tritone up from G is C# – so you could use C#7, or the enharmonic Db7 instead (Db-F-Ab-C). This works for a couple of reasons… first, the new chord shares two tones with the old one; second (and really cool – one reason this substitution is used so often in jazz!), the new chord will almost always blend into the chords on either side by half steps.

Let’s say the original change is Dm-G7-C. We plug in Db7 instead of G7… and now the roots move chromatically, D-Db-C. You’ve got one tone in Db that’s ‘connected’ to the chord on each side – F is in the Dm chord, and C is in the C chord – and even the Ab makes for chromatic steps A-Ab-G moving from the Dm chord to the C!

I’ll show the G7 and Db7 chords inverted, so you can more easily see the chromatic movement:

#11 – m7b5 chords a fifth above in place of a dominant chord . Instead of using G7 (G-B-D-F), you can use Dm7b5 (D-F-Ab-C). Again, you have two common tones from the original chord – the Dm7b5 is shown inverted to highlight the similarity:

#12 – m7 ai fifth higher than a dominant (for part of a change) . This actually turns a V-I progression into ii-V-I, a very common jazz progression. Instead of using G7-C, you can use Dm7-G7-C.

Original:

Substitution:

#13 – Dominant alterations . These start getting tricky… when you have a dominant chord in the chart, you can place b5, #5, b9, or #9 in the chord. It’s best to establish the original chord first , then do your substitution. C7-F can become C7-C7b5-F, or C7-C7+-F, or C7-C7b9-F, etc. These work best when the dominant chord is going to resolve down a fifth. For more on altered chords, see my article “Altered States”.

#14 – Stepping . Most chords can be ‘stepped into’ chromatically – you can substitute C-Ab7-G7 or A-F#7-G7 for a C-G7 change. You can actually over/under shoot your chord by quite a ways and still step into it, if you treat the change carefully… C-B7-Bb7-A7-Ab7-G7 can be made to work under the right circumstances.

Although stepping chromatically is the most common of this fairly rare type of substitution, it’s not the only choice – altered dominants work well when stepped into by whole steps, as in C-A7#9-G7#9-G7 for a C-G7 change. Unaltered dominants will even work when stepped into by minor thirds – you can use C-Bb7-G7 instead of C-G7.

You can even combine stepping with other substitutions – if you substitute an altered dominant, you can step into it by a whole step, like this:

Original:

Substitution:

Chord substitutions don’t come easily, and they don’t come naturally to most players. Don’t be afraid to experiment in your practice sessions – eventually you’ll be taking chords in unexpected directions, and resolving them to the original progression.

Also in this Series

• Untangling Chord Progressions
• Extended Chords
• Altered States
  

Chord Substitution was written by Tom Serb for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

Key signatures?

The key signature is shown on the stave just after the clef but before the time signature. The key signature is shown as sharps or flats on certain lines or spaces telling the performer to play that note one semitones higher for a sharp or a semitone lower for a flat:

In the above example, there is a whole note on the line representing an F so the performer would play the first fret on the high E (first) string but the key signature tells the performer to play every F as F# so the second fret on that string would be played instead.

As the name suggests the key signature is an indication of the key the piece is written in, with the sharps or flats shown in the key signature being present in a certain key. The number of sharps or flats present in the key signature relates directly to a major scale.

Building Major Scales with Sharps

Major scales are built using a formula of tones and semitones – a “tone” being two frets distance from a note and a “semitone” being one. Below is the formula for constructing a major scale:

When using this formula to work out a C major scale we get all natural notes, meaning there are no flats or sharps:

If we then take the fifth note from the C major scale, which is G, and using the formula construct a G major scale we get our first sharp:

If we continue to build major scales this way a pattern emerges in the way sharps build through the different keys:

The fifth note in a major scale is the new key and the seventh note is the new sharp. The number of sharps in the key signature is directly linked with the number of sharps in a major key, the example below would be in the key of A major, the key signature shows the three sharps in A major F#, C# and G#:

Building Major Scales with Flats

The theory is much the same as with sharps except the next scale comes from the fourth degree rather than the fifth. If we go back to our C major scale but take the Fourth note which in this case is an F then using the formula Construct a F major scale we end up with:

Bb is used rather than A# because this maintains that each letter name is present only once in the scale. If we continue to build in the same way we did with the sharp keys, a pattern emerges with the flats:

As shown above, the fourth note is not only the new key but also the new flat. As demonstrated with the sharps the number of flats in a key signature directly relates with the number of flats in a key, the key signature below has three flats Bb, Eb and Ab so is in the key of Eb major:

So far we have covered how to work out 15 different key signatures 7 sharps and 7 flats not forgetting C major, which has neither.

Through using mnemonics, the process of working out what key is represented by a key signature and what notes are sharpened or flattened becomes easy. Just follow the steps below:

How Many Sharps?

• Count down this mnemonic till you get to the key you want:

Go Down And Eat Bread Father Christmas

• E.g. E is the forth word so E major has four sharps.

What Sharps?

• Bring Farther and Christmas to the front of the mnemonic:

Father Christmas Go Down And Eat Bread

• Count up by the number of sharps
• e.g. for E major count four
• This gives you Farther Christmas Go Down

E Major = 4 sharps F#, C#, G# and D#

How Many Flats?

• Count down this mnemonic till you get to the key you want:

Fred Blogs Eats All Dogs Get Cracking

• E.g. E is the third word so E flat has three flats.

What Flats?

Bring Fred to the back of the mnemonic:

Blogs Eats All Dogs Get Cracking Fred

• Count up by the number of flats
• e.g. for E flat count three
• This gives you Blogs Eats All

E Flat = 3 Flats Bb, Eb and Ab

Relative Minor

Every major scale has a relative minor scale that shares its key signature. A relative minor scale is built from the sixth degree of its relative major scale, for example below is C major and its relative minor:

Relative minors are easy to work out on the fret board, simply put your fourth finger on the Major scale root note for example A fifth fret then place your third finger fourth fret, second finger third then your first finger in the second fret. The note your first finger is on is the relative minor (F#):

This now makes the subject more complex if we are faced with this key signature:

How do we know if it is D major or Bm?

This can be achieved through listening to the piece and seeing if it has a major or minor key center. Try listening to the two examples below one of the chord progressions is in the key of E minor and the other G major both would have a key signature of one sharp.

Download mp3 (Right-click and “Save as”)

Download mp3 (Right-click and “Save as”)

Example 1 clearly has a major key center with example two having a minor key center. If the music is in the form of a score or chord chart simply look at the first and last chord if they are minor the piece is in a minor key if they are major it’s a major key.

Here are two PDF’s one for the mnemonics, the second containing a list of key signatures and relative minors, once you think you have got it try this Java game to test your knowledge.

• Mnemonics for Major Scales (Right-click and “Save as”)
• Key Signatures (Right-click and “Save as”)

Key Signatures was written by Paul Andrews for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

This article started life as a stand-alone piece. However, Oleg Twerdov presented a similar piece, before mine was finished, so I offer this as another look at the same idea.

First of all, I’d just like to say that it is not a replacement for theory. It will not teach you the names of notes in scales or chords. It just offers you a way of using theory without too much thought.

Let’s start by looking at a major scale in intervals, just as Oleg did- WWHWWWH or TTSTTTS. We can translate this, directly, into frets, each one being a semi- or half-tone apart from it’s nearest neighbour. Looking at the major scale this way, gives us 2 frets, 2 frets, 1 fret, 2 frets, 2 frets, 2 frets, 1 fret.

Looking at it cumulatively, we have 0, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, 12. So, the intervals are:

These numbers are important, so I’ll repeat them 0, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, 12.

Although what I show here is based on standard tuning, it is easily adaptable to other tunings, as it only requires that you know the number of frets between each string. In standard tuning, the guitar is tuned to perfect fourths (with apologies to the G string, which insists upon being a major third).

What, though, is the relevance of the numbers? They represent the number of frets from the root to the corresponding scale degree – and, knowing that, I can work out any scale position, without even having to know the name of the note I started from.

By applying the offset (in terms of the number of frets) to the starting position (the root), you can build a major scale anywhere on the fretboard with no trouble, at all.

Right, let’s do just that. Let’s arrange a major scale on the fretboard, without even knowing the name of a single note. To make things easy, we’ll start with a note on the low E (6th) string – I’ll use the 5th fret (I’ve called it 6/5 – 6 th string/5 th fret). Right, we have our root note. Where do we find the 2nd degree? Two frets up from the root (just like in the table), so 6th string 7th fret (the scale so far – 6/5, 6/7).

However, because of the construction of the guitar fretboard, I can also find the same tone one string higher on the A string. Because there are 5 frets difference between the E and the A, I can take the interval away and get the number of frets LOWER on the A string – (Base + 2 frets)-5 (difference in frets between strings) = Base-3 frets, but 1 string higher. We started on the 5th fret of the low E, so the other position is 1 string higher – the A string – and 3 frets lower (5 – 3 = 2nd fret), so 5/2 (instead of 6/7, which is exactly the same pitch).

The third is 4 frets up from the root (in this case, the 5th fret) – 6/9 – but no-one is going to stretch 4 frets voluntarily. We should, therefore, look one string higher – Root+4 frets (3rd interval) -5 (frets difference between the strings) = 1 string higher and 1 fret lower (5/4). Our sequence, so far, looks like this – 6/5, 6/7, 5/4 (I could also have used 6/5, 5/2, 5/4).

The 4th degree is 5 frets up from the root, but if no-one is going to stretch 4 frets, they’re not going attempt 5, so we have to, again, go to the next string – Root+5 frets (4th interval) -5 frets difference between the strings = same fret, but one string higher. (6/5, 6/7, 5/4, 5/5).

The 5th is 7 frets up from the root. So, Root+7-5 (frets to next string) = 2. So the 5th degree is on the next higher string and 2 frets higher than the root note. – (6/5, 6/7, 5/4, 5/5, 5/7).

Rather than go through each calculation, let’s just jump to the octave. This is 12 frets higher than the root, so we have to factor in more than 1 string (each being 5 frets difference), i.e. Root+12-5=7, which is still too much of a stretch, so we have to take the jump to the next string and deduct another 5 frets from the answer: Root+12-5-5 = 2. So, we have to go 2 strings higher (5 + 5) and up 2 frets. – I’ve filled in the other notes in the major scale and you get this – (6/5, 6/7, 5/4, 5/5, 5/7, 4/4, 4/6, 4/7 – play it, it’s the A major scale).

One thing that I have not yet included, in the calculation, is the G string. Don’t panic, it’s no problem. Whenever you cross the G to B string (or vice versa), you have to calculate 4 frets between strings, rather than 5. Instead of 2 strings being 5 + 5, you have to calculate 5 + 4 and find the remaining frets. So an octave is 12 – 5 – 4 = 3 – two strings and three frets higher. Why don’t you fill the major scale, that I started, all the way up to the high E string, taking care not to forget the dastardly G-B divide!

OK, here’s a table showing all the positions:

s = string, f= fret. 0= same, so 0s = same string

The column “G/B” denotes the difference, wherever the interval spans the G-B divide.

The method also allows you to work backwards – but instead of calculating from the root as 0, you call it 12. Going from the root to the 7th (found 11 frets up from the root): 12-11=1, so the 7th is 1 fret lower than the root. The calculation of moving from string to string doesn’t change. Let’s say I want to find the 4 th degree of the scale, but on a lower string than the one I’m on. For argument’s sake, we’ll assume that we’re on the root note and to make the calculation easy, at 4/7 (4 th string/7 th fret). The 4 th degree is 5 frets up from the root, so 12 (rather than 0) – 5 = 7, so 7 frets lower than my current position. I can deduct 5, to bring me one string lower: 7-5=2. I still have 2 frets left so I have to go those 2 frets lower, which takes me from the 7 th fret to the 5 th on the next lower string to where we started, so I land on 5/5.

It doesn’t stop there. Just think, you have a major chord and want to play a 7th. If you don’t know the actual fingering, you have to first work out the 7th degree of the scale that you’re in, drop it by one semitone and find that note on the fretboard.

I’ll give you another way. The 7th is 11 frets up (or 2 strings and 1 fret) from the root. A 7th chord needs a flat 7th (one semitone lower than a normal 7th or an “11b” – normal 7th is 11 frets up from the root), so we need 2 strings up and 0 frets up (0-5-5+10). I know my root note, so I can find the flat 7th 2 strings higher at the same fret. As long as it isn’t the only occurrence of a triad note (R, iii, V), I only need to fret that string at the same fret as the root note and I have a 7th chord. Alternatively, I can use the reverse calculation. A 7th is one fret lower than the root, so a flat 7th is going to be 2 frets lower. I look for a note 2 frets lower than any root, other than the bass root note. It all, of course, needs to be modified, if the G-B problem arises.

Let’s build a C7. Here is our starting point, the Cmajor chord – x32010. I need the root, two strings higher, same fret. The root is on the 5th string at the 3rd fret, so I need 3rd string, 3rd fret – yep, a classical C7. From the other standpoint – there is a root note on the B string, at the 1st fret. The method says 10 up or 2 down, but 10 up is idiocy and 2 down is somewhere the wrong side of the nut – what to do? The open B string is tuned to the same note as the 4th fret of the G string, so let’s start there. The 1st fret B string is the same as 5th fret G string, which gives us: 5-2=3, 3rd string 3rd fret.

Take a Gmajor – 320003. I want a G7. So I look at the note 2 strings higher than the base root note (low E, 3rd fret), the D string – which is, unfortunately, the only occurrence of a D (5th degree) in the chord. I, then, look at another root (high E, 3rd fret) and drop 2 frets, to the 1st fret. Here is a G7 chord. This, by the way, is also 10 frets up from the root note on the 3rd string 0 fret (G): Root+10-4 (we’re crossing the G-B) -5 (B to E) =1 (1st fret, 1st string).

Once you have this in your mind, it is easy to translate any interval to the fretboard. You want a power chord? It’s made up of the root and the 5th, which is 7 frets higher than the root. Pick the root and look one string higher and 2 frets up (3, if you’re lumbered with the G-B problem). Same applies to the octave – (12 frets – 5 – 5 = 2), 2 strings higher and 2 frets ( 12 -5 – 4 = 3 for the G-B) up.

Once you have a reasonable grasp of the numbers, you can short-cut your way around the scales. How far is a 6th from a 3rd? A 6th is 9 frets up and a 3rd is 4, so the distance is 5 frets. How far is a 2nd from a flat 7th? A 7th is 11 frets up, so flatted it’s at 10. A 2nd is 2 frets up, giving us 10-2 = 8.

We can now use this knowledge to look more closely at some other scales.

The Major Scale.

What can I say? – WWHWWWH or TTSTTTS. I’ve told you how to build this.

The Minor Scales

Relative Minor – WHWWHWW

Flattens the 3rd, 6th and 7th. Easy. The sequence becomes, 0, 2, 3 (was 4, but flat, becomes 3), 5, 7, 8 (was 9, but flats to 8), 10 (was 11, but flats to 10), 12. (0,2,3,5,7,8,10,12)

Harmonic Minor – WHWWHW#H

It’s the same as the relative minor, except that the 7 th isn’t flat, which gives rise to a 3 fret gap between the 6 th and the 7 th (which I’ve shown as W#). Otherwise, it’s the relative minor – (0,2,3,5,7,8,11,12)

Melodic Minor (up) – WHWWWWH

This is the same as the major scale, but with only the 3 rd flattened, so (0,2,3,5,7,9,11,12).

Melodic Minor (down) – WHWWHW#H

Is exactly the same as the relative minor scale. (0,2,3,5,7,8,10,12)

The Major Pentatonic – WW(H+W)W(W+H)

This is the same as the major scale, with the 4th and 7th degress removed, so instead of 0, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, 12, the major pentatonic consists of 0, 2, 4, 7, 9, 12

The Minor Pentatonic

This is the same as the relative minor scale, with the 2nd and 6th degress removed, so instead of 0,2,3,5,7,8,10,12, the minor pentatonic consists of 0,3,5,7,10,12

The Modes.

Ever thought of learning the mode box patterns – after you’ve learnt the major, minor, pentatonic and God knows what other patterns, of course. No need.

Modes are just major scales, which start at different positions. Take the Mixolydian, starting at the 5th degree (7 frets up – the “base fret offset”). Just modify the calculation to deduct the base fret offset – so the root of the mixolydian is the position in the major scale minus the offset (7-7=0), the 2nd degree of the Mixo mode is really the 6th degree of the major scale, but knowing the base fret offset (7) and knowing that the 6th degree of the major scale is 9 frets up, we get 9-7=2. the second position is 2 frets higher than the “root” of our mixo scale. The 3rd is at 11 on the major scale, so 11-7=4, which is probably best one string higher, but 1 fret down (just as in the major scale layout). Next comes the 4th, which is the octave of the base major scale, but we call it 12, rather than 0, because it is the octave and not the root of the original scale: 12-7= 5, which goes on the next string, same fret. The 5th of the mixo (the 2nd of the major scale) is at 14 (octave+2), so 14-7=7 – applying the original calculation, we get 1 string and 2 frets higher.

Mixolydian mode:

You can build any mode at any starting position, without even having to memorise a single box pattern.

Whether building major scales or modes, you end up with the same patterns on the fretboard as the box patterns found in any book, but this method gives you the ability to build a scale, even if your memory is not that good and you haven’t played the pattern for several months. In fact, the more you use this method, the easier it will become to build the box patterns.

One drawback of box patterns, is that they are boxes. You learn 5, effectively, separate entities. Bringing them together and using them as one large network of notes is difficult, once you’ve learnt them separately. Another problem is that most people (and I include myself) learn the boxes as they are presented on paper, almost invariably starting with the “1st pattern” at the 6th string, 5th fret – and find that changing to play the same box somewhere else on the neck is a mental challenge. This method takes you away from building box patterns and into building scales. Try building a run from the A on the low E to the higher reaches of the high E, using box patterns. You’re going to traverse at least 2, if not 3. By selectively changing strings, you can build runs, as long as you like, on one or several strings, just by adding the necessary number of frets to your last position. This is another point – as you get better with the fret intervals, you start to think also in terms of intervals between positions, within the scale (iii – IV is 1 fret in the major scale, etc.). It is, however, the number of frets from the root, which is important – it gives you the frame of reference from which to work – the root of the scale.

Although Helgi Briem has been promoting the use of intervals for, certainly, as long as I’ve been a member of GN, this only recently hit me – it was one of those “light going on” moments. Since then I’ve found building scales much easier than with a scale chart. I’m seeing why frets are played, where they are and what relevance that position has to the rest of the scale, even if it hasn’t registered what the names of the notes are. Give it a try – it really doesn’t take long to grasp.

For those of you who say that you are lousy at maths, here’s another method – left foot is the root note, right foot is the octave and your 10 fingers (and thumbs) are the positions in between – there’s absolutely no reason NOT to give it a try now, is there? ;))

Guitar Playing By Numbers was written by Graham Merry for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

Now the key to learning something new and seemingly complicated, is to discover relationships with the material using information you already know. We are going to learn the fret board by observing some of its hidden mathematical relationships. Then we will use our ability to quickly add small numbers in our head to speed up note retrieval and our memorization of the fret board.

First, the simple memorization part. To begin, we need to memorize the numerical values of all 12 notes of the chromatic scale. Simply number A to G#, sequentially starting from 0 and up to 11 as follows:

Now we know that the transitions from sharp to flat are enharmonic and represent the same note. Usually when ascending, the sharp notation is used, while descending, the flat notation is used, but for our purposes, it really doesn’t matter which notation you favor.

To help speed your memorization of each note value, pay particular attention to the number assignments given the natural notes A-B-C-D-E-F-G (0-2-3-5-7-8-10). Then if you need to “sharpen” a note, simply add 1. If you need to “flatten” a note, subtract 1. Note that there are no sharps or flats between B & C (2 & 3) and E & F (7 & 8).

At this point, you already know the fret that must be pressed to obtain all the notes along one string! Take a look at the A string.

Before we continue, you really need to commit to memory the values of the open-string notes on your six string guitar. That is, E-A-D-G-B-E is represented by 7-0-5-10-2-7. To help remember this sequence, think “0-5-10 between 2 7′s”. Note that the B string value is simply its string number and the A string has a value of 0.

We can use the sum of the string value and the fret number to solve for our note. Now, when you push down a fret and pick a string, just add the fret number to the string value and your result will correspond to your note. But if the sum of the string value and the fret number is 12 or greater, you must subtract 12 from your result until your number is from 0 to 11 in order to get your note.

For example, if I hold down the 4 th fret of my E string (value 7), then my sum is 7+4=11, which corresponds to G#. Of course, your speed at this will be strongly dependent on how well you committed the note values to memory. For example, when you see “D”, you need to instantly think “5″, and you need to do this without counting from 0 (A). But you will find that making this association is certainly a lot easier than trying to memorize every note along each string, or trying to count alphabetically from the open string note.

But what if the sum of the string value and the fret is 12 or greater? In this case, you will have to subtract 12 from your sum until you get a result from 0 to 11. For example, if you press the 10 th fret of the G string, your sum is 10+10=20. Simply subtract 12 from 20 to get 8, and you see your note is F. If your result is 0, that means don’t push a fret and play the string open to get your note. Refer to the following note map and try this for other notes along the fret board:

Well, this method easily tells you how to find the note you’re playing, but what you really need is a method to tell you what fret you must press to get the note you want. To use it this way, use the note value that you memorized and the string value you are on to solve for your fret number. Now if your note value is less than the value of the string you want to play it on, you must add 12 to your note value and subtract the string value to get the fret number to press.

For example, if you want the D note on the B string, you know that D has a value of 5 and the B string has a value of 2. To determine the fret number, simply ask yourself “What number must I add to 2 (the B string value) in order to equal 5 (my note)?” The answer is 3, so you press the 3 rd fret of the B string to get 5 (D note).

But what if the note you are looking for has a value less than the string value you wish to play it on? In this case, you must add 12 to your note value to solve for your fret number. For example, I want the B note on the G string. The B note has a value of 2, while the G string has a value of 10. So I must first add 12 to 2 to get 14. Then ask yourself, what number must be added to 10 (G string) to get 14? The answer is 4, so you press fret 4 of the G string in order to get your B note.

Of course, this will take some practice, but what you will soon discover is that it will actually speed your memorization of the fret board and your ability to randomly access your notes. Eventually you will just know where to go, almost without thinking about it. After you’ve memorized the value of each note from A to G#, as 0 through 11, you should practice trying to retrieve each note on each string.

For example, start with A and find A on each string, then try Bb, followed by C, and so on, for every note. Think of each string in terms of its open note value. Your fret board has markers at the 3 rd , 5 th , 7 th , 9 th , and 12 th fret. It also has marks at the 15 th , 17 th , 19 th , and 21 st fret. Use the fret board marks to quickly find your fret number.

So what is the significance of the string values? Note that 12 minus the numbers 7-0-5-10-2-7 (E-A-D-G-B-E) actually represent the fret number that must be pressed on each of the strings to hit the A note. That is, these numbers simply represent an index offset from 12 to the A note on each string.

Here are some other observations to help you navigate the fret board. We use the term “octave” to refer to the interval between two notes of which one note is at exactly twice the frequency of another note. When referring to the 12 notes of the chromatic scale, an octave refers to the 12 note transitions between a note and itself one octave higher. The same note one octave higher will actually have a string vibration (frequency) twice that of the original note. Thus, you know that by adding 12 to your fret number along any string will give you the same note one octave higher.

Now we have to establish a sense of direction. When I move up in pitch, I shift from the top string (low E string 6) towards the bottom string (high E string 1). Further, when I move up the fret board, I shift down the neck from the nut. The common element here is that shifting up corresponds to raising the pitch, even though I’m physically moving down the neck and down the strings.

Now that we got that straight, if you shift up two strings and up two frets, you will also get the octave of your note. But if when shifting strings, you happen to land on either of the first two strings (the B and high E strings), then you must shift up 3 frets instead of 2 to get the same note one octave higher. Now the octave of a note found by shifting 12 frets along the same string is equivalent to the octave of the same note found by shifting up 2 strings and 2 frets (or 2 strings and 3 frets if you land on the B or high E string).

So we see that every octave has a redundant position on the fret board. Further, we see that the fret board covers each note at least one octave above and one octave below it. Likewise, most of the notes also have a redundant position on the fret board. Note that the 5 th fret of every string (except between strings 2 & 3) is equal to the adjacent string’s note played open. We sometimes use this relationship to tune string to string after having tuned only one reference string. Now between strings 2 & 3 we must shift one fret lower – that is the 4 th fret of string 3 is equal to the string 2 played open. So with this in mind, the high-E string is actually 2 octaves above the low-E string. So how many octaves of low E can we find? What if you press the 12 th fret of the high E string? This is the 3 rd octave of low E. If your guitar happens to have 24 frets, then you can get the 4 th octave of low E as well.

Now you have a simple method for random note access, but with all the redundancy and note octaves, you still need to know that you’re playing the right note, or the right octave of a note. Without getting too complicated with regard to music theory, you know that symbols are positioned on the staff to indicate which note must be played. With respect to reading music, remember that the bottom line of our staff (5 lines) corresponds to the E note. Each staff line above or below represents a shift of two natural notes. Now with respect to the E note, we have another E one octave above and another E one octave below. With two note transitions for every line space of the staff, one octave on the staff spans the space of 4 lines. So E one octave higher is a span of 4 lines above the bottom line, E one octave lower is a span of 4 lines below the bottom line. So, what string and fret do we play for a symbol that intersects the bottom line of our staff? This is the E that occurs on the 2 nd fret of the D string (it also has a redundant position somewhere else). The E one octave higher will occur on the 5 th fret of the B string, or the again on the high-E string played open (remember the fifth fret is the higher adjacent string played open). So what about the E note that occurs on the 7 th fret of the A string? This is the same as the E played on the 2 nd fret of the adjacent D string (where we started). See the redundancy. Play the two notes on your guitar. If you’re tuned properly, they should sound the same.

Now refer to the note table and notice all the redundant notes as you move along the fret board! You must train your fingers to take advantage of this redundancy and always seek the path of least resistance when switching between notes. The next part of this lesson will help you to navigate note to note and identify some relationships that you can use to discriminate a note from its octave or its copy.

If you made it this far, here is some more food for thought that will help reinforce your memorization of the fret board (and it will even introduce you to the circle of fifths). In this next exercise, what we will attempt to do is to complete a fret map by noting the simple mathematical relationships that exist between notes on adjacent strings (and between adjacent notes arranged in the order of the circle of fifths).

Begin by constructing a table containing 6 columns and 12 rows. Number the columns from left to right to correspond to your strings from 6 to 1 (in order of increasing pitch). Label each row at the left with the 12 notes of the chromatic scale as shown below. Then place an 8 in the upper left-hand corner of your table at the intersection of the C row and 6 th string as shown below. The 8 refers to the fret you must press on the 6 th string to get C.

An easy way to remember the order of the 12 notes in the leftmost column is by memorizing the phrase:

Christian Girls Dig Angels Even Before Fat# Christian# Girls# Evenb Beforeb Flat

Note the pound symbol (#) after “Fat Christian Girls” that denotes a sharp, and the flat symbol (b) in “Even Before” Flat. The ordering of these notes is also significant, as it follows the order of the circle of fifths (more on this later).

Now what we want to do is fill out the table with the fret numbers that must be pressed in order to play each note at the left on the string above. But for the purposes of this exercise, we will not use the string values we learned in the prior lesson.

Instead, we will derive the fret numbers using the relationship that every adjacent fret number is found by either subtracting 5 or adding 7. We determine whether to add 7 or subtract 5 by obtaining a result that must be a number from 0 to 11. We know by now that the interval between the 3 rd and 2 nd string is always treated differently, so we will constrain our focus to the four strings at the left and doing the math starting from 8.

Using our relationship, the boxes adjacent to 8 must be filled by either (8-5) or (8+7). Since our result must be a number from 0 to 11, we choose to subtract 5 and our result is 3. So we place 3 in the two boxes adjacent to 8. Now the boxes adjacent to 3 are derived the same way. Here we choose to add 7 to get 10. Continue to fill out all the boxes of the first four columns this same way. For the last column (the high E string), we use the shortcut knowing that these fret numbers must be equal to the fret numbers of the first column (low E string).

Now we have one more column to fill. Derive the string 2 column by doing the opposite of what we did for the first 4 columns, and start from the last column (high E). That is, we will either subtract 7 or add 5 to each number in the rightmost column to get the adjacent number in column 2. Fill each box of column 2 this way. Now you should have a complete map that tells you what fret you must press to get each note of the chromatic scale on each string as follows:

Bonus exercise – fill out the same table using the note values learned in the first part of this lesson.

So why did we do this? There are some patterns here that we can use. Note that for the first 4 columns, the adjacent column is found by shifting the numbers up one box and placing the number that shifted off the top, at the bottom of the adjacent column. Only between strings 3 and 2 are things handled differently. Here column 2 is found by shifting the numbers of column 6 down 1 and bringing the number shifted off the bottom to the top. But this visual pattern is not what I’m looking for. Instead, look at the fret numbers for the same note as we move across the strings. Notice that the fret always shifts by 7 or 5, except between strings 3 and 2, where it shifts by 8 or 4.

Now look back at the note table in the first part of this lesson. Note that if you pick a note on any string, and you shift up to the adjacent string (you shift up in the direction of increasing pitch), you get the octave of the note by shifting your fret up by 7 on the adjacent string. You get the redundant (copy) of the note by shifting your fret number down by 5. But if you are shifting from string 3 to string 2, you shift your fret up by 8 to get the octave, and you shift your fret down by 4 to get a redundant copy of your note.

Now referring back to the fret map, you can identify the octave shifts and the redundant copies using this same relationship. That is, as you up shift across the table, if the fret increases by 7, you hit the octave. If the fret decreases by 5, you hit a copy. This is true for any transition, except between strings 3 and 2, where the octave is found by up shifting 8, and the copy by down shifting 4. The following fret table uses the ^ symbol to identify a shift in octave as you shift across the strings:

Notice that every note has two octaves as you move up in pitch from the low E string to the high E string (and you stay within 11 frets). Also note that there are a lot of redundant copies of notes, first octaves, and second octaves that you can take advantage of (the copies are bold boxed in the table). But if we are constrained only to the first 11 frets, some notes will not have a redundant copy (see low E, F, F#, G, G#–the first five notes on the low E string). However, every first octave does have at least one redundant copy. But not every second octave includes a redundant copy if we are constrained to the first 11 frets (see C, B, C#, D, Eb).

Because we already know that the sequence of fret and string combinations repeats itself one octave higher beginning at the 12 th fret, we have focused on all the note combinations formed up to the 11 th fret. We’re going to continue to focus on all the combinations up to the 11 th fret, but let’s take inventory. We know we have 6 strings and 11 frets, so this gives us 6×12=72 possible combinations of string and fret. Now, we’ve also seen that every note has exactly two octaves below the 12 th fret. 12 notes + 12 first octaves + 12 second octaves = 36. So we actually have 72-36=36 redundancies. That’s a lot to keep track of, but use the relationships we’ve identified to discern octaves and copies.

That is, as we up shift strings, we have a first octave by shifting 7 frets up on the first string shift, or two frets up if we shift 2 strings up (both of these octaves are equivalent). We have to make an adjustment on string 2 by adding 1 fret. We also have the copy of a note by down shifting 5 frets on the first string shift (or down shifting 4 frets to get the copy if we land on the B string).

So what exactly is the circle of fifths? We’ll save this for another lesson, except to say that in the circle of fifths, each adjacent note moving clockwise (starting with C in the 12 o’clock position) represents the fifth note in a major scale of the prior note. That is, G is the fifth note of a C major scale, D is the fifth note of a G major scale, and so on, moving clockwise around the circle.

I hope you found this information helpful. There sure is a lot of math in music! My hope is that by showing you some of these relationships, you can use this information to really get to know the fret board. Unfortunately, there are no shortcuts for practice, and to really affect your play, you simply have to practice.

From Math to Music – (A Mathematical Approach to Learning The Fret Board) was written by Special to Guitar Noise for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

Any note can be altered in a chord, but not all alterations will lead to an “altered chord.” That’s because we have easier ways of noting certain alterations – let’s look at each scale note in turn:

Roots – if the root is altered, the chord changes names. Chord names have two parts – the root name (given as a letter) and a quality name that describes what’s happening above the root. Since every chord is identified from the root, a C major chord with a raised root (C#-E-G) would be called a C# diminished chord; an F minor chord with a lowered root (Fb-Ab-C) becomes an augmented chord on the new root (E-G#-B#). Changing the root in a complex chord structure can lead to an altered chord, but it’s never the root that ends up as the alteration.

Seconds – in traditional harmony, chords are built in thirds. The second is the same note as the ninth – the note right after the octave – so it’s always called the ninth. Beginners make a common assumption that calling a note a ‘ninth’ means it’s in a different octave, but that’s not the case – it’s called a ninth even if it’s the lowest tone in a chord, and even if the root is in the same octave.

Ninths can be raised (#9) or lowered (b9).

If the ninth is used in a chord, you’ll also know if the chord contains a seventh – chords like C9 or Am9 always include a flatted seventh; chords like Bbmaj9 always include a natural seventh, and if there’s no seventh at all, it’s an ‘add9′ chord. You’ll sometimes see chords noted as ‘sus2′, which implies the third has been replaced by a second; although I disagree with this naming, that’s beyond the scope of this article – at least you’ll know what’s implied.

Thirds – if a third is lowered, the chord is called minor; if a third is raised, it’s the same tone as the fourth – a suspended chord. Since we have easier ways to indicate the alteration of a third, you’ll never see it altered.

Fourths – if you lower the fourth of a chord, you end up with the same note as the third. Consequently, you’ll never see a chord with b11 – chords that include both a natural third and a flatted third are written as a major chord with a #9. If the fourth is raised in a chord, it’ll be indicated as #11 or +11.

Fifths – these can lead to altered chords in half the cases. Raising the fifth in a major chord gives us an augmented chord (1-3-#5), and lowering the fifth in a minor chord gives us a diminished chord (1-b3-b5), so fifths can be an altered tone only if they’re raised in a minor chord (example: Cm7#5) or lowered in a major one (example: C7b5). In the past few years, the m7b5 has replaced the half diminished chord in most charts, so that’s the exception to the rule.

Sixths – These are only called sixths if there’s no seventh present. You should never see a ‘Cadd6′ chord – it’s simply C6. If the seventh is present in the chord, the sixth is called a 13th . Raising this note gives the same tone as a flatted seventh – and that’s implied in a 13th chord – so you’ll see b13, but not #13.

Sevenths – if a seventh is lowered, the result is a dominant chord, simply written with a number… lower the seventh of Cmaj7 and you get C7. Raising the seventh gives you the same note as the octave, so Cmaj7 with a raised 7th = C major.

Since that completes our tour of the notes, I’ll recap what can be altered:

• Root – never
• 2nd /9th – you’ll see b9 or #9
• Third – never
• 4th /11th – you’ll only see #11
• Fifth – sometimes; you’ll see b5 or #5
• 6th /13th – you’ll only see b13
• Seventh – never

That gives us a total of six altered notes: b9, #9, #11, b5, #5, and b13. Even better, the #11 and b5 are the same note – and so are the #5 and b13! That means all altered chord fingerings are going to have one or more of the following:

• The root tone raised one fret to make b9
• The third lowered one fret to make #9
• The fifth lowered one fret to make #11 or b5
• The fifth raised one fret to make #5 or b13

That’s it in a nutshell – four possibilities. Doesn’t seem quite so scary now, does it?

In my last article I talked about the importance of knowing where the basic chord tones are in voicings – here’s a quick review – roots are shown as squares:

If you’ve learned how to form extended chords, and you know the root, third, and fifth in each fingering, you can form any altered chord – no matter how complicated!

You’ll need to be careful about one thing, though – some voicings have notes doubled. In the first two diagrams, there are two fifths – if you alter one to make a b5 or #5 chord, you’ll need to get rid of (or change) the other one. Altered 9ths (b9 or #9) can include the natural third, and b13 chords include the fifth, so it’s only doubled fifths you’ll need to worry about, and only when the fifth is an altered tone.

One quick word about chord symbols before we dig into examples: a “+” means the same as a #… unless it’s at the end of a chord name; then it means a raised fifth. In other words, G9+ is 1-3-#5-b7-9; G7+9 is 1-3-5-b7-#9. You’ll see either plusses or sharps in chord names, and sometimes both (as in G7#11+). A minus sign doesn’t mean a flat, though… if you see one of those, it means the same as ‘minor’.

Now we’ll see how this works in practice… I’ll just show one possibility for each voicing – you can refer back to the extended chord article to construct others.

Am7b5

Start with one of the A seventh forms (see the article on extended chords), lower the third to get a minor, and lower the fifth to complete the chord:

E13#9

Lower third by one fret, or raise a root by three to get the #9 – having both the third and #9 in the voicing gives it the tension of that raised ninth. If you’re starting with a 13th chord that includes the ninth, just raise it a fret:

Bb7#9+

From a seventh form, lower a third by one fret (or raise the root by three if you’ve only got one third), then raise the fifth:

Fadd+11

To an F major chord, lower a fifth by one fret. You’ll want to use a voicing that begins with two fifths:

G7b9

Using a seventh form, raise the root by a fret:

(Did you notice that the top four notes of G7b9 form a diminished 7th? More on that in a minute!)

D7#9b5

From a seventh form, lower a third by one fret and lower the fifth by one:

Ok, I already hear some of you screaming that it can’t be – the 7b9 voicing is a diminished 7th, and the 7#9b5 I just showed is identical to the m7b5 fingering I gave earlier!

A couple of things about altered chords: first, they tend to have five or more tones if you played the ‘real’ voicing (many of which are unplayable on the guitar), and some tones are more important than others. It’s common to drop notes from altered chords, just as we did for extended chords. Let’s look at that last pair, the m7b5 and the 7#9b5. You’ve got:

Am7b5 = 1-b3-b5-b7 = A-C-Eb-G

and

A7#9b5 = 1-3-b5-b7-#9 = A-C#-Eb-G-B#

since B# is enharmonic to C, we can re-write that as A - C -C#- Eb - G … see how that actually contains the m7b5 tones?

Ah, but it won’t sound like a #9 without a natural third, will it? Well, you could use a voicing that includes both:

but you’ll be limited in the number of positions you’ll be able to play – and leaping all over the neck to grab the ‘right’ chord doesn’t lead to smooth changes.

The other big factor is context. Since it’s the 9th being altered, the odds are pretty good that the progression is leading your ear towards a major/dominant chord here – playing the minor will give you the #9, creating the effect in the context of the piece most of the time.

There are actually a few ‘cheats’ like this you can use. I find it easier to think about the altered chord tones since there are only four possible notes to alter, but you might prefer thinking of substitutions. Here’s a couple examples:

C7b9 = C-E-G-Bb-Db Gº7 = G-Bb-Db-E

C9#11 = C-E-G-Bb-D-F# Gm/maj7 = G-Bb-D-F#

Certain guitar voicings, because notes are left out, also work – if you look at the highest four notes in the last diagram you might recognize a voicing of Eb13:

A7#9b5 = A-C#-Eb-G-B# Eb13 = Eb - G -Bb-Db( C# )-F-Ab-C( B# )

Even though Eb13 is not really a substitute – the other three notes all clash with the A7#9b5 – the four notes in that particular voicing are a perfect fit!

You can even take simplification to extremes, grabbing the highest note, any altered ones, and whatever else fits…

C13b9 = C-E-G-Bb- Db -F- A Db+ = Db-F-A

but the more you take away, the more you’re trusting other instruments will fill in the blanks. If you’re at the point of knowing the notes in a 13b9 chord well enough to figure out the chords it contains, you didn’t need this article anyway!

In the next article I’ll talk about how altered chords are used as substitutions.

Also in this Series

• Untangling Chord Progressions
• Extended Chords
• Chord Substitution

Altered States was written by Tom Serb for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

Altered chords can be scary, because there’s so darn many of them! A major chord has only 3 different notes, so you can pretty well master the major chords by learning just 3-5 different fingerings. A 13th chord can theoretically have dozens of different fingerings – so it’s understandable that many intermediate guitarists figure enough is enough, they’ll just stay intermediate.

But getting to the stage of playing these advanced chords doesn’t really require learning hundreds of new chord shapes – it only demands that you can relate new chords to old ones in a logical way. By the end of this article, you’ll be able to form any chord extension that you want!

Extended chords are the 9th , 11th , and 13th chords. Like 7th chords, each can come in various ‘flavors’ such as dominant, major, and minor. Extended chords are most often in the dominant form, so that’s what I’ll cover in this article – just lower the 3rd for a minor form, and raise the 7th for a major form when you need them.

To begin with, you’ll need to know the seventh chords. There are a lot of different dominant seventh voicings available, but when I play chord changes, I think about what note I’m going to put on top of the chord – keeping the top note close together from one chord to the next gives you the smoothest changes. Since there are four notes in a seventh chord (1-3-5-b7) I normally work with just four voicings. Chord roots are indicated by squares:

The next step is learning which other chord tones fall on each string. Most beginning and intermediate guitarists only worry about where the root falls, and place the rest of the fingers from rote. Take a little bit of time to learn the rest of the chord tones in these voicings (the b7 is shown as just 7 to avoid overcrowding the diagrams):

Starting with these simple chord forms, we can now add – and subtract – notes to make extended chords. Subtracting a note from a chord might be a new idea to you, but it’s useful, and sometimes essential, in forming extended chords – the formula for a 13th chord is 1-3-5-b7-9-11-13, which is seven notes… and we have only six strings to work with. Something’s got to give!

The most common note to sacrifice in any extended chord is the root. You probably haven’t thought about playing chords without a root before, but it’s a very handy note to drop: because it’s only a whole step over the b7, and only a whole step below the 9th , including the root can make a chord sound muddy. The root is often going to be picked up by another instrument anyway, such as bass or keyboards, so chances are good it won’t be missed.

Knowing where the root is on each of the four seventh inversions, and knowing it can move up two frets to the 9th (which is the same note as the 2nd note in the scale), it’s a simple matter to have the 9th chords at your disposal:

(any 1st string note can be doubled on the 6th string for a fuller sound)

Moving on to 11th chords, the 11th (which is the same note as the fourth) and the 3rd are only a half step apart. The third is almost always dropped from 11th chords. Just like 9th chords, the root is optional, but so is the 5th – and the easiest way to form these chords is to drop a 5th by two frets, making it the 11th:

Last, we have the 13th chords. The 11th is almost always omitted from a 13th , and the root, fifth, and ninth are the usual choices for dropping a note. That leaves the 3rd , b7th , and 13th as the notes we truly need.

The 3rd and b7 are already in the basic chord we’re building from; I just raise the 5th by two frets (which may mean moving to the next string) to get the 13th . Then you can include one of the optional tones, the root, fifth, or ninth, and you have a nice 13th voicing:

Pretty painless, huh? In the next article, I’ll explain how these extended chords get altered to make your chord vocabulary even larger.

Also in this Series

• Untangling Chord Progressions
• Altered States
• Chord Substitution

Extended Chords was written by Tom Serb for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

Chords are usually labeled with Roman numerals; capital letters mean major chords, lower-case letters means minor. The other chord symbols (+ for augmented, º for diminished, etc.) get added to the Roman numerals. Roman numerals are handy, because they make easy transposition… I-IV-V can be thought of in any key – it takes less work to go from C-F-G to Eb-Ab-Bb if you think in terms of scale degrees. I’ll use Roman numerals throughout this piece.

Harmonizing Scales To Get Chords

Chords in any key are built on the steps of the scale. To start with, let’s look at a harmonized scale in triads (all the examples will be in C):

And harmonized to seventh chords:

I’ll talk only about major keys here, but all the ideas can be applied to minor keys as well – just use the minor scale notes to create the chords.

Playing through those chords one by one, you’ll see that any chord sounds complete by itself, except the chords built on V (when harmonized as V7) or vii (as either viiº or vii7b5). These two chords have a lot of tension in them, and they want to move, or ‘resolve’ to another chord to sound complete.

Cadences

Chords naturally want to move down by fifths – that is, the root is going to move five steps down the scale. A V7 chord will naturally want to move to a I chord; that’s true of major keys where V7 –> I, and minor keys where V7 –> i. This is the strongest resolution in music, and it’s called the authentic cadence.

G7-C G7-Cm

V7 –> I V7 –> i

Moving down by a fifth (G-C) is the same as moving up by a fourth:

so chord movement by fourths is also very common. The change IV –> I gives almost as strong a sense of closure as V7 –> I, and it’s called the plagal cadence. You probably recognize that sound – it’s sometimes called the ‘Amen’ cadence because of its use in church music.

F-C

IV –> I

Since these cadences sound so complete, they are used at the end of chord progressions. Almost all chord progressions will end up on the I chord.

The Natural Harmonic Series

Because chords want to move down by a fifth, we can line them all up in order to create what’s known as the natural harmonic series. This flow will sound very natural to the ear:

Bº Em Am Dm G7 C

viiº –> iii –> vi –> ii –> V –> I

The IV chord can be tacked on to the end, and it will usually go back to I:

Bº Em Am Dm G7 C F C

viiº –> iii –> vi –> ii –> V –> I?IV

Most jazz music is based on the natural harmonic series, with the ii –> V –> I progression being used frequently.

Dm7 G7 Cmaj7

ii –> V –> I

The Blues Progression

Blues music has developed into a standard 12-bar format. Although you can have blues progressions that use other formats, just about all of them will use the I, IV, and V chords in this pattern:

The V in parenthesis in the last measure is called a ‘turnaround’… if you’re going to do another chorus, the V leads back into the I chord at the start of the progression. The last time through, you stay on the I chord through the final measure.

These two chord progressions, the ii-V-I from jazz, and the I-IV-I-V-IV-I from blues, form the core of most music you hear today. Now let’s start dressing them up…

Chord Extensions

We looked at how chords can be built by harmonizing the major scale in triads and seventh chords – we don’t have to stop there! 9 th , 11 th , and 13 th chords can be substituted as extensions.

Chords get extended by keeping them in the same chord type – for a C chord you can use Cmaj7, Cmaj9; Am can become Am7, Am11… G7 can become G13, G9, etc.

The Secondary Dominant Principle

The V7 chord wants to move down by a fifth, to a I chord. What if we make that a I7 chord instead?

G7 –> C7

V7 –> I7

That change sounds pleasing, because the chord root is moving as an authentic cadence… but it doesn’t sound complete, because the final chord is Domnant. That C7 wants to resolve someplace, and the natural place is a fifth lower:

G7 –> C7 –> F

V7 –> I7 –> IV (in C, or)

II7 –> V7 –> I (in F)

We can string together a whole bunch of 7 th chords, and lead eventually to a final resolution. In the key of C, the D chord is usually minor, but a D7 chord will sound good if we resolve it like this:

C –> D7 –> G7 –> C

I –> II7 –> V7 –> I

The reason this works is that we’ve temporarily moved to the key of G… D7 is the V chord in G. Since G is the V chord in C, we call the D7 the ‘V of V chord’. This temporary key change is called a modulation, and it allows us to use chords outside of the home key:

Substitutions

The principles of extension, natural harmonic series, and secondary dominants can be used to substitute chords and dress up a progression. Let’s say the basic chord progression is C-F-G7-C for one measure each:

C F G7 C
| / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / |

We can plug in a secondary dominant:

C F D7 G7 C
| / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / |

or turn that G7 measure into a ii-V-I progression:

C F Dm G7 C
| / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / |

We can add extensions:

C Cmaj7 F Fmaj7 Dm7 G7 C
| / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / |

And since the authentic cadence can be either V-I or V-i, we can use a secondary dominant to step into any major or minor chord in the progression:

C Cmaj7 F A7 Dm7 G7 C
| / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / |

In that last example, the A7 is quite a leap from the F, but it’s the V of D (or D minor), which is the V of G… which is the V of C.

Chromatic Steps

Other chords outside the key can be used effectively. Although the introduction of an ‘outside’ chord will initially jar our ears, it’s what you do with it that matters in the end. Chord can be approached by a chromatic half step, either between to chords a step apart (as a passing chord):

C F F# G7 C
| / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / |

or this:

C C#m7 Dm7 G7 C
| / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / |

Or we can ‘overshoot’ a chord change, and step down:

Cmaj7 Fmaj7 Ab9 G9 Cmaj7
| / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / |

Using these substitutions can bring you hundreds of new progressions. If there’s enough interest in this topic, I’ll write another one on the use of altered chords, like E7#9b5.

Also in this Series

• Extended Chords
• Altered States
• Chord Substitution

Untangling Chord Progressions was written by Tom Serb for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

First, lets go through some basics:

Interval is a distance between two notes measured by number of semitones, or half-steps. On the guitar, one fret represents a semitone. Twelve frets make an octave. Some intervals extend above the octave. Those are called compound intervals. For example: the major 3rd (normally 4 frets), when placed an octave higher, becomes the major 10th (4+12=16 frets). The exact number of semitones (frets) is called the interval quality. This is what gives an interval its full name and sound.

The following table explains the simple / compound interval relationship and the number of frets for each interval.

Now we’re going to apply this table of intervals to a guitar neck. Let’s look at basic guitar tuning in terms of intervals. The string pairs (that is, each string in coupled with the next higher string) 6/5, 5/4, 4/3 and 2/1 make Perfect 4th (5 frets). 3/2 string pair makes Major 3rd (4 frets). You already know this if you can manually tune your guitar.

So, the interval between Low E and High E would be 5+5+5+4+5=24 frets (two octaves).

Using this knowledge we can easily find the interval between any two notes on any two strings at the same fret. Fig.1 explains this graphically:

1st fret F-to-F : 5+5+5+4+5=24 frets (2 octaves)

4th fret G#-to-F# : 5+5=10 frets (Minor 7th)

5th fret E-to-A : 5frets (Perfect 4th)

8th fret F-to-G : 5+5+4=14 frets (Major 9th)

10th fret F-to-D : 4+5=9 frets (Major 6th)

In each of the above examples, we moved vertically through the string pairs, adding string pair intervals along the way. Let’s call it the “vertical movement.” We were able to build many types of intervals. But there are still many other types of intervals. How do we get those?

To be able to build all interval types we have to move horizontally as well as vertically. The horizontal movement is simple: we move right to add frets; we move left to subtract frets. It is possible to add or subtract one, two or three frets. More than three frets would get the left hand ‘overstretched’. Fig.2 explains the “horizontal movement” graphically:

1st fret F-to-A : 5+5+5+1=16 frets (Major 10th)

4th fret G#-to-G# : 5+5+2=12 frets (Octave)

5th fret E-to-F# : 5-3=2 frets (Major 2nd)

8th fret F-to- F# : 5+5+4-1=13 frets (Minor 9th)

10th fret F-to-E : 4+5+2=11 frets (Major 7th)

In these examples we moved vertically through the string pairs then horizontally along a single string. Note that in some examples we moved left to add frets, in other examples we moved right to subtract frets.

So, now every possible interval is within our reach. It is not even necessary to know the note names, just pick first note and find the second one counting the right number of frets. We can always go to the table of intervals for reference.

I believe that this simple method can be useful in many ways: building chord shapes, analyzing scale ‘boxes’ for ‘double stops’, harmonizing scales and runs, and much more.

Happy guitar playing.

Hands-on Intervals was written by Special to Guitar Noise for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

The focus of this article is how to get chord voicings that are different from the old standard ones that are made in the open positions of a standard tuned guitar. You know, E (major), A (major), and D (major), etc.

The idea came about for this article because, again, I was jamming with a friend of mine, trying to stubbornly impart some of my knowledge. Just a little knowledge that I thought would help us cope with the others’ chord changes and riffing without too much thought.

Simple Chord Shapes

What I have found in my beginner’s stage of playing guitar and jamming is how do I get some of the chords that are in the same range as what my friend is playing on the guitar?

The application of finding different voicings of the same chord arises from using the same simple shapes of chords that you will find within the first three or four frets on the fretboard – or is it fingerboard? Let’s begin with E, seen below in Figure 1, beside the chord diagrams for A and D.

You can see in the above diagram of the chord E where the frets are fretted on the fretboard, which strings ring open, and what the notes are played on each string (below the diagram). Remember that a major chord is made up of a major triad, three notes. These notes come from the chord name’s major scale and are the 1st or root, the major 3rd and the fifth. The major 3rd is simply the 3rd note of the major scale. A minor third would be a half step below that.

The rest of the major chords within the first four frets are shown in Figure 2:

Please take note that while all of the major chords within the first four frets are provided above in Figures 1 and 2, there are other some other chord voicings for these chords within that area. One such chord I can think of is:

When I use the type of shape above, the chord shape for E (see Figure 1), where I fret notes with the lowest fretted string being the fifth, I call it an “E Shape” as seen in Figure 4. I do not know if anybody else calls it this. Later you will see this shape used to make other chords.

The first thing you can do with this “E Shape” is move it up and down the neck of the guitar to different frets as in Figure 4. Always keep the finger closest to your head on the fifth string. This is marked below with the circle on the mentioned fret placement on the diagrams. The diagram below on the left is the “E Shape” used in place to make the open position E chord. The diagram below on the right is the placement of the “E Shape” with the circled fret placement at the second (to form E), fifth, seventh, and ninth frets. The fret markers are show for the fifth, seventh, ninth and twelfth frets.

If you have not already noticed at this point, these fingerings do not make major chords (or if they do you must really work hard think of their major chord name) and I am not going to name them in this article. The point is to demonstrate that the “E Shape” is transferable up and down the neck to form “good” (by personal preference) sounding chords.

Making Use of the “E Shape”

So how do you make use of the “E Shape”?

It is quite easy in theory. It takes quite a bit of practice to get a good bar chord. You use a finger bar to make a bar chord. To make and A chord use the chord diagram given below in Figure 5. I have read and practiced what I think is the easiest way to make a bar chord. Placed the fingers that are higher up the fretboard down first. After the higher fingers are placed then place your index finger down to bar the fretboard. You will find that you may find some fret buzz – work through it by moving your finger and pressing down tightly with your index finger.

To follow these steps using the diagram below do the following:

• Place your pinkie (4th) finger on the fifth string, seventh fret
• Place your ring (3rd) finger on the fourth string, seventh fret
• Place your middle (2nd) finger on the third string, sixth fret
• Place your index (1st) finger as a bar across all of the strings, fifth fret
• (You should check out other musical sources for specific fingering diagrams.)

The notes for this A major chord are also given in the diagram below, Figure 5. You can compare it to the often-used chord voicing of A above in Figure 1. Give both of them a few strums to hear the difference in how they sound. The chord voicing for the A given below should sound a noticeable higher and even a little more upbeat when compared to the chord voicing for A in Figure 1.

How do I use the “E Shape” further? Simply move the whole shape, bar included, up to the seventh fret. Now I mean that the bar moves up to the seventh fret. The circled fret placement moves up to the ninth fret as in the chord diagram for B in Figure 5 above.

So as you can see you just have to move the whole shape a fret or two to get a new chord. You may have even noticed that the “E Shape” was evident in the second chord voicing of F in Figure 2. Go back up to Figure 2 and have a look. You will see the same shape as seen in Figure 5 above. Do not forget to make a bar chord using the process I described three paragraphs above in bullet form.

You can easily get 7 chords by using the “E Shape” with the circled fret placement on the fifth string. The high E chord voicing with the bar on the 12th fret will be hard to make on most acoustic guitars. If you have a Stratocaster type guitar you might even be able to get this type of bar chord with bar all the way up on the 15th fret – that is a G chord.

Other Chord Shapes

You may have asked yourself “What about the other chord shapes?” These are all applicable, some requiring more practice than others. You can use the “A Shape” from the A chord in Figure 1 as well as the “D Shape”. Do not be intimidated by the difficulty of the shape. Practice will allow you hands to form almost all shapes almost anywhere between the nut and the 12th fret or above if you have an electric guitar.

How do you find where you should put the bar when using the bar chords?

Let’s look at Figure 1 again.

The key to using this method to getting different chord voicings easily is looking at the fretted notes in relation to the nut. With the E chord one there is one note fretted after the nut on the 3rd string 1st fret in the “E Shape”. This means that the bar in the bar chord with fall immediately behind the note that is on the lowest fret.

Let’s first talk a little bit about natural notes (or tones). A natural tone is one of the notes that does not have a sharp or a flat in it. Those notes that do have sharps or flats are called accidentals. So the naturals are: C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. An accidental would be C# or Cb (C flat).

To make the next available chord that uses a natural note as its root, shift the “E Shape” up one fret and bar all the strings on the 1st fret. This gives us an F chord. See Figure 2 above. You should have a real grasp of using the “E Shape” now so you should try using it on your guitar.

Once you have done that, move on to the “A Shape”. You can see above that the lowest fret fretted is the second. That means that when you use the “A Shape” to make a bar chord the bar must be two frets behind the “A Shape”. See Figure 6 below. You will notice that I have dispensed with that circled fretted note in this figure.

Take note that the easiest way may be to use two bars when using the “A Shape”. However, you may find that you want to use your last three fingers to hold down the “A Shape” and of course your index finger to make the bar. Using your last three fingers to make the “A Shape” provides you with certain advantages if you can eventually get your fingers to stretch that way. You can easily make 7th chords by removing your ring finger. This would be removing the middle dot from the small bar diagram above.

That is right, I snuck in a little variation on your basic “A Shape”. Theoretically you can do this with all of your “Shapes”. If you remove certain fretted notes from the diagram you end up with different chords. Look below at Figure 7. Take note of the blank circles where there used to be solid circles. These are where you can remove your fingers to make other chords that vary on the original at that position. Also note that the solid dot has been marked on the bar made by the index finger.

You should have noticed in Figure 7 that I added something a little different by using an “A minor Shape”. The base of the “A minor Shape” is actually the same shape as the “E Shape”. However, when the “E Shape” is used, by shifting your fingers by one string you can form the chord A Minor. See Figure 8 below.

Placing the “Chord Shapes”

How do find the chord you need quickly? One method is to memorize the fretboard’s natural notes. To do this easily, I use “bands” of natural notes on the fretboard. These bands of natural notes occur in quite a few places between the nut and the 12th fret. After the 12th fret the fretboard repeats itself. If you have already read my article called Basic Music Theory you should already have a map of the fretboard to use.

If you do not have a map of the fretboard then I recommend you make one. I have written fretboards in a couple of different ways. The first way was with all the notes – both naturals and accidentals. I find it easier to read the map of the fretboard if I list only the natural notes. One way to write out a fretboard is provide in Figure 9. Another way to write it out is vertically; turn the fretboard of figure 9 clockwise 90 degrees.

You can see that “bands” of natural notes appear at frets 5, 10 and 12. Places where there are natural notes almost all the way across the fingerboard occur at the 3rd and 7th frets. These are also good to remember as “bands” of notes including the accidentals with them. A diagram with both types of “bands” would look as Figure 10 does below.

Now that you know you can use a few different shapes see if you can find a voicing of G that uses the “D Shape” as seen in Figures 1 and 8.

Figure 10 will also come in handy when you are trying to find the right spot to start all of your scales. Of course you will need a little alteration to place such scales as the C Major scale beginning with the 8th fret of the 6th string. I leave the rest up to you.

Experimentation

I thought I would just let you know that one of the experiments that helped me to realize that I could use “Chord Shapes” in this way was using alternate tunings. I like to play with the blues and often would tune my guitar to open tunings. One such tuning is Open D. Its strings are tuned low to high: D, A, D, F#, A, D. This allows for very simple formation of major chords.

To form a major chord with an open tuning you bar at each fret – just one bar across at each fret. If you draw another fretboard tuned to Open D you can see D by strumming the open strings, E by barring at the second fret, F by barring at the third fret, and so on. This is what led me to realize the use of “Chord Shapes” and bar chords to easily find alternate voicings of different chords.

So experiment as much as you can with your guitar. Warnings about open tunings: be careful about tuning your guitar to an open tuning that puts more tension on your strings than would normally be on them. Also be careful about changing the tuning all the time as this may possibly cause unwanted twisting or other damage to your guitar. There are articles on Guitar Noise and the Internet that can inform you about alternate tunings. You should also check with the manufacturer of your guitar just to make sure if your tunings are going to place more tension on guitar than you would normally have.

Simple Alternate Chord Voicings was written by Bruce Fleming for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

Basic Chords

The simplest chords are based on having only three notes in them. On a guitar you will start to learn by letting the strings on your guitar ring by bringing your pick or thumb across 6, 5 or 4 strings.

Below are some chord diagrams for three chords, E major, A major and D minor. When musicians talk about major chords they simplify the names by just calling them by their letter names (see below). Minor chords are indicated by the capital letter of the chord plus a small case “m” beside the capital letter as in D minor: Dm.

The chord diagrams below are standard chord diagrams. The strings on a standard tuned guitar are E A D G B E, left to right.

The thick dark line is the nut or the zero fret on the guitar.

The guitar player places their fingers on the strings where the dots are placed.

“O” above the indicated string means that that string is played with the other strings but is let ring “open”.

“X” above the indicated string means that string is not played or it is actually muted. Do not worry about muting the strings if they are on the bass side of the guitar. Just do not strum them with the other strings.

One way to play a C major chord (or just C as commonly written) is given below.

Remember that the statement above says that the simplest chords are based on having only three notes in them. You may have noticed that more than three strings are ringing in chords you strum. That is because some notes occur more than once in the chord. They may have different pitch or frequency but they are the same note.

So now the questions arise

• How do I know what notes are which in a major chord?” and
• What does the word ‘major’ mean in the term ‘major chord’?”

The answer lies in what is called chord theory. Only basic chord theory is discussed here. Still, this can seem to beyond your grasp before you begin to understand it.

Major Scales

Most people begin playing piano with an introduction to where “middle C” is and how to play the C major scale. You can find one of the C notes on you guitar on the second string, first fret. If you have trouble finding it just look at the C chord diagram above and you will see a dot on the second string from the right.

A scale covers one octave. An octave covers the notes within a range of 12 semi-tones above it. Hard to understand? Just look at the C note of the second string first fret and then count up the string 12 frets (semi-tones) and you arrive at the note C an octave above the previous C.

I would diagram the fret board but I believe that going between the paper and the guitar is necessary for the learning process.

Now, what are the notes in a C major scale? The notes in C major scale are:

C D E F G A B C.

Take a second look at where these notes are on the fret board. If you do not know where to fret the string you will in a second. There is a formula for the major scale, a pattern if you will.

Each fret is a semi-tone away from the next fret. Two frets away means that the note is a full tone away from the next note. The C major scale is the only major scale that has no notes that are sharps or flats.

That makes the C major scale pattern as follows:

When you look at the fret board it looks like this (this fret board is sideways to save space):

You would actually fret the C note here, where the dot is:

These dots are the position markers for the 5th, 7th, 9th, and 12th frets on the fret board:

Homework interrupt:

At this point I suggest writing out the fret board on a piece of loose-leaf paper. I find it easiest if you write the fret board out vertically as if you were looking at the guitar standing up. (This is the way standard chord diagrams are written.) Just turn the above diagram 90 degrees clockwise. The fret board should have six columns of notes and room for 20 to 22 frets depending upon your guitar. The fret board repeats itself at the 12th fret.

A standard tuned guitar will be tuned:

Quick Review

Now you know the C major scale, where the C major scale is on the second string on the guitar, the formula for every major scale (T, T, ST, T, T, T, ST – remember these are the intervals between notes), and you should have a map of the whole fret board of your guitar. The map of the fret board will help you when you are looking for different ways to play the same chord.

Notes of the C (Major) Chord:

Simple major chords are called major triads. Triad refers to the chord being made up of three notes. The three notes of a major triad are the 1st, major 3rd, and 5th of the root note’s major scale. The C major scale is labeled below in terms of what the numbers are:

For the moment do not bother wondering about why some of the Roman numerals are capitals and others are small case and the majors, minors, dom and what the rest of the stuff means on the third line of the list above; just take note of the number. You may write in the regular numbers if you like. That makes the C chord made up of C, E and G.

That makes a C (major chord) made up of C – the 1 or the root (I), E – the major 3rd (iii), and G – the 5th (V). Now that you have your fret board map you can see where these notes are fretted in the open position chord. What is an open position chord? A open position chord is a chord that has one or more strings that are let ring open when played. Look at the C chord below. The notes played on each string are given below the respective strings.

The second C chord shown above and to the right is a 3rd position chord because the lowest fret that is fretted in the chord is the 3rd fret. Take note that it is not the lowest note that is fretted that determines the position of the chord; it is the lowest fret fretted.

Notice that there is a note with sharp in the D chord. D is the 1st note, F# is the major 3rd, and A is the 5th note in the D major scale. The D major scale looks like:

So you begin to see that you can figure out the notes for all of the major chords by figuring out the major scales for each root of the scale and taking the 1st, major 3rd, and 5th of the major scale. When you place the chords on the fret board the notes will match up with the notes in the chord diagrams. You can do this with any major chord to figure out its notes.

Homework interrupt:

At this point you should figure out all of the major scales for just the roots that do not have sharps or flats in them (to clarify: the major scales of C, D, E, F, G, A, and B). The scales for the roots of C and D have been provided but you should write them out on a piece of paper anyway. You should write out all of the scales in order of occurrence on the fret board: C major scale, D major scale, E major scale, F major scale and so on.

Hint: You may have asked yourself how do I know when to put in a sharp or a flat for that matter. For the moment when figuring out the above listed major scales, use all sharps.

Note: There is a semi-tone between all notes that are two frets apart. That means that there is another note between A and B; that note is A#/Bb. (The small case “b” is often used as the flat symbol in standard word-processor programs because it is faster to use it than inserting a symbol or it is simply not available.) A# and Bb are the same note. That extends to other notes such as C#/Db, D#/Eb, etc. TAKE NOTE THAT E# is F and Fb is E; B# is C and Cb is B. THIS MEANS THAT THERE IS NO SEMI-TONE between E and F or between B and C.

When you end with the B major scale and look at all of the scales you should notice that some scales have more sharps than others. When you have the scales written one under the other in the order of C, D, E, F, G, A, and B the number of sharps in the scales do not increase in order.

HERE COMES THE INTERESTING PART – When you put the scales in the sequential order of number of sharps, low to high this sequence has a particular property. All of the scales are now five notes away from each other. If you place the roots of the scales in a semi-circle you have half of what is called “The Circle of Fifths” or “The Cycle of Fifths.”

How does this make a difference to me?

There are many songs that are totally based upon or have sections based upon The Circle of Fifths. Just look at some of the music from the 50′s, 60′s, and 70′s, even up through to current day.

When you finish the other half of The Circle of Fifths you will a complete circle that allows you to see all of the major keys in the order of sharps and flats.

Look up more information on the Internet about chord theory, The Circle of Fifths and scales.

Basic Music Theory was written by Bruce Fleming for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

But augmented and diminished chords are, as the cliche goes, another kettle of fish. Just the names, “augmented” and “diminished,” give one pause. Do I need a special degree or extra study to employ one of these chords?

Not at all! You may not know it, but augmented and diminished chords are not all that much harder to learn than “ordinary” chords. Chances are that they are simply unfamiliar to you, since they don’t tend to pop up in songs all that often. They used to, though! Pop songs of the thirties and forties were filled with them. Motown and groups like the Beatles used them in the sixties. How often you come across these chords really depends on what type of music you listen to. And for the songwriter, these chords can open so many doors that it’s positively overwhelming!

So let’s take a look at them, how they’re formed and the functions they can serve. If you’re capable of counting to twelve, you’re capable of understanding and using these marvelous chords.

Leading You By The Ear

First, if you aren’t familiar with how chords, be they major, minor, augmented or diminished, are formed, then you might want to take a moment and peruse two old columns of mine called The Musical Genome Project and The Power of Three. I think you’ll find both pieces an easy read. And while you’re at it, take the time to go over Five To One, as the ideas there are going to be essential to the topic at hand.

And if you’re ready, let’s take a look at an old friend, the C major scale:

You may not have thought about this much before, but which note ends the C major scale? Depending on your personality, you either said “C” or “B” and I’m willing to bet that the majority of you picked the first answer. Either answer is fine; one could just as easily argue that there is no end of the scale – it just goes on and on…

But those of you who went with “C” probably did so for a good reason. It sounds like we’ve finished the scale. If you end on B, then you’re likely to feel that the scale is incomplete, that it’s hanging there waiting for an ending. Don’t take my word for this! Sing it or play it and hear for yourself.

This is the sense of “home” that we discussed ages ago in Five To One. And whether you know it or not, a lot of that sense of home relies on the B note, or rather, on the fact that the interval between B and C is a half step and not a whole step. In the study of music theory, half steps are often referred to leading tones. They serve to direct a voice, a melody, a solo or a chord to a specific destination. If that destination gives us a sense of home (and if not totally a sense of home, then at least a sense of respite), then we call that resolution. We even briefly touched on this in A La Modal, when we looked at the use of the C major scale in The Israelites and heard how the use of the half-step between C and C# gave us a wonderful sense of completion.

Believe it or not, most of you are already aware of how this sense of home works, even if you feel you can’t put it into words. This is why chord changes like F to C and G to C sound more complete; there’s more of a sense of finality than, say, Am to C. It’s because of the use of leading tones:

I’ve marked the leading tones here with little slash marks (“/” or “\”), which illustrate the movement of the notes. I also added G7 to this chart, to remind you of the discussion in Five To One about why G7 to C sounds even stronger than G to C – you’re using two leading tones instead of one. Is everyone with me so far? Okay, then, let’s take a look at augmented chords.

But first, I want to plant this in your brain because we’re going to want to look at it a lot in the very near future. Remember that, in Western music anyway, there are a total of twelve chromatic steps going from C to C:

That number, twelve, is going to become very important to us! So keep it in your hat, as they say, and don’t even bother to ask me who they are! By the bye, I can assume you all know that C# (number 2 in this chart) is the same as Db, right? Likewise, Eb is D#, F# is Gb, G# is Ab and Bb is A#. Got it? Good!

So now let’s take a look at Caug. As you read in The Power of Three, one makes an augmented chord by taking the root, adding a major third (the note two full step up from it) and then adding another major third. If it’s easier, just think about adding a half step to the fifth. Either way, you’ve got C, E and G# and it looks like this:

Since an augmented chord has the raised fifth, and since, in this case it’s G#, it’s a fairly safe bet that your ears want it to lead you to an A note. More often than not, an augmented chord will resolve to the fourth (F in the key of C) or the sixth (Am in the key of C. Check out these progressions and see if you don’t agree:

And these progressions are even more striking when you start with the C chord:

Can you hear how you build the tension when you change from the G in the C chord to the G# in the Caug? And then how the tension drains away when you finally get to that A note in either the Am or the F? This is a great thing for songwriters. You can use it as a melody line or, more striking still, use it as accompaniment as the melody holds on a single note common to all chords. And you don’t have to stop there! Check out this progression:

I’ve deliberately used the Fmaj7 here so that we can have sustained tones on the first two strings, namely the open E on the first string and the C note (second fret) on the B string. We start with the C to Caug to Am that we used in Example #6 and then raised the A note an additional half step to Bb, which gives us C7. Then we slip back down to A of the Fmaj7, lower that a half step to get the FmMaj7 (quite the chord, no?) and then finally get back home to our C chord.

Another thing I should point out here is that a lot of writers will use the C6 or Am7 chord (both of these chords use the same four notes: C, E, G and A) instead of plain old Am. As with so much else in music, it all depends on your own taste.

Sadly, outside of jazz, one is hard pressed to find augmented chords used with any regularity. You may find the occasional song (or songwriter – John Lennon regularly peppered his work with a well-placed augmented chord or two) where they pop up. In jazz, you’ll often find the seventh added to them. There is a moveable chord form for this and it looks like this:

Kudos to those of you who, having read my column, Moving On Up, can see the reasoning behind this. We’ve taken our E shape and adjusted the fifth, which is on the B string, accordingly moving it up a half step. The root of this chord is on both of the E strings (first and sixth), while the third is on the G and the seventh is on the D.

Now, let’s put the augmented chord on hold for a moment and take a quick look at our second feature, if you will. Diminished chords also demonstrate the importance of leading tones; perhaps even more so than the augmented chords. Think back on Example #2 and ask yourself, what’s the difference between Bdim and G7? The Bdim contains the same notes except it has not G. In other words, it’s a G7 without a root. So it will always contain two leading tones in it, depending of course on the chord to which you intend to resolve. More on that in a moment…

First a quick bit of stuff that might be confusing. It’s rare to play pure diminished chords, that is, the root, minor third and flatted fifth, on the guitar. Because the instrument is, for the most part, tuned in fourths, it’s hard to create comfortable chord voicings that use adjoining strings. That’s not to say it can’t be done. Here’s a common moveable chord for pure diminished chords:

For this moveable chord, you only want to play the three strings indicated. The root is on the A string, while the flatted fifth is on the D string and the minor third is on the B string. This particular fingering leads itself very nicely to chord progressions like this:

This is a very common progression in jazz or old pop standards. You can hear this at the beginning of We’ll Meet Again or all throughout Ain’t Misbehavin’. And it’s a terrific example of leading tones, here in the bass notes. If you start with the C major chord and then only change the C note, moving it up a half step to C# while keeping the E and G intact, you’ve then got C#dim. This resolves to Dm, from which we go to Gaug7 that will bring us back to C.

But guess what? To a jazz player, this is not a diminished chord! He or she calls it a “half diminished” chord. Why? Well, I might need the wit of Nick Torres to figure this out but I highly suspect that jazz players insist that anything good enough to be called a chord should have four notes!

So let’s remember that our diminished chord is made by taking the root, adding a minor third to it and then another minor third, which gives us the flat fifth. By the way, this flat fifth is called the tritone. It’s as far away from the root as one can get. But more on that later. For now, on top of all that we’ve got so far, let’s stick another minor third:

Technically, in terms of the major scale, we’re adding the sixth to the chord, but in music theory terms we call this a diminished seventh. The diminished seventh can easily be played on the guitar. Here’s Cdim7:

And now we’re in for some real fun! Because of the make up of the diminished seventh chord, you have all sorts of ways to resolve it! Let’s look at a Cdim7 and see a few examples:

This is all a matter of the use of leading tones. When going from Cdim7 to C, for instance, we let the C note stand pat while the Eb lead us up to E while the Gb and A collapse in on the G note. I didn’t plot it out, but the A could just as easily lead up to the Bb and give us a C7. Or, in our second example here, the Eb could lead down to D, the Gb and A could collapse on G again and the C note could lead down to B, which would give us a G chord. We could also, as I hope you see, create G7, Gm or Gm7 just as easily.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg! If you’re up for it, and I have to admit that this is a lot easier on a keyboard than on the guitar, try resolving from Cdim7 to any or all of the following chords: Db, Db7, Dbm, Dbm7, Eb, Eb7, E, Em, Gb, Gb7, A, A7, Bb, Bb7, Bbm, Bbm7 and B7. Even if you decide to take my word for it, just reading that list of possible resolutions should put you a little in awe of the possibilities of this chord. But wait, as they say, there’s more!!

More Fun With Numbers

Ask any of my friends and they will gladly tell you that my grasp of science and/or physics is, at best, more than slightly tenuous. Still, I will declare forever and a day that all the wonderful talk about wormholes and dimensional portals and all that sort of fanciful thought probably started with a musician who was under the spell of Augmented Diminished Dementia.

Remember I told you to hand on to the number twelve? Let’s take a look at something incredibly interesting. Let’s take the twelve tones of Example #3 and the Caug chord of Example #4. Remembering that the Caug chord is built with a root (C), a major third (E) and then another major third (G#), what happens if we add yet another major third to the equation?

Goodness, we’re back at the root! How on earth did that happen? We’ll grab a pencil and come join in the fun. The interval of the major third is two whole steps, or four half steps. So if we’re starting with note “1,” then the next note in our sequence will be “1″ plus 4, which is “5″ and we look on our master chart and low and behold, “5″ is E. So far, so good! Adding four to “5″ gives us “9″ and wouldn’t you know it? G# is the note assigned to “9.” That’s our Caug chord, alright! So let’s add four to “9″ and we’re up to “13,” which, being a half-step up from B puts us smack dab on the C note.

Remember again, our total number of chromatic notes is twelve. “13″ is the same as “1″ as far as we’re concerned here. And twelve, as I truly, sincerely (dare I say desperately?) hope you all know, is divisible evenly by four. Repeat with me from your childhood: “Twelve divided by four is three.” This means that each augmented chord is actually the same as two other augmented chords! They share the same notes! Again, don’t take my word for it! Do the math and see:

And do you know what that means? There are only four possible augmented chord combinations! Oh, each one has got three names (or more if you start changing your flats for sharps – for instance, G#aug, from this example, is the same as Abaug, no?), but I think you see where I’m coming from:

Now go back to our twelve chromatic tone chart in Example #3 (or Example #14, since it’s closer!) and see if we’ve left anyone out. Pretty wild, huh? I’m more than willing to bet that those of you who learned how to play, oh, Gaug, for instance, didn’t have a clue that you also learned how to play Ebaug as well.

And knowing this sort of thing can be gold to a songwriter. You’re writing a song in the key of C and you want to really go wild on the bridge. Instead of using the time-honored C7 to F approach, why not go to Caug? And then instead of going to F, think of Caug as Eaug and go to A without batting an eye. Your listeners will blink and wonder how you managed to transport them without their knowing!

If this isn’t wild enough for you, then let’s go back to the diminished seventh chord. Think about this – the diminished seventh, as we saw earlier is built upon a stack of minor thirds. So guess what happens when you throw another minor third on the pile?

Yup, we’re back at the root again! The interval of a minor third is equal to three half steps, and twelve divided by three is four. So depending on what note you choose as your root, you actually have FOUR different diminished seventh chords here at your disposal:

And now you’re probably jumping ahead of the game and you’ve already guessed the next big secret of life: There are only three different diminished seventh chords! We’ll use flats instead of sharps this time but be sure to check and see if I’ve missed any, will you?

So, knowing this, how easy is it to figure out your moveable diminished seventh chords? Pretty easy, I suspect. Just find one note of the diminished seventh chord on any of the first four strings and use this pattern:

As you can see, this repeats itself every third fret up the neck. Not a bad thing to know!

Remember when I gave you a list of possible resolutions for the Cdim7? Well, that was a pretty good clue for what you were getting yourself into, no? And again, for a songwriter, this is like having a passkey (no pun intended) to get free access from one key to the next with a minimum of trouble. C to Db? They said it couldn’t be done! “Ha!” I say. Just use the Cdim7 chord and you’ll be there long before anyone knows you’re gone!

This, sincerely, is one crazy subject that tends to confuse the daylights out of people. So please take the time to read it all over as many times as you need to. I hate telling people this, but it is all numbers and nothing more. Okay, it is more – it’s also a lot of fun! A warning, though… Augmented diminished dementia is fairly contagious. Please do try not to overdo!

As always, please feel free to write me with any questions. Either leave me a message at the forum page (you can “Instant Message” me if you’re a member) or mail me directly at dhodgeguitar@aol.com.

Until next time…

Peace

Augmented Diminished Dementia was written by David Hodge for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

When you look at the beginning of a song, there is usually a series of sharps or flats on the staff. If you ever looked at it carefully you would know that they are laid out in a very specific order. So first I will give you the order of sharps.

F, C, G, D, A, E, B.

The order of flats are:

B, E, A, D, G, C, F.

Now the way to remember the order of sharps is Fat, Charlie, Gets, Drunk, After, Every, Beer.

The order of flats obviously spells the word BEAD and then you have GCF after bead. I find if you say the word BEAD and then GCF the GCF kinda sounds like a hairball caught in your throat or something, damn hairballs. You wont forget the order of flats now.

So what you can do is draw a circle with c on top and go around it on the right side with the sharps (which is the circle of fifths), and the left side with the flats, (cycle of fourths. Now C obviously has no sharps or flats, so you need to number them starting with G as one. On the flats F would be one.

Now when you look at a piece of music and you see a series of sharps or flats, count them and you will know what key you are in. To know what sharps or flats they are simply follow the order of sharp or flats and you will have your answer:) So in the key of A there are three sharps. They are F#, C#, G#. So you could write out C Aeolian and replace the f, c, and g, with sharps. This is important when you are writing a particular piece. You can create chords with each key very easily. Lets look at G major. Here is how you can do it.

So all I have done is follow the formula for the major scale w, w, h, w, w, w, h.

Follow the formula for the harmonized major scale Maj, Min, Min, Maj, Dom, Min, Dim.

And I plugged in the modes with the note placement. It is really that simple.

If you need to contact me my email address is jimmy@americanguitarinstititue.com. And if you live in The Memphis area and you need the best instruction money can buy please sign up for lessons before all my slots are filled. Thank you and enjoy the column and my others.

Key Changes was written by Jimmy Hudson for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

This is what music consists of:

“1% magic
99% stuff that is
explainable;
analyzable;
categorizeable;
doable”

So I thought that, from popular request, I would cover usable theory in this column. Like I said, intervals are the distance between two notes. So you can pick any note to start and that will be your root note. These are the intervals in chromatic order. At first, only read the left two columns, ignore everything in the right columns for the moment.

Now when you have intervals like nine and thirteen what you are doing is going up an octave, but keep counting. SO a root is 8, a 2nd is a 9th, a fourth is an 11th, and a 6th is a 13th. You will only see 9, 11, and 13 as the other intervals are already there because they are required to be there to make a 7th chord. The intervals in parenthesis are optional as guitar only has six strings so sometimes you have to omit tones.By using intervals you can build any chord or scale anywhere on the neck, in any key. So if you want a major scale you would have a 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. The way you build chords is by taking the 1, 3, 5, & 7 out of the scale you are using. Here is a chart on different chords and scales built by intervals. This chart only touches on the tip of the iceberg there are much more thorough lists out there, these are a few chords and scales. The Guitar Grimoire series has a fairly thorough list as well. Sometimes you may see a different spelling for the same note, such as a minor sixth is the same as an augmented fifth, see augment means to sharp, or go forward. Something like in a Diminished 7 chord you will need a double flated 7 written as bb7 so if you take a minor seven and subtract one you have a major six, but in order to call it a seven chord we have to fit it into a bb7.

Below is an Interval chart showing you all the intervals on the neck rooted off of F:

If you notice the one is a different color. It is different so you could easily find the root. So if we want to build say a Major triad rooted off the fifth string you can play 1st fret on the 6th string, then play the 5th fret on the 6th string so you have your 1 and your 3, now we need a five, it is on the 3rd fret 5th string, then your octave is on the 3rd fret 4th string, now we play the third which is on the 2nd fret third string, then the 5 which is on the 1st fret 2nd string then the root 1st fret 1st string and finally our third on the 5th fret 1st string.

Now the great thing about intervals is there are so many ways you can voice any chord or scale on the neck, the main thing is to memorize the formula and be creative building it. Obviously we don’t always play rooted off of F. Suppose we want to build a major scale off of G, it is simple we take our root on F and we move it up 2 frets to G so we can create a new map rooted off of g, the formulas stay the same you just move the root. Here is a chart rooted off of G:

So to build a G major scale we need a 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 and octave we can say on the 6th string play the 3rd 5th and 7th frets, then on the 5th string play 3rd, 5th and 7th frets, then on the 4th string we shift to 4th, 5th, and 7th fret, 3rd string we play the same thing 4th, 5th, and 7ty fret, then on the 2nd fret I useually shift up to the 5th fret and play 5th, 7th and 8th frets, same on the first string 5th,7th, then 8th. So we have built a major triad in F, and a Major scale in G.

Good luck with your new found skill on building chords and scales, practice playing these chords and scales in as many different places as possible, the important thing is to look at the fretboard as a giant map. The first note you play does not have to be the root either, you can start on the third or any note you want. Use visualization to visualize where youre intervals are. Thank you Krystel for making these wonderful charts, I would have no hope with computer graphics, I was going to write it out and scan it.

A Study On Intervals was written by Jimmy Hudson for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

You must first understand the Major Scale. In example #1, I have written out two octaves of the C major scale and given number degrees for each note (1-15). I’m using the C major scale because there are no sharps or flats in this scale. A major scale consists of a combination of Whole (W) and Half (H) steps. That combination is WWHWWWH. When we start with a C note on your instrument, there will be all natural notes when you play this scale. The system is designed this way. But when you start with any other note, you will need to sharpen or flatten at least one or more notes to create the WWHWWWH combination. I am going to refer to the C major scale throughout this lesson in order to keep it as simple as possible. Let’s get started!

There are 3 types of chords that you can relate all your chords to:

1. Major Chords (bright – pretty sounding)
2. Minor Chords (dark – serious sounding)
3. Dominant Chords (chords with a bite! – bebop guys love this stuff)

There are countless combinations and inversions. If you can understand how they are put together and how they function, you can make chord melodies a whole lot easier.

A chord symbol will describe which notes are being played together out of our scale. There can also be numbers, sharps and flats to indicate if there are any modifications needed to be made.

Our 3 types of chords are as follows:

C major = 1 3 5 = C E G
C minor = 1 b3 5 = C Eb G
C dominant = 1 3 5 b7 = C E G Bb

Here is a little chart with extensions to the chords that I make for my students:

Major Chords: 1 – 3 – 5 – (6) – 7 – 9 – (#11) – 13
Minor Chords: 1 – b3 – 5 (b5) – (6) – b7 – 9 – 11
Dominant Chords: 1 – 3 – (b5) 5 (#5) – b7 – (b9) 9 (#9) -(#11) – (b13) 13
Diminished Chords: 1 – b3 – b5 – bb7 (double flat (bb) = whole step lower)
Suspended Chords: 1 – (2) or (4) – 5 – b7

You can do a lot with only these to work with! A chord symbol will tell you what is in the chord itself. So let’s do a few to see if you have gotten this far.

Major Chords
C (C E G)
C6 (C E G A)
Cmaj7 (C E G B)
Cmaj9 (C E G B D)
Cmaj7#11 (C E G B F#)
Cmaj13#11 ( C E B D F# A)

Minor Chords
Cm ( C Eb G)
Cm7 (C Eb G Bb)
Cm9 (C Eb G Bb D)
Cm11 (C Eb G Bb D F)
Cm6 (C Eb G A)

Dominant Chords
C7 (C E G Bb)
C9 (C E G Bb D)
C13 (C E G Bb D A)
C7b9 (C E G Bb Db)
C7b9b13 (C E G Bb Db Ab)
C7#5 (C E G# Bb)
C7b5 (C E Gb Bb)
C7b9#11b13 (C E G Bb Db F# Ab)
Cdim7 (C Eb Gb Bbb)

Suspended Chords
Csus2 (C D G)
C7sus4 (C F G Bb)

If you use the C major scale with the degrees marked and the chord formulas I presented to you, you should get a good general idea of how C chords are built. You can do the exact same with the other eleven notes of the chromatic scale! The diminished scale has a dominant characteristic, but really sticks out. Therefore it is grouped with the dominant chords, but I separated it in the formulas. The suspended chord belongs to “no one.” The 3rd and the 7th degree are the most important notes to give color (its tonal characteristic) to a chord. When the 3rd degree is removed, it has a floating type of tone. It is not until the other chords in a song or the melody can give away its nature of major, minor or dominant.

Look at the chord symbols and how they describe which degrees in the scale make up the chord. There are other combinations you can come up with. Knowing this system, you can manipulate the chord symbol to describe what notes you want in a chord.

The only other feature I want to talk about is changing the bass note. Just make you chord symbol and use a slash (/) then the bass note.

Example: Cm7/G (this is a Cm7 with a G in the Bass). It’s that simple to write.

That is pretty much it for now. You need to practice it for sure. If you take the time, you will find it easy. Have fun!

There are chords which are enharmonic to each other (chords that share the same notes but have different functions and therefore different names). We will deal with that another time. There are also chord substitutions….they are easy ways to extend the colors of the original chord…. I’ll talk to you about them another time as well.

Tip: When I assemble a chord melody, I want to stay true to a chord, but I will eliminate notes if I need to. “Which notes?” you might ask. Well, it depends on how difficult it is to make it sound good. At that point… I don’t care as long as it sounds good. So bend or break the rules if you need to. The big question is “Does it sound good?” Well, that’s all I’m looking for. I’ll leave the number crunching to the analysts…. ha!

Sooooooo……. are you ready for that aspirin yet? Take some time with this and check out the actual notes with the chords you already play! It always works. When I do that with my students, they always trip out.

Enjoy!

“Sometimes it’s kind of cool to know what you’re playing.”

Also in this Series

• The Art of Creating Complete Song Arrangements
• I Got Rhythm
• It’s Only A Paper Moon

Chord Construction 101 – Solo Guitar with Chord Melodies 3 was written by Peter Simms for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise