7 chords, or 7th chords, appears in virtually every genre of western music. But there isn’t just one “7 chord”. In fact, there are several different chords than you can consider to be 7 chords. Let’s take a look.

What is a 7 chord?

A 7 chord, or 7th chord, or simply a 7th, is a chord built usually off of a major or minor chord by adding either the 7th or flat 7th scale degree note to the basic chord.

A 7 chord can also be built off of a diminished chord.

Depending upon what base chord you build the 7 chord from and whether you build the chord with a 7th degree or a flat 7th degree, the chord will have different characteristics and serve different purposes for your song.

The three most common 7 chords

The most common 7 chords are built off of the major and minor triads. You’ll find these three types of 7 chord popping up in music most frequently, so let’s talk about how to make those first.

The Major 7th chord

To create a major 7th chord, you add the 7th scale degree note of the major scale to the major triad. For instance, to create an A major 7th chord (usually written as Amaj7), add the 7th note of the A major scale to the A triad. The A major scale consists of these notes:

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

Notice that the G# is the 7th scale degree. We also know that an A major chord consists of the notes:

A, C#, E

So, to create an Amaj7, we add a G# to the basic triad. Thus, an Amaj7 includes the notes:

A, C#, E, G#

Remember, the notes don’t have to be in that order. Any combination of those four notes makes an Amaj7.

By the way, that’s an Amaj7 being played in the picture at the top of this article.

The Minor 7th chord

The minor 7 chord feels like it’s related to the major 7 chord in that it follows a similar formula for its construction. Like the major 7th, to make a minor 7 chord, you’ll start with the minor chord and add the logical 7th degree note. Since we’re working off of a minor chord, the logical 7th degree note is the minor 7th. Another name for the minor 7th degree is the flat 7th.

So for example, to make an A minor 7th chord (usually written as Am7) start with an A minor chord. The notes of an Am chord are:

A, C, E

Next we need to add the flat 7th of the A major scale. The notes of the A major scale are:

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

The 7th note of that scale is the G#. Since we want to add the flatted 7th, we need a G note. So, an Am7 chord consists of the notes:

A, C, E, G

Again, those notes can be in any order and you still have an Am7.

The Dominant 7th chord

Dominant 7th chords appear all the time in western music. In fact, they are probably the most common type of 7 chord. Interestingly, this chord is a bit of a hybrid.

Notice that in the two chords we just discussed, the 7th degree you add is what I called logical. For example, you build the major 7 chord with the major 7th scale degree. And you build the minor 7 chord with the minor 7th scale degree. Makes sense. It’s logical and comfortable.

But the dominant 7th chord mixes things up. To make a dominant 7th chord, you add the minor 7th scale degree to the major chord. So if you start with A as our example, instead of adding a G# to create an Amaj7, you add a G note to create an A dominant 7th (written as A7).

Dominant 7th chords are powerhouses and really serve well to drive a chord progression along.

The mixing of the minor 7th aspect with the major chord causes a great deal of tension that begs for resolution back to the root chord of the key. For example, A7 is the V chord in the key of D, where (of course) D is the root chord, or the I chord. So an A7 resolves beautifully to a D chord.

You hear this sound all the time in the blues and jazz and all the genres they inspired like rock and roll, funk, country, and so many more.

Less common 7 chords

The three 7 chord forms we just discussed are by far the most common. And among those, the dominant 7 is most common of all. Still, there are a few other less common, but still interesting options.

Two of those options build off of diminished or half diminished chords. If you want to know more about those, read more about diminished chords.

But here I want to talk about an often overlooked, but really powerful chord. The minor major 7th chord. Yes, you read that right, the minor major 7th. It has a bit of a crazy name, and that matches its somewhat crazy sound. But it’s a very cool chord in the right contexts.

The minor major 7th chord

Like the dominant 7th chord–and as its name clearly communicates–the minor major 7th chord is a mixed chord. You can almost think of it as the opposite of a dominant 7th chord.

To create a minor major 7th chord, you add the major 7th degree note to a minor chord. The first thing you’ll probably think of when you play this chord is the last chord of the classic James Bond theme song.

If the mixing of minor with major of the dominant 7th chord is full of tension, the mixing of the major with the minor of the minor major 7th chord is down right unsettling!

But, it doesn’t always have to be so unsettling. It can also be used as a beautiful element in the right chord progression. For example, George Harrison used it in one of the Beatles’ most beautiful songs, “Something” from the Abbey Road album.

Creating a minor major 7 chord

Let’s look at an example to see how to make a minor major 7. Let’s go back to our Am and make an A minor major 7th chord. By the way, there doesn’t seem to be solid consensus on how to write this in chord charts, but I like AmMaj7. You might also see AmM7, AminMaj7, and others.

We saw that Am consists of the notes:

A, C, E

To make Am7, we added the flat 7 (or minor 7) which was the note G. So, it’s easy to see that to make the AmMaj7 we need to add the note G#, the major 7th note. So AmMaj7 is made up of the notes:

A, C, E, G#

As I said, it can be kind of a crazy-sounding chord. Or, it can be a beautiful chord. In any case, it’s fun to experiment with it to see what you can do!

Where to go from here with the 7 chord

Now that you know how to create each different 7 chord, where do you go from here? We talked a little bit about when you would use a couple of these types of 7 chord, but I’ll talk in more detail about how you might use each of them in future articles.

For now, experiment with creating each of these chords and try using them in your playing. Have fun with them and become familiar with their sounds.

Conclusion

The 7 chord is really more than just one chord. There are several different chords that fall into the 7 chord category. In each case, however, you create these chords by adding a 7th interval note to the base chord.

The 7th note you add can be a major or minor 7th interval, and the characteristics of the chord depend upon which you choose. The dominant 7th chord is the most common and is very useful for resolving back to the I chord of a progression. It’s just one of three most common 7th chord forms also including the major 7th and minor 7th chords.

Less common, but still cool are seventh chords build off of the full diminished and half diminished triads. But one of the coolest of all builds a major 7th interval on top of a minor chord to create the minor major 7th chord.

Now that we’ve learned how to make these chords, future articles can more fully explore the unique characteristics of each of them.

The post Exploring the 7 chord appeared first on Gary Rebholz.

As you learn more and more songs on guitar, sooner or later you’ll run into a sus chord. Let’s take a look at basic sus chords so that you can understand how to play them and how to use them in your music.

What is a sus chord

A sus chord, more formally called a suspended chord, is a musical chord that omits the 3rd degree of the major scale and replaces it with the 2nd (sus2) or the 4th (sus4) degree.

While other, more complicated sus chords exist, these are the two most common. Especially for guitar players, the sus2 and sus4 chords are used frequently based off of the open chords A, D, and maybe somewhat less often, C. Those three chords provide easy access to both of the suspended variants.

The other two open major guitar chord shapes–E, and G–offer somewhat more complicated versions of their suspended chords.

What is the anatomy of a sus chord?

As I said above, the sus chord has no 3rd note. Remember, it’s the 3rd degree of the scale that gives the chord its major or minor tonality. A natural, or major 3rd makes the chord a major chord. On the other hand, a flat, or minor 3rd makes the chord a minor chord.

But in a sus chord, we omit the 3rd altogether and replace it with either the 2nd (sus2) or the 4th (sus4). Therefore, sus chords are neither major nor minor.

This lack of definition as major or minor give suspended chords sort of a wide-open, airy sound. They’re very pleasing chords to listen to.

At the same time, the replacement of the 3rd with either the 2nd or the 4th sets up tension in the chord. These chords really cry out for resolution.

Normally, you’ll resolve these sus chords back to the major or minor version of the same chord. Let’s discuss how you create sus chords on the guitar. You’ll hear how naturally these chords want resolution back to the major.

Common sus chords on guitar

As I mentioned, the open major chords on guitar offer us a variety of easily accessible suspended chords. Let’s take a look at several of them.

The A suspended chords

Again the open A major and minor shapes give us easy access to both the sus2 and sus4 chords. Start with the open A chord.

A major consists of the notes A, C#, and E. Notice in the chord chart that the C# falls under the third finger at fret two of the B string. This is the note that we will replace with either the 2nd or the 4th in order to create the sus chord we want.

You’ll find that the A shape is one of the easiest shapes to transform into a sus chord because the notes you need are easily accessible.

To create an A sus 2 chord (you’ll normally see it in chord charts as Asus2) you just need to lift your ring finger and let the open B string ring out. B is the 2nd degree of the A major scale. Lifting the ring finger replaces the C# with the B, and that’s your Asus2 chord.

An Asus4 is nearly as easy to create. For this, just use your pinky to play the D note that is one fret above the C# on the B string. Technically you don’t event need to lift your ring finger which makes it super easy to switch between the Asus4 and A major chords.

Practice playing these two chords and switching back and forth from them and the A major chord. Listen for the satisfying resolution of the tension from the sus chord to the major. The resolution is especially satisfying when you move from the Asus4 to the A major.

The D suspended chords

Similar to the A sus chords, the D sus chords are easy to make. The notes of the D major chord are D, F#, and A. The F# is the 3rd, and so it’s that note you’ll need to replace to create your sus chords.

For the Dsus2, you’ll play an E instead of the F#, so just remove your ring finger to let the open High E ring out.

For the Dsus4, use your pinky to play the G note at fret 3 of the High E string.

Here are the chord diagrams for all three of these chords.

Play these three chords one after another starting with the Dsus2, then the D, then the Dsus4. Play each of them for an 8th note value in a 4/4 time signature and let that Dsus4 ring out for the remainder of the measure. If you’re doing it correctly, you might recognize this little passage as part of the lead in to the solo of Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven.

That’s just one song of countless popular tunes you’ve heard suspended chords in!

The C suspended chords

You can also reach both the Csus2 and Csus4 chords with minimal effort from the C major chord. C major is made up of the notes C, E, and G. The third is E, so that’s the note you need to replace.

For Csus2, lift your ring finger and let the open D play. For the Csus4, use your pinky to play the F note on fret 3 of the D string.

But there’s one complication with these two chords. The C major chord has two E notes. And while the fingering I mention above eliminates one of them, you also need to eliminate the other or you won’t have a true sus chord.

The second E note is the open High E string. The easiest way to eliminate it is to simply not strum it. If you’re having trouble avoiding it though, you could try letting your pointer touch it slightly. Not hard enough to press it down. Just enough to deaden the sound.

Here are the chord diagrams for the three chords.

The E suspended chords

As you’ve seen, with the A, D, and C chord groups it’s easy to make both suspended chords. But the E shapes present a bit of a problem.

The notes of the E major chord are E, G#, and B. Notice in the E major chord shape, you play that G# with your pointer at fret 1 of the G string.

You probably noticed that in each case so far the drop from the major 3rd to the 2nd is a whole step. Translated to guitar, that means we drop the note two frets. And that’s always the case

Since for E major the third sits at the first fret, we can’t drop that note far enough to reach the F# we need for the Esus2. But we can find an F# at fret 4 of the A string. Reach up with your pinky to play that note.

However, you also have to omit that G#. The easiest way to do this is to let your pinky slightly touch the G string to “deaden” it so it doesn’t ring. For a beginner, that might not be easy.

There are several other ways you could create an Esus2, and maybe you can experiment to find one you like better. Just make sure to replace the G# with and F#.

Luckily the Esus4 is easier to find. Use your pinky at fret 2 of the G string to replace the G# with an A. It might be a little uncomfortable to squeeze all three fingers into consecutive strings at fret 2, but you can do it. You can also use a fingering similar to that you use for A major to accomplish the task.

Here are the three chord diagrams.

The G suspended chords

Similar to the E group, the G group doesn’t provide a simple way to play a Gsus2. The notes of the G major chord are G, B, and D. So we need to replace that B with an A.

You can easily do this by lifting your ring finger from fret 2 of the A string. But the G major chord has another B note in it and we have to eliminate that note too, or we won’t have a suspended chord.

To do this, you can touch the B string lightly with your pointer to deaden the sound of it. This can be tricky, especially for beginner guitarists.

Given this, Gsus2 isn’t really all that common on guitar. There are other fingerings you could try. Just remember that you need to eliminate both B notes and add at least one A note to make a Gsus2.

You have a similar problem with making a Gsus4. While you can easily replace the open B note with a C note at fret 1 of the B string with your pointer, you still have to eliminate the B at fret 2 of the A string or you don’t actually have a Gsus4.

You can do this by releasing the pressure from your middle finger on the A string but let it still touch the string to deaden it. Again, this isn’t that easy to do in practice.

Honestly, though, you can cheat on this one and leave that lower B in the chord and no one will mind! Even though it’s not technically a Gsus4, you’ll still get a very strong sense of Gsus4 even with that low B note still in the chord. You can also just strum the thinnest four strings to play a real Gsus4.

Here are the three chord diagrams.

How do you use a sus chord?

Like pretty much everything else about music, you can use a sus chord any way you like. Whatever sounds good is fair game. Still, of course there are some guidelines to get you started.

Replace your major chord

Suspended chords make great embellishments that you can use to replace your major chord. For instance, say you have a song in which you have four consecutive measures of an A major chord. That could get to be a little boring after a while.

Instead of playing a straight A major through those four measures, you might try throwing in a sus chord or two. You don’t have to stay on them long. Just switch to an Asus4 for a beat or two and then back to your A. Or run through both your sus2 and sus4 and then land back on the major chord.

It won’t always be appropriate to do this, but it will be quite often, so try it and see what you come up with.

Create tension and release

Because suspended chords have no third, they’re a bit mysterious. They’re ambiguous and leave your listener not knowing for sure whether you’re in a major key or a minor key. This makes them super interesting.

But they are also full of tension. With a sus2, you’re playing the 1st and 2nd scale degrees simultaneously, and that’s not a very comfortable interval.

In the same way, with a sus4, you’re playing the 4th and the 5th scale degrees. That’s also a somewhat uncomfortable interval.

So when you play suspended chords, you create tension. And with tension come interesting sounds. When you resolve this tension by moving back to the major (or minor) chord, the listener experiences a sense of relief. All of this leads to more interesting and more enjoyable music.

Advanced usage of the sus chord

I’ve only talked here about the most common types of the sus chord. As you might suspect, there’s more to the story. Music theory can take you deeper into the subject.

I won’t go deeper here, but perhaps a follow-up article can look at some of the more advanced uses of the sus chord.

Conclusion

When you replace the 3rd-degree note of a major or minor chord with the 2nd- or the 4th-degree notes, you create a suspended chord.

These chords are pleasing and interesting. They’re mysterious because they are neither major nor minor. And they’re inherently filled with tension. This tension resolves beautifully back to the major or minor chord.

All of the open major chords enable easy ways to get to either or both of the sus2 and sus4 chords.

You can use suspended chords to add interest to your chord progressions. You can substitute them for the major or minor chords sometimes, or use them to move a song along in interesting ways.

The post What is a sus chord and how do you use it? appeared first on Gary Rebholz.

To make the switch from one chord to another more interesting, we can often connect the two chords with a bass run–often referred to simply as a run. When you use a run between chords, you move one step beyond basic chord playing and into a more sophisticated and interesting playing style.

What is a bass run?

On the guitar, a bass run is a series of consecutive notes that lead from one chord to the next. The bass run can be either ascending or descending and it typically contains two, three, or sometimes four evenly spaced notes played on the lower strings of the guitar to emulate a bass player’s part.

The bass run you choose between chords can have an interesting effect on the feel of your song. You have to be careful though, because if you overuse runs, they can lose their effect and stop sounding interesting to your listener.

Still, the bass run is a tried-and-true technique. It can help you take your playing to a different, more interesting place. Let’s take a look at how it works.

How does a bass run fit into your song?

There are several ways you can fit a bass run into your song between chords. In general, you must decide first how long the bass run will be. And then you need to decide which notes you want to use for the run.

Decide how long your bass run will be

You have several options for how long to make your bass run. You could make it two notes long. Or, you could try a longer three-note or even four-note bass run. In fact, technically, you could make the bass run as long as you want it to be. However, if you make it to long, it’ll start sounding less like a bass run and more like some sort of solo or lead line.

A typical two-note bass run in a song in 4/4 time might start on beat three of the last measure of the first chord. You would play one note on beat 3 of that measure, and the next note on beat 4. The bass run leads up (or down) to the root note of the next chord which you would play on beat 1 of the next measure.

If you want a longer run, start on beat 2 of the measure and play a three-note run.

You can also play faster bass runs. For instance, you could play a two-note run that doesn’t start until beat 4 of the measure. To do this you need to use eighth notes for your run. So, you’d play your two notes on the 4 and the 4-and of the measure.

Naturally, you can mix things up. Play a three-quarter-note bass run first. Then, the next time, use eighth notes. Or use just two notes instead of three.

You really have a lot of options for playing a bass run. You should experiment and become comfortable with many different types. This will help you keep your playing lively, unpredictable, and thus interesting.

Use diatonic notes for your bass run

The specific notes you’ll use for any bass run depends heavily upon the two chords you’re moving between. Naturally, you’ll use different note to move from G to C than you will to move from A to D.

So it makes sense to talk less about the specific notes and instead discuss the approach you’ll take to choosing those notes.

Two types of bass run are most common. First, you can create a run that’s based off of the diatonic notes from the scale you’re playing in. For instance, if your song is in the key of C, then a run that uses only diatonic notes would have any of the notes from the C scale.

For example, say you want to move from a G7 to a C. In the key of C this is a common chord progression. It moves from the dominant 7th of the V chord back to the I chord. In this case, your note choice is easy because only two diatonic notes from the key of C lie between these two chords: the notes A and B.

So, if you’re playing a two-note run, you’ll strum the G7 for two beats. Then play the open A string on the third beat for your A note and the B at fret 2 of the A string on the fourth beat. This leads you comfortably back to the note C at fret 3 of the A string, which is the root note of the next chord. This is a super-common bass run that you’ll likely use often.

Use chromatic notes for your bass run

Another popular method for assembling a bass run draws notes from the chromatic scale rather than to use diatonic notes from the major scale. This type of bass run moves one half step at a time from one chord to the next.

Let’s say we want to create a bass run to move us from the C chord we played above, back down to that G7. But we want a chromatic run instead of a diatonic one. And further, say we want a four-note bass run instead of two.

In this case, you can use the four chromatic notes between C and G moving down the scale. Those notes are B, A#, A, and G#.

Because you have four notes–and assuming they are all quarter notes–you need a full measure to make the bass run. So, instead of strumming the C chord on the last measure, play a B on the first beat, and then A#, A, and G# on the next three beats. Land on the root note G of the G7 chord on beat one of the next measure. Note that the B, A#, and A notes are all played on the A string (typically) while the G# and the G notes are on the Low E string.

Playing notes between the chords

You can see that playing a run from one chord to the next is really just another form of playing notes between chords. However, bass runs might be considered more structured than simply playing notes from the scale. They sound less like lead guitar work, and more like bass or bass guitar parts.

Still, technically, all you’re doing is creating space between two chords and filling it with consecutive notes that create a run.

When should you use bass runs?

Bass runs show up and are appropriate in virtually any and every genre of music. They are especially common in folk, bluegrass, country, blues, and other roots-related genres.

But again, you can fit them into almost any song regardless of the genre you’re playing. Their flexibility shows how important the technique is and why you should really master it if you want to make your playing more interesting.

Remember to be careful not to overuse the bass run though. Just as with anything on guitar, if you do it so much that it become predictable, then it loses its effect. Over using this device can even make your playing sound less sophisticated. People will recognize–maybe even on an unconscious level–that you’re over relying on the bass run.

So make sure you mix it up. Use it now and then. Change the number of notes you use in each run. Make some of your runs diatonic and others chromatic. Keep your listener guessing!

And sometimes…leave the bass run out. Surprise your listener with the lack of the bass run instead. Adding the bass run technique to your playing makes it cool to leave it out now and then!

What about switching between chords that are not next to each other?

In the examples we discussed here, only a few notes separate the chords we were moving between. But wonder if things are not that neat? What if the chords have more notes between them?

For instance, say you’re moving from a C chord to an E chord. That’s sort of an unusual chord change because the chord E is out of key for song in C major. Still, it’s not an unheard of change. Sometimes breaking out of the key creates a ton of interest.

Assuming you’re going to create a descending run from the C note at fret 3 of the A string to the open Low E string, you have a spread of seven notes. A seven-note bass run would probably seem awkward and a bit overkill, so how do you handle this?

Just decide how many notes you want to use in your bass run and then choose the last notes leading to the next chord. For instance in our C to E progression, let’s say you want a three-note chromatic run.

Strum the C chord for one beat, then–on the Low E string–play the notes G, F#, and F on the next three beats. Land on the root note of the E chord on beat 1 of the next measure. Even though you skipped a bunch of possible notes between the two chords, the bass run still sounds great.

The same technique works with an ascending run. Say you’re moving from the E back to C. You decide you want a three-note diatonic run. On the last measure of the E chord, strum the chord for beat one. Then play the notes, G, A, and B on the next three beats. Land on the C root note on the first beat of the next measure.

Get creative with your bass runs

Now that you know the concepts, try some different things. Mix it up. Play one style the first time and another style the next. Or, why not mix it up right inside the same bass run?

For instance, when you move from that E to the C, try a hybrid four-note bass run. On the first two beats play the notes G and A. That’s the start of a diatonic run. But on the last two beats play the notes A# and B. That’s chromatic.

So you’ve mixed a diatonic run with a chromatic run. Do you like the way it sounds? Then use is again. If you don’t, then you’ve learned something valuable about what to avoid in your playing.

But honestly, almost anything goes and has the potential to sound very cool. So don’t be shy about experiments!

Conclusion

Bass runs are a series of consecutive notes that lead from one chord into the next. These can be either diatonic notes or chromatic. You can choose the number of notes to use in a bass run, but typically it will be two, three, or four. Anything more than that begins to sound less like a bass run and more like a lead line of sorts.

Bass runs are really just a slightly more structured way of playing notes between chords. They make your playing sound more interesting and sophisticated. You can use them in virtually any genre of music, but especially roots-based genres like folk, country, and blues.

Once you understand the concept and how to incorporate these into your playing, you can get creative and mix things up. Just don’t over use them. If you play a bass run between every set of chords in your song, they’ll lose their effectiveness and actually could detract from your song.

The post How to use a bass run to connect chords appeared first on Gary Rebholz.

We talk about the minor pentatonic scale a lot on this site. If you’ve read any of the articles here then you know that there are five minor pentatonic boxes. You may also have been struggling to learn all of these boxes. But there’s an easy way to look at the minor pentatonic scale shapes that might help you understand the boxes more quickly and more completely. Let’s explore it.

Minor pentatonic scale shapes: Box 1

Box 1 of the minor pentatonic scale might be the most commonly known shape of all. It’s often the first shape new guitarists learn for the minor pentatonic. It’s easy to remember and easy to play. The figure shows Box 1 of the A minor pentatonic scale.

Although this box is so common and pretty easy to learn and play, many guitarists never really come to understand it. It’s easy to equate the box–in fact, any of the box shapes–with the minor pentatonic scale shapes. But in actuality, each of the boxes is more than the pentatonic scale shape. Each spans two octaves (plus a note or two more) of the pentatonic scale.

After all, there are only five notes in the pentatonic scale. The box contains 12 played frets—two on each string. So clearly there are more notes than just one octave of the pentatonic scale.

For instance, look at the figure for Box 1 of the minor pentatonic scale again. Notice that the box contains three root notes. From the lowest of these root notes to the next root note is one octave of the minor pentatonic scale.

From that second root note to the third root note (the highest of the three) is another octave. So, from the lowest root note to the highest root note in the box are two full octaves.

The structure of the pentatonic scale shapes on guitar

What the diagram of Box 1 of the pentatonic scale doesn’t do a good job of showing is the structure of the pentatonic scale. This is because that structure appears to be different for the higher octave of the scale than it is for the lower octave.

But appearances are deceiving. The structures of the two octaves are identical. They just don’t appear to be identical due to how the notes fall on the guitar.

However, we have an easy way to see the structure of the minor pentatonic scale on guitar. Instead of playing the scale across strings, let’s see what it looks like stretched up one string.

No matter what string you play the scale on, when you start with the root note, it has this exact structure.

Look at the figure and notice the pattern. From the starting root note, jump three frets to the second note of the scale. Then two frets to the next note. Two more frets to the fourth note. Another three-fret jump to the fifth note. And finally, a two-fret jump back to the root note of the next octave.

And again, it looks like this no matter what string you play it on.

Moving the pentatonic scale shapes across strings again

Of course, while you can play the pentatonic scale up the neck on one string as in the figure above, that’s not a very practical shape for improvising solos.

So, let’s move the shape back to Box 1. But let’s concentrate on just one octave of the scale. This involves the first three strings.

On the low E string, the first two notes of the scale remain the same since they’re both on that string.

But instead of moving up two more frets on the E string to play the D, we play the same note by moving up to the A string and playing at the same fret (fret 5) that we started with on the E string.

Next we make a two-fret jump to play the E note on the A string at fret 7.

Now, instead of making the three-fret jump from the E to the G, we move to fret 5 of the D string, where we find the G note. Finally, another two-fret jump brings us to A, the root note of the next octave.

To sum the pattern up:

• Start at the root note
• Jump three frets to the second note of the scale
• Move up one string and back to the starting fret for the third scale note
• Skip two frets up to the fourth note of the scale
• Move up one string and back to the starting fret for the fifth scale note
• Skip two frets up to the root note of the next octave

This pattern remains the same no matter what string you start on. Well…almost the same.

That pesky B string exception

If the octave you’re playing involves the B string, then you have to modify your fingering a bit to accommodate for the B string’s different tuning interval. So on the B string, you have to move your fingers up one fret for both notes.

But while the fingering changes–that is, the fret numbers change when you encounter the B string–the pattern of frets does not change.

The fundamental pattern for minor pentatonic scale shapes on guitar

The pattern always starts at the root note. On the same string, jump three frets to the second note.

On the next string play the first note and jump two frets to the next note.

Finally, on the third string, start on the first note and jump two frets to the next note. That is always the pattern. Always.

When you tear the minor pentatonic scale shapes down to their core elements, you always find this pattern. No matter which of the five boxes you use, they all contain this pattern.

Use this pattern to play pentatonic scale shapes up the neck

Knowing this pattern unlocks a “secret” passage to flying up the neck.

For instance, play one octave of the A minor pentatonic scale starting at fret 5 of the Low E string (the black notes in the figure). But this time, instead of using your ring finger to play the A note at fret 7 of the D string (to start the next octave), slide your pointer from fret 5 to fret 7.

Now, repeat the pattern (the red notes in the figure). With your pointer at fret 7 of the D string, use your pinky to play fret 10—a three-fret jump.

Move up to the next string to play fret 7 of the G string with your pointer for the third note of the scale. Play the fourth note of the scale with your ring finger at fret 9.

Jump to the B string. Because it’s the B string you’ll need to move up one fret for both notes. So, play the fifth note of the scale with your pointer at fret 8. Jump two frets to fret 10 which is the A note that starts the next octave.

But again, instead of reaching for that A note with your ring finger, slide your pointer up to that note.

Now play the pattern again (the blue notes). Stretch your pinky to fret 13 for the C note. Move to the High E string at fret 10 for the D note and then the E note at fret 12 with your ring finger.

You’ve run out of strings. But with one pattern you’ve quickly moved from fret 5 up to fret 12. And you’ve played nothing but the five notes of the minor pentatonic scale.

Moving through the boxes

If you look closely, you can see what’s happened here. You’ve used the same exact pattern for all three octaves. But each time you slid your pointer finger up to play the next root note instead of using your ring finger, you actually slid from one box of the pentatonic scale to the next.

When you slid your pointer from fret 5 of the D string to fret 7, you slid out of the lower part of Box 1 of the pentatonic scale into the mid section of Box 2. Then you just repeated the same basic pattern.

When you slid your pointer from the G note at fret 8 of the B string to the root of the next octave at fret 10, you slide out of Box 2 and into the high end of Box 3. And then you just repeated that same basic pattern.

Pretty cool, right?

If you were ever wondering how you can transition from one box to another, well, now you have a super easy way to do that.

The only pattern you really need for minor pentatonic scale shapes

So, technically speaking, this one pattern is the only pattern you need to know in order to play the minor pentatonic scale anywhere on the neck. No matter where you find the root note, apply this pattern and you will play the minor pentatonic scale for an octave.

Try it. Start at fret 12 of the A string. Apply the pattern. You’ve played an octave of the A minor pentatonic scale. In that case, you’re in Box 4. But honestly, you don’t even need to know that. All you need to know is the pattern and where your root notes sit.

Start at fret 2 of the G string and apply the pattern. You’ve just played one octave of the A minor pentatonic scale. You don’t really need to know it, but you’re in box 5 here.

It simply does not matter where you find the root note. Start with your pointer on that note and apply the pattern to play an octave of the minor pentatonic scale. It works every time. Just remember to adjust the frets when the B string is involved.

And don’t forget to practice this going backward too. That way you’ll really become familiar with the pattern and how to move through the boxes.

Yes there are two paths you can go by

Here’s another thing all of this can mean for your playing. Whenever you encounter the root note of the pentatonic box, you can proceed through the scale in two different ways.

First, you can choose to stay within the box shape and come up with various licks. Or, instead, you can decide that’s a good time to slide out of that box into the adjacent box and come up with a completely different set of licks.

These types of options are one of the things that make the guitar such a fascinating (and challenging) instrument. Even if you play the exact same notes in your lick, the lick will sound slightly different if you stay in the box than it will if you move into the next box.

Any note in the box will sound different than the exact same note in one of the other boxes (unless the boxes share the same note location) because you’ll play it on a different string. The different thickness and characteristics of the strings will give the note a different timbre–that is, sound characteristics.

It’s a very cool idea to play the same lick both ways and see how different it sounds.

Conclusion

The minor pentatonic scale shapes can be a bit intimidating when you think of them in terms of five different boxes you have to learn. But you can look at the scale along just one string to learn the basic pattern of the scale on guitar.

Once you understand that pattern, you can move back to Box 1 for just one octave across three strings. That simple pattern works no matter where you find your starting root note.

You can then apply that pattern to move from one Box to the next and then to the next.

This simple pattern is the minor pentatonic scale in its most basic form. It makes the scale less intimidating and gives you an easy way to transition from one Box shape into another.

The post How to easily remember the minor pentatonic scale shapes appeared first on Gary Rebholz.

With very basic guitar playing, you don’t normally play notes between chords. Instead, you simply switch from one chord to the next.

As you become more comfortable with the guitar, you may start getting a little bored with that style of playing. You might start to feel like all the songs you play sound the same.

When that happens, you need to spice things up a bit. To do that, you can play notes between chords.

What does it mean to play notes between chords?

Songs are usually made up of a progression of chords played on guitar, piano, or other instruments. Instead of switching from one chord to the next with no connection between them, the musician can stop playing one chord a little early to leave space between that and the next chord. Then the space can be filled with note melodies that connect the first chord to the second.

Many examples of this can be found in the playing of famous guitarists. The name most often mentioned is Jimi Hendrix. But many other players use this technique. Players like Stevie Ray Vaughan, Eric Clapton, John Mayer, and the list goes on.

But it’s not just the rock and roll guitar gods that do it. Folk guitarists do it. Country players. Well, I guess you get the idea. It doesn’t matter what genre of music you play, you can use the same technique and play notes between chords.

How do you learn to play notes between chords?

If so many players use this technique, there must be something to it, right? So you should learn the technique. And you can get as simple or as sophisticated as you like.

We’ll start with some simple ideas. Once you understand the concept and can execute a few simple examples, you’ll be able to explore on your own and come up with all kinds of interesting ideas.

First step: become comfortable with the chord progression

I guess it seems obvious, but it’s important to make the point. Before you can successfully play notes between chords, you must first be completely comfortable with the chord progression you’re playing. You need to develop the ability to nearly effortlessly switch between the chords of the song.

If you’re struggling just to make your chord changes, you won’t have success with playing notes between chords. There’s no shame in that. It’s just a matter of skills development. I’m not judging. Rather I’m simply encouraging you to take things in their proper order.

Take the time to learn how to change chords effortlessly and smoothly. Get so good at doing so that you don’t need to think about it. Once you’ve accomplished that, you’re ready for the next step.

Second step: understand your scales

You’ll often hear people argue about learning scales. Some people will tell you that spending time leaning your scales on guitar is just busy work. They’ll say things like, “Don’t waste your time learning scales and theory. It only holds you back.”

Well, to put it bluntly, those people are full of…unfortunate thinking.

I get it. To an extent these people have a point. You don’t want to get so bogged down in scale practice that you never actually make any music. If all you ever do is play scales, you’ll never really become a player.

But at the same time, if you don’t understand your scales, you miss out on so much musical possibility. Once again, the key is balance. Don’t spend all your time running scales. It’ll drive you mad. But don’t ignore the valuable understanding that scales provide you.

Quite simply put, if you want to play notes between chords, it helps tremendously to understand scales and the notes that belong to them.

The important scales for you to start with are the major and minor scales and their pentatonic versions. With these four scales you can play a huge variety of interesting connections between chords.

Obviously, if your song is in a major key, use the major scale or the major pentatonic scale. In a minor key song, use the minor scale versions.

Third step: create space and fill it with notes

Once you understand your chord progression and you have mastery of your scales, you’re really ready to play notes between chords.

First, you need to create some space for the notes you want to play. Then you will fill that space with your note melodies.

You can start simply. For instance, say the chord progression calls for one measure of the first chord. On the second bar you switch to the next chord. We’ll assume the song is in 4/4 time, so there are four beats to each measure.

If you were to just play chords, you’d strum that first chord for the entire measure. Then, on the first beat of the next measure you’d change to the second chord.

Instead, to play notes between the chords, play the first chord for three beats of the first measure. For now, just leave silence on beat four and then play the second chord on beat one of the next bar.

It sounds a bit weird to just stop for that beat, but you’ve just created the space you need for one or more notes to play between the chords.

Now do the same thing again, but this time instead of leaving that one beat empty with silence, play a note from the scale of the key the song is in during beat four of the first measure. That’s really all there is to it!

Of course, you can fill the space with as many notes as you’d like. And you can make the space longer or shorter to create variety. But the concept remains just that simple. Create space between the chords and then fill that space with notes.

A practical example of playing notes between chords

Let’s take a look at a simple example that will make it clear and get you started.

We’ll use the chords C and Am. It’s common to move from one of those chords to the other in countless songs. And you can easily connect those two chords with one single note.

Know what scale to use

If the song calls for these two chords, it’s a good bet that the song is in the key of C major or A minor. Because A minor is the relative minor of C major, those two keys share exactly the same notes. The notes of C major are:

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

And the notes of A minor are

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

Exactly the same notes. Just in a different order.

So, when you switch between these two chords, you can choose any of the notes in the C major scale to connect them.

Since the C chord uses the note C for its root note and the Am uses the A note for its root, you really won’t use those two notes for a simple connection between the chords. You can sort of think of those two notes as your starting and ending points.

That leaves you with the notes B, D, E, F, and G. Any of those notes will work to make the connection between the two chords. Some will work better than others.

To be clear, as you get more sophisticated with this technique you might indeed use the C and A notes as well as the others, but for now let’s keep it simple.

The easiest connection between C and Am

For the easiest connection between these chords, look back at the chord charts for C and Am and the C major scale above. Notice the relationship on the guitar between the root notes of the two chords. The C root note sits at fret 3 of the A string. And you find the root of Am at the open A string.

You might have already noticed that the only note of the C major scale that sits between these two notes is the B note you find at fret 2 of the A string. So that makes the most natural connection possible between these two chords.

Try it now. Play your C chord for three beats of the first measure. On beat four, instead of playing the C chord, play just the B note. Then on beat one of the next measure, switch to the Am.

Notice how smoothly that B note leads from the C to the Am. Pretty cool, right?

And it works in the other direction too. You can play that note from the Am back to the C.

Try it. Play back and forth between the C and the Am. One measure of C, then to Am for a measure, then back to C, back to Am, and just keep it going.

When you’re ready, start substituting that B note on beat four of every measure. Notice how that note beautifully leads you from either chord to the other.

Mix it up with other notes from the scale

As cool as this is using the B note, it won’t be long before you start getting bored with it. If you do the same thing over and over and over in music, it’s going to start getting monotonous no matter how cool it was to begin with.

So, to break that monotony, choose some of the other notes from the scale to play instead of the B note.

For instance, when you move from the C to the Am, play the G note at fret 3 of the Low E string instead of the B note. Then, when moving back to the C from Am, play the E note that you’re already fretting at fret 2 of the D string.

Notice the different feel it gives to your song as you choose different notes. Even just this simple technique is already making your playing far more interesting!

Explore other ideas

Once you have this simple one-note connection mastered, it’s time to branch out. Explore other possibilities and you’ll be amazed at what you come up with.

For instance, instead of playing just one quarter note between the two chords, try two eighth notes. Like, maybe play a G eighth note followed by a B. What does that sound like? Do you like it? Then do it again! If you don’t like it, well, now you know not to use that move.

Now try a different timing. Instead of creating a one-beat hole to fill with notes, try filling a two-beat hole with a combination of notes.

Once you’ve come up with a few ways you like to play notes between chords, mix it up. In the first measure fill a one-beat hole with that B note. Then in another measure, fill it with a G note. In yet another bar, fill a two-beat hole with four eighth notes.

Next, try playing more than one note at a time. Experiment with pull-offs, hammer-ons, bending, and sliding. Pull out all the stops!

The point is that the possibilities are endless here. Try a bunch of stuff. Find the ones you like and mix them up to keep your playing active and interesting.

Play notes between different chords from the key too

Of course, C and Am aren’t the only chords that this technique works for. In fact, you can use it between virtually any two chords.

The chord G is another chord in the key of C. Play a progression that moves from C to Am to G and back to C. Just like before, you can use any of the notes of C major to connect all of these chords. Try it and see what you can come up with.

As you add different chords, you’ll notice that you have to be a little more selective about which notes you use. Although technically any note from the scale should work, some sound better than others depending upon the chords you’re moving between.

Just keep experimenting. Soon you’ll begin to develop a feel for your favorite chord connectors based on the chords you’re moving to and from.

Connect any chords in any key

While we’ve walked through a simple example in the key of C, you can play notes between chords in any key. You just need to understand what notes you can play that will sound good.

This is where your knowledge of scales come in. If you’re in the key of G, then you’ll use the notes from the G major or G major pentatonic scales. In the key of Bbm, you’ll use the notes from that key.

It’s honestly not as overwhelming as it seems. Keep practicing the technique in a variety of keys and you’ll soon get a great feel for what notes connect any two chords together.

A great way to practice this technique is to find the chord charts to some of your favorite simple songs. Play along with the chords until you’ve got the chord changes nailed so that you no longer have to think about them. Then, start creating holes between the chords and filling those holes with notes from the song’s key scale.

Start slowly and simply. You’ll make fast progress once you get going.

Should you always play notes between chords?

Of course by now you know the answer. Sometimes you’ll just want to play chords. That’s OK.

Maybe you just want to strum along to provide a group of friends accompaniment while you sing around the campfire. You don’t need to show off.

But other times, you want to play something more interesting. For example, if you’re performing and everyone is focused on you and your playing, you may soon start to feel self conscious about the simplicity of just strumming through chords.

Just as with everything you learn on guitar, don’t think in terms of requirements. You don’t have to do anything all the time. This applies to whether you should play notes between chords. Use your discretion.

If you never play notes between chords, your playing can seem boring. On the other hand, if you always play notes between chords, your playing can begin to sound overly busy and yet repetitious. The best approach is usually to create variety. Mix it up. Sometimes play notes between chords. Other times leave those extra notes out.

Part of making great music is to keep your listener guessing. Bore them and you’ll lose them. Tire them out by over playing and you’ll also lose them. Keep them guessing and you’ll hold their interest.

Conclusion

Sometimes simply strumming through chords can get boring. So what can you do to make things more interesting? You can play notes between chords.

The concept is actually quite easy. You just need to know a couple basic techniques to start adding interest to your chord progressions.

Start with mastering the chord progression for your song. Then, understand the song’s scale. Create holes in the chord progression and fill them with notes from the scale.

With a bit of practice, you can take your playing from simple sounding to a place where your listener starts to believe you’re a better player than you probably give yourself credit for!

The post How do you play notes between chords? appeared first on Gary Rebholz.

You can use several different shapes to play diminished chords on guitar. Even though these chords are not used all that often in most genres, they can be quite impactful in the right situations. Let’s take a look at diminished chords and some of their unique characteristics.

What is a diminished chord?

A diminished chord in music consists of three notes–the root, flat 3rd, and flat 5th. Each note is a minor third from the next. A half diminished chord adds the flat 7th note. A Diminished 7th chord adds a doubled flatted 7th to the diminished triad.

As I said, there is a minor third interval between the first and second as well as the second and third notes of diminished triads. Technically the second note of the chord is called the minor 3rd. The third note of the chord is called the diminished 5th, and that’s where the diminished chord gets its name.

The harmonized major scale contains one diminished chord at the 7th scale degree. The three minor scales each have one or two diminished chords.

Three types of diminished chords

Technically, a diminished chord is a triad. It has just three notes: the root, the flatted 3rd, and the flatted 5th. But you can easily extend the basic diminished chord in two interesting ways.

Quite often you’ll hear people refer to not only the diminished triad, but also either of the two variations as diminished chords. And in practical use, whenever a chord chart calls for a diminished chord, you could pretty much just as easily use one as the other. In fact, you can experiment to see which one you like best in any given situation.

Of course, some compositions will call specifically for one of the three diminished types and may not work properly if you substitute one of the others. You’ll have to make this determination.

The diminished triad

The diminished triad gives you the simplest diminished chord of all. As the name implies, it’s a three-note chord. Of course, theoretically you might play more than three strings on your guitar, but if the extra strings only repeat one of the basic chord notes in a different octave, it’s still technically a triad.

To easily find diminished chords on guitar, start with a minor chord. You might have noticed that a diminished triad is simply a minor triad with a flatted 5th. So, to find a diminished triad, start with any minor triad and lower the 5th by a fret.

For example, at fret 5, bar the G, B, and High E strings to play the notes C, E, and A. That’s the E-shaped A minor triad. To play the A diminished triad, just lower the E note at fret 5 of the B string to an Eb. Instead of using a bar for this, use your pointer at fret 4 of the B string for an Eb note, your middle finger at fret 5 of the G string for the C note, and your ring finger at fret 5 of the E string for the A note.

Those three notes–A, C, and Eb–make up an Adim triad. So the only difference between the two is the flatted 5th. The Eb instead of the E.

You might recognize the finger shape for the diminished triad as the same shape you use at fret 2 for an open D7 chord. In fact, if you make that shape at fret two and play the top four strings, you indeed have a D7. The addition of the D bass note makes it a D7. But if you leave the D note out and just play the top three strings, you have an F#dim chord.

I don’t know about you, but I find that kind of thing fascinating! The addition or omission of a single note, changes the chord drastically. It’s also cool to learn that you might already know a shape that you can use to play diminished chords on guitar immediately.

Also, this shape is completely moveable. You can move it up and down the neck to make any diminished triad you need.

In fact, keep that in mind as you make your way through this article because every shape that I discuss here is completely moveable.

Half diminished

Next, you can extend the basic diminished triad to create a half diminished chord. To do so, add the flatted 7th note of the scale to the basic diminished triad. You’ll often see these written in chord charts as Am7b5. In words, you’d say A minor seventh flat five.

This indicates how you can easily create a half diminished chord on guitar. First, start with a minor 7th chord and then flat the 5th degree.

Half diminished based on a Low E-string root

For instance, to play an Am7b5, we’ll start with an E-shaped Am chord at fret 5. With your pointer, bar across all the strings at fret 5. Use your ring finger to play fret 7 of the A string and your pinky fret 7 of the D string. That’s your E-shaped Am bar chord.

To turn that chord into an Am7, you need to add a note. That’s easy to do. Just lift your pinky and let the D string accept your bar at fret 5. Fret 5 of the D string is the note G. Now you have Am7.

Now you just need to flat the 5th. To do that, move your ring finger down a fret. This is sort of an unnatural squeeze, so you might instead switch to your middle finger at fret 6 of the A string.

To play a four-note version of the A half diminished, you can switch the flatted 5th (the Eb note) to a different string. We’ll play that note on the B string.

Use your pointer to press fret 4 of the B string. This is your Eb note. The rest of the fingers play on fret 5. Your middle finger plays the A note on the Low E string. Let the flesh of your middle finger touch the A string without pushing it down. This “deadens” or mutes the sound of the A string so it doesn’t ring out. Use your ring finger on the D string and your pinky on the G string.

Half diminished based on an A-string root

To play a half diminished chord with the bass note on the A string, we’ll play it much further up the neck.

Start with your pointer on the A note at fret 12 of the A string. Use your middle finger to play fret 12 of the D string. With your ring finger, play fret 13 of the D string. Finally, your pinky plays fret 13 of the B string.

This is actually quite a comfortable shape and it’s easy to get to once you know it. We’ll also shift this shape to different strings later to play a diminished 7th chord, so it’s a good shape to master. In fact, it’s my favorite shape for playing diminished chords on guitar.

Half diminished based on a D-string root

Another simple shape exists rooted on the D string. The easiest way for me to play this chord is to think of creating a double bar with my first and middle fingers.

First bar across the top four strings at fret 7 with your pointer. Then, bar at fret 8 across the top three strings with your middle finger.

Obviously since you’re baring one fret higher on the top three strings, the bar with your pointer isn’t technically necessary. But for me it’s the most comfortable way to play the chord. And the extra bar doesn’t hurt anything. But if your fingers bend in such a way that you can simply press that A note on the D string without baring the other strings, feel free!

Diminished 7th chords

Finally, the third type of diminished chord is the Diminished 7th chord. With this chord, you need to double flatten the 7th degree. Now you might say that if you double flatten the 7th, you’re playing the 6th. And you’d be right. But each degree of the scale has to be considered in naming the notes. And since the sixth is used already (by the 6th!), you have to call this note a double-flatted 7th.

Don’t get hung up on this quirk of theory. The point is that to create a dim7 chord, you take the 7th degree note and flatten it twice. On the guitar that means lowering the 7th by two frets.

Diminished 7th chords with a Low E string root

The Adim7 also has several possible shapes. To play it rooted on the E string, use your middle finger on fret 5 of the Low E string. With your pointer, play fret 4 of the D string. That note is Gb, and that’s your double flatted 7th. Use your ring finger at fret 5 of the G string for the flatted 3rd note, C. Finally, with your pinky on fret 6 of the A string you have Eb, your flatted 5th.

Diminished 7th chords with an A-string root

Again, you’ll need to find your root way up at the 12th fret for this shape in A. Use your middle finger to play the A root note at fret 12 of the A string. With your pointer, play fret 11 of the G string for your Gb. Your ring finger plays fret 13 on the D string for your Eb note. Finally, your pinky plays fret 13 on the B string for your C note.

This is another comfortable shape to play. Once you’ve learned it you can switch to it quickly, so it becomes a really useful shape to learn and get under your fingers reliably.

Diminished 7th chords with a D-string root

The last dim7 shape I’d like to talk about has been my favorite shape. Maybe that’s because it’s the first one I learned years ago. But it may also be because it’s so easy to play and get to. You already learned this shape earlier and I said you’d use it again. Here it is, but on different strings to make a dim7 chord.

Use your pointer to play the root note A on fret 7 of the D string. With your middle finger, play the Gb at fret 7 of the B string. Use your ring finger to play the Eb at fret 8 of the G string. Finally, with your pinky play fret 8 of the High E string to play the C.

This shape also really makes the chord cut through because it uses the four highest strings.

Special qualities of diminished 7th chords on guitar

If I have to choose, the diminished 7th chord is my favorite of the diminished chords on guitar. For one thing, it’s the most unsettled of all of these. It’s the flat 5 that gives the diminished triad and its extensions the tension and feeling of lack of resolve. When you add the flatted 7 of the half diminished chord you add another tense aspect.

But it’s that double-flatted 7th of the diminished 7th chord that really sets the listener on edge. Diminished chords exist to bring tension into music. And if you’re going in, I say go all in! The dim7 chord piles the tension on and sounds so interesting. That’s why I like it over the others.

And the dim7 has a couple of other really cool characteristics that make is a super-useful chord.

Every note is a root note

Because of the symmetrical structure of the diminished 7th chord, every note in the chord could be considered the root note. It kind of makes your head spin a bit!

The diminished triad, as you learned above, has two minor third intervals.

You have a minor third between the first note and the minor 3rd. And you have a minor third between the minor 3rd and the diminished 5th. When you add the double flatted 7th, you create yet another minor third interval between the diminished 5th and the double-flatted 7th.

Now, take this a step further. If you go one more minor third interval from there, you end up back on the root note.

So, it doesn’t matter which note of the dim7 shape you start on, if you keep jumping by minor third intervals, you’ll soon end up back on the root note one octave higher.

Let’s lay the notes out and see how it looks. We’ve been discussing our diminished chords on guitar in A. As we discovered, the notes of the Adim7 chord are:

A, C, Eb, Gb

Now let’s take each note of that chord and use it as the root note. The notes of the Cdim7 chord are:

C, Eb, Gb, A

And the notes of the Ebdim7 chord are:

Eb, Gb, A, C

Finally, the notes of the Gbdim7 chord are:

Gb, A, C, Eb

Pretty wild, right! So, if you know one shape in one position for a diminished 7th chord, you know them for three others automatically!

Inversions for diminished chords on guitar

Based on what I’ve just said above, you might have already made the connection that the Cdim7, Ebdim7, and Gbdim7 are inversions of those chords when played in the same position as the Adim7 chord with the A root as the lowest note. 

So, it follows that if you move the shape so that you treat a different note as the root note, you’re playing different inversions of all four chords.

And here’s another really cool feature. Let’s say you want to play Adim7, but you want a different inversion than the one you learned with A as the lowest note. To do this, you only need to move the shape up three frets. Remember, three frets is a minor third.

So, when you move three frets up, you treat the next note in the chord as the lowest note. Let’s take A as an example again.

Play the D-string-rooted Adim7 shape. From low to high, the notes in the chord are A, Eb, Gb, C.

Now move the whole shape up three frets. From lowest to highest you now have the notes C, Gb,  A, Eb. Same notes, different order. And that’s an inversion of the Adim7 chord.

Or, it’s a Cdim7 if you now treat the C note as the root.

And you could keep going. With a diminished 7th chord shape, you can move that shape up or down the neck by three frets and you’ll always have the same four notes in a different order, which gives you inversions. Very, very cool!

The use of diminished chords on guitar

So, now you know all about playing diminished chords on guitar. Well, to be honest, there are even more shapes you can use to play these chords, so you still have some discovery you could do on your own if you’re interested.

But you already know enough to use them in your songs. So, what role do they play? Why are they useful?

In reality, diminished chords are not used nearly as often as major and minor chords. As far as non-classical western music goes, you probably hear them more often in jazz than in any other genre. Still, they can be used in virtually any genre.

Diminished chords are full of tension

Diminished chords contain a huge amount of tension. They don’t feel settled or particularly comfortable. So, you’re not likely to land on a diminished chord for long. Instead, they’re most often used in a transitional role.

Because they create so much tension, diminished chords cry out to be resolved to a more comfortable chord, like a major or a minor chord.

Diminished chords play a transitional role

This reveals one of the coolest uses for these chords. You can almost always drop a diminished chord in between two other “comfortable” chords for a couple of beats. Sometimes even a couple of bars, though that’s not as common.

For instance, if you have a chord progression that moves from a major root chord (the I) to a minor 2^nd chord (the ii), you could use a diminished chord to tie them together.

Say you’re in the key of A major. You want to move from the root A chord to the 2nd interval, which is a Bm chord. While you could easily jump from one to the other and it would sound great, you could use a diminished chord to make it sound even more great.

In this case you might play nearly two complete bars of A, but on the last beat you switch to a Bbdim7. After hitting that for one quick beat, you move into your Bm.

This creates a very cool tone leading sequence. The Bbdim7 sets up a whole bunch of tension that only gets resolved comfortably when you land on the Bm chord. And now your simple progression just got a whole lot more interesting.

It’s something your listener might not even realize happened. But your song is just that much more interesting because of the tension and resolve that you created with the addition of the dim7 chord.

You can really use this technique any time there is at least a whole step between the chord you’re on and the next chord in the progression. Stick a diminished 7th chord or a half diminished chord whose root note is a half step below the root of the chord you’re moving to and see how it adds life to your song by leading from the first chord into the target chord.

Experiment to find other cool uses

Of course, transitioning between two chords is just one use.

And as usual, there’s no law that says you can’t use diminished chords on guitar however you want to. Try them in unexpected places in your own playing or songwriting. You might find a cool way to make a diminished chord the featured chord of a verse or chorus.

The point is, while they are commonly used as transitional tools as I described above, you can use them for whatever you want to. If it sounds cool, it is cool!

Conclusion

Diminished chords on guitar bring an interesting aspect of tension and release into your playing.

The diminished triad consists of the I, bIII, and bV of the major scale. It’s the bV that causes all the tension in the triad.

You can add a bVII to the chord to create a half diminished chord. Or you can go all in and add a bbVII to really amp up the tension.

There are several different ways to play the half diminished and diminished seventh chords. You can root these chords on the E, A, or D strings for different sounds.

The diminished seventh chord has some very interesting characteristics that make it versatile and fun to use.

In the end, it’s the tension introduced by diminished chords that make them so interesting. You can use them to add another aspect to your playing.

The post How to play diminished chords on guitar appeared first on Gary Rebholz.

Dissecting the A chord on guitar can reveal several useful pieces of information. I’ve found that looking at chords in detail teaches you much about how the guitar works. There’s more to a simple open A chord on guitar than meets the eye. So let’s take a closer look.

What is an A chord on guitar?

Any chord that contains only the notes A, C#, and E is an A chord. The open A chord on guitar consists of the open A string, the D string at fret 2 for an E note, the G string at fret 2 for another A note, the B string at fret 2 for a C# note and the open High E string. Many other A chord shapes are available at different areas of the neck.

What’s special about the open A chord on guitar?

The open A chord is one of the most important chords on the guitar. Let’s discuss a few reasons why that’s so.

The A chord has a full sound

The open A chord on guitar provides a strong, powerful sound. The chord contains two open strings, including the open A string which, as the second thickest string on the guitar, produces a deep, powerful note to fill out the bottom end of the chord.

The notes produced by both of the open strings (A and E) are also repeated in the chord in different octaves. Whenever you play octave notes in unison as in this chord, you enrich the rich sound.

Finally, since the chord uses five of the six strings, it has a full, thick sound that makes it a strong chord.

It’s relatively easy to make an A chord on guitar

Look back at the picture at the top of this article. Notice how simple it is to make the open A chord on guitar. You only have one fret to worry about. And you use consecutive strings to play the chord.

As I mentioned in the caption to that picture, although many players will finger the A chord just as you see in the picture, that’s not my preferred fingering. I’ve got good reasons for the fingering I suggest, which you can see in this chord diagram.

While my preferred fingering makes the chord a bit more complicated to play, it’s really not nearly as difficult as it first seems. If you stick with it, you’ll find you can easily get to it without any thought at all.

You can easily bar and move the shape

The technique of using bar (or barre) chords can transform your guitar playing. Once you progress beyond open chords, a world of possibilities opens up to you.

The shape of the open A chord is arguably the second most important shape for bar chords. It requires another fingering which presents its own challenges, but once you master it you will be able to play every major chord with that one shape. You simply move the shape to different frets to create different bar chords.

Because the open A shape is so easily moveable, it will become one of your most important shapes as you learn more about the guitar.

What you find inside an open A chord on guitar

We can deconstruct the open A chord on guitar to find several nuggets of useful guitar technique. The chord contains two valuable triad shapes. It also reveals Box 4 of the major pentatonic scale. Next, it’s custom made for playing alternating bass parts. And finally, it contains two power chord shapes.

Easy alternating bass possibilities

You might have noticed that even though the note E is part of the A chord, we typically don’t use the open Low E string when we strum the chord. That low E note just sounds to powerful and tends to dominate the chord, making it sound a bit muddy and less like an A chord.

However, that doesn’t mean that the open Low E remains useless. In fact, it becomes very useful when you play with an alternating bass note style of strumming or picking. That style is quite common in many genres and especially prevalent in country music.

But the open A chord provides another option for alternating bass notes too. Because the note on the D string is also an E note, it too works great with the alternating bass playing style.

The A power chord

The same characteristics of the open A chord on guitar that make it so useful for alternating bass notes, also gives you two great power chord options.

Those E notes that I talked about above are the 5th degree of the A major scale. When you play just the root note and the 5th in unison, you have what’s known as a power chord.

Power chords dominate in some styles of music, particularly heavy genres like heavy metal and punk. But they’re useful in virtually every genre.

Because you have E notes surrounding the open A string in the open A chord shape, you have two great options for power chords. Actually three if you combine them.

First, play the open A and open E strings. That’s an inverted A power chord which has the 5th as the lowest note.

Next, play the open A and the E at fret two of the D string. That’s the root position power chord. Notice that this power chord may not sound as “big” as the inverted shape, but it gives more the character of an A chord since the root note is the lowest note in the shape.

Finally, if you combine the two, you have a power chord with an A sandwiched by two Es. It’s still a power chord, but it can really start to lose its A character since the E notes are so prominent.

Of course you can move any of these three power chord shapes to other frets in order to play every other possible power chord.

First position triad

You’ll find the root position major triad inside the open A chord on guitar.

Look at the G, B, and High E strings. On these strings you have the notes A, C#, and E respectively. That’s the A major triad in root position.

This triad is highly useful in all types of guitar playing. Lead players find it especially useful because its high notes cut through the mix very well. It can be used for arpeggios, chord stabs, and other accenting techniques.

The triad shape is completely moveable, so you can use it to play any major triad you need just by moving to a different fret and playing the same shape.

Second inversion triad

The open A chord shape also contains a second inversion of the major triad. In the second inversion, the 5th scale degree note is the lowest of the chord. In the A triad, the 5th is E.

So, you can find this inversion on the D, G, and B strings. The E sits on the D string, the A sits on the G string, and you find the C# on the B string.

Again, you can move this triad to any fret to make every major chord. And since this triad uses a lower set of strings, it’s a little more powerful as a rhythm guitar element. Still, it’s very useful for lead guitar as well.

Box 4 of the major pentatonic scale

It’s quite useful to understand that Box 4 of the A major pentatonic scale exists around the open A chord on guitar. Or, as another way to look at it, the open A chord exists within the A major pentatonic scale Box 4.

This figure shows the notes of the A major pentatonic scale. The red dots indicate the shape of the A major chord.

Notice that you can’t play the normal shape of Box 4 completely in this position on the neck since a couple of the notes in that box exist below the open string position.

Therefore, it’s a bit easier to see how the scale surrounds the chord shape if we move the shape up the neck. Let’s move the shape up an octave. In this figure you can see the full pentatonic scale and how the A shape (again shown with the red dots) sits within it.

Understanding this is very useful when it comes to switching back and forth between playing chords and lead guitar lines.

Notice that you can visualize the bar with your pointer at fret 11 to play the A and E notes on the A and High E strings. Then the E, A, and C# notes on the D, G, and B strings respectively.

This figure also makes it easy to visualize the two triad shapes and the three power chord shapes we talked about earlier.

The E, A, and C# notes on the D, G, and B strings form the second inversion of the major triad. On the G, B, and E strings, the A, C#, and E notes form the root position of the A major triad.

If you’re really paying attention, you can even find another second inversion shape on the Low E, A, and D strings. That’s not a very common triad shape to play, but perhaps you could bring it into fashion! It can actually be quite useful as a rhythm guitar element.

Conclusion

The open A chord on guitar holds a ton of useful guitar theory and technique. In addition to being one of the most useful open chords, its shape holds a ton of potential for creative guitar playing.

The chord’s full sound and relatively easy-to-play shape make it a staple for rhythm guitar accompaniment. At the same time, you can add a bar to it to make it completely moveable. Once you make the shape a bar chord, you can move it anywhere on the fretboard to play any major chord you need.

It also holds two useful major triads, three alternatives for playing power chords, and two alternating bass note options. It also integrates beautifully with Box 4 of the major pentatonic scale.

Clearly, there’s more to the open A chord on guitar than initially meets the eye. Get to know it, and you’ll open up a great deal of guitar knowledge.

The post The anatomy of an A chord on guitar appeared first on Gary Rebholz.

Even with basic guitar chords, you can add alternating bass notes to create more interesting parts. And it’s easy to do once you know how. With a bit of practice to develop your pick or finger control, you’ll have the technique down in no time.

What are alternating bass notes?

The technique of playing alternating bass notes involves playing one note (usually the chord’s root note) on beat 1 of a four-beat measure. Then, on beat 3 of the measure, the musician plays a different bass note (usually a 5th above the root note, but sometimes a 3rd above).

This alternating pattern repeats for some or all of the chords throughout an entire song.

This technique adds variation and thus interest to your playing. It makes your guitar parts sound more active. It’s a great technique to use in order to give your audience something more interesting to listen to than simple strumming patterns.

In this article we’ll concentrate on major chords in our examples. Just remember that the techniques you learn here work just as effectively with minor chords too.

Alternating bass notes in any genre

You’ll hear the alternating bass note technique in nearly every genre of music and virtually every style of playing. Regardless of whether you play acoustic or electric guitar, alternating bass notes can play an integral part in your style.

However, some genres rely more heavily on it than others. For instance, country music makes wide use of alternating bass notes. You’ll also often hear it in folk, polka, old rock and roll, and many others.

Several styles of acoustic and country blues also use alternating bass notes.

Often the bass guitar assumes the duty of providing the alternating bass notes. Still, it’s very common for the guitarist to use the technique too. Sometimes the bass will play something more elaborate or more simple, while the guitarist fills in the spaces with alternating bass notes.

The technique is particularly useful to guitarists when there is no bass playing along. In these cases, it’s a way for the guitarist to essentially play rhythm guitar and bass guitar at the same time.

Of course, the guitar can’t provide notes as low as those on a bass. Still, if there is no bass, the guitarist can provide the feel with alternating bass notes on guitar.

Alternating bass notes provide a steady, comfortable element to the guitar part. Yet, as I said, they also give the guitarist a tool for making parts more interesting.

Pick or finger style

You can use alternating bass notes whether you use a pick (a plectrum) to strum your guitar or you play finger style.

If you use a pick, it’s going to take you a little time, practice, and patience to develop the control necessary to hit the note you want when you want it. At first, this will be difficult for you. You might have to go quite slowly and watch your picking hand very carefully to make sure you’re hitting the right string.

But stick with it. As you become more comfortable you’ll be able to increase your playing speed. Then try as soon as possible to do it without looking at your picking hand.

It might seem impossible at first, but trust me! If you stick with it, soon you will be able to naturally and accurately strike the string you need at full tempo and without looking.

When you’re playing finger style, you’ll use your thumb to alternate between the strings to strike the notes you need. This can actually be easier than using a pick because you will learn to feel the difference between the strings and their locations.

Still, this won’t come easily either. You’ll have to work patiently at it. But it will come if you stick with it.

Two alternating bass note options

You have two most common options to choose from for your alternating bass notes. Which you choose often depends upon the type of music you’re playing.

Alternating between two notes

For the most basic form of alternating bass notes, you can switch between two notes. Country music very often uses this two-note technique. As soon as you play it, you’ll recognize the feel of country music in it.

That certainly doesn’t mean you can only use this two-note method in country music. Nor does it mean that if you use it, you must be playing country music. It’s just very, very common for country songs. If you want to instantly create that country feel, reach for the two-note alternating bass technique.

Alternating between three notes

The second common alternating bass note technique uses three notes.

In this style, the first measure of the song might use the root note on the 1st beat, and the alternate note on the 3rd beat. Then in the next measure you might play the root note on the 1st beat and a different alternate note on the 3rd beat.

Then typically you’d alternate measures as you alternate bass notes.

Many folk songs—especially those played finger style—use this technique. You’ll also hear it in early rock and roll, honky tonk, and rockabilly styles. It makes for an even more active guitar part and creates more interesting picking and strumming patterns.

Which notes should you alternate between?

The notes you use in your alternating pattern depend upon whether you choose the two-note style or the three-note style. It also depends upon the chord you’re playing. Let’s take a closer look.

Two general categories of open major chords

Without going into too much theory about it, the five open major chords fall into two general categories. First, there are the chords E, A, and D. In these chords, the first note above the lowest root note in the chord is the 5th degree note.

For instance, in an open E chord, the root note E sits on the open Low E string. The next note of the chord is the B note at fret two of the A string. B is the 5th note of the E major scale.

With these chords (E, A, and D), you’ll normally alternate between the root note and the 5th note.

They second general category of open chords includes the G and C chords. In these chords, the next note higher than the lowest root note in the chord is the 3rd degree note.

As an example, in the open G chord, the root note G sits at fret 3 of the Low E string. The next note in the chord is the B at fret 2 of the A string. B is the 3rd note of the G major scale.

With these chords, you’ll usually alternate between the root note and the 3rd note.

Chords with root note on the sixth string

Which string the root note of the chord falls on also presents different options for your alternating notes. Chords in which the root note falls on the Low E string (for open chords, this includes the E and G chords) have somewhat limited options.

Since Low E is the lowest string on your guitar, you can’t find a lower alternate note than your root note.

Well actually, theoretically speaking, if the root note is something other than the open E—for instance, the chord G has its root note at fret 3—you could use an alternate note lower on the E string. But in practicality, it would be very unusual to do this. For example, on that G chord, you only have E, F, and F# notes lower than your G root note. Those would each be extremely unusual choices for alternating bass notes on a G chord.

Since an acceptable lower note generally doesn’t exist for chords rooted on the Low E string, the only alternative is to use a higher note. Usually you’ll use the next note in your chord, which sits on the A string.

The open E chord

For the E chord, that note is the B note—the 5th—at fret 2 of the A string. In the two-note alternating bass style, you’d alternate between those two notes throughout the duration of the E chord.

If you’re playing the three-note alternating style, you would typically use the E note at fret 2 of the D string as the other alternate note. A typical way to do this is to start with the root note open E on beat one of the measure, then play the octave E at fret 2 of the D string on beat 3 of the measure. In the second measure, start with the 5th at fret 2 of the A string on beat one and then again the octave root note at fret 2 of the D string on beat three.

Notice that in both the two-note and three-note style, you don’t have to move any finger of the fretting hand. You’re just plucking the notes you need that already exist in the basic shape of the chord.

The open G chord

Like the open E chord, the Open G chord has its root on the Low E string. The most typical alternate note is the 3rd of the chord at fret 2 of the A string. That’s the B note. In the two-note alternating style you’ll go back and forth between these two notes.

In the three-note alternating style, you’ll use the open D string for the other alternate note. That D note is the 5th of the G major scale. Typically you’d play the root G note on the E string on beat one of the measure. Then play the open D string on beat 3. In the next measure, play the B at fret 2 of the A string on beat one and again the open D on beat 3.

Chords with root note on the fifth or fourth string

Chords that have their lowest root note on the A and D strings provide another option for alternating bass notes. The chords include the A, C, and D chords.

Remember, the A and D chords have the same basic structure as the E chord. Thus the next highest note in those chords is the 5th. So you’ll use a similar technique as that described for the E chord.

The C chord shares the same structure as the G chord, so you’ll use the same techniques of the C chord as those you learned for the G chord.

But since each of the chords has its lowest root note on something higher than the E string, you have notes lower than the root note to choose from for your alternate notes.

Specifically, for each of these chords, the 5th of the chord sits at the same fret as the root note, but down on the Low E string.

The A and D chords

The A chord’s root note is the open A string. As we discussed with the E chord earlier, the 5th of the A chord sits two frets higher on the next higher string—that’s the note E. But a lower E exists on the open Low E string.

So, for an open A chord, you can alternate between the A and either the E note at fret 2 of the D string, or the E note at the open  Low E string. Using the Low E note is quite typical. And in the three-note alternating style, you use the A and both of these E notes.

It could work exactly the same with the D chord. However, since the next higher note in the D chord sits on the G string, it doesn’t sound much like a bass note. So typically you’d use just the two-note style with the A note on the open A string below the D root.

Just as with the E and G chords, you don’t need to change your fretting fingers to do any of this.

The open C chord

The open C chord presents a bit of a special case. Again, it has the same structure as the G chord. So you can use the same two- or three-note alternating style as you learned for the G chord.

Like the A and D chords, it has a 5th at the same fret as the root but one string lower. However, this is chord requires you to change your fretting-hand fingering in order to play that 5th on the Low E string.

In the C chord, you use your ring finger at fret 3 of the A string to play the C root note. In order to play the 5th note G on the Low E string, you have to shift your ring finger from the A string to fret 3 of the Low E string.

So in this case your ring finger will constantly shift back and forth between these two strings as you alternate the bass note. For that reason, the C chord is the most complicated of the five open chords to play an alternating bass pattern on.

At first this might seem awkward. But since this is such a common technique—especially since so many country and folk songs use the C chord—you’ll get used to it quickly. Just stick with it. Take it slowly at first until you ingrain the feel into your playing. Then you can speed up. Soon you won’t even have to think about it.

You can use alternating bass notes with bar chords too

We’ve focused on the five open major chords in these examples. But it’s important to understand that you can just as easily use these techniques with bar chords too.

The most typical bard chords use the E and A shapes. To use alternate picking with these bar chords, just follow the same instructions that we discussed for the open shapes.

Conclusion

The alternate bass notes technique involves alternating between the root note on one string and another note from the chord on another string. You can use a two-note technique or a three-note style. In either case, it’s a powerful way to add variety and interest into your playing.

You can use this technique in virtually any genre of music with both acoustic and electric guitar. It’s particularly popular in country music, folk music, some acoustic blues styles, and several other genres.

You can use the technique whether you play with a pick or finger style. It requires a bit of work and patience to master the technique, but once you’re used to it you will use it without having to think about it.

The technique varies a bit depending upon the structure of the chord. In the E, A, and D chords you’ll typically alternate between the root and the 5th of the chord’s scale. With the G and the C chords, you’ll use the root and the 3rd.

Learn and master the alternating bass note technique and you will add an exciting element to your playing.

The post How to use alternating bass notes to add interest to chords appeared first on Gary Rebholz.

The ability to harmonize the major scale on guitar can help you in several ways. It can provide valuable clues when you’re trying to learn a song by ear. You can also use the harmonized scale to determine which chords can fit into a song you’re writing. And there are many other benefits. So let’s take a good look at how you can easily harmonize the major scale on guitar regardless of the key your working with.

What is the harmonized major scale?

The harmonized major scale is a series of seven chords that play the major scale in harmony starting from the root chord. The root, IV, and V chords of the scale are major chords. The ii, iii, and vi chords of the scale are minor. Finally, the vii(dim) chord is diminished.

How to harmonize the major scale anywhere on your guitar

As I said, you can gain quite a lot of benefit from understanding the harmonized major scale. But understanding the concept of the scale and even some of the details does you no good if you can’t find the scale on your guitar.

In fact, there are 12 harmonized major scales to find. Thus, the memorization of which chords go where, which degrees need major chords, where the minor chords fall, and so on can seem overwhelming.

Luckily, there’s an incredibly simple pattern that unlocks the mystery for every key. It’s the Rosetta Stone of how you can easily harmonize the major scale on guitar no matter what key you’re in.

A simple pattern reveals the entire scale

To harmonize the major scale on guitar in any key, first locate the root note of the key you’re dealing with on the Low E string.

Now play a simple pattern. Play the note you chose as the root on the E string. Move to the same fret on the A string and play that note. Finally, move two frets up on the A string for the last note.

And that’s it. That’s the pattern that reveals nearly the entire harmonized major scale on guitar.

And it doesn’t matter which of the 12 major keys you’re in. This same pattern helps you find all of the harmonized chords in that key.

Remember, of the seven chords in the harmonized major scale, you have three major chords. You also have three minor chords. And finally, you have a diminished chord.

Find the three major chords

Now that you know the pattern, let’s use it to find the chords of the scale. We’ll start with the three major chords.

You’ve already decided on the root note and you’ve located that on the Low E string. In a major scale, the root note is always a major chord. Here’s a beautiful thing about the pattern you learned above: the notes that it groups together identify the three major chords of the scale.

From your knowledge of the notes of the guitar fretboard, you know that the 4th degree note sits on the A string at the same fret as the root note on the E string. And you also know that you need only move two frets up from the 4th to find the 5th degree note.

So, the pattern identifies the notes that serve as the root notes of the I, IV, and V chords of the harmonized major scale. And these chords are all major chords. See how this little pattern nicely groups the three major chords together for you?

Find the three minor chords

But it gets even better. This same simple pattern also helps you instantly identify the three minor chords of the harmonized scale.

From your study of the relative minor, you know a couple of important facts. First, the root note of the relative minor sits in the 6th scale degree.

You also know that to find the relative minor of a major key, you just move three frets down from the root note. So, if your major-key root note sits at fret 10 of the Low E string, then you know you can quickly find the 6th scale degree note at fret 7 of the same string.

With this knowledge in mind, move the same three-note pattern down three frets from your major-key root note. Now the pattern identifies the three minor chord root notes.

The 6th- degree note sits on the E string and identifies the root note of the vi chord, the relative minor. The next note of the pattern, the note at the same fret on the A string, identifies the 2nd degree of the major scale. That becomes the root of the ii chord, and that’s also a minor chord.

Finally, the last note of the pattern identifies the 3rd scale degree note. That’s the root note of the iii chord of the harmonized scale, and that’s a minor chord too.

So know you know six of the seven chords of the harmonized major scale on guitar. And you also know which ones are major and which are minor. And it doesn’t matter which major key you’re in, this works for every one of them.

Find the diminished chord

The last chord of the harmonized major scale is the chord based on the 7th degree note. And this chord is a diminished chord.

You can find the 7th degree note in a couple of different ways. You know it’s a half step below the root note, so just drop one fret down from the root note.

Notice that this note also fits nicely into the pattern of minor-chord root notes. Just make it a four-note pattern. Add the note on the E string at the same fret as the higher of the two notes on the A string. That’s the  7th degree note of the major scale.

Use that note as the root note of the chord and make it a diminished chord to fill out the last chord of the harmonized major scale.

Harmonize the major scale on guitar in any key

Now that you know the pattern and how to use it to identify each of the seven chords, let’s apply that knowledge to a couple of specific major keys to see it in action.

The key of A major

To find the chords of the A major harmonized scale, first locate the A note at fret 5 of the Low E string. That’s your root note. And it identifies your root chord of A.

Now follow the pattern. At fret 5 of the A string you have the note D. That’s the fourth note of the scale. And that’s also the root note of the IV chord of the harmonized scale, D.

Finally, move up two frets on the A string to find the note E, the 5th scale degree. That’s the root note of the V chord of the harmonized scale.

And now you have your three major chords: A, D, and E.

Now, move the pattern down three frets to the second fret. The second fret on the Low E string is F#, and that’s the 6th degree of the A major scale. It serves as the root note for the relative minor, so we know that F#m is the vi chord of the A major harmonized scale.

The next note of the pattern is fret 2 of the A string, the note B. B is the 2^nd degree of the A major scale and the root note of the ii chord in the harmonized A major scale. We know it’s a minor chord, so the ii chord is Bm.

Two frets up from there we have C#. That’s also a minor. So the iii chord of the A major harmonized scale is C#m.

And finally, one fret down from the root note we have G# as the 7th scale degree. It serves as the root note of the vii(dim) chord. So the last chord of the A harmonized major scale is G#dim.

The key of C major

The system works in any major key. Let’s use it to find the chords in the harmonized major scale for C major.

First find C at fret 8 of the Low E string. That’s your root. Apply your pattern to find F and G as the IV and V of the harmonized scale.

Move down three frets on the E string to find your vi, the relative minor, A at fret 5. D and E are your ii and iii chords respectively.

Finally, fret 7 on the E string gives you B, so Bdim is your last chord of the harmonized scale.

It works for any major key

The pattern works just as effectively in any major key. Even major keys that aren’t typical for guitar-based music like C# or Bb. Just apply this simple pattern starting at the root note on the E string. You’ll nearly instantly identify all seven chords in the harmonized scale for whatever key you’re working with.

Conclusion

The harmonized major scale consists of seven chords. These chords harmonize the major scale. There are three major chords, three minor chords, and one diminished chord.

An extremely simple pattern helps you quickly and easily identify each of the seven chords on your guitar fretboard. This pattern groups the three major chords together. You can then move the pattern to find the three minor chords and the diminished cord, which are also grouped together.

You’ll be pleasantly surprised how easy it is to identify the chords of any harmonized major scale with this simple pattern.

The post How to harmonize the major scale on guitar appeared first on Gary Rebholz.

You might call the E chord on guitar the king of guitar shapes. It’s a full, rich, powerful chord. And yet it’s easy to play. And understanding the chord opens up many other tools for you as a player. Let’s take a look the the E chord on guitar and discover some of what it helps us understand and enables us to do.

What is an E chord on guitar?

Any chord that contains only the notes E, G#, and B is an E chord. The open E chord on guitar consists of both E strings and the B string open, the A string at fret 2 for a B note, the D string at fret 2 for another E note, and the G string at fret 1 for a G# note. Many other E chord shapes are available at different areas of the neck.

What’s special about the open E chord?

The open E chord, as I said earlier, might be considered the king of all guitar chords. Let’s see why I say that.

The E chord has a full, rich, powerful sound

On a guitar in standard tuning, the open E chord uses all six strings.

It also contains three different E notes, each in its own octave. In addition, it contains two B notes in different octaves.

Finally, the chord contains three open strings including the lowest note on the guitar, the open E note. All of this adds up to give the open E chord on guitar a full, rich, powerful sound.

It’s easy to make

To make the open E chord on guitar, you use one of the most comfortable and easy-to-play shapes of any chord.

Leave the two E strings and the B string open. Then press the G string at fret 1 with your pointer for the G#. Press the D string at fret 2 with your ring finger for another E note. Finally, press the A string at fret 2 with your middle finger for another B note.

Since this chord uses all six strings, you can strum any or all of them as you play.

You can easily bar and move the shape

When you shift your fingers to play the G string with your middle finger, the D string with your ring finger, and the A string with your pinky, you free your pointer for use as a bar. This makes the E chord shape moveable and enables you to make any other major chord.

Simply move your pointer to bar at the fret at which the note on the Low E string matches the chord you want to make. For instance, to play a G chord, move the bar to fret 3 and make the E chord shape. For an A, move the bar to fret 5. And so on for any other major chord.

What you can find inside the E chord on guitar

Aside from being easy to play and easily moveable, the E chord on guitar holds many other extremely useful elements. This includes perhaps the most popular power chord shape along with all three inversions of an E triad. The chord also exists within Box 1 of the E major pentatonic scale.

The E power chord

The first two notes of the E chord—the open E and the B note at fret 2 of the A string—are the root and the 5th scale degree of the E major scale. When you play just these two notes, you have an E power chord. You’ll most often see this written as E5 on chord charts.

Thousands of songs use this form of the power chord. It sounds particularly powerful when you play it on an electric guitar with plenty of effects such as distortion, overdrive, and compression. But it is often also used with acoustic guitars.

Like the full E chord itself, you can move this power chord shape up and down the neck in order to play any power chord you need.

Root-position triad

The root position triad sits right within the core of the open E chord on guitar. The E at fret 2 of the D string gives you the root of the triad. Then G#, the 3rd of the triad chord, sits at fret 1 of the G string. Finally, the open B string gives you the 5th scale degree to finish out the triad.

Again, as with the full chord, you can move this triad anywhere up and down the neck to make any major triad you need. You just need to move your pointer up to the B string. Then use your middle finger on the G string and your ring finger on the D string.

With this shape, the root note sits under your ring finger. So, to play any major chord triad, move your ring finger to the note that serves as the root note of the triad.

For instance, to play an A triad, move your ring finger to fret 7 of the D string. Your middle finger then plays the C# at fret 6 of the G string. Finally, your pointer plays the E at fret 5 of the B string.

This triad shape proves to be extremely useful. It’s easy to play and move. And, since it includes the D string and the B string, it provides a good mix of richer lower tones and sparkly higher tones.

First inversion triad

The open E chord on guitar also contains the first inversion of the E major triad. This inversion exists on the three highest strings.

To play the first-inversion triad, play fret 1 on the G string for G#. Then play the open B and open High E strings.

You’re certain to recognize a theme here as you can also move this shape up and down the neck to create any other major triad you need. In this triad, the root note exists on the High E string.

To move this shape up and down the neck, bar the High E and B strings with your pointer. Play the G string with your middle finger. Create the small bar at the fret where the E-string note corresponds to the triad you want to play. For instance, to create a C triad, make your bar at fret 8.

You can make great use of this triad shape for lead guitar lines and accenting chord stabs. This inversion of the E triad provides sharp, sparkly sounds since it uses the three thinnest strings.

Second inversion triad

To complete our tour of the triads found withing the open E chord, let’s talk about the second inversion of the E major triad. While this inversion shape isn’t necessarily as common as the other two, it can still be quite useful.

This triad exists on the A, D, and G strings. Therefore it provides a rich, deep option for triads.

To play it, use the exact fingering of the open E chord, but strum just the A, D, and G strings.

Not to sound like a broken record, but like the others, you can move this triad shape up and down the neck to find a triad for every other major chord.

In this triad shape the root note sits on the D string. So, find the note on the D string that corresponds to the major triad you want to play. For instance, if you want a G triad, move your ring finger to the 5th fret.

Of course, move the other fingers along with it so you have the D note, the fifth, at fret 5 of the A string. You already found the root note G at fret 5 of the D string. And the 3rd, the B, sits under your pointer at fret 4 of the G string.

Box 1 of the major pentatonic scale

It’s very useful to understand that Box 1 of the E major pentatonic scale exists around the open E chord on guitar. Or, as another way to look at it, the open E chord exists within the E major pentatonic scale Box 1.

This figure shows the notes of the E major pentatonic scale. The red dots indicate the shape of the E major chord.

Notice that you can’t play the normal shape of Box 1 completely since a few of the notes in that box exist below the open string position.

Therefore, it’s a bit easier to see how the scale surrounds the chord shape if we move the shape up the neck. Let’s move the shape up to fret three where we have the G major bar chord using the E shape. In this figure you can see the full pentatonic scale and how the E shape (again shown with the red dots) sits within it.

Understanding this is very useful when it comes to switching back and forth between playing chords and lead guitar lines.

Notice that you can visualize the bar with your pointer at fret 3 to play the two G notes and the D note. Then the D, G, and B notes on the A, D, and G strings respectively.

This figure also makes it easy to visualize the three triad shapes we talked about earlier.

The D, G, and B notes on the A, D, and G strings form the second inversion of the major triad. On the D, G, and B strings, the G, B, and D notes form the root position of the G major triad. And finally, on the G, B, and E strings you can easily see the first inversion of the major triad with the B, D, and G notes.

Conclusion

One could make the argument that the open E chord on guitar might be the most important shape to understand. As we deconstruct the chord we find much valuable knowledge inside of it.

The chord shape uses all six strings and contains three open strings, three E notes (including the lowest note on the guitar), and two B notes. All of these attributes make the chord rich and powerful.

It’s also a very easy shape to play. In addition you can move it up and down the neck as a bar chord to create every other major chord.

Inside the chord we find all three inversions of the major triad. You can also move these three inversion shapes up and down the neck to make any other major triad.

Finally, the chord shape sits within Box 1 of the major pentatonic scale. This make it easy to switch between playing the chord itself and lead lines based on the major pentatonic scale.

This anatomy of the E major chord on guitar make it an exceptionally rich source of guitar knowledge.

The post The anatomy of an E chord on guitar appeared first on Gary Rebholz.