Learning the open chords need not be a difficult task. In fact, if you look at the similarities between some of these chords you will see that often only one finger needs to be moved to play a different chord. These lessons are designed to help you see these similarities and get you playing the open chords cleanly and help you to memorize them. Click here if you're not sure how to read the chord blocks. Click on the diagrams for an MP3 audio … [Read more...]
Basic Music Theory Lesson 7: Chords, Harmonizing the C major scale adding the 7th note
April 8, 2009 by Leave a Comment
Just like we did in lesson 6, we are again going to harmonize the C major scale except this time, rather than just using triads (3 notes) we are going to use 4 notes. To harmonize the scale, we simply take the 1st 3rd, 5th and 7th notes of the C scale and spell them out. C D E F G A B C D E F G A B C C E G B Then we start again from the 2nd note in the scale and count the 1st, 3rd , 5th and 7th notes from that point. C D E F G A B C D E F G A B C D F A C … [Read more...]
Basic Music Theory Lesson 6: Chords, Harmonizing the C major scale with basic triads
April 8, 2009 by 2 Comments
In this lesson, you are going to have to start using some of the concepts learned in lessons 1 - 5. What we are going to do is "harmonize" the C major scale. To harmonize the scale, we simply take the 1st 3rd and 5th note of the C scale and spell them out. C D E F G A B C D E F G A B C C E G Then we start again from the 2nd note in the scale and again count the 1st 3rd and 5th note from that point. C D E F G A B C D E F G A B C D F A Again from the 3rd note in the scale, count the 1st 3rd … [Read more...]
Basic Music Theory Lesson 5: Chords, basic triads
April 8, 2009 by Leave a Comment
Hopefully in lessons 1 through 4, you have seen that there is a "logic" or "formula" that can be applied to work out major scales in all the keys. While memorizing all the scales in all the keys is useful, in my opinion, it is more important to memorize the logic behind how they are derived. Similarly, there are formulas that can be applied to determine or construct any chord in any key. What is a triad? A triad is a combination of three notes … [Read more...]
Basic Music Theory Lesson 2: Major Scales Part 1
April 8, 2009 by Leave a Comment
MAJOR SCALE CONSTRUCTION The major scale (also called Ionian) is the building block from which all other scales and chords are derived. There are two rules which must be followed when building a major scale. 1. All major scales must consist of two tetrachords connected by a tone: This is the C major scale. 2. All major scales must follow an alphabetical order. This is the G major scale. Notice the F#. As you learned in lesson 1, F# … [Read more...]
