Theory and beyond Part 1 (Chords and Keys) letostak@ix.netcom.com (Judy Letostak) http://www.fortunecity.com/tinpan/agnetha/59/index.html Metal Edge (619)423-4970 24/7 Guitar/Bass tab, MP3s, Appz ========================================= | Do NOT send or archive this to olga...| thanks! ========================================= You can post this on your web, ftp, bbs whatever, without permission. leave all the extra text in pleaze. b= flat #= sharp Major Keys I ii iii IV V vi vii VIII C C D E F G A B C G G A B C D E F# G D D E F# G A B C# D A A B C# D E F# G# A E E F# G# A B C# D# E B B C# D# E F# G# A# B F# F# G# A# B C# D# E# F# F F G A Bb C D E F Bb Bb C D Eb F G A Bb Eb Eb F G Ab Bb C D Eb Ab Ab Bb C Db Eb F G Ab Db Db Eb F Gb Ab Bb C Db Gb Gb Ab Bb Cb Db Eb F Gb These are the major scales in the cycle of 5ths. The roman numerals represent the scale steps. I Major ii Minor iii Minor IV Major V Major vi Minor vii Diminished VIII Major * The VIII is an octave higher than I (same note) The minor key, has a flat 3, 6 and 7 as compared to the major scale. So, if you took the E Major scale, E F# G# A B C# D# and flatted the 3, 6 and 7 you would have: E F# G A B C D which is the E Minor Scale This is the foundation of which you can build a song or scale from. This isn't a rule, it's just a foundation do not take music theory as the written law, it is only there to guide and help you along your musical path. It's never intended to follow strictly. The Minor Keys are as follows: i ii III iv v VI VII viii A A B C D E F G A E E F# G A B C D E B B C# D E F# G A B F# F# G# A B C# D E F# C# C# D# E F# G# A B C# G# G# A# B C# D# E F# G# D# D# E# F# G# A# B C# D# D D E F G A Bb C D G G A Bb C D Eb F G C C D Eb F G Ab Bb C F F G Ab Bb C Db Eb F Bb Bb C Db Eb F Gb Ab Bb Eb Eb F Gb Ab Bb Cb Db Eb i=minor ii=diminished III=Major IV=major v=minor VI=major VII=major These tables are also the basis for the Modes as well. To make a major chord, you would take the I III and V C Major = C E G add the VII for a 7th chord C E G B The same for the minor chords I am assuming that you have the basic knowledge of open major and minor chords as well as barre chords. There are many great lessons for these on the internet. These are triads...Not usually used in rock music, but they should be used more. Major Minor --------------- ----------- --1------------ ---1------- --2------------ ---3------- --3r----------- ---3r------ --------------- ----------- --------------- ----------- r=root Major Minor --1------------1------ --3------------2------ --3r-----------3r----- ---------------------- ---------------------- ---------------------- Major Minor ----------------------- ----------------------- --3---------3---------- --5---------4---------- --6r--------6r--------- ----------------------- Major Minor ----------------------- ----------------------- ----------------------- ---3----------3-------- ---5----------4-------- ---6r---------6r------- These can be used anywhere on the neck. I prefer these to open chords, or barre chords. Barre chords will muddy up the sound especially with a lot of distortion. Use these along with power chords, it'll give your progressions a little more flavor. If you take the same chords above, and just use the root and 3rd, you have a diad, which is a two note chord as opposed to a triad which is a 3 note chord. You can add other notes for different effects. This next thing is inverted chords. I touched upon this briefly in my "Beyond Power Chords" lesson (1995). This is just taking a major or minor chord and putting another note from the chord in the bass (it's not as complicated as it sounds) A Major A/C# -------------------- ---2----------2----- ---2----------2----- ---2----------2----- ---0----------4----- -------------------- Eegads! An inverted chord!!!! Quick! Get the bug spray!!! :) The A Major Chord consists of: A C# E with the A as the bass note. the inverted chord still has A C# E, but the C# is in the bass. play it, you'll see what I mean. Here's some more. F A Minor C --------------------------------- --------------------------------- ---2----------5------------9----- ---3----------7-----------10----- ---3----------7-----------10----- --------------------------------- Bb Dm Eb --------------------------------- --3----------6---------8--------- --3----------7---------8--------- --3----------7---------8--------- --------------------------------- --------------------------------- Fminor F Major ----4-----------5------- ----6-----------6------- ----5-----------5------- ------------------------ ------------------------ ------------------------ Try playing these with a bass player or tape a bass line with your guitar on tape and play some inverted chords. You'll hear a difference between inverted and straight major or minor. Here's a little ditty that I did with my last band...It's a ballad, sort of, and most of the chords are strange type of chords. ----------------------0------3------------------------------ ----0--------0--------0------2-----2------------------------ ----0--------0--------2------3-----2------------------------ ----4--------4--------2------0-----4------------------------ ----2--------2--------0------------------------------------- ----0--------3---------------2------------------------------ thumb The chorus wen't something like this. ---------------------0---------- ---------------1-----1--ugh!---- ---------4-----2-----2---------- ---4-----2-----2-----2---------- ---2-----3-----0-----3---------- ---0-----------------2---------- That last chord fingering is like this...get ready! --------0------- --------1-------first --------2-------2nd --------2-------3rd -------p3-------pinky like an A Minor but add your 4th finger and get -------t2-------thumb that thumb on the F# Ugly chord, but effective Oh yeah, your left hand thumb can be really useful for chords. If you can get it around the neck...It takes practice to stretch the little guy, but Hendrix did it, Ritchie Blackmore and Yngwie amongst many other players...You can get an extra note in there without resorting to "barre chords". Here's a little exercise...Take a major triad (any one you want to) and play the triad, then take away a note, add another totally unrelated to the chord...i.e. ------------------------------------------------------------ ----------------------------5----etc------------------------ ---0--------0--------0-------------------------------------- ---2--------2--------0------0------------------------------- ---3-----------------3------3------------------------------- ------------3----------------------------------------------- You'll find that you'll come up with all sorts of kewl kords to mess with. Hey, may even inspire you to write something different from what u usually write... ================================================================== Commercial ================================================================== Here's a little tip. If you find yourself getting stale (playing stale, not smelling stale), hide all the albums that you usually listen to and listen to some of yer parents stuff, or grandparents stuff, or whatever. Anything that's totally unrelated to what you usually listen to. If you're a Metal fanatic (rah rah), then put away the Metallica albums and listen to some Jazz for a while. It'll totally give you a new perspective on music. But, listen for like a month or better, don't listen to anything you normally listen to....And don't get tempted to pull `em back out either. Stick to it, and really listen to the lines that the lead instruments play. You can try to figure out what they're doing (or a reasonable facimilie), it'll help your playing quite a bit. ================================================================== End Commercial ================================================================== Here's a little bit of info... Key Signatures: Those funny little bs and shift 3s on the keyboard :) These tell you what notes are altered in a key. see below for order. If you can read music, you should be able to tell the key by how many sharps or flats are next to that really funny looking big S with a tail (Treble Clef). Order of sharps and flats Sharps go F C G D A E B Flats go B E A D G C F in order of what's sharped or flatted within a key or scale. Relative Keys Pairs of major and minor keys that share the same key signature. To find a major key's relative minor count down 3 within the scale. To find the minor's relative major, count up 6. A Minor's relative Major is C E Minor's relative Major is G Enharmonic Equivalents: Really easy, easier to describe than to say :) G# and Ab are Enharmonic Equivalents. Same note (to guitar players) but not exactly. It depends on the key signature. There's a really heated debate about this, technically, G# and Ab aren't the same note, but to a guitar player it is...the same fret, but...anyway, not to confuse me or anything...I'm already really confused. Here's another good exercise: Play chords up the cycle of 5ths. (See begining of lesson). Play in every key, memorize the cycle, we're gonna use it for the scales and arpeggios in the next lesson. This will also help you memorize the shapes for the major and minor chords and what chords are major and minor (or diminished) in the major and minor keys. You can just play a minor substitute for diminished. Diminished chords ---3---------------------------- ---2------------4--------------- ---3------------2--------2------ --r2------------4--------3------ ---------------r3--------2------ ------------------------r3------ Move these up 3 frets and it's the same chord (huh?) Augmented (One truly nasty sounding chord) -------------------------1----- ----------------2--------2----- --2-------------2--------2----- --3-------------3-------r3----- --4------------r4-------------- -r5---------------------------- If you're into metal, I'd like to recommend a few bands who I think are excellent musicians: Helloween fantastic band!!!! everyone in that band is great! Pick up Keeper of the 7 keys Part 1 and 2. No, they are NOT speed metal. Tnt - another great band, killer guitarist. Dream Theater - Another killer band. Rush - Anything by them... Triumph - Great guitarist, great band... Michael Schenker (sp?) fantastic guitarist Steve Morse - Dixie Dregs...great guitar player. Newayz, that's it for me for this time...(glad?). Suggestions are needed, I'm running outta ideas for these lessons. Feel free to ask if I wasn't clear on something, or screwed something up royally... ANY suggestions for future lessons are more than welcome...Ask, and I will tell :) If I know it, that is... Don't forget to call my board!!! It Rocks!!! Metal Edge BBS (619)423-4970 (San Diego, CA USA) Over 15,000 Guitar Tabs, Bass tabs, lessons MP3s, Appz Running Iniquity v.a27, 4.6Gigs, 28.8 RioT Member and Distro =========================================================== h = hammeron ps = pick scrape p = pulloff % = repeat phrase ~ = vibrato letostak@ix.netcom.com b = bend + natural harmonic /\ = Slide tr = trill * = Artificial Harmonic x = ghost note t = tap note w/right hand w/bar = with bar =========================================================== http://www.fortunecity.com/tinpan/agnetha/59/index.html