Hey Friend,
Yesterday, I started explaining a subtle concept about chord formation, that it’s not the individual notes that determine what the chord is, but the intervals used. I thought we’d look at a minor chord first, since we’ve been focused on minor keys and their harmonic progressions.
Let’s review the info from yesterday for a second…
E minor is a very common chord and easy for most everyone to play. Its notes are E, G and B in the root 1 3m 5 layout.
If we look at the steps from E to G, it’s pretty easy to see there are only four. Just starting with E and counting a step for each note change makes it clear.
Start with an open E string. Count the E note as the first step (the open string) and advance up the string one fret at a time until you reach the next note in the chord (the 3m note, which is G).
Frets 0 1 2 3
Notes E F F# G
As you can see, four steps, or semitones.
Next, we’re going to count the steps between the 3m and the 5 notes.
Just like with the first interval, we will use the 3m note (G) as our starting point for the count.
Frets 3 4 5 6 7
Notes G G# A A# B
There are 5 semitones between a 3m note and the 5 note.
This process might seem a little too detailed for some folks, so there’s good news for you. There’s no need to go through this counting process. The scale has done all the hard work for you.
All you need to remember is the pattern. You do remember the pattern, don’t you?
For a minor scale, it is:
W H W W H W W
For each W, put two steps (semitones) between the first and second notes. For each H, put one step.
With an E minor triad, this is how it looks:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 (8)
E - w - F# - h - G - w - A - w - B - h - C - w - D - w - (E)
Pick out the 1 3 5 notes from this minor scale and you have your chord notes. Put them together in the standard minor chord shape, and you’re golden.
Am I stretching your brain? Is this too much like Algebra or Geometry, with all the rules?
No worries - just get good at the chord patterns. This theory stuff is NOT necessary for you to play good guitar.
But musicians like puzzles, and all this theory stuff is like one of those huge, 1000 piece jigsaw puzzles of a very detailed scene. And I love it!
I kinda think you like it, too. Don’t worry, there’s more to come [as he watches everyone unsubscribe... ;-) ]. Have a great FRIDAY!!
Peace~
Dave
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