Hey Friend,
E major is another popular key for Rock music.
What chords do we have in the key of E major? Let's start with the E major scale to figure that out.
To get the scale, start with the major scale pattern:
W W H W W W H
That's whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half. The pattern tells us that as we move up in pitch, there is a space of either two frets (whole step) or one fret (half step) between each note.
From this we know that between the first and second notes in the scale, there will be a whole step. If we were looking at the C major scale, the space between a C and D notes is two frets.
C w D w E h F w G w A w B h (C)
Keep going up the scale and you see how the pattern pans out.
But we're now looking at the key of E major, so that note sequence isn't going to work for us here. the tonic (first, or root) note of E major is E. So what is the next note in the scale?
If you said F, you're half correct. That's because the pattern must always be followed when going into a new key. The specific notes aren't what's important - it's the pattern.
We always use the C major scale as the reference for determining whether a note needs to be sharp or flat within a scale. C major uses all natural notes - there are no sharps or flats in the scale.
Think of C major as the perfect scale - it just rolls out of bed looking beautiful. There's no need to change anything - all the notes line up just right.
As soon as we take the next step to a new key, we throw off that perfection because it's the pattern that matters, not the notes. We must follow the pattern for the scale to work correctly.
Let's apply to the key of E major. Here are the basic notes:
E F G A B C D
Do you notice something right off the bat? E to F is not naturally a whole step between them (look back at the key of C major - E to F is a half step). So we need to apply the pattern and change the notes to fit the pattern.
E w F# w G# h A w B w C# w D# h E
The pattern calls to make the F, G, C and D notes sharp. Always follow the pattern!
There's our E major scale:
E F# G# A B C# D#
From this scale we can now figure out what the harmonic scale should be (that's the chords for the key). Again, there's a pattern to follow.
Unfortunately, that'll have to wait until tomorrow. But you don't have to wait for me - see if you can write out the chord progression for the key of E major. I'll let you know tomorrow if you're right.
Have a great one!
Peace~
Dave
P.S. - Oh, did I mention, ALWAYS FOLLOW THE PATTERN!
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