scale tone chords

[uncle_psychosis]

[QUOTE=erictheweary;403517]

The "rule of thumb" for making up chords from scales is "play a note, miss one, play a note, miss one, play a note".

Last time I heard this approach to chords was by Phil Collins on BBC4 the other night ( really).

Uncle Psychosis are you in fact Phil Collins? in which case can you lend me a tenner and why do you never mention Brand X or Tommy Bolin in your interviews?

ROFL

In answer to your questions:

No, no, and "musical differences".

It may be a rather simplistic approach to take but it works, damnit

[seany65]

Hello, I'm back after a long lay-off from attempting to learn to play. The lay-off was caused by annoyance at the guitar and amp for not sounding right. That's not actually mad up rubbish being usded as an excuse, honest! I'll explain in a later post.

Some of the replies you've been good enough to post have been a little technical for me, so I wanted to re-cap to see if I've understand anything:

I want to learn chords as well as scales of notes and I think it's a good idea to find a scale of chords for each scale of notes to make it easier to remember the chords I'm learning.

So for a scale of C major chords I looked at my book and decided to use:
C Maj, D min, E min, F Maj, G Maj (G6), A min, B Dim (Bm7b5), C Maj (C Add9).

For a scale of A minor natural chords I should use:
A min, B Dim (Bm7b5 etc.) C Maj, D min, E min, F Maj, G Dim (Gm7b5 etc.), A min.

For a scale of A minor Harmonic chords I should use:
A min, B Dim (Bm7b5 etc) C Maj, D min, E min, F Maj, G# Dim (G#m7b5 etc), A min.

Is this anywhere near correct?

I promise to not leave it anywhere near as long to check back again.

[bird.land]

http://www.jazzguitar.be/forum/

[barney.]

The "rule of thumb" for making up chords from scales is "play a note, miss one, play a note, miss one, play a note".

So in A minor:

A B C D E F G A B C

A-C-E (minor)
B-D-F (minor)
C-E-G (major)
D-F-A (minor)
E-G-A (minor)
F-A-C (major)
G-B-D (major)

If you want to you can add in the extensions.

yeah this is the way i look at it as well...a really simple approach ...and you can use it for any scale, i fact i think its better doing this then working the chord names out afterwoods...it gives you a deeper understanding of how chords are built up and how they relate to the scales...i think when you work it out for yourself it has a deeper understanding than copying from what is said in a book..it makes you see arps better as well cos they are there right in front of you when you worked the chord out...

[sfocata]

So for a scale of C major chords I looked at my book and decided to use:
C Maj, D min, E min, F Maj, G Maj (G6), A min, B Dim (Bm7b5), C Maj (C Add9).

I'm just wondering why you (arbitrarily?) used G6 and Cadd9 when all the others are straight triads? Of course, if you're doing this simply because it sounds good, that's great, but there is a system for extending diatonic chords...

Cmaj7, Dm7, Em7, Fmaj7, G7, Am7, Bm7b5

The add9s then follow the basic triad pattern, except for Em(add b9) and Bdim(add b9), and it's similar for the 6ths... they follow the basic maj/min pattern except for Em, Am and Bm7b5, where you have to add flattened 6ths.

[seany65]

I'm just wondering why you (arbitrarily?) used G6 and Cadd9 when all the others are straight triads? Of course, if you're doing this simply because it sounds good, that's great, but there is a system for extending diatonic chords...

Cmaj7, Dm7, Em7, Fmaj7, G7, Am7, Bm7b5

The add9s then follow the basic triad pattern, except for Em(add b9) and Bdim(add b9), and it's similar for the 6ths... they follow the basic maj/min pattern except for Em, Am and Bm7b5, where you have to add flattened 6ths.

Sfocata,

I'm using the G6 chord 'cos it's a bit easier than the others that I could use. It's the same with the Bm7b5, that's being used instead of a B Dim. I'm using the Cadd9 instead of going back to the CMaj 'cos this way I have an extra chord to learn and I get two options of how to finish the scale eg. 'CMaj back to CMaj' and 'CMaj to Cadd9', which retains the feel of ascending notes (I also don't always play the open E of Cadd9 to emphasise it's higher sound than CMaj) I want to go through all keys learning the note scale and putting a chord scale to it to help me remember the chords I'm learning. I'm starting with the easier open chords then going through the lot again with mostly barre chords. In this way I want to be able to do each key in several versions like using open chords to give a 'bass-y' sound, barre chords to give a 'middle-y' sound and then maybe finding other barre chords to use nearer the body to give a 'treble-y' sound. This may not work out, but I think it a good idea to give it a go anyway as I should learn more than I would if I don't do it.

Thanks bird.land, I'll check that site properly later.

[digitalkettle]

I get the impression that you're slightly confusing chords and voicings...like you're taking the long way around or something. As Adrian said, there's a system for deriving chords from a scale...typically harmonising 3rds (as the other chaps pointed out). This provides you with the chord formulas which you can find on the guitar (voice the chord) as required.

Also, you're using G6 on the 5th interval...a plain old major chord or even a dominant7 would be more consistent.

Your 'A natural minor' stuff should be exactly the same as the C major chords (only starting from a different point in the sequence), i.e. your G wants to be dominant (again) if anything...NOT diminished.

Finally for now, a m7b5 is half-diminished not fully diminished.

Hope this thread provides a few more pieces of the jigsaw for you.

[stringsthings]

.... Using harmonic minor all the way through would not really work!!
I am basically trying to say...scale choice is normally dictated by chords, so if your chord progression features a Dominant 7 going to the minor key you are using then the harmonic comes into play but if you use harmonic minor over every minor progression you come across then you may run into trouble

you have ignited the F**CK*N FURY !!!

[sam_m]

*unleashed.

[Sir Axeman]

For a scale of A minor Harmonic chords I should use:
A min, B Dim (Bm7b5 etc) C Maj, D min, E min, F Maj, G# Dim (G#m7b5 etc), A min.

Is this anywhere near correct?

I think the Em is incorrect for Harmonic minor as the 5th chord is major due to the G# leading back to A ie the sharpened 7th degree is also the major 3rd of an E chord...were a G natural note as in the A natural minor would indeed suggest Em.

A harmonic minor scale = A B C D E F G# A

E G# and B = E major.


A natural minor = A B C D E F G A
and the E chord built from that scale would be E G & B = Em.