OK, hopefully everything went OK with Lesson 1 and you now have a relatively tuned guitar.
Now we're going to build upon what we learned in Lesson 1 about tones and semitones and start creating our own major scales. Then we're going to harmonise them.
Any major scale is made up of seven notes in a set sequence. The distance between each scale degree is set at a certain interval, and this interval will be the same for the same degrees of any major scale.
For example, you may or may not know that the scale of C Major does not contain any sharps or flats. The distance between, say, the 3rd and 4th degrees of this scale (in this example E and F) is the same as the distance between the 3rd and 4th degrees of any major scale. The same applies for each and every degree in each and every major scale. I suppose it follows, then, that we'll start by looking at this scale as it certainly makes things simpler to start off with :-).
OK, the notes of the C Major scale are C D E F G A B C and that's it - simple. There really isn't anything more to it, but the important part to look at is the distance in semitones between each scale degree. Look ...
1st to 2nd = C to D = one tone
2nd to 3rd = D to E = one tone
3rd to 4th = E to F = one semitone
4th to 5th = F to G = one tone
5th to 6th = G to A = one tone
6th to 7th = A to B = one tone
7th to 1st = B to C = one semitone
(note that there isn't an 8th degree - even though it's an octave apart from the first C note, it is still referred to as the 1st degree)
In other words, the correct formula for the major scale is T T S T T T S, where T stands for tone and S stands for semitone.
Now that we have this formula we can create any major scale we want - all we have to do is pick which key we want, let's say A major, and apply the formula to the starting note ...
A add one Tone = next note B
B add one Tone = next note C#
C# add one Semitone = next note D
D add one Tone = next note E
E add one Tone = next note F#
F# add one Tone = next note G#
G# add one Semitone = next note A
Did you follow that? Hopefully it's all clear to you now - all you need to know are :-
1. That there are no # or b between B & C and between E & F
2. T T S T T T S
and you can create all twelve major scales! Easy!
Now we're going to harmonise the major scale.
As a little bit of background, if you're going to want to play chords (after all, Joe Satriani doesn't just play lead!) you're going to need to know how they're created. If you already know your basic chords, and maybe even your movable "power chords", then well done, but these still follow the rules I'm about to explain. Please don't ignore this section as it even has relevance in soloing - but more of that later on.
OK ... so far we know which notes make up the major scale of our choice. There are seven notes and they all follow a preset pattern of tones & semitones. To harmonise the scale is in actual fact really very easy. For now, all you need to remember is that for each degree of the scale there is another formula for chord creation, which is what harmonisation is.
Triads are not (in this web site) oriental mafia. They are basic chords. All the basic chords you're going to come across are generally the basic triads. OK enough already - how to construct triads!
To create a triad all you need are three notes, hence the name TRIad. The three notes that make up the chord which is built up from each scale degree are : 1st, 3rd 5th. That's it!
To make up a harmonisation list is the first thing you should do when you harmonise a major scale (or any other scale for that matter - more on this later on). If you look at the table below you'll see that it really isn't that difficult.
Again I'm going to use the C major scale as it doesn't have any sharps or flats, but the same rules apply for all major scales.
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So if you look at the triad built on the C note (the 1st degree) you'll notice that the 3rd is 3 scale degrees (note: not necessarily tones or semitones) above the note you're starting from, including the note you started with, ie. C = 1, D = 2, E =3. The 5th follows on in a similar way. All you need to do then is write out the scale again starting with the next scale degree below the one you started with, so for the 3rd column you started with E, so you just need to complete the column with the notes in the C major scale, using F as the next entry, then G, and so on. The 5th column is done in the same way and then if you check by using 1st 3rd 5th you'll see that all the triads follow the same rule.
Now then, I know that was a bit hairy, but there's only a little bit more to come until the end of this lesson. As you may or may not know chords can be many "things" - for now we'll just look at "major" and "minor" chords.
The explanations that follow require that you can differentiate between scale degrees, tones and semitones, and 1st 3rd 5th chord construction. Not all these things are the same, and you really need to know the differences (and common factors) in each.
The difference between a major chord and a minor chord is the number of semitones between the 1st and 3rd degrees in the triad built up from that note in the scale.
That's the rule, now for the explanation. If you identify the 1st note of your chord (I'm going to use C again) and then count how many semitones (ie frets) there are between it and the 3rd (in this case E), you'll know whether that particular chord is major or minor.
The interval between the 1st and 3rd degrees is called a third. The interval between the 1st and 5th degrees is called a fifth. And the interval between the 3rd and 5th degrees is another third. To find out the tonality (ie whether it's major or minor) of a chord all you need to know is whether the interval from the 1st to the 3rd degrees is a major third or a minor third.
A major third is four frets (= semitones) up, and a minor third is three frets (= semitones) up.
For example, let's look at the triad built on the C note in C major. The first note (the root) of the triad is C - from lesson one you should know that there is a C note on the 1st fret of the B string. The next note (the 3rd) is E - there is an E on the 5th fret of the B string. Now all you need to do is count how many frets there are between these two notes.
Fret 5 - Fret 1 = 4 frets, so the tonality of the interval (and therefore of the chord) is MAJOR.
Similarly let's look at the D triad in the C major scale. The root is D - there's a D on the D string (open - no note fretted). The 3rd is F - which is the 3rd fret.
Fret 3 - Open string (ie fret 0) = 3 frets, so the tonailty of the interval (and therefore of the chord) is MINOR.
Did you follow that? I hope so!
If you were to list all the triads and work out the tonality of the 3rd interval (and therefore the tonality of the chord) of the C major scale your list should look something like this :
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So as you can see the major chords in any major scale are built up from the 1st 4th & 5th degrees, and the minor chords are built up on the 2nd 3rd & 6th degrees.
NOTE that the chord built from the 7th degree is slightly different, in that the interval from the root to the 5th is one semitone less than the interval from the root to the 5th in all 6 other triads. This interval is called a flattened or flatted 5th (as opposed to a perfect 5th in the others) which makes the chord a diminished chord. But don't worry about that just now as it's not a very nice sounding chord anyway!
OK, to summarise then ...
T T S T T T S is the interval pattern to create any major scale
Triads are built up using 1st 3rd 5th
Major scales come from the triads of the 1st 4th and 5th degrees
Minor chords come from the triads of the 2nd 3rd and 6th degrees
The 6th degree triad creates a diminnished chord
Hopefully all that has sunk in! If not just read it again, and take your time. If you're still tuck then go away and come back to it later on. If you're still in the dark then please feel free to mail me with any questions.
Happy harmonising! See you in Lesson 3.
