Guitar Lesson Five - Theory Part III

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Guitar Lesson Five - Theory

Part III

The major scale and it's underlying whole-step/half-step pattern is the foundation for all music theory. This is because everything in music is organized by how it compares to the major scale. In order to understand this comparison, you must become familiar with the concept of INTERVALS.

An interval is the space between two things. In music, we're dealing with how high or low a note is compared to the root note. In order to measure this distance, we need some sort of standard. This standard is provided by the major scale.

If we take our major scale and simply number the notes from 1 to 8 it looks like this (The 1 and the 8 are the root and the octave which, for our purposes, are the same thing. Therefore, I just label them both "R" for root):

This numbering of the major scale is our measuring tool.

Now, just like when you learned the names of the notes, there are sharp and flat intervals as well:

The most important thing to understand about intervals is that they are not dependent upon what actual note you are playing. The only concern, when it comes to intervals, is how many frets are between the notes. The trick is that you have to be able to see the whole-step/half-step pattern starting from any note on any string.

Let me give you a practical example.

Suppose I tell you to play R - 3 - 5 - 7, in that order, on the B-string, using E as your root note. The first step, of course, would be to locate the E note on the B-string. For the sake of argument, let's use the E at the 5th fret (you could also use E at the 17th fret). The next thing you would do is visualize the w/h-step pattern from that note:

Then, it's a simple matter of playing the appropriate notes as dictated by the intervals:

So, what's the point in learning to see intervals?

All of the sounds that you hear in music are catagorized and sorted by the intervals that make up that particular sound.

For example, let's look at chords:

If you play one note at a time, you are playing MELODY. If you play two notes at a time, you are playing HARMONY. If you play three or more notes together, you have expanded harmony into the catagory known as CHORDS.

Chords are constructed by using every other note of a scale, starting from the root.

The most basic chord is called a TRIAD, because it contains three different intervals.

There are four possible triads:

major: R - 3 - 5

minor: R - b3 - 5

diminished: R - b3 - b5

augmented: R - 3 - #5

Knowing the interval structure of these four chords provides you with the FORMULA for constructing these chords from any root note.

Let's use the key of C and construct a major chord.

First, we have to find the R - 3 - 5 from C:

This tells us which notes we need to include in our chord. In this case, we need C - E - G.

Now, technically, you need to play C - E - G at the same time to form a chord. In order to do that, you'll have to play each note on a seperate string. This is where knowing the notes up and down the fingerboard comes in handy.

So, now we need to look at all the C's, E's and G's available:

It makes no difference which C, which E or which G you choose. They all work. Any combination, so long as it's C - E - G, will be a C major chord (Chords are named after the root. In this case, C. The formula dictates what kind of C chord it is, major, minor, diminished etc...)

Now, any chord dictionary will list several of the most common fingerings for all the different types of chords. (If you feel the need to buy one of these, I would suggest looking for a copy of Chord Chemistry by Ted Greene. This book shows you a lot of the possibilities for every chord, not just the easy ones.)

Before we look at a couple fingerings for our C major chord, you need to understand that, in order to get a nice-and-full sounding chord for rhythm strumming, many of the common chord shapes that are used include more than three notes. This is accomplished by doubling or even tripling one or more notes in the chord.

I already showed you this fingering in lesson 1:

Here's another common one at the 8th fret:

Use your index finger to BARRE across the C, G and C at the 8th fret, and the rest of your fingers for the other notes.

Now, I want you to go ahead and, using the steps outlined above, figure out at least one fingering for C minor, C diminished and C augmented.

The guitar is an extremely visual instrument. This makes the instrument very easy to apply patterns and shapes to. Not only that, but once you've commited a pattern or shape in one key to memory, you'll find that you don't have to learn a new pattern or shape to play the same thing in every other key.

Let's take the C barre chord at the 8th fret. If you see the shape of the chord as a fingerboard pattern based around a root note (the square) like this:

Then all you have to do is move that shape up or down the fingerboard to whatever root note you need.

For example, if we want to make this shape an A major chord, we can just move the whole thing down 3 frets, so that the square lines up with the A at the 5th fret of the E-string:

The shape automatically gives you the correct intervals. What this means, is that you don't have to learn 101 shapes for each chord in each key. Instead, you'll only need a couple of different shapes for each type of chord, and the knowledge of where to move those shapes up or down the neck to play them in all the different keys. It's really pretty simple. The only shapes that can't "easily" be moved are those that include open strings. You usually have to do a bit of note juggling to move these.

So, take the major, minor, diminished and augmented shapes that you found above, and practice moving them up and down the neck to different root notes.

Also, take the 5 chords that I taught you in lesson 1 and verify for yourself that they are, indeed, major chords by determining what the R - 3 - 5 should be from the root note of the chord and comparing that to the chord shape that I gave you.

Here's an exercise that incorporates right hand finger tapping for learning the intervals of the four triads. Play the whole thing on the B-string, beginning at the first fret. Start by playing the first note of each triplet with your index finger, hammer the second note with your pinky or ring finger, and then, use a finger on your right hand to hammer the third note. once you hit the third note, pull off to the first note of the next triplet (played with your index finger). When you play the notes of a chord one at a time, like this, it's called an ARPEGGIO ( From arpe the Italian word for harp. Arpeggio means to play the notes in quick succession like a harp):

Let me draw your attention to a few things about this exercise:

First of all, the chord symbols are there to guide you. Pay attention to them.

Second, the red arcing line over the notes in each measure is called a SLUR. This means that you run the notes into each other to create a smooth sound (like a drunk slurring his speach). This is accomplished on the guitar by using hammers, pulls and slides (no picking).

Third, in measures 6, 7 and 8, you'll notice the use of Cb, Fb and Cbb (double flat). This is something that you'll run into on occasion when it's important to outline certain chords and scales. In lesson 4, you encountered this when you charted out the F# scale and the Gb scale. Just remember that Cb is the same as B, Fb is the same as E and Cbb is the same as Bb.

Fourth, The augmented and diminished chords aren't used very often except in Classical music. It may take you a while to get used to the sound of these chords.

Fifth, go slow and make sure you're playing each note cleanly and accurately. That's the only way you're going to get the sound of these chords to come out.

This lesson is divided into seven parts:

Tuning

Theory Part I

Theory Part II

Theory Part III

Left hand Technique

Right hand Technique

Music

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