Remember what happened in the last lesson? We looked at how every major scale has a set of 'native' chords that are built only from the notes of the scale, and therefore fit pretty well under melodies made from the scale. This time we're going to move on pretty quickly and add three more things for you to learn. BIGGER CHORDS As we saw in the second Jack Thammarat example last time, the diatonic system can be applied to more than just major and minor chords. We'll go back to G major, where the diatonic chords are... G major, A minor, B minor, C major, D major, E minor, F# diminished This time we'll extend those chords to create the diatonic 7th chords. Once again, there's a fixed pattern that works the same for every major scale!
That last chord might sound complex, but don't worry... it's used a lot in jazz and is sometimes called a 'half-diminished' chord. You can use all those new chords in just the same way as the straight major and minor chords. Invent some chord progressions, invent some melodies with the G major scale, put it all together, see what happens! MODES Let's be honest, the major scale doesn't really do MOODY or MYSTERIOUS, or even FUNKY. Fortunately, everything you just learned about the major scale also works for the modes: Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian (natural minor) and Locrian. Let's say you wanted to find the diatonic chords of A Dorian. The quick way is to figure out which major scale has exactly the same notes as A Dorian... this is G major. The diatonic chords for A Dorian are therefore exactly the same!
It's as simple as that! The difference is that A is now the important root note, instead of G. Eventually, it's good to learn the chords for each mode, but it's fine to use this short cut at first. MIXING IT UP We've covered a lot in two lessons, and there's SO much that we don't have space for. Don't be afraid to experiment and find your own sounds. Try adding other notes from the scale to any of the chords. What does that Bm7 sound like with an E note added? You'll find some great examples of this in Guthrie Govan's Melodic Series, available in our store. All of the tracks are built using diatonic chords from a particular mode. Here's an extract from'LA Acoustic'...
It's in E Aeolian (natural minor) so the notes and chords are once again the same as G major. In that excerpt, there's a selection of the standard diatonic chords, but there's also a couple of 'slash' chords, D/E and D/C. What this means is that a D chord is played over an E bass note and then a C bass note. This is exactly what we mentioned above... be creative with the notes and chords, and mix them up in lots of different ways!
Remember what happened in the last lesson? We looked at how every major scale has a set of 'native' chords that are built only from the notes of the scale, and therefore fit pretty well under melodies made from the scale. This time we're going to move on pretty quickly and add three more things for you to learn. BIGGER CHORDS As we saw in the second Jack Thammarat example last time, the diatonic system can be applied to more than just major and minor chords. We'll go back to G major, where the diatonic chords are... G major, A minor, B minor, C major, D major, E minor, F# diminished This time we'll extend those chords to create the diatonic 7th chords. Once again, there's a fixed pattern that works the same for every major scale!
That last chord might sound complex, but don't worry... it's used a lot in jazz and is sometimes called a 'half-diminished' chord. You can use all those new chords in just the same way as the straight major and minor chords. Invent some chord progressions, invent some melodies with the G major scale, put it all together, see what happens! MODES Let's be honest, the major scale doesn't really do MOODY or MYSTERIOUS, or even FUNKY. Fortunately, everything you just learned about the major scale also works for the modes: Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian (natural minor) and Locrian. Let's say you wanted to find the diatonic chords of A Dorian. The quick way is to figure out which major scale has exactly the same notes as A Dorian... this is G major. The diatonic chords for A Dorian are therefore exactly the same!
It's as simple as that! The difference is that A is now the important root note, instead of G. Eventually, it's good to learn the chords for each mode, but it's fine to use this short cut at first. MIXING IT UP We've covered a lot in two lessons, and there's SO much that we don't have space for. Don't be afraid to experiment and find your own sounds. Try adding other notes from the scale to any of the chords. What does that Bm7 sound like with an E note added? You'll find some great examples of this in Guthrie Govan's Melodic Series, available in our store. All of the tracks are built using diatonic chords from a particular mode. Here's an extract from'LA Acoustic'...
It's in E Aeolian (natural minor) so the notes and chords are once again the same as G major. In that excerpt, there's a selection of the standard diatonic chords, but there's also a couple of 'slash' chords, D/E and D/C. What this means is that a D chord is played over an E bass note and then a C bass note. This is exactly what we mentioned above... be creative with the notes and chords, and mix them up in lots of different ways!
Remember what happened in the last lesson? We looked at how every major scale has a set of 'native' chords that are built only from the notes of the scale, and therefore fit pretty well under melodies made from the scale. This time we're going to move on pretty quickly and add three more things for you to learn. BIGGER CHORDS As we saw in the second Jack Thammarat example last time, the diatonic system can be applied to more than just major and minor chords. We'll go back to G major, where the diatonic chords are... G major, A minor, B minor, C major, D major, E minor, F# diminished This time we'll extend those chords to create the diatonic 7th chords. Once again, there's a fixed pattern that works the same for every major scale!
That last chord might sound complex, but don't worry... it's used a lot in jazz and is sometimes called a 'half-diminished' chord. You can use all those new chords in just the same way as the straight major and minor chords. Invent some chord progressions, invent some melodies with the G major scale, put it all together, see what happens! MODES Let's be honest, the major scale doesn't really do MOODY or MYSTERIOUS, or even FUNKY. Fortunately, everything you just learned about the major scale also works for the modes: Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian (natural minor) and Locrian. Let's say you wanted to find the diatonic chords of A Dorian. The quick way is to figure out which major scale has exactly the same notes as A Dorian... this is G major. The diatonic chords for A Dorian are therefore exactly the same!
It's as simple as that! The difference is that A is now the important root note, instead of G. Eventually, it's good to learn the chords for each mode, but it's fine to use this short cut at first. MIXING IT UP We've covered a lot in two lessons, and there's SO much that we don't have space for. Don't be afraid to experiment and find your own sounds. Try adding other notes from the scale to any of the chords. What does that Bm7 sound like with an E note added? You'll find some great examples of this in Guthrie Govan's Melodic Series, available in our store. All of the tracks are built using diatonic chords from a particular mode. Here's an extract from'LA Acoustic'...
It's in E Aeolian (natural minor) so the notes and chords are once again the same as G major. In that excerpt, there's a selection of the standard diatonic chords, but there's also a couple of 'slash' chords, D/E and D/C. What this means is that a D chord is played over an E bass note and then a C bass note. This is exactly what we mentioned above... be creative with the notes and chords, and mix them up in lots of different ways!
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