How to play and use the major chord By far, the major chord or major triad is the most used type of chords in popular music. They carry an upbeat, hopeful, full sound. They lack any hint of mystery, sadness, fear, funkiness or anything of the like. Here’s a secret. By learning major triads on [...]

Playing and using minor chords Minor chords can be used for a variety of reasons. But for the most part, they express a feeling more intimate sounding than the major chords. I tend to gravitate towards the use of minor chords. Some of the feelings I try to get across though this type of chord [...]

Go to CAGED for more explanation (may load slow lots of pix) Types of moveable chords Check out the printable, downloadable system for learning every moveable major chord possible in the Major Chord Mastery eBook. Root 6 Moveable chords Root 6 chords have their root or tonic, you guessed it, on the 6th string. Below [...]

Remembering Chords based on CAGED and modal positions If we look at the modal positions we can see that we can figure out different chord positions as well. Basically this process is based on what is called the CAGED system. All it is really is a different way of looking at what you’ve already learned [...]

What is a diminished chord Diminished chords are unstable chords, they are very dissonant. They seem like they lack something, they need something. And usually that something ends up being the major chord a half step up from that diminished chord. Diminished chords are usually written like “o” or “-” or “dim”. And they are [...]

What is an augmented chord? Augmented chords are unstable, or tense sounding chords. They are typically written as “+” or “aug”. They are usually used as a passing chord between to other chords because of the tension in their sound. They also tend to be led by that sharp 5th to the next half step [...]

What is a 6 chord? Sixth chords are peculiar sounding chords. It can be major or minor, augmented or diminished. The 6th chord (major) can probably be best described as whimsical. It’s the kind of chord you’d think a harp would play. Try out some of the chord formations and see if they can fit [...]

What is a 7 chord? Seventh chords are very common chords. Much of jazz is based upon 7th progressions. The seventh note is one of the notes that really defines the sound of the chord. It’s one of the strongest notes. A seventh chord can be major, minor, augmented or diminished. Remember that the 3rd [...]

What is a 9 chord? 9 chords are exactly like the 7 chords but we add a 9th to it. A 9th is an octave higher than the tonic and then add a second (2 frets up) The 9th chord formula is: 1-3-5-b7-9 The major 7th minor 9th chord formula is: 1-3-5-7-9 The minor 7th [...]

What is an interval? An interval is simply the distance between 2 notes. The root note (note 1 of a scale) is the note you start on …for example in the key of A it would be the A note on the 6th string/5th fret. There are 7 general intervals: 2nd 3rd 4th tritone 5th [...]

Use the tabs below to help you learn how each interval feels and sounds on the guitar fretboard. Check out our interval worksheet or go on to guitar scales. Check out Learn and Master Guitar

Pentatonic Tried and true, this is the scale we all love to use. Guitar legends have been made from this scale. The good news is that it’s one of the easiest scales to remember and it fits in just about everyone’s style in some way or another. It’s commonly used in country, jazz, rock, metal, [...]

Major Scale Theory So here it is in text… the basics of the major scale. We’ll get the theory out of the way so we can get into some phrasing exercises and some reflections on how to use this thing we call the major scale. Above you can see every major scale note on the [...]

Major Scale Exercise 1 Click here: 100+ PDF pages, MP3s, and screencast package with over a month’s worth of daily practice exercises so you can master the major scale. |—————————4-5-4——————————————–| |———————–5-7——-7-5—————————————-| |—————–4-6-7—————7-6-4———————————-| |———–4-6-7—————————7-6-4———————–6-7-9| |—–4-5-7—————————————7-5-4———4-5-7S9——| |-5-7—————————————————7-5-5-7————–| |—————————————————————————-| |———-9-10-9————————————————————| |-6-7-9S11——–11-9S7-6——————————-1-2-1—————| |————————–9-7-8———————2-4——-4-2———–| |——————————-9-7S5-4——-2-4-5—————-5-4-2—–| |—————————————-7-5-5—————————5—| Major Scale Exercise 2 |—————————–5——————————–| |————————-7-9—9-7—————————-| |——————-6-7-9———–9-7-6———————-| |————-6-7-9———————–9-7-6—————-| |——-5-7-9———————————–9-7-5———-| |-5-7-9———————————————–9-7-5—-| Major Scale Exercise 3 [...]

3 types of minor scales : the natural or relative minor the harmonic minor the melodic minor Natural Minor / Relative Minor Scale the Natural minor scale The aeolian mode, the 6th position of the major scale is the natural minor.So basically you’d play the aeolian mode pattern to play the natural minor scale And [...]

If you’re not sure what the relative minor scale is… check out the relative minor scale page. Minor Scale in the key of A |—————————–5——————————–| |———————–5-6-8—8-6-5————————–| |—————–4-5-7—————7-5-4——————–| |————-5-7—————————7-5—————-| |——-5-7-8———————————–8-7-5———-| |-5-7-8———————————————–8-7-5—-| Minor Scale Triplets |—————————————————5—7-5—-| |—————————————5—6-5-8-6—8——–| |—————————4—5-4-7-5—7——————–| |——————-5—7-5—7——————————–| |——-5—7-5-8-7—8—————————————-| |-5-8-7—8—————————————————-| |-7—5———————————————————| |—8—6-8-5-6—5———————————————| |—————7—5-7-4-5—4———————————| |—————————7—5-7—5————————-| |———————————–8—7-8-5-7—5————-| |———————————————–8—7-8-5-7-3-5-| If you want some tips for practicing scales, check out [...]

What is a guitar mode or a scale mode? Essentially a scale mode is a scale played with a different interval structure. With modal positions and scales, all you do is move up the fretboard. For example if you are playing in the key of A major and you are playing the A major scale, [...]

C major scale Mode Notes Ionian mode: C D E F G A B Dorian mode: D E F G A B C Phrygian mode: E F G A B C D Lydian mode: F G A B C D E Mixolydian mode: G A B C D E F Aeolian (minor) mode: A B [...]

THE MAJOR SCALE AND PROGRESSION THEORY GET THE GUITAR PROGRESSION CHORD CHARTS (sorry they’re too big for HTML so I put them in PDF) 420k but it’s worth the download!!!! There are so many chords and chord progressions, the combinations of them are virtually unending. So we’ll start with the old standby, the MAJOR SCALE [...]

Okay, now that you know a little bit more about chords and scales and how they fit together, lets look at some progressions. Now as you can see from the major chord progressions and the minor chord progressions pages we looked at before, the possibilities are limitless essentially. We can combine any chord with any [...]