lesson5

This is one of the exercises found in the "JEFF SCHEETZ Guitar Method book" (audio excerpt from the accompanying CD) Buy it here!

Just like we have scales made up of notes, we also have scales made up of chords, called..... you guessed it - chord scales! Knowing your chord scales will allow you to:

Write chord progressions that sound great.
Figure out what key a song is in.
Know what scale to use to solo over any progression.

Our chord scale is constructed by building a chord on each note of the Major scale. We do this by "stacking 3rds". In other words, if we are in the key of G and using our G Major scale, we would build a chord on each note of the scale, G-A-B-C-D-E-F#.

To build our first chord, we play up the G Major scale; we take our G note and go up a 3rd (three notes) to B, and then go up a 3rd from there to D. These three notes when played together, form a G Major chord. We then start on the second note of the scale (A), and go up a 3rd to C, and then up another 3rd to E. These three notes give us our second chord, A minor.

We continue this by starting on each note of the scale and going up a 3rd, and then another 3rd from there, giving us a three note chord based on each note in the Major scale. This gives us the seven chords in the key of G Major. To play these chords in any other key, just start on the first note of the scale of whatever key you want to play in and follow the same chord building procedure in that key. The chords will be in the same order (Major, minor, minor, Major, Major, minor, minor b5) in every key. The letter names of the chords will change depending on the notes in the particular key you are in. Since the shapes stay the same and are in the same order, once you get it down in one key, you can just move it to another.