Music

Magic

play buttonIntro Video ~ How guitars work...

Anatomy of a Chord

Dedicated to Musicians that Care

What's in a chord? That strikes a chord. We sing lullabies to babies. We hum in the shower. Is music a sensual thing? Of course it is. Couples gush about "their song" meaning what was the pop tune in their heads as they were falling in love. Music is the song of life and chords pull these tunes together like pulling in the reins of a beer wagon drawn by eight Clydesdales. It's like the moment when you are in the throws of ecstasy when she calls out, "More cowbell, more cowbell!"

It has to do with lines drawn between points of strength as in architecture or points connected to the curve of a circle or a collections of notes in music harmony, you know, that thing that results in a pleasant sound rushing into your ears. If you want to call yourself a musician then knowing the anatomy of a chord is like a cardiologist knowing his ventricle from his Circumflex.

I hear so called musicians say, "I know how to play guitar or piano and never learned of note of music." or "I can play all of Clapton's hits but can't read a note of music." Well, bully for you. That's not being a musician. That's being a copycat. If you get into songwriting why not learn your Ps and Qs, why not be savvy to how it works, why not be one with the force?

It's too hard to learn music theory. Nonsense. There's only seven separate tones in any given scale or key. If you account for the sharps and flats there are only 12 distinctive semitones in the whole bloody Western music system! You can count to 12 can't you?

I jest of course. Becoming proficient with music harmony processes is a bitch. Like learning to play a guitar in the first place. You don't get good by playing for days on end until your fingers need surgery. The same with learning music theory. You do it one bite at a time. Once we get down the major and minor chords, then it's the 7ths and diminished and major-sevenths. We can start to link them together in progressions that blossom with harmonic sound. That's just the foundation. The melody and rhythm are just as important, and then the all mighty lyrics. This is a lifetime pursuit. What else you gonna do that's as satisfying in the long run?

The designers of the piano really went out of their way to lay out a linear, one-dimensional bunch of notes cleverly arranged to be easy to spot from really low pitches to beyond practical limits in high pitches. What I want to do here is tell you about the guitar. It's a bit trickier. It's a two-dimensional instrument where the same pitch pops up all over the place. It needs to be analyzed to really get a grip on why it was laid out the way it was. To do that properly, you have to agree to learn some music. We need a set of lingo that puts us on common footing. We have to establish a set of definitions so we don't confuse each other. I have to say, since music and the theories that have been cobbled together to describe what it is and how it works suffers from centuries of discussing it. Much of the snappy discussions of those pandering within the Harvard School of Music end up as complex webs of incomprehensible dither of why Mozart changed chords in a particular place. I find this a waste of time for a songwriter. The process underlying great music, even Mozart, is really quite straight forward and you deserve to know why.

Lingo

First off, grab your guitar. You should know the small string is counted as the "first string" and it goes down in pitch as we switch to the fatter strings ending with the "sixth string." Next, get a tape measure and measure the distance from the "nut" (the end where the tuning keys are) to the saddle on the bridge (on the body of the guitar) on the low E. Next, measure from the nut to the second set of double dots (12th fret up). Notice it's half the distance. Voilá! You now have discovered the first fact of music. Your ear tells you that's an octave. The low E string sounding one octave higher, but it's still an E. Also notice that it took the whole fretboard to go just one octave. Therefore, the reason for more strings! The 1st string is also an E, two octaves up. At the 12th fret, another octave and at that point you're running out of frets. So we only get three octaves range plus a few notes. The piano covers seven octaves plus three more notes.

We have to flat-out memorize what the notes are for the strings of the guitar. From highest pitch to lowest pitch: 1st-E, 2nd-B, 3rd-G, 4th-D, 5th-A, 6th-E. Right now, none of this makes much sense but the reason the guitar is generally pitched rather low is to match the male singing voice (except for John Denver - he sang a lot of songs in the key of A or B, very high stuff, Rocky Mountain high in fact.). Here's a few more facts that are somewhat confusing when first looking at the guitar. We have 12 frets between octaves. Octave means eight in Greek. What's up? Now, we can use the piano as a measuring stick and clear all this up right now.

Let's not get into the history of why the middle of the piano is the note C and not A. Just accept it. Since the named notes are A,B,C,D,E,F,G then it repeats with A, etc. Nothing beyond that but that's 7 tones, that's all we need. But wait, I thought there were 8 notes in an octave? Gotcha! The eighth note is the first note of the next octave. Yes, it is the same note as the one you started on (i.e. the low E string), but when you get to the octave, you're on another E not another unique tone. So there are 7 notes in any given key or scale. Let's focus on the piano for a bit. The key of C was chosen to be blessed with no sharps or flats, meaning no black keys. Here's a couple of more facts you need to store away in your head. The seven tones of any given key are based on integer ratios of dividing a vibrating string. You witnessed the octave when a string is halved. The other integer ratios the Greeks came up with give us the other tones of a Diatonic Scale, which is the tech-term for a major scale that follows the pattern shown in the figure below. So going from any note to the next chromatically (including the black notes) are 1/2 steps or semitones. Two semitones is a whole step. The pattern shown in the figure below the keyboard where it says "All keys:" works for all the keys. The arrangement of adding the blacks keys just gives us a pattern to recognize in each octave. But realize all the tones were meant to be even 1/2 steps. Later, Bach "tempered" these intervals to align the pitches to all sound best when we move from key to key.

A sharp is a semitone or 1/2 step up from where you are and a flat is a semitone or 1/2 step down from where you are when it comes to explaining the black keys. The exception is between E and F and B and C. There is no B sharp or C flat or E sharp or F flat.

Now let's look at the guitar. Each fret is a 1/2 step or semitone. We have to be careful counting up to the 12th semitone. Remember the open string is a tone. If you count that and continue up 12 tones you end up at the 11th fret. That's great because the 13th semitone puts you on the first note in the next octave or the 12 fret. Point being, the guitar layout matches the piano. If you're used to how computers count starting with zero this will all makes perfect since.

The power of this is, if you know how to finger a E chord on the guitar then moving that pattern up one fret at a time will give you F, F#, G, G# A etc. without having to think about it. So 7 tones plus 5 incidentals equals 12 semitones total.

I am a Major Leaguer

Let's check out the pattern for a major key (2 2 1 2 2 2 1 semitones). It works with any key. We know C. Let's try D major: D E F# G A B C# D. So the key of D would have to have F# and C# to follow the pattern. The key of E is even better: E F# G# A B C# D# E. So the key of E has four sharps. What about F? That would be: F G A Bb C D E F. There's a twist. It turns out that an A# is not convention here. That note is given as Bb instead. Why? Also notice a fifth up from F is C. All the keys that have the sharp right before the octave, will have all sharps. F has the black key A#/Bb in the middle. Also, if we give that name as Bb then a pattern arrises that makes for a very clever diagram.

At this point a diagram clears the air. It's called the Circle of Fifths because as you progress clockwise each position is a fifth away from each other. After 12 jumps you're back to the key where you started since there are 12 tones in our music system. But it gets a bit gnarly if you continue using sharps all around. What's cool, if you proceed counter-clockwise an add flats, it balances out nicely at the six-o'clock position.

With C at the top, going clockwise we have G D A E B with progrssively more sharps starting with G with one sharp. The next jump after B lands on F# or Gb. This resolves by going the other way from C and progress through the flats. F Bb Eb Ab Db F#/Gb. So the six o'clock position key is either Gb or F# depending on the composer. But all the keys are a fifth apart an the sharps and flats follow a pattern. This makes it easier to remember which key has what notes in it.

It's a lot easier to see on a piano. What about guitar? We really don't care much when playing chords because the chord patterns set our fingers on the right notes. Patterns become the deciding factor, but to a lead player, you need to know what notes you are playing in any given key. Of course, with all music, your ears are the deciding factor on what sounds good.

One final thing to notice. If you go counter-clockwise around the circle, the notes are exactly a 4th apart - ooh.

I am a Minor Player

So we have the major keys wired. What about minor keys? This gets simpler. All we have to do is lower the third of any key and we get the minor sound. Technically we go from a major-third to a minor-third. The ears know what I'm talking about. Give it a try.

Let's talk about intervals for a minute. Going back to good ol' C. If we count up four semitones we land on the third note of the C scale - E. If we count up seven semitones we land on the fifth note of the scale. If we only take two tones and play them at the same time that's called an interval. If we add a third tone we have a triad. The biggy is the root-third-fifth. That sound locks in the chord and identifies it to ears all around the globe as, in this case, C major. No questions. Without the third, we have an odd sound, but cool. If we exclude the fifth, we have a rich harmony. With all three, there is no doubt its a C chord. That's important because all keys will do the same. So chords, from the point of view of basic harmony, are triads. Are there exceptions? Sort of. If you flip the root to the end and have E G C in our C major case, it still sounds like a C chord but a little off. We can flip the E and have G C E and it still sounds like a C chord, but a little sketchy. Anything added next can move the tone center off into another space. These other two versions of a key are called the first and second inversion. And we will see this on the guitar as a bit of a surprise when we go to play a D chord.

Back to minor keys. If we take that third and lower it a 1/2 step to Eb we get Cm when we play the triad. Or in E we take the G# third and lower it to a G, then E G B sounds minor or somewhat sad. So here is the first indication of emotions being tied to chords. Check out the video that's demos all of this.





play buttonMajors and Minors

Note for Note

Let's look at an E major triad on a piano compared to the six string E chord on the guitar. The guitar chord is shown an octave higher so it fits on the staff better. Notice there are three E notes, two fifths, and one third. It sounds big and balanced, which tells you thirds are rather strong. They are like sugar. A little goes a long way.

The root note is dominate. That's why bands have bass players. Listeners know they hear an E chord. The important thing is as you move this fingering up the fretboard all those notes stay in context. One fret up and you have F. That G# goes to an A, which is the third of the F major and so on.

The A fingering is similar but with one less note. The sixth string is silent. Once again as this fingering is advanced up the fretboard, all the roots, thirds, and fifths stay in context. What makes a chord minor is the third being lowered by a 1/2 step so Em has the G# go to G and Am has the C# go to C and that is done by lifting that one finger on the E and moving the third string on the A back a fret. Kinda looks like the E fingering pattern.

With the D fingering the chord thins out with the third on top, which gives an inverted D chord sound. The low D holds the sound solid on D. Dm is the same process of lowering the 1st string position back a half step. If you are observant, you'll see it only takes 3 notes to make a full chord sound. So many times only three notes are used on the guitar like the piano. With two hands to play notes, the piano uses the left hand to dictate keys with a bass note.

More on chords as we add a fourth note. We need leading notes to move to other keys - modulation. That fourth note does that nicely.

Diminished Returns

A diminished chord only has four notes. A major triad with the third, fifth, and the added seventh lowered a half step, also called half-diminished chord. If the seventh is then lower to the sixth, the full-diminished chord sounds. The full-diminished sound is powerful because it's a pivotal sound that can go in several directions and has a meloncoly quality to it. The half-diminished chord isn't useful on a guitar because it's too dissonant.

The fingering for the D0 (D-diminished symbol) is shown here. All other strings are silent. Then moving this pattern towards the nut gives Db0, C0 and moving down again with two fingers dropping out is B0. Notice the B0 has the same notes as D0. The cool thing is there are only three configuration for diminished chords until they repeat in an inverted pattern. You will see several names for these chords depending on what Key the music is in, but for guitar, you only need to remember C0, Db0, and D0 and just adjust the name on your music. I chose the name from the second finger position. You could name them from any of the notes but you only need three chord patterns. Or you could just stick with the fingering pattern and make the sound fit where you need it. As you go up the neck, the diminished sounds repeat at a higher pitch.


play buttonDiminished Chords

Connecting Tissue - Seventh Chords

Where chords Meet the Road

We now know how to use the standard chord patterns of E, A, and D both in major and minor keys. The diminished chords were introduced to bring in a fourth note to the standard triad of root, third, and fifth. Since there are only four notes left to play with (second, fourth, sixth, and seventh) we start with the most important - the seventh.

When we just add the 7th we get the major-seventh chords, sweet and mellow, very jazzy. If we flat the 7th we get the dominate-seventh. Played with only the root, we still get the 7th sound, but it's very harsh. We can use the root, third, and flat-7 and get a strong seventh sound that has a resolve upward feel. If we use the root, fifth, and flat-7 we get the same impact but the resolve is downward. Root, third, fifth, and flat-7 is the typical way it's used. So where is the resolve destination? The chord associated with the 4th-degree of the diatonic scale! Whoee, we are getting into this theory stuff now! You should know by now that's like an F chord in the key of C, or A in the key of E, or C in the key of G. Many times the resolve is to the minor version of the target chord. Also, the minor-seventh is quite often used as in: Cm7 to F. There is a trick here because the 7th of the F chord is a Eb, the thing making the C chord minor, so a further resolve to Bb is a natural path as well.

Seventh chords are the glue that holds together blues tunes. Typically 12 bars of 4/4 time progressing from a base chord like E major adding the 7th in the fourth bar, then A and A7 to complete 6 bars. The last 6 bars winds back to a B7 to set up for a a second verse starting on E again.

Many songs go to the 4th of the key for the chorus and using a 7th chord to make the jump is common. We'll get to the Circle of Fifths to talk about chord progressions in the last video. There are substitution chords that act like 7th in that they point towards a different target chord. In pop music, one of the most popular ways to modulate is to play a slash chord. Best done by the keyboard player, but the technique is, let's say we would typically play a G7 to get to C. We instead let the G in the bass steer the chord and play a F triad in the right hand. There is a flat-7 in there that the G sound needs (the F). The A and C don't clash because they are in the diatonic scale of the C chord coming up, so it works great without a sound harsh. Written F/G.

Just knowing the chord names and where they are on the guitar is nice but songs are about feelings both musically and lyrically. Great music has to be cognizant of rhythm and melody along with lyrics and the ever present bass to guide you through the harmony patterns. You can fizzle out and lose interest in your playing from restrictions caused by learning only a few chords and not being aware of the guitar's design that opens up all the chords in a simple way. The hard part is training fingers to reach the chord patterns. That's done by just 15 minutes a day practice. Keep the guitar out on a stand and practice every day.

play buttonSevenths Chords

Chord Progressions - Music Makers

Profiles in Structure

Combined with rhythm, chord patterns set the mood of a piece of music. Many patterns have evolved that can be identified with various cultures around the world. In Pop culture, genries tend to catalog music for commercial reasons to maximize sales and provide an identity for artists. If you plan to go commercial, you should allow your music to match what's commercially viable.

The patterns that follow music theory have the most success. The beauty of music that follows harmony that comes from music theory is people all over the world respond to the sounds the same way. How music works appeals to all.

Just when you think you have perfect matches to standard music harmony, someone comes up with a twist on chord patterns that really works well. So there is no one way to do things, but the unlying Elementary and Classic Harmony patterns still prevail.

play buttonChord Progressions

Riffs - Flashy Stuff

Learned Skills

Chord riffs are those unique little gems that guitar players are always trying to come up with that grab your attention. They can be intwined with rhythm patterns or just get you from one place in the song to another like introducing a chorus or bridge to supporting the verse its self. It can be the tone coming from the amp or the bending of a note. This is style more than from music theory.

Lead players know well that a cool riff is what sells the song. Chord progressions are just there to back these solo riffs. The whole piece of music needs to work together. When you first start learning the guitar, it might seem intimidating to start out learning a bunch of new patterns at the same time, but this is where motivation comes from to learn more and opens the door to endless options.

This concludes what I wanted to say about basic guitar with an emphasis on a strong music foundation. It all goes together. We just don't learn individual chords and call ourselves players. You sound good to others and get satisfaction from learning and playing guitar by producing music so why not start out on the right foot and learn them together?

play buttonChord Riffs