Music theory Archives - Page 5 of 7

What is a Scale Formula and How to Use it For Guitar

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guitar and the power of failure Everything evolves around scales. We use scales to create music, study music theory, understand music, build chords, progressions, arpeggios and learn soloing and improvisation.

So how do you build a scale with a formula, how do you figure out the notes for a particular scale, what else can you do with a scale formula and how can you make sense of it all?

Well, let’s find out.

The scale formula gives you insight in the notes you play. It gives you a clear overview of how scales relate to each other and reveals the easiness of building any scale in seconds.

It also a great tool for learning and understanding chord construction and soloing. Once you know the logic behind a scale and how to use the formula, a lot of pieces to the puzzle will fall into place one step at a time.

To construct or build a scale we need a major scale and a scale formula. We use the major scale as groundwork and reference point for building all the other scales and then apply the appropriate scale formula to fill in the notes. Continue Reading

How to Read a Chord Diagram and Other Chord Notation

By Klaus Crow 12 Comments

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The first thing you want to do when you start out playing guitar is learn how to read a chord diagram (and buying a guitar).

Knowing how to read a chord diagram or other types of chord notations is pretty much essential when you want to learn pop, rock, blues or any other style of music.

When you go out and buy a guitar book, most books will show the chord diagrams for the appropriate song, but you will also find them on the web, in music notation software and apps.

In the beginning you will only have to acquire a small chord vocabulary to get you playing lots of songs. So let’s get this baby rolling!

There are different types of chord notation. We’ll start with the most traditional and accurate one.

How to Read a Chord Diagram

The chord diagram represent the neck of the guitar (see image below).
The six vertical lines represent the six strings on the guitar. From left to right; low E string, A string, D string, G string, B string and high E string or also called: 6th, 5th, 4th, 3rd, 2nd and 1st string.

The horizontal top line (which is thicker than the lower horizontal lines) indicates the nut of the guitar. The second horizontal line is the 1st fret, followed by the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th fret.

How to Use Chord Formulas and Their Benefits

By Klaus Crow 23 Comments

Why do you need chord formulas? Why do want to learn about them in the first place and what are their benefits?

Knowing some basic chord theory can make all the difference to your playing. It makes guitar playing more fun, interesting and a lot of what you play will make more sense. The pieces of the puzzle will fall in place.

Knowing how chord formulas work and knowing the notes on the strings is the ultimate combination.

What can you do with chord formulas?

– Learn how to make your own chords.
– Understand music theory.
– Figure out how to play a chord when you only have the name of a chord.
– Understanding the difference between chords like Dom7, Maj7 and min7.
– Make a chord easier to play if your pinky can’t reach for the major 7 or any other nasty note.
– Quickly turn a G major chord into Gsus4, G7, Gmaj7, G13 or any other variation you think of.
– Learn to see how easy it is to change from major to minor or any other chord.
– Apply the knowledge to your rhythm playing, songwriting, soloing and improvisation.
– Discover how chord formulas relate to every aspect of guitar playing as your knowledge expands over time.

What is a Chord Formula?

Chord formulas reveals the chord structure. It shows all the notes that are played in a chord, in other words, which specific notes make up a particular chord.

How to Read Guitar Tabs – Tablature

By Klaus Crow 8 Comments

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Tab (Tablature) or Tab notation is an easy way to read and notate guitar music.

It is commonly used for notating rock, blues, country and pop music. Whereas standard notation is more used for classical music, film scores and jazz music.

Tab is widely transcribed and used by guitar players on the internet but it also published in official guitar books (which is often more accurate).

It is especially designed for fretted stringed instruments like guitar and bass, while standard notation is arranged for all instruments. There are some pros and cons for each notation method.

When you’re learning music from tabs you can not just plainly rely on the tab notation. You need to listen to the song first, because the tab doesn’t indicate note lengths, pauses, rhythm and dynamics.

To know how long or loud each note is being played you need to use your ears and listen to the song. Train your ears because they are your most essential tools while reading and learning from tabs.

We focus here on Tab because of it’s convenient pros. Tab is easy to read and it gives you the exact fret numbers and strings you need to play.Continue Reading

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