The Major Scale Harmonization
Today I want to show you how chords connect to scales. We will do this using the major scale as an example, since it is the simplest and most important scale in all music theory. On the other hand, at the end of this lesson you will be able to find the chords associated to any scale you can think of.
A Look at Triads …
Let’s have a brief reminder on how triads are built. A major triad is made by 3 notes: a root note (that gives the name to the chord), a note 4 frets above the root, and another note 3 frets above the last one. For instance, the C major triad is made by the notes C, E, and G. The note E is 4 frets above the note C, and the note G is 3 frets above the note E.
A minor triad is built in a similar way, but with slightly different numbers. Minor chords have a root note, then a note 3 frets above the root, and then a note 4 frets above the last one (the inverse of the major triad). A C minor triad is made by the notes C, Eb, and G. Eb is 3 frets above C, and G is 4 frets above Eb.
If you need more information on how triads are built, check out my previous lesson on triads.
…And a Look at the Major Scale
The major scale is defined by the formula W-W-H-W-W-W-H, where “W” stands for “whole tone” (equal to 2 frets on the guitar) and “H” for “half tone” (equal to 1 fret on the guitar). If you have never seen this formula before (and have no idea of what to do with it) please check out my lesson on the Major Scale that shows everything in detail.
Using the formula we can find the notes in the major scale in any key. In the following we will work in C major; the notes in the C major scale are C D E F G A B.
How Scales and Chords Work with Each Other
Here’s the main concept: the chords associated with a scale are the ones whose notes are all contained into the scale. For instance the C major chord is C, E, G, and all these notes are in the C major scale. To make an example of a chord NOT in the scale, let’s consider the D major chord: its notes are D, F#, A. Since there’s no F# in the C major scale, the D major chord is not part of the C major key. On the other hand, we can consider the D minor chord, that is made up by the notes D, F, A. All these notes are part of the C major scale, so the D minor chord IS part of the C major key.
How are we going to check systematically what chords are in the scale and what are not ? First of all, notice that we need to check only chords whose root is a note in the scale. It makes no sense to check if C# minor is in the key of C, since the C# note is not in the scale already. This simple trick already rules out many chords.
If you check the chords as I explained, you will find that the C major scale contains the chords: Cmaj, Dmin, Emin, Fmaj, Gmaj, Amin. The B note seems to be a bit of an anomaly: it appears that no chord built on B would fit into the C major scale. Bmaj is B, D#, F# and Bmin is B, D, F#. Both have notes that are out of the C major scale. On the other hand, if we could have a chord made of the notes B, D, F, this would fit the scale. This chord exists and it’s called a diminished triad.
Let’s recap. Triads are made of 3 notes. If all these 3 notes are inside the scale, then the chord belongs to the scale. If one or more notes are not in the scale, then the chord does not belong to the scale. Chords in the scale have of course notes of the scales as roots, and this allows us to find the right chords faster, rather than trying any possible chord.
Some Applications
The first and most basic application is that all chords coming from the same scale sounds good together, so they are suitable to be used in composing a song. To see this, take some of the chords of the C major scale (I repeat them here: Cmaj, Dmin, Emin, Fmaj, Gmaj, Amin, Bdim) and play them together: they will sound good to your hear. Try this example: C F Am G C.
A second application is slightly more advanced, but useful if you want to improvise or write a solo: we can take a chord (say: C) and see what scales “fit” the chord. We have just seen that a chord belongs to a scale if the notes of the chord are in the scale. In the same way a scale fits a chord if the notes of the chord are in the scale. In other words, on the C chord you can play any scale that contains the notes C, E, G. If we limit ourselves to major scales, we find that there are 3 scales with these notes: the C major scale, the F major scale and the G major scale. You can potentially use any of these scales if you are soloing on the C chord — of course, they sound different and you might prefer the sound of one rather than the other. It is nice to have more than one choice when writing music!
Final Assignment
As an exercise, work out the chords for the C minor scale: C D Eb F G Ab Bb. You can see the answer by highlighting the next line:
Answer: Cmin, Ddim, Ebmaj, Fmin, Gmin, Abmaj, Bbmaj
There are many things you can do by using the chords in a scale, both for composing songs and for creating great solos. But in order to be able to do them, you need to learn more about guitar harmony. Click on the button below to find out how you can become a complete master of Chords and Harmony on Guitar:
