Chords in scales

What matters in guitar practice? What should you be working on?

To answer that question, you need to decide what kind of musician you are. Singer-songwriter? Composer. Soloist? Rhythm player? Those are the main identities you get to choose from. You may be one of these one year and something else in another year.

But what does it mean to be these things? How is a singer-songwriter different than a composer? What does a rhythm player need to know that a soloist doesn’t?

It’s important to be clear about these things because it makes it easier to focus on the things you want to focus on. It also gives you information about other things that you may not think to work on.

For instance, rhythm players focus on chords and rhythm. But knowing chords leads at some point to learning about arpeggios, which naturally leads (usually) to learning about scales.The rhythm player moves into the world of the soloist without trying to.

Let’s take a closer look at the rhythm/solo relationship.

 

Chords in scales

Every chord exists in a scale of some sort. Here’s the ionian mode…

 

 

 

…and here’s a G major triad.

 

I’m sure that you can find the triad embedded in the scale, but just to make it clear:

 

Using this technology requires a perceptual trick: you need to be able to play the chord and see the scale simultaneously, as well as be able to play the scale and see the chord.

To get this happening, you have to practice both until they feel natural. Then put them together by playing one and then playing the other. Simple in concept, not so simple in execution.

Here’s a way to work on it.

 

Exercise 1

1. Get a metronome
2. Put it on a slow speed.
3. Play the scale one note per beat
4. When you get to first chord-tone, place your fingers, one by one, on the other chord-tones. Do this in time to the metronome.
5. When the entire chord is down, go back to the first scale-tone you played (the G on the D string, 5th fret), and play the rest of the scale from there. Do this in time.
6. Continue this exercise with each chord-tone, always returning to the G on the D string and playing through the rest of the scale.

 

Exercise 2

1. Still with a metronome on slow speed, play the scale one note per beat.
2. When you get to first chord-tone, place your fingers on the first two chord-tones simultaneously, then on the remaining two chord-tones. Always in time.
3. When the entire chord is down, go back to the G on the D string and play through the rest of the scale. Do this in time.

 

Exercise 3

1. Still with the metronome on slow speed, play the scale one note per beat.
2. When you get to the first chord-tone, play the entire chord, then continue with the scale.
3. Go back to the G on the D string and play through the rest of the scale. Do this in time.

 

Chord-tones equal scale-tones

As these exercises make obvious, the chord-tones are part of the scale. A major implication is that you can choose any three or four notes from the scale, play them together and call them a chord. Don’t worry about giving that chord a name; just write it down so you don’t forget it.

Then invent another one. Play those two invented chords as a progression.

Play one chord for two beats, then the scale for two beats. Then play the second chord for two beats, then the scale for two beats. Continue going back and forth between chords and scale in this way. Once you’re used this structure, it will start to be easy to alter it (i.e. chord for one beat, scale for three beats, chord for three beats, scale for one beat, etc).

Eventually, moving between scale and chord becomes natural.