At the simplest level, I view music as a sequence of notes (called the melody) played or sung in the context of a particular sequence of chords.  If you use the wrong melody notes for the song you want to play, it just won’t work.  Think how it would sound if you sang the words to Mary Had a Little Lamb to the melody for Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.  Just doesn’t make sense, does it? 

The same is true for the chord sequence used as context for the melody.  If the chords aren’t the right ones and in the right order, the song won’t sound like the song it’s supposed to be.

For those of you with some musical experience, you have probably already discovered that a simple song in the key of G will probably use G chords, C chords, and D chords.  Other chords may be used but the most common ones in the key of G will be G, C, and D.  The best reason I can offer as to why these are the three chords most commonly used is that those particular chords just sound good to the human ear.

Let’s use a simple, three chord, key of G version of Amazing Grace as our work in progress.  The key of G chord sequence for Amazing Grace follows:

CHORD                                 G                             G                             C                             G
LYRIC                     A             maz        ing          grace     how       sweet   the         sound

CHORD                                 G                             G                             D                             D
LYRIC                     That       saved    a              wretch  like         me…………………………

CHORD                                 G                             G                             C                             G            
LYRIC                     I               once      was        lost         but         now       am          found

CHORD                                 G                             D                             G                             G
LYRIC                     Was       blind      but         now       I               see………………………….

To summarize, the chord sequence for Amazing Grace in the key of G is as follows:

                G             G             C             G
                G             G             D             D
                G             G             C             G
                G             D             G             G

OK, so you’ve learned the chord sequence for Amazing Grace in G and now head out to a jam session.  But it turns out your jam partners want to play it in A!  Now what?  What chords do you play in A? 

To understand how to use scales to predict what chords to use in A, let’s first number the G scale tones:

                G             A             B             C             D             E              F#           G
                1              2              3             4            5              6              7             8

I have marked the G, the C, and the D scale tones and their corresponding numbers 1, 4, and 5 in red text.  The chord sequence for Amazing Grace can now be presented in numbers where 1 refers to a G chord, 4 to a C chord, and 5 to a D chord:

                1              1              4              1
                1              1              5              5
                1              1              4              1
                1              5              1              1

Now to convert the chord sequence to the key of A.  First, recall the A scale.  Then assign numbers to the tones of that scale.

                A             B             C#           D             E              F#           G#          A
                1              2              3             4              5              6              7            8

Now substitute letters from the A scale for the number sequence for Amazing Grace: 1 becomes A, 4 becomes D, and 5 becomes E.

                A             A             D             A
                A             A             E              E
                A             A             D             A
                A             E              A             A

And, voila’, you have transposed from the key of G to the key of A!

In summary, the most commonly used chords in a particular key will be the ones built on the 1^st, the 4^th, and the 5^th tone of its scale.  Literally hundreds of songs from a wide range of styles can be played using just these three chords.  Take a look at this partial list of three chord songs:

Now for the bad news… none of this discussion tells you in what order to play the chords for a particular song nor for how many beats to play a particular chord.  Arrggg!  I’m sorry to say I don’t think it is possible to understand those concepts from just talk.  I think it will require some experimentation with your instrument.  This experimentation is one aspect of ear-training. 

As part of your experimentation, play the 1, the 4, and the 5 chords of a key on your instrument.  Listen to how the sound of each chord relates to the sound of the other chords.  Then start applying those sounds to a particular song.  Take for example the first couple of lines of ‘You Are My Sunshine’.  This particular tune starts on the ‘1’ chord. In the key of G that means we start on a G chord.  Play a G chord on you instrument and sing these two lines.  Is there is a chord change anywhere during either line (hint: there is).  What word are you singing when the chord changes?  (If you said ‘hap’ in the second line, you got it!). 

You     are       my       sun       shine    my       on        ly         sun       shine
You     make    me       hap      py        when   skies    are       grey

So what chord will you use at ‘hap’?  You have a 50-50 chance of guessing right.  You know you started with a ‘1’ (G) chord.  You also know we are talking about 3 chord songs.  If the chord changed (and it did) it has to be to either the ‘4’ (C) chord or the ‘5’ (D) chord, doesn’t it? 

Try singing these two lines and play chords in the background.  Start with a G chord.  When you get to ‘hap’ try playing a D chord.  Does it sound right?  Do it again and try a C chord on ‘hap’.  Does that sound right? 

If you want some help with this project, we can set up a lesson or two to ease your path towards understanding all this.  You can either call 513-607-1874 or email me at fotmc@iglou.com  to schedule a meeting.  We can meet at either the Mt. Healthy studio or the Oxford studio.  Although I haven’t tried it before, it is also possible we might have this discussion via Skype.   We can give it a shot anyway. 

Thanks for following my Seat-of-the-Pants-Music-Theory blog.  Stay tuned for future posts with some instrument specific suggestions about how to use scales and chords to embellish a melody.

Although some chords are more complex, for today’s lesson, I will be using 3 note chords only. 

Since a lot of bluegrass tunes are played in the key of G, I am going to start my discussion using that scale.  At the simplest level, playing ‘in the key of G’ means that the melody of the song is built using the notes of the G scale AND that I will finish the song on a G chord.  Which raises the question, what notes are in a G chord? 

Remember that the G scale has these specific notes: 

                G             A             B             C             D             E              F#           G

So how do I choose what notes to use in a G chord?  First note; you HAVE to use G as your starting point; this is called the ‘root note’.  

Without addressing the reasons why, you then skip one scale tone (A) and add the next scale note (B) to the chord you’re building.

Again ignoring reasons for the choice, you again skip one scale tone (C) and add the next (D) to your chord.

And that’s it!  You’re done!  You have assembled the three notes of a G chord:  G B D. 

Think about that briefly and you might say, ‘Now wait a minute!  Guitars have 6 strings but they play G chords.  And pianos have lots of keys and play lots of notes at once.  How come there’s only 3 notes in the chord?’  Quite simply, the notes G, B, and D are repeated in different octaves until you run out of strings on guitar or out of fingers on the piano.  Even if a whole orchestra plays as many notes as each instrument can manage, if the orchestra plays a simple G chord, every note sounding will be a G, a B, or a D.

To summarize how to build a simple 3 note chord…

• First chord tone: the name of the chord determines what scale to use in selecting chord tones.  The root note of the chord will be the 1^st note of the scale of that name.  If building a G chord, first note of the scale is G so the first tone of the G chord is also G.
• Next chord tone: look again at the scale of the chord name you’re building.  You used the 1^st  scale tone as the root note of your chord.  To choose the next note of the chord, skip one scale tone and add the next one to your chord.   In the case of a G scale, you’ll skip the A (2^rd tone of the scale) and add B (3^rd tone) to the chord.
• Final chord tone: again, look at the scale of the chord name you’re building.  So far your chord is built of the 1^st scale tone (G) combined with the 3^rd scale tone (B).  To choose the final note of our 3 note G chord, skip the 4^th tone (C) and add the 5^th tone (D) to the chord.  Your G chord will be comprised of G’s, B’s, and D’s.

OK, now it’s your turn.  Here are the 11 scales we have discussed so far in this Seat-of-the-Pants Music Theory course.  Figure out the chord tones for each scale.  We already did G so I have completed that one.  Don’t peek but the answers are at the bottom of the page.

Answer table of chord tones in root chord for selected scales

• 8 notes in the scale (octave… octopus… octagon)
• First and last note always the same name
• The sequence of intervals from the first note is always
  1. Whole step
  2. Whole step
  3. Half step
  4. Whole step
  5. Whole step
  6. Whole step
  7. Half step

Build a C scale
First pick your starting note (also called a ‘root note’).  For our first example, let’s pick ‘C’ as our starting note.

The second note of the scale has to be a whole step higher than the first note (C).  So, the question becomes, ‘what note is a whole step up from C?’  In previous lessons, we learned that ‘D’ is a whole step up from ‘C’.

The third note of the scale has to be a whole step higher than the second note (D).  What note is a whole step up from D?  Referring again to the previous lessons, ‘E’ is a whole step up from ‘D’

The fourth note of the scale is a bit different.  The fourth note must be only a half step higher than the third note (E).  What note is a half step up from E?  Previous lessons show that ‘F’ is a half step up from ‘E’.

The fifth note of the scale has to be a whole step higher than the fourth (F).  What note is a whole step up from F?  If you said ‘G’, you got it!

The sixth note of the scale has to be a whole step higher than the fifth (G).  What note is a whole step up from G? If you said ‘A’, you got it!

The seventh note of the scale has to be a whole step higher than the sixth (A).  What note is a whole step up from A? If you said ‘B’, you got it!

The eighth note of the scale is also a bit different.  The eighth note must be only a half step higher than the seventh note (B).  What note is a half step up from B?  If you said ‘C’, you got it!  We now have a complete scale of 8 notes;  this is referred to as an octave.  Notice the eighth note is the same as the first.  The first and the last notes of a scale will always be the same letter.  If not, you messed up!

Take a look at this completed C scale and you’ll see that it meets the guidelines laid out in the first paragraph:

• 8 notes in the scale
• First and last note are indeed the same name
• The sequence of intervals from the first note is
  1. Whole step
  2. Whole step
  3. Half step
  4. Whole step
  5. Whole step
  6. Whole step
  7. Half step

Make a chant out of this sequence:  starting note, 2 wholes and a half, 3 wholes and a half.  It helps me remember what sequence of whole steps and half steps I need to use.

Build a G scale
Now let’s build another scale.  This time, let’s pick G as our starting point.

The second note of the scale has to be a whole step higher than the first note (G).  So, the question becomes, ‘what note is a whole step up from G?’  In previous lessons, we learned that ‘A’ is a whole step up from ‘G’.

The third note of the scale has to be a whole step higher than the second note (A).  What note is a whole step up from A?  Referring again to the previous lessons, ‘B’ is a whole step up from ‘A’

Again, the fourth note of the scale is a bit different.  The fourth note must be only a half step higher than the third note (B).  What note is a half step up from B?  Previous lessons show that ‘C’ is a half step up from ‘B’.

The fifth note of the scale has to be a whole step higher than the fourth (C).  What note is a whole step up from C?  If you said ‘D’, you got it!

The sixth note of the scale has to be a whole step higher than the fifth (D).  What note is a whole step up from D? If you said ‘E’, you got it!

The seventh note of the scale has to be a whole step higher than the sixth (E).  What note is a whole step up from E? If you said ‘F#’, you got it!

The eighth note of the scale is also a bit different.  The eighth note must be only a half step higher than the seventh note (F#).  What note is a half step up from F#?  If you said ‘G’, you got it! 

Build your own scales exercise

This time, you get to build your own scales.  Build all four of these scales: D, A, E, and B.  Don’t peek until you finish then scroll down and check yourself against my Answer Chart at the very bottom of the page.  If you had trouble with any of them, go back and evaluate your choices using the chant I mentioned above:  starting note, 2 wholes and a half, 3 wholes and a half.

Did you notice that all the scales I have discussed so far use only sharps?  Stay tuned for my next Seat-of-the-Pants Music Theory lesson and I will discuss scales that use flats.

Answer Chart for Build Your Own Scales exercise

First, let’s review the white notes on the piano keyboard.  Take a look at this diagram from the last lesson and make sure you’re confident of the white note names.

Got it?  OK, let’s talk about the black keys.  Again, notice the repeating visual pattern of the black keys as you go left to right on the diagram.  First, there is a set of 2 black keys with the white key D between the pair.  After a pair of adjacent white keys (E & F), there is a set of 3 black keys alternating with the white keys G & A.  Then another pair of adjacent white keys (B & C).

The pattern then repeats, starting again with the set of 2 black keys, a pair of adjacent white keys (E & F), a set of 3 black keys, and finally a pair of adjacent white keys (B & C).  This pattern runs across the width of whatever keyboard you have.

So far, so good.  Now for the names.  I think this is where alot of folks get confused.

Any one black key has two possible names, a sharp name (symbol #) and a flat name (symbol b).  How’s THAT for confusing?  Let me say that again; any one black key has two possible names, a sharp name and a flat name.

Having dropped that bomb on you, let me try and clarify it for you.  Notice there is a black key between C and D.  Since the black key is to the right of the C, its sharp name will be C#.  All black keys adjacent to C and on the right side of C can be called C#.  In general, move right from a particular note, add ‘#’ to the name of that note.

Since that same black key is to the left of the D, its flat name will be Db.  All black keys adjacent to D and on the left side of D can be called Db.  In general, move left from a particular note, add ‘b’ to the name of that note.

Remember, the name C# and the name Db refer to one and the same note.  Which name you use will depend on the musical context; I will deal with that question in a later lesson.  For now, let’s just get solid on what each black note might be called.

Let’s name another black key.  Consider the left-most of the set of 3 black keys.

This black key is immediately to the right of F so its sharp name will be F#.  It is immediately to the left of G so its flat name will be Gb.

The short version of this pattern is ‘Move left from a note, add b to its name; move right, add # to its name’.  Extending this pattern to all the black keys, here is the complete set of names.

If you want a hardcopy of this lesson, you can find a PDF here:  Naming the Black Notes on the Piano.

To test your understanding of this pattern, fill in this blank chart.  Don’t peek!

Although your interest is probably NOT in piano music, I am going to use the piano keyboard for this lesson in Seat-of-the-Pants Music Theory because the musical patterns I want to discuss are so visually obvious on piano.  These same patterns are also true on stringed instruments, but are not as neatly laid out in front of you.  So let’s start with some visual patterns on piano.

Notice the repeating visual pattern going left to right.

First, there is a set of 2 black keys with a white key between the pair.  Then there are two adjacent white keys with no black keys between them.  Next comes a set of 3 black keys alternating with white keys.  Then there are two adjacent white keys with no black keys between them.

The pattern then repeats, starting again with the set of 2 black keys, then a pair of adjacent white keys, then a set of 3 black keys, and finally a pair of adjacent white keys.  This pattern runs across the full width of whatever keyboard you may have.  Counting both black and white keys, a full size piano has 88 keys.  Some smaller electronic keyboards may have as few as 25.  But, they all will have the pattern of black and white keys I have described.

Now, let’s put names to the keys.

In this lesson, I am going to deal with note names for the white keys only.   I will deal with names for the black keys in a later lesson.  The white keys are named with letters in a repeating sequence of A, B, C, D, E, F, and G.  When you get to G, the next white key is called A and the pattern repeats.

Further, when you go from any letter to the next occurrence of the same letter, that interval is called an octave.  Here are the note names applied to my keyboard diagram; I have marked two octaves of C with red letters.

Notice the pattern of where each letter falls:

‘C’ is always immediately to the left of the pair of black keys
‘D’ is always the next white key to the right of C and there is a black key between them.
‘E’ is always the next white key to the right of ‘D’ and there is a black key between them.
‘F’ is always next white key to the right of ‘E’ and is adjacent to the ‘E’
(no black key between them)
alternatively, you can view F as immediately to left of three black keys
‘G’ is always the next white key to the right of ‘F’ and there is a black key between them.
‘A’ is always the next white key to the right of ‘G’ and there is a black key between them.
‘B’ is always the next white key to the right of ‘A’ and there is a black key between them.
‘C’ is always the next white key to the right of ‘B’ and is adjacent to the ‘B’
(no black key between them)

Although you can’t tell without hearing the note played, the sound (pitch) of the note will be progressively higher and higher as you move from left to right.

If you want a hardcopy of this lesson, you can find a PDF here:  Naming the White Keys on Piano

To test your understanding of these patterns, here are a several quiz questions. Check yourself against my diagram AFTER you fill out yours.  Here is the blank diagram for you to use in answering the quiz questions.

And here are the questions:

1. Fill in all the notes named C
2. Fill in all the notes named A
3. Fill in all the notes named E
4. Fill in all the notes named G
5. Fill in all the notes named F
6. Fill in all the notes named D
7. Fill in all the notes named B