Major Scale Patterns, Positions and Theory

Transposition between keys exists with the same principal in mind. TheGuitarLesson.com, created by Tom Fontana, is dedicated to bringing the highest quality guitar tutorials to beginner guitarists. Through creating fun and engaging guitar lessons, we aim to spread our love of the guitar to as many new players as possible. A power chord is not a real chord, it's actually a diad, which is 2 notes played together. Guitar power chords are very versatile, since the shape can be moved all over the fretboard.

A set of quaver triplets, for example, would tell you to play three equally spaced notes within the rhythmic period that would normally be filled by two normal quavers. Technically, tempo and metre are encompassed by rhythm, but rhythm also has its own distinctive action. For example, a semibreve rhythm implies that its note should be a held for four beats. You should familiarise yourself with these terms as well as semiquaver, minim and crotchet, as they all give length to notes. The ideas of tonality and harmony often overlap as harmony is created from notes that exist within a tonality.

A smooth movement from 0Hz to 100,000Hz wouldn’t really be a scale, as it would encompass every minute pitch. If want to be able to understand exactly what you’re doing with your guitar, then look no further than this guide. Barre actually refers to the positioning of the index finger of your fretting hand, which must be laid across and holding down several strings at once.

Additionally, it’s used to play intervals, build chords, and chart progressions. Have you ever wanted to understand why some guitar chords sound good together while others don’t? Well, you’ll find the answer with just a little bit of music Guitar theory. In this guide, we’ll be looking at the essential music theory concepts for guitar players. While these diagrams map out the G major scale, the patterns apply to all major scales. If you move these patterns up one fret, you’ll be playing the A♭ major scale.

Sharps and Flats, for example, C♯ and D♭ and of the same note value, despite being notated differently. When accidentals are of the same note value in this way they are referred to as enharmonic equivalents. First of all, be sure to have read our tutorial on guitar fretboard notes , it will show how to navigate the fretboard fluently .

However, using guitar TABs and copying your guitar heroes will only get you so far. Guitar tabs is a type of musical notation for stringed instruments that show you which fret to play on each string, as opposed to standard staff notation, which shows you the pitch of a note. Beginner guitarists have a much easier time learning from tablature, but in the long run, it’s a good idea to learn the standard musical notation as well. It is THE basis of chords and other types of scales, and actually the basis of Western music as we know it.

Chord theory is the study of how chords are built and how different chords relate to one another. This includes knowing basic chord structure, the difference between major and minor, the use of added chord tones and extensions, and the concept of voice leading. Guitarists make use of fragmented chord shapes, chord inversions, and chord voicings, and it all stems from their knowledge of chord construction. One of the best ways to learn how chords are formed on the fretboard is to study the guitar-specific CAGED system.