Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Chord Building 2....

Ok so I know you have been working on getting to know the major scale chord quality and how to build a major chord.  Lets do a quick review.  Knowing that the major scale has a formula (refer to previous blogs), this shapes the key signatures.  If you count up three from any scale degree and then count up five from the same scale degree within the key signature you will build major, minor and dimished chords naturally.  Example:

G     A     B      C      D      E      F#     G           This will give you a G major chord (it's within the key)
1             3                5                                       GBD Major chord

G     A     B      C      D      E      F#     G           This will give you a A minor chord (it's within the key)
        1              3                5                              ACE Minor chord

Now lets look at how to build minor, diminished, and augmented chords from a major chord.  If you know how to build major chords from and note you will need to know how to build other chords from that same note.  Example:

G B D       is a G major chord
G Bb D     is a G minor chord
G Bb Db   is a G diminished chord
G B  D#    is a G augmented chord

So here is the formulas.  Remember this is based off of knowing the major chord first.  To get a minor chord from a major chord all you do is flat the third a half step.  Notice the G major chord went from G B D to G Bb D.  The B of the G major chord went to a Bb.  That is what creates that minor sound.  Try this on your bass.  Play the major chord arppeggio and then the minor arppeggio and listen to the difference. 
To get a diminshed chord you will flat the third and the fifth of a major chord.  Notice that the G major chord goes from G B D to G Bb Db.  Now play this arppeggio on your bass along with the other two and listen to the difference. 
To get a augmented chord you will have to raise the fifth of the major chord a half step.  Notice that the G major chord goes from G B D to G B D#.  Now play this arppeggio along with the other three and notice the difference.
Here is a chart of major and minor arpeggios to help you get started....Hope this helps

arpeggio bass guitarbass minor arpeggio

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Chord Building....

So we want to learn chord building.  The first thing you have to know to be successful at chord building is your key signatures and the theory of the major scale.  Check out one of my earlier post to learn your key signatures and major scale concept.  Now let's look at basic triads.  A triad consists of a root, 3rd, and a 5th.  If you take a C major scale:

 
C     D     E     F     G     A     B     C


Now count up 3 scale degrees counting C as one.  So you would go C (1) D (2) and E (3).  So E will be your third above C.  Now count up 5 scale degrees counting C as one.  So you would go C (1) D (2) E (3) F (4) G (5).  So G would be the fifth above C.  So your chord would be C E G with E being a third above and G being a 5th above.  This is a C major chord.

C     D     E     F     G     A     B     C
 
                                                     1              3             5
 




 
Now if you started on D and counted up a 3rd and a 5th you have a d minor chord and if you started on E you would create a e minor chord.  If you started on F or G you would create major chords and if you started on A you would create a minor.  AS LONG AS YOU STAY IN THE KEY SIGNATURE... That is key.  There is what they call "chord quality of a major scale".  let me use C major as a example.
 
CEG  is a major I
DFA  is a minor ii
EGB  is a minor iii
FAC  is a major IV
GBD is a major V
ACE  is a minor vi
BDF  is a diminished viiO
 
Now go to your bass and start on C, third fret of your A string and build the C major triad.  Think major scale pattern.  So you play second finger 3rd fret on A string, then first finger second fret D string, then pinky 5th fret D string.  This will outline a C major chord.  Here is a chart for major chords.  Get to know these then go to minor chords. 
 
Major chord table
ChordRootMajor thirdPerfect   fifth   
CCEG
CCE (F)G
DDFA
DDFA
DDFdouble sharp (G)A
EEGB
EEGB
FFAC
FFAC
GGBD
GGBD
GGB (C)D
AACE
AACE
AACdouble sharp (D)E (F)
BBDF
BBDF