Last Update: 20230906 Local Path: "C:\DAN\HTM\GoDaddy\dansher\scales.txt" Web Path: https://www.dansher.com/scales.txt SCALES AND CHORDS ON A GUITAR USING PIANO FOR REFERENCE ================================================================ A Western major scale (in any key) consists of eight sounds (notes): DO RE MI FA SO LA TI DO. On a piano, a major scale in the key of C consists of all the consecutive white keys: C D E F G A B C which correspond directly to: DO RE MI FA SO LA TI DO "DO" always represents the first note of a scale in any key, and "MI" always represents the third note of a scale in any key, etc. Major scales in any key other than C requires the use of at least one black key on a piano. For a guitar, any scale plays ("fingers") the same, except each kind ("key") of scale begins at a different fret. Unfortunately, the word "key" has two meanings in a musical context: (1) A specific Musical Scale, and (2) A physical lever or button on certain instruments (e.g., piano, sax) that plays a specific note. The grids below represent the vertical strings and horizontal frets of a standard guitar. The top line of each grid is the nut of the guitar (where the strings first are suspended over the fretboard). The open (unfretted) strings are assumed to be tuned in the usual way: E A D G B E - low string to high string. The leftmost vertical line on each grid is the lowest-pitched open string, and each vertical line to the right of that represents an open string tuned to the next higher pitch in the E A D G B E sequence. The DO RE MI FA SO LA TI notes shown are for the key of D in these three examples: E A D G B E E A D G B E E A D G B E +---+---+---+---+---+ +---+---+---+---+---+ +---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | dim 7th min +---+---+---+---+---+ +---+---+---+---+---+ +---+---+---+---+---+ MI LA RE SO TI MI 1 1 1 1 1 1 | | 2 5 maj7 3 +---+---+---+---+---+ +---+---+---+---+---+ +---+---+---+---+---+ FA | | | DO FA 2 | | | 2 2 | | min aug 1 sus +---+---+---+---+---+ +---+---+---+---+---+ +---+---+---+---+---+ | TI MI LA | | | 3 3 3 | | | | 3 6 | | +---+---+---+---+---+ +---+---+---+---+---+ +---+---+---+---+---+ SO DO FA | RE SO 4 4 4 | 4 4 | 1 sus | 9th | +---+---+---+---+---+ +---+---+---+---+---+ +---+---+---+---+---+ D major scale fingering note # (tonic chord) A good way to help remember the open string tuning sequence is: "Eat At Dans, Good Burgers Everyday" There are three "main" chords in any musical key, the so-called "1/4/5" chords. These are also respectively known as Tonic ("root"), Dominant, and Sub-Dominant. In the key of D, these three chords are: D/G/A. It takes a minimum of three notes (a "triad") to make a chord. Play any three different notes in the charts below to demonstrate this: TONIC (1): DO MI SO DOMINANT (4): FA LA DO SUB-DOMINANT (5) SO TI RE +---+---+---+---+---+ +---+---+---+---+---+ +---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+ +---+---+---+---+---+ +---+---+---+---+---+ MI | | SO | MI | LA | | | | | | RE SO TI | +---+---+---+---+---+ +---+---+---+---+---+ +---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | DO | FA | | | DO FA | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+ +---+---+---+---+---+ +---+---+---+---+---+ | | MI | | | | | | LA | | | TI | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+ +---+---+---+---+---+ +---+---+---+---+---+ SO DO | | | SO | DO FA | | | SO | | | RE SO +---+---+---+---+---+ +---+---+---+---+---+ +---+---+---+---+---+ D major triad G major triad A major triad The 1/4/5 triad chords can be modified (e.g., major to minor) with one of the changes as shown below. Different sonic "flavorings" can be achieved by adding additional notes to the basic triad. Observe: TONIC (1): DO MI SO DOMINANT (4): FA LA DO SUB-DOMINANT (5) SO TI RE +---+---+---+---+---+ +---+---+---+---+---+ +---+---+---+---+---+ | | | dim 7th min | min | | | 7th | | dim | min aug +---+---+---+---+---+ +---+---+---+---+---+ +---+---+---+---+---+ MI | | SO maj7 MI | LA | | dim maj7 | | RE SO TI | +---+---+---+---+---+ +---+---+---+---+---+ +---+---+---+---+---+ | | min aug DO sus FA sus | min DO FA | min aug | sus 7th +---+---+---+---+---+ +---+---+---+---+---+ +---+---+---+---+---+ | | MI | | dim | | maj7 LA aug | | TI | 9th dim maj7 +---+---+---+---+---+ +---+---+---+---+---+ +---+---+---+---+---+ SO DO sus | 9th SO | DO FA sus | 9th SO sus | | RE SO +---+---+---+---+---+ +---+---+---+---+---+ +---+---+---+---+---+ D flavors G flavors A flavors For the TONIC chord (any key): Example in key of D: minor = DO MIb SO Dm major = DO MI SO D suspended = DO MI# SO Dsus seventh = DO MI SO TIb D7 major seventh = DO MI SO TI Dmaj7 diminished = DO MI SOb Ddim or D- augumented = DO MI SO# Daug or D+ sixth = DO MI SO LA D6 ninth = DO MI SO RE D9 In the nine chord structures above, "b" means to flat the note (i.e., play it one fret lower in pitch) and "#" means to sharp the note (i.e., play it one fret higher in pitch). For example, playing MIb instead of MI always results in a minor chord (regardless of key), while playing MI# always becomes a suspended chord (see grids). For both piano and guitar, RE# is the same pitch (note) as MIb, etc. This is not strictly true, as a master violinist will haughtily inform you, but close enough for all popular Western music. -------------------------------------------------------------- REVIEW: Unfortunately, the word "key" has two meanings in a musical context: (1) A specific Musical Scale, and (2) A physical lever or button on certain instruments (e.g., piano, sax) that plays a specific note. A Western major scale (in any musical key) consists of eight notes: DO RE MI FA SO LA TI DO. On a piano, a major scale in the key of C consists of all the consecutive white keys: C D E F G A B C For example, MI in the key of C is an E note. On a piano, playing a major scale in any key other than C requires the use of one or more black keys, and hence a change in fingering. -------------------------------------------------------------- Just so there is no confusion, observe that on a piano a C scale looks like: C^D^EF^G^A^BC Each ^ represents a black key (none of which are played as part of the major scale). Obviously, there is no black key between EF or BC. On a guitar, C^D^EF are six consecutive frets. This brings up the subject of "musical intervals" - the difference in pitch between one note and the next. Regardless of color, any two consecutive physical keys on a piano produce a musical interval known as a "half step." Three example pairs of half step pitch intervals are ^E EF and F^ In all major scales (i.e., in all musical keys), the musical intervals between MI/FA, and between TI/DO are always half-steps while the intervals between DO/RE/MI and FA/SO/LA/TI are always whole steps. In other words, in any major scale, there are always whole steps (i.e., two musical intervals) between DO/RE RE/MI SO/LA and LA/TI On a guitar, two musical intervals is two frets "up" on any string. Any scale (any musical key) can be played by strict observance of these musical intervals between notes of the major scale: DO2RE2MI1FA2SO2LA2TI2DO. If one wished to play a major scale in the key of A, one would strike these physical white and black piano keys: A B C# D E F# G# A By inspection you will see that the interval between any two of those notes is as shown here: A[2]B[2]C#[1]D[2]E[2]F#[2]G#[1]A On a guitar, the notion of black or white keys is meaningless. For guitar all scales play with the same fingering on the fingerboard because of two rules: (1) adjacent frets always produce half-step musical intervals and (2) the interval difference between any two adjacent strings at any given fret never changes (exception: G to B). GUITAR TABULATURE ================= If you wish to convert notes on a piano to guitar tabulature, try this: Beginning on the low E note on the piano keyboard whose tone matches the low E on your guitar, use cut up Post-It labels to create stick-on number labels reading "E0" to "E7" on consecutive piano keys, including the black ones - one label per key. On the low A note on the piano keyboard that matches the low A on your guitar, do the same thing but number them from "A0" to "A7". Do the same kind of thing for the other 4 guitar strings (D,G,B,E) on the piano. You'll end up with something like this stuck to the piano keys: E0 E1 E2 E3 E4 E5 E6 E7 A0 A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 D0 D1 D2 D3 D4 D5 D6 D7 G0 G1 G2 G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 for the higher B and E series of piano keys, it is a little different: G0 G1 G2 G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 (same as G0-7 above) B0 B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6 B7 (notice that B0 = G4, NOT G5) E0 E1 E2 E3 E4 E5 E6 E7 Note that several of the piano keys will have 2 labels stuck to them (e.g., E5/A0) when you are finished. "E0" means the open E string, "E5" would be the note on that E string at the 5th fret, an A, which is the same note produced on the open A string (A0). If the tab is this: ------- ------- ------- ------- -------0 -0-3-4- you'd play, in left-to-right sequence, E0 E3 E4 A0 on the guitar. For more and better info on guitar tabulature and chords, see also: http://www.jazzguitar.be/guitar_chord_finder.html http://chordfind.com/ Dan Martin EOF