Guitar Scale And Chord Relationships

Many guitarists have spent countless hours learning their scales. This is a great step towards understanding guitar, but if you don’t quite know how to relate the scales you learn to simple shapes such as chords, it can be disheartening.

It’s not unheard of, though. Many guitarists struggle to apply the knowledge they obtain in a practical manner. That is where we come in.

Today we will be discussing how guitar chords relate to guitar scales. Learning how these simple relationships work and basic music theory for guitarists can bring your playing further much faster. It can also help you to understand which chords will sound best with which keys and why.

This is important as sometimes when you are playing in G Major, you may find that a G Major chord isn’t exactly the chord you want. Understanding each key’s relative minor using the circle of fifths can help you to accomplish not only the exact sound you are striving for, but it can also help you to better understand scales relationships with chords.

But before we get into this, we need to discuss how exactly you can discern the key of a given chord. How exactly do we figure out that a G Major chord is in fact a G Major chord?

The way this accomplished is by using the root note. A root note is the lowest sounding note within a chord. Take for example an a minor chord. An a minor chord consists of the notes A, E, A, C and E. A is the lowest sounding note, which means this chord is in the key of A. Now how do we discern whether this is a minor or A Major?

To do this we must look at the quality of the chord. The easiest way to discern is by ear. Using your best judgment, study the chord; does the chord sound sad or fragile, or does it sound happy and powerful?

Sad and fragile will always be either minor or diminished. Since there are no diminished scales, a sad chord will always be minor. If it is powerful and upbeat, then it is Major. The easiest way to tell the difference between diminished and minor is by studying the sound. No common chords are diminished, so unless you are playing a seventh chord or a triad, in which case you would need to look for a more cramped quality within the chord, your sad chord will be minor.

Chords relationships with scales will always be with that of the root. Triads and seventh chords have inversions, in which the scales can be turned in other orders whilst still retaining the same notes and qualities, but with basic chords the root will always be the lowest sounding note.

The next time you play a chord, take your time and pick it apart. Play each note separately in an ascending order. When you have reached the highest note, you have reached the highest note in that octave of the scale.

If you are playing C Major, for example, you know that if the highest sounding note is B, that note will end your scale. In this fashion, you can then play a scale using the notes within the chord and those previous to it. For C Major, this would mean you play all C, D, E, F, G, A, and B notes before reaching the highest B of the chord. Then you would descend.

Now that you understand how scales and chords relate, practice learning how to play guitar chords and scales through this method. Good luck!

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