Open and movable chord shapes and scale patterns are distinct concepts. The chords of a diatonic chord progression and the notes of the melody (which is in the same key) played over them do not have to be in the same physical area on the fretboard or even in the same octave. If they had to be, the sound and harmony of most music would be quite limited and boring.
Consider the lineup of a usual pop/rock/jazz group: there are the instruments typically responsible for the melody (e.g. vocals, guitar, trumpet, saxophone, keyboards, etc.) and thereās the rhythm section typically responsible for the rhythm or groove (that should be obvious) and the harmonic background or base over which the melodies/solos are played (e.g. bass guitar, rhythm guitar, also keyboards). If you think about how the guitar and the rhythm/bass guitar/keyboards work together in a band, you will realize that the notes of the melodies are often played in a register (octave) different from that of the underlying chords or bassline, which also means that those notes are played in a different area of the fretboard.
I think I first opened this lesson over 6 months ago. I open it, go through it, try to understand it, fail to understand and I close the lesson. Repeat 2 or 3 weeks later. And again, and again, and again. I am beyond frustrated. I donāt even understand the objective of this lesson - to learn to jam in a scale??? What does that even mean? And, in my opinion, Justin has introduced too many terms in this lesson without really defining them. āScale tone, scale degree, naming scale degrees in Roman Numerals, chord orders, chord types, Major scales, Major Keysā . For me, there is simply too much new and poorly understood material in this lesson. I hope that this lesson can be redone in the future, and perhaps broken into several lessons.
Well, this is a Grade 4 lesson. It is assumed that you have studied the lessons in Grades 1-3 already. The answers to your questions are there, and in the free parts of the Practical Music Theory course.
Hey, thanks for your feedback. Iām surprised that i heard from no-one else that they had trouble with this lesson. So the problem, obviously, is me! Yes, i did the two free Music Theory modules about a year ago. Maybe time to review.
Have you down loaded the PDF files and read the text under the leason. Some times seeing the chords written out and having the scale pattern to look at makes it easier to grasp.
Oh yes, i have the scale patterns printed and refer to them as necessary in practise and have read the lesson, completely, more times than i prefer to remember.
As an example of my head-scratching: i can work out that the 2nd degree of Cmaj scale comprises notes D, F and A. But how does one look at those notes and recognise that they form a Dm chord? I just dont see it.
It depends on the intervals. D to F is a minor third; F to A is a major third. A major third on top of a minor third, regardless of the root note, results in a minor triad. Since the root note here is D, the reference is the D major scale in which F is the bIII degree.
(Minor third on top of major third = major triad; minor third on top of another minor third = diminished triad; major third on top of another major third = augmented triad)
To add to what Jozsef has said if you look at the D major scale and find these notes you will see the note F isnāt there but the note F# is the 3rd of the scale. If you flatten the 3rd to F as in the C major scale this makes the note D F A a minor chord.