Chords In Keys (super easy!)

Beginner Grade 3 Module 20: Chords in Keys Made Easy!
32

Power chords are chords built from the root note and the perfect fifth interval. They do not contain a major third nor a minor third interval, which would give the chord a major or minor quality respectively.

C major = C E G
C minor = C Eb G
C5 power chord = C G

D major = D F# A
D minor = D F A
D5 power chord = D A

Etc. This does not work for the diminished chord in a key, because that has a diminished fifth interval (not a perfect fifth interval).

B diminished = B D F
B5 power chord = B F#

Therefore, you can play a power chord as a substitute for any major or minor chord.

For beginners, this can be very useful to play F or B chords when they don’t have enough strength to play barre chords.

But power chords are used a lot, not only by beginners. As the name indicates, power chords sound very strong. That’s why they’re often played in e.g. rock and metal music, rather than the full major or minor chord.

Let’s put this to practice with the very common I V vi IV progression in the key of C.

You could strum the open major and minor chords, either as a full chord or a triad:
C major, G major, A minor, and F major

Alternatively, you could replace all of them by their power chord version:
C5, G5, A5, F5

By doing so, you are taking away the major or minor quality from the chord, but that’s ok. Your ears will tell you what they really are, because other instruments, vocals etc all together form the harmony.

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33

I think I agree with some others that this lesson is in the wrong place in the course. We haven’t learnt any barre chords so far except F and there’s only a passing reference that F is actually an E shaped barre chord. We also haven’t learnt the G major scale.

Then I am feeling particularly grumpy as I am sick and have taken to my bed, so this is all too much for my clouded brain today.

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34

So all power chords can be played together and sound good together?

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35

Not quite…

The power chords still really need to be in the correct key.

So, for instance, if you have a key of A, then you really shouldn’t be playing the A# power chord in most cases.

The power chords in a key are the same as the full chords. So, in the key of A, for example, the first 6 chords are:
A major
B minor
C# minor
D major
E major
F# minor

The power chords would be:
A
B
C#
D
E
F#

The difference is that power chords are neither major nor minor, so you can use a power chord in place of either a major or minor chord and it will sound good.

By the way, I’ve deliberately not used the proper naming of these chords above, to illustrate the difference. They should really be called “A5”, “B5”, “C#5”, etc.

I’ve also missed the 7th chord out of this because it’s the diminished chord (G#dim) which is a little different, but it is also rarely used and something you shouldn’t worry about at this stage.

Cheers,

Keith

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36

Okay cool, just the answer i was looking for i understand now.
Thx ",

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37

This lesson wasn’t as easy as I expected from the title of the lesson. This is a great lesson in terms of beginning to learn to solo using the major scale in any key, but I had hoped it would be a little more basic in the content at this level. I have decided to use the Easy Barre Chords lesson in module 22 for my module 20 focus. Then I will focus on this lesson when I am in module 22 just prior to starting Grade 4 when all of this will be studied in detail. A year ago I had requested a lesson on all the chords in the 5 main (open shape Major chords) keys of C, G, D, A and E. Justin gives the chords in the key of G in this lesson, but using movable chords. I decided to make a video for my own use showing finding the chords in the keys of C, G, D, A and E using the note circle. Here is a link to the video that I put in my learning log:

My video lesson on what are the chords in the CAGED keys

As I said, I am not a guitar teacher, just someone with a few years of experience as an advancing beginner spread thinly over a 40 year time frame, so I know that this is what I need at this point. I am only posting on Justin’s site so if Justin wanted to use this video as a suggestion, I know that he could make a video 10 times better than this one. This main purpose of my video lesson is to introduce the Bm, F#m, C#m, and G#m chords (2nd and 4th fret barre chords) used in these keys to provide practice with barre chords before starting Grade 4 and to provide a table of the chords for using to transpose songs between these keys.

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38

Sorry guys, i don’t understand why justin pick these notes while he is improvising. He said a pattern at the beginning of the video, and then he pick other notes.

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39

I don’t have a jam buddy, but I have a looper.

So I’ve decided to turn this lesson into a looper session, where I pick a key, work out those chords like the lesson teaches, create a chord sequence with them, then work on solo improv over those chords!

Not only do I think this will help me learn how to use chords properly, but also gets me doing solos outside of the key of G, learning to use the major scale positions all over the neck.

Wish me luck!

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40

Justin showed a repeating pattern that uses only the E and A strings alongside the statement that this method requires you know the note names on those strings.
He started at fret 3 of the E string so his notes and (major, minor, minor, major, major, minor) chords were named after the notes found in that pattern - G, A, B, C, D, E.
If the pattern was moved to a different place, it would follow the exact same shape on those two strings but the notes and names would take different names based on those different notes.

When Justin improvised he used pattern 1 of the G major scale because the chord progression he played was in the key of G (a selection of chords built from some of the six in the pattern).

I hope that helps.
:slight_smile:

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41

Just watched the video amd like others am slightly confused. He plays the chords G Am Bm C D and Em and them uses the G major scale that hasn’t been covered in any of the lessons up to this point. Are we supposed to know this scale?

I know that it has been said before but he also uses A shaped barre chords which I don’t think are covered until grade 4. Yes I know that open chords can be used but they are not really shown as part of the lesson.

Saying all that it was a good lesson and given me something to work on.

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42

These earlier lessons in Grade 2 may help:

The C major scale has only natural notes (no sharps or flats). Based on that, try to work out the G major scale. Use the note circle if needed. Hint: there’s only 1 sharp in it.

Here you will find info about the diatonic chords in keys, i.e. which chords, containing only the notes of the given scale, are major or minor.

I also recommend the first 2 free grades of the practical music theory course if you haven’t subscribed to it yet.

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43

I know the Major scale (pattern 1) but didn’t know that I knew G major scale!! I did this in https://www.justinguitar.com/guitar-lessons/major-scale-pattern-1-mt-304 ages ago! :slight_smile:

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44

From the lesson you just posted

Just like Barre Chords and Power Chords, Scales have root notes! The root note gives the scale its note name. In my diagrams, the root notes are a red dot or circled ®.

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45

Daft question may be but any reason why we couldn’t use a E shape barre on fret 6 string 6 for C major?
Edit: Meant 8th fret.

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46

Only that the chord would be Bb. The C root is on the 8th fret E string and yes the E shape would work there. As would the same shape at the 10th for D but it starts to get a bit cramped up there !

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47

Ok and thanks.

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48

So if using the key of A the chords would be A, Bm, C#m, D, E and F#m?

Or in the key of C the chords would be C, Dm, Em, F, G and Am?

Is that right?

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49

Yes and it works for every key. If you want to figure out the minor equivalent you can do it two ways.
1 Use the Relative Major but start with the 6th interval or 2 Use the minor scale chord progression min dim Maj min min Maj Maj

For beginners it’s easier to use the Relative Major and start from the 6th interval. This way you don’t have to deal with the Diminished chord.
For example Am is the relative min of C using the Chords in the C major scale starting at the 6th interval you get Am C Dm Em F G.

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50

Relative minor keys (and their relationship with the circle of fifths) were also mentioned in this live class (from 31:50 to 43:28):

Pages 31-33 of the PDF attachment show the diatonic chords of C major and A minor along with the corresponding scale degrees. The same pattern can be used to arrive at the diatonic chords of all major and relative minor keys.

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51

I’ll just start with major keys I think.

Do you mean just using M-m-m-M-M-m pattern as “the 6th interval” is a new term for me?

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