Yep, you’re right, scales are particular notes played one after the other, in various ways.
But we also want to play more than one note at the same time, because they sound good together. Hence we get chords, by combining some of these notes. Logic suggests we combine these single notes in the scale to get these chords.
On the 3rd fret, play the G Major scale, then play a G barre chord. Can you see how that G chord sits right over that scale? The notes you’re playing in that G chord, are the exact same notes inside that G major scale.
Of course, you can play a G chord, any chord, in lots of different ways and in different parts of the fretboard. The above just highlights that a chord comes into existence directly from the scale.
I get that but had never got the relationship between scales and chords. Not sure this is really covered in the beginners courses.
Going to have to take your word for that as the G Major scale and the G barre chord are not covered in the beginners courses. saying that I do know and can play the G barre chord. Will try and find details of the G Major scale.
Still not sure what to consider sufficient progress in this lesson. The basic shuffle, 12 bar progressions and the riff get easy relatively fast, but when it comes to learning songs, most of them feel way too hard when trying to adding to the basic rhythm. I’m considering just moving on and tackle on those things after I delevop more fluency and speed to really nail those flairs, because right now if feels a bit too distant.
My experience with this module was similar to yours. @jpedro_AM. While I had fun with it (the shuffle feels cool to play!), there are many things that hold more interest to me than blues. I figure I’ll return to this huge topic at a later date.
Hi Stuart, I know that I am answering an old question, but I wasn’t completely satisfied with all the responses you received and I thought that others might also be confused. The reason you might be confused is that it sounds like people are saying that there are 3 chords in the key of A. What they mean is that there are 3 Major chords in the key of A. If you have been following the course then you know that there are only 7 letter names for notes A to G. The key of A starts with the letter name of A. A is the first letter and assigned to the first note in the scale or note sequence. B and C do have chords assigned in the key of A, but they are minor chords. Then D and E are major chords and F is a minor. (Technically in Key of A the Cmin and Finn are sharped (raised one semi-tone in pitch) but you would need to know some music theory to understand why). G is a diminished chord and is G# in the key of A, but like Justin says, we won’t worry about the 7th chord in the scale. Also, in blues progressions, you will actually be using the A7, D7 and E7 chords.
All that is needed at first is to know the chords used in a progression. If you actually are trying to know why, then you would need to spend a year studying music theory. It is easier to understand if you learn theory for the piano first. So get a beginning piano book.Also, get Justin’s Theory Course where all of this is explained. Also if anyone is interested I put a summary in my learning log: Chords in Keys in SteveL learning log
I hope that you found your answer, but more important, that you are having fun.
@stitch Rick, thanks. I was a little loose with my language because I was assuming that many would not have much understanding of theory and explaining the exact names of the chords would be lost on them. My point was to say that the 3 chords were the major chords.
Upon further reflection, I think that anyone who is a little fuzzy on these concepts should probably go back a review the lesson What Does Chords in a Key Mean? in Module 9. I also think that anyone from Grade 2 would benefit from looking ahead at the first 5 minutes of the Grade 3 Module 20 lesson Chords in Keys (Super Easy!). From the 4 minute to the 5 minute mark, Justin shows why chords in keys is easier to understand on the piano, using the key of C as an example.