Hello @Ptwannabe73 and welcome to the community.
Think of it as a footnote in a text book. Ot think of it as a short digression from the main direction and focus of the learning path. Justin acknowledges that it is a bit ‘niche’ and is not core, essential learning, more of a little side step to something else for a moment.
I hope that helps.
Cheers 
| Richard_close2u | JustinGuitar Official Guide, Approved Teacher & Moderator
Say what?? My brain was doing exactly what your tongue got lost doing there for the moment, but it lasted a lot longer for me. I think I might have to review this multiple times throughout the course. But for now, need to uncross my eyes.
Hi, when I watch this video, I feel as if I have missed something. Am I meant to know what this 1st 2nd 3rd 4th etc chords mean??
I am trying to work out if I missed a lesson or something, but It doesn’t seem so. I was feeling as if it was going along and explaining a lot of stuff, now I feel in the dark again. Perhaps all will be explained at a later date. I really don’t even know what the different I II
III IV V VI VII chords refer to. So it’s confusing.
Hi Paul,
This lesson is about notes and scale degrees, not chords. The method to find the notes of a given major scale is discussed here:
The traditional note names are more likely to occur in classical music and are more akin to the functions in chords (e.g. root, third, fifth, etc.). So, for example, when someone says “play the dominant of the Eb major scale”, you’ll know they mean to play degree V which is Bb.
Hey mate.
In short, you dont need to know all about these classical note theory names. Justin’s just exposing you to them in case you come across them somewhere down the line. Much further down the track, you may delve into them in more advanced theory.
The terms ‘Tonic’ and ‘Dominant’ are pretty common in everday use though, and you will see these often in various contexts.
Cheers, Shane
thanks, what was confusing me was that I had no Idea what the 1st 2nd 3rd etc degrees were . . . I guess that the chords just come from that note on relevant the major scale
Might be too much for right now or be covered later, but it might be helpful to note that for the roman numerals, they’re uppercase or lower case based on whether their chord in the scale is major or minor.
Thanks.
Justin chooses to use all upper case.
I always prefer upper for major and lower for minor (and diminished) as you say.
Hi, I hope someone could explain this to me. from the added info I read below the video, it was stated that “the Tonic is the dominant of the Subdominant”. I thought dominant means the five scale degree what does this statement means, that the tonic is the dominant of the subdominant?
You’re right, the Dominant is the fifth degree of the major scale.
The fourth degree is the Subdominant.
If you look at the C major scale, the notes are-
C D E F G A B C
C and the second C, an octave above, are both root notes and both called Tonic.
G is the Dominant and is a perfect fifth above the Tonic, C
F is the Subdominant and is a perfect fourth above the Tonic C
The octave C is a perfect fifth above F
So…the Tonic (C octave) is the Dominant (perfect fifth) of the Subdominant (F)
Another way of putting it-
F is a perfect fourth above C , and a perfect fifth below C
This is basically the circle of fifths:
This diagram read clockwise is the circle of fifths; read counterclockwise, it is the circle of fourths.
G is a fifth above C, i.e. it is the dominant of the C major scale. F is a fourth above C, i.e. it is the subdominant of the C major scale.
You can see that C is a fifth above F, so it is the dominant of the F major scale.
You can find more info about the circle of fifths here.
@Jozsef
There are errors in your description
It is the Dominant of C major scale
It’s the Dominant of the F major scale
Thank you, I corrected my post accordingly.
No worries. Nice diagram!
Each and every chord exists in more than one key.
In the key of C major, C major is the tonic.
The subdominant is F major and the dominant is G major.
The C major chord also exists in the key F major and the key of G major.
In the key of F major it is the dominant and in the key of G major it is the subdominant.
It is a long read but if you take your time looking at the Circle of Fifths topic (hopefully) all will become clear(er).
C major scale and the three major chords (tonic, subdominant, dominant)
C - D - E - F - G - A - B
I - __ - __ - IV - V __ - __
F major scale and the three major chords (tonic, subdominant, dominant)
F - G - A - Bb - C - D - E
I - __ - __ - IV - V __ - __
G major scale and the three major chords (tonic, subdominant, dominant)
G - A - B - C - D - E - F#
I - __ - __ - IV - V __ - __
This is a continuum.
F is dominant to the major tonic chord one space anticlockwise from it on the Circle of Fifths - namely B flat.
D is the dominant to the G major chord.
And so on.
@Richard_close2u @BurnsRhythm @Jozsef thankss I’m starting to understand the reason behind it. @Jozsef I’m still a little bit confuse on how to read the circle of fifths maybe watching the circle of fifths lesson, I could start to connect the dots.
@Jozsef nvm I just realize why it’s called circle of 5ths, clockwise, G is next to C because it’s the 5th degree of C major scale and so on with the cycle 
Go for it. Be prepared to give it some time to read and digest. 
That’s right. It will come handy also when you get to the key signatures. The standard guitar tuning is (mostly) also in fourths, so that can also help with it.
Totally Floored. Everything was going well until this WALLOP.
