From Scales to Chords

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Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Intermediate Topic: Theory Style: Any Style

Excerpt: Hi guys, For this lesson, I'd like to back-track and offer a different way of visualizing how we learn chords. So often, I see players who cannot identify chords within a diatonic progression, yet know scales and modes like no tomorrow. The main goal with this lesson is to be able to visualize all seven chords within a key, harmonized to any degree. For in...

Media Length: 1:43

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Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Intermediate Topic: Theory Style: Any Style

Excerpt: Assuming we're still in A minor, let's try a different set of strings. This time, rooted on the A string, let's try out each set of chords, layering first with simple 5ths, an added octave, thirds, and so on. Just because the first note of the chord is not the root note, it doesn't mean that playing through chords in this format doesn't work. It's simply a...

Media Length: 0:41

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Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Theory Style: Any Style

Excerpt: 1) Let's try a different chord structure. Rather than layering the chord in the "root - fifth" format, let's try harmonizing the root directly and solely with it's 3rd. 2) From here, it's very simple to add other harmony other than a perfect 5th. In part two, we see an added 9th (quite simply, an A minor scale starting from the 10th fret of the B string, st...

Media Length: 0:33

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Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Intermediate Topic: Theory Style: Any Style

Excerpt: Let's try starting from open-position, and this time, let's try something a little more "out-side" with regards to harmony; Sus4 chords. The root note is in tact, as is the chords 5th (highlighted on the high E string) and we're raising the third up a semitone and adding the 4th suspension (if this sounds over your head, don't worry, we're focusing on pract...

Media Length: 0:40