In this lesson we will look at an A major scale in 2nd position, diatonic
triads in F on strings 2 3 4, the circle of 5ths, some fun rhythms and
inversions of Dm on strings 1 2 3
If you need, review lesson 10 and be sure to
have somewhat of an understanding of the topics in this lesson before
moving on to lesson 12.
Lets start building an A major scale on the A string
(5th string). Follow the formula:
W W H W W W H
We will end up with 3 sharps. So the A major scale
has 3 sharps (F#, C# and G#)
A Major Scale
A Major Scale in 2nd Position (1 octave)
Now let's play it an octave higher and in 2nd position.
Key of A major has 3 sharps (F#, C# and G#)
A Major scale
2nd position
A Major Scale in 2nd Position (2 octaves)
Note this is your 5th position C major form from lesson
8.
Use this 2nd position scale to play the pattern below.
A Major Scale
2nd Position
2 octaves
Pattern
This pattern has us playing the A major scale up and
down 2 octaves playing each note twice. Notice the key signature with
the 3 sharps. The video below the staff shows the exercise. Midi File
Theory - Circle of 5th
The circle of 5th's is used to make sense of the key
signatures and scales we are learning. If we start on a C and move up
a perfect 5th (7 half steps) we end up on a G. If we use our W W H W
W W H formula to build the G major scale we find that there is one sharp
in it and it is a F#.
If we continue up another perfect 5th from G we get a D and again if
we use our major scale formula we end up with the D major scale having
2 sharps. F# and C#.
We can also call it the circle of 4th's because if you go counter clockwise
you will be ascending intervals of a perfect 4th (5 half steps). Try
taking a piece of manuscript paper and building a few of the scales
on the circle to see if it works for you.
Diatonic triads
We have looked at building all the chords that
belong to a key now in a few keys. What we have not done yet is
apply them to the guitar. Let's do that now in the key of F major.
The root position F major triad to the right should look familiar
to you. We touched on it and the inversions of a F triad in lesson
10. Use fingers 1 2 3
If we were to move the triad up one whole step we would have
G major triad in root position. Because the key of F has one flat
(Bb) we must make the triad minor. So we lower the 3rd degree.
You will probably want to barre your first finger across strings
2 and 3 and then play the G with your 3rd finger.
Because the ii and iii chord are both minor we just have to move
our G minor triad shape up one whole step and we have A minor.
F major
G minor
A minor
Bb major
C major
D minor
E diminished
F major
The video below goes
through the diatonic triads in F and uses some fingerpicking:
Chord - Inversions
We looked at the inversions of a major triad
on strings 2 3 4 in the last lesson (Lesson
10) and above we looked at the diatonic triads in root on
strings 2 3 4. Let's now look at the inversions of a D minor triad
on strings 1 2 3.
2nd Inversion Dm
Root Dm
1st Inversion Dm
Here is a video of the above inversions:
D minor bar chord
In the lesson 10 we learned the barred F chord in 1st position.
If we were to move that chord to 10th position we would have a
D major chord and if we lowered the 3rd (in this case the F# on
the 3rd string to F) we would have a minor chord.
Dm
D Minor Arpeggio
To the right is the arpeggio based around the chord you learned
above. We have added an F on both E strings.
You could try alternate picking this or just down pick everything
until more comfortable with the shape. This is also a good shape
to try sweep picking but we will save that for another lesson.
Notice on the staff below, we are playing the 3 notes of a D
minor chord (D, F and A) over and over.
When you get to the top repeat the F and come back down. You
should also try it without repeating the F.
D minor arpeggio
in 10th position
Drop D Tuning
Drop D tuning means to tune your low E string
down one whole step to D. It will be one octave lower than your
4th string D. The easiest way to do this is to hit your 4th string
D and then hit your low E and turn the low E tuning peg down one
whole step until the sounds match one octave apart.
The power chord is now just one finger laying
across the lowest 3 strings.
Click
here for a video on how to drop the string and also how to
play a tripfuse tune called In This Mess Again using your new
Dm chord.
Slash Chords
Last lesson we looked at slash chords a bit.
Here is another used in the tripfuse tune In This Mess Again and
it will give us a chance to play our Dm chord. The chord this
time is a Gm with Bb in the bass.
The 3 notes in the diagram to the right belong to the chord Gm
but because a note other than the root (G) is in the bass it is
written as a slash chord.
Rhythm
Remember that 2 sixteenth notes tied together
would be worth the same value as an eighth note.
In each listening example you will hear 2 measures with the specified
rhythm on the 1st beat only, then you will hear 2 measures with
the rhythm on beat 1 and 3 of both measures. After that you will
hear it on every beat and it gets faster until the end. The end
tempo is 160.
This Listen
link consists of 2 measures of each rhythm above plus one new rhythm.
The last 2 measures are a sixteenth note rest and then 3 sixteenth
notes (not shown above) which you would want to pick up, down, up.
The riff is just your low open E but on beat
3 of the 2nd measure it is a B and I would play it on the 2nd
fret of your 5th string (A string). Then the next note is G which
could only be played on the 3rd fret of your low E string. Then
for beat 4 you back it up to play Bb and Gb. Bb would be the 1st
fret of your A string and Gb would be the 2nd fret of your low
E string.
Improvising
Soloing over the White Zombie riff above is quite fun as it is essentially
just one note and leaves many options for scales when soloing. Let's
review all of the scales learned thus far and try using them over this
cool White Zombie riff.
We could use any C major scale like in lesson
8 to give us a phrygian sound (more on modes coming soon).
We could use any G major scale like in lesson
5 to give us a natural minor sound (probably the most common sound
for playing over one note riffs).
We could use any D major scale like in lesson
6 to give us a dorian sound (it might take a minute for your ears
to get used to this sound).
As we continue we will learn there are some other options too.
Practice Routine
Inversions of triads:
Dm on strings 1,2,3
F major on strings 2,3,4
Practicing the diatonic triads in the Key of F on
strings 2,3,4 should be a part of your daily routine. Eventually we
want to be able to get through the circle of 5th playing all our triads
in all 12 keys.
