Fingerstyle Major Chord Scale Relations (Folk Guitar Lesson FO-104) How to play

In Guitar Lesson #5 in the Folk Fingerstyle Module for intermediate players we check out the relationship between our open major chords and major scale in the Key of C. This is a really great way to start learning chord melody playing and will help you see the way a "key" works with the diatonic chords and the major scale. Works in Folk of course but the concept moves into the jazz and pop melody styles.

Whole series will be on the web site and a DVD is available with some bonus material! See the web site for more details!

Taught by Justin Sandercoe.

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To get help with this lesson (and for further info and tabs), find the Lesson ID in the video title (like ST-667 or whatever) and then look it up on the Lesson Index page of justinguitar.com

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Have fun :)

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Hello, how are you doing? Justin here.
Welcome to Major Chord Scale Relations!

What we're going to be checking out in
this lesson is the way that the C major scale

in open position, relates and can
be played along with the three major chords

in the key of C, which are the
chords C, F, and G.

So first of all, we're going to have a
look at a close up of our C major scale

in open position, and then we're going to
try to play it at the same time

as the different chords.

And I'm going to show you kind of what
fingering adaptations you have to make

in order to do that and
why it might be useful.

What we're eventually are going to be doing
is playing songs where we've got

the chords and the melody
at the same time.

So it's important that you see the
relationship now between the chords

of the scales, even though we're not gonna really
develop it fully for another couple of lessons.

So, let's get to a close up and have a
look at that C major scale in the open position.

I'm hoping you should be familiar with
the notes in the C major scale.

'cause they are simply
C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C.

We're going to start with the thinnest
string, where we've got the notes

G, F, E, D, C, B, A, G, F, E, D, C,
B, A, G, F, and E.

Normally I would recommend coming back
to a C so that you can see that.

So the first thing: make (♪) sure that you
are familiar with your C major scale in open position.

Very, very important.

OK, let's move straight into now looking at the C
chord and how we could play the C major scale

while we're holding down most of our chord.

The first note is pretty easy because we
can drop our little finger down there on the 3rd fret.

We could play the C chord on that note,
no worries.

Now if we want to play the next note, F,
we'd have to use our first finger to kind of

lay it down a little bit. I'm just
playing the bass note there so you can

hear the relationship between the two.

And I'm trying to hold as much of the
chord down as I can, but you're gonna see

as we progress down the scale that
you can't hold the chord down all the time.

But you try. So, we've got there the G, the
note F, if we lift up our 1st finger

back to that, we get the top note
as being the E.

Now, when we want the next note, D,
little finger just drops down there over onto

the 2nd string, and what's really
important to realize now, is that when

we've got a melody, say the D, we
want that D to be the highest note.

Because if we play the thinnest E string
again, it's a nice sounding chord, but the

E sounds like the melody because just
naturally, the note that we hear as the

highest note is the one that our ears
perceive as being the melody note.

So the top note you want to play there
if we want our D melody, is the 2nd string.

Then we've got... lift off little finger and we've
got there the note C with our 1st finger already.

We lift off our 1st finger and
we've got the note B.

I'm just going to stop there,

so that you can see this first little bit

nice and clearly. That we can play our melody,

♪

We could go back up as well,

♪

That time I shifted over with my 1st finger.

So you could...

♪

you can either drop that 1st finger down.

♪

So, continuing on, we enter our first problem,
which is getting onto this note here, the note A.

I suppose it would be possible to
drop your 2nd finger over (♪)

to get the note A; but it kinda makes
the rest of the chord hard to play

and it's kinda awkward to do that. So,
generally, when I want to play that note A

I move my 1st finger off the root note,
onto the A and then lift it off and generally,

once it's off, I would put it back on the
note C,- just kinda for good measure.

♪

You see, we've got a whole lot of
melody going on now.

♪

And this is part of the folk-think, you know,

♪

I just wanted to do that quick little demo,
so you can see the idea of it being used.

♪

Now, if we continue: little finger is
going down on the 3rd fret of the 4th string

...lifting off, you do that, and then, kind of
that's really the end. One we've got to...

the end of that, there's some other
scale notes, but they're not really gonna fit

with our C chord. So as long as you can get:

♪

That would be the exercise. So strum,
just play the scale and strum at the end.

♪

Just experiment a little bit. See how you
can find...the notes with our C chord.

And C chord is fairly easy. We've got quite
a few little bits, where we have to kind of

position, re-position our fingers. Luckily
for us, our G chord is kinda easier.

Now, hopefully you remember folk G.
Good old folk G here, now we've got

two fingers free already, I'm just using
my 3rd finger, I'm muting the 5th string,

for now, 3 open strings and then our
little finger there on the thinnest sting.

Now, because of that, we can get down
our scale pretty easily and remember

we're staying with the C major scale, right?
This is the 5th chord in the key of C.

We're not moving to G major scale. We're
still playing C major scale. - ♪

That's a great little exercise.

♪

Again:

♪

I was just mucking around again,
with the C major scale and I was using the

the folk fingerstyle sort of ideas.

♪

Now the fun part for our major chords
comes with the F chord: - ♪

Now, I'm using here the thumb-over-F
technique, so the thumb is playing

the bass note (♪); we're just using the
mini-F. We can kinda use the barre chord

but the problem with the barre chord:
we've run out of fingers already.

It's difficult to get notes off to play the
melody parts, if all of our fingers are tied up.

So, normally, if I'm doing this style,
I'll play F chord like this.

Now, again, looking at the scale, little
finger can go on the top, to get the G,

lift it off, we can get the note F, (♪)
lift off our 1st finger, so it's not a barre anymore,

and it's just playing the note C,
the 1st finger, 1st fret, 2nd string,- ♪

It's an F major7th chord of course,
but we've got the melody,- ♪

then little finger on the note D,
1st finger on the note C,

1st finger can come off,- bit of a
funny chord,- but we've got the melody now.

♪

This is a lovely chord by the way,
having F and lifting off 2nd finger,- ♪

Then, the last part (♪); you can kinda do it.
But to be honest, you don't tend to use it

that much, 'cause it's quite tricky on the F.
So, generally if you can get:

♪

That would be enough for F.
If you can deal with that. - ♪

Just experiment! See, if you can play it.
Just play the chord: ♪

You'll come out with all sorts of
super-duper cool stuff.

Now, this might seem really difficult and
I'm sure you've got quite a few questions.

Unfortunately, most of the questions,
I can't answer for you.

You have to figure them out.

Now, questions like: "What fingers should
I use to play that note?" - Well, it depends on

the circumstance, you know. In one chord,
you might find that that finger's really easy,

but if you're changing to a different chord,
becomes difficult. So you have to kind of

nut these things out yourself and think,
well, if I'm gonna use that finger, maybe

it's easier to do it this way. And it's what
works for you. Because a lot of the

different finger style players do things
differently. James Taylor does all sorts of

funny chord fingerings. But it works for him.
It's great, you know! So don't feel that you

have to be totally restricted to a right way,
or a wrong way. Because I'm afraid,

that there...probably there isn't one.

I'm trying to give you as many guidelines
as I can and that's kind of the point of

us looking at those fingerstyle patterns
that we've looked at before, was to kind of

give you a default setting, where your
fingers would naturally go to.

But if you're trying to play a melody on
the 4th string, one of your fingers is gonna

have to come over and play the 4th string.

And you probably don't wanna
do that with your thumb. So straight away,

you're kind of braking them all a little bit.
Maybe the...you might wanna play a melody

where the melody is on the same string
and using the same finger is difficult.

So, one of the other fingers might come
over and play it. And that's fine.

There's not really set ideas on this.

What I'm trying to get you to do at this
stage, is just have a basic understanding

on the concept of the idea that there's
this key of C, that we're in,

and there are 3 major chords in the key of C
which is C, F and G,

and that the major scale of C fits over
all of those chords, kind of matches up

perfectly with them and that you should
start to explore the idea that you can...

might play some of the scale along with
the chords at the same time.

Tha's it! At this stage, that's all I really
want you to get. And I want you to

have a go at doing those exercises I just
showed you, where you kinda play the chord

and muck around with some of the scale tones.

That's not...you know, we haven't
finished yet, right? That's just

what I want you to be able to do at this
stage, is explore it. We're gonna go into

more detail now about how we actually
use it, when we learn how to play:

"Happy Birthday".

So, I'll see you for that lesson very soon,
take care of yourselves, bye-bye!