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How a Major Key Can be Made to Sound Minor (good luck understanding this) Consider the 7 chords of a major key. Let’s use some specific key as an example since it makes this easier to talk about. It doesn’t matter which key, since they all act the same way. Let’s use the key of G and its chords G, Am, Bm, C, D, Em, and F#mb5. You can of course play these chords in any mixture you like so that the result sounds like the you ARE in the key of G major and G is the tonic (main) chord. It is naturally going to sound like the key of G, because it IS the key of G!!! HOWEVER,….. if you plan it right and work it right, you can play all these chords in a mixture so that the result sounds like the “key” of the VI chord, Em. Let me say that again,…by focusing on Em, it’s easy to devise a mixture of these chords so that it sounds like the key is Em instead of G major. And it would sound like that Em is the tonic (main) chord of the mixture, and that the rest of the chords just sound like chords in the key of Em instead of in G major. ***So this is where the minor scale comes in to play. I said long ago that the minor scale is actually just a juxtaposition of the major scale.*** Whenever you hear a song which sounds like it is in a minor key, what they’ve actually done is focused on that VI minor chord of some major key, (like we did above with Em) so that the result sounds like it is the chords of a minor key instead of the major key. But since in reality it is the major key, you will use the major scale to play with it. Now however, that major scale will sound like it is a minor scale, because it is being played against what feels like a minor key background. This is how we can state that the G Major scale is the same scale as the E Minor scale. – because it IS the same scale. (the writers of the minor song probably didn’t know that they did this though. They just looked at it as “writing a song in a minor key”) General Playing How do you learn a song from a CD? Try to match chords and notes from your guitar to what you hear on the CD. How? There is no ‘how’. Just do it. There are no rules. It may be ridiculously hard on the first few songs, but it will get easier. To match chords, try one note that sounds like it fits. Then try any chord you know that has that note in it. How do you tell if it sounds right? Sorry, no answer here either. Just guess your best guess and it will come eventually. Learning songs in this way is one of the most important things you can learn to do on guitar. But it’s all up to you. Also, spend your time making up chord progressions, and playing them with a rhythm you make up. Then find the scale that fits the progression, and make up leads for it. If you can record your progression, do so and then play leads along with it. This also is one of the most important things you can do. |
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Order New Music | Listen to New Music | Contact Us | The Guitar Player | Interesting ideas | Home |
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