Hey Jono I suspect this is going to be a long email but I will give you my complete Diatonic lesson so you can break out of what you are doing at the moment. Also have a look at http://guitar.about.com/od/tabchordslyrics/ss/read_guitar_tab.htm as they have a good tab tutorial. Tab is really easy it just looks hard, the lines are the guitar strings and the numbers are the frets and that’s about it.
Understanding Diatonics
Diatonic means playing in 1 key so if you were playing in C we would be talking about the C scale. The notes of the C scale are C, D, E, F, G, A, & B now if we take out one note (C) miss a note and take the next one (E), miss a note and take the next one (G) we end up with C, E, & G which makes a C chord.
We can do this for every note in the scale which gives us the following chords…
C, E, & G = C Major
D, E, & A = D minor
E, G, & B = E minor
F, A, & C = F Major
G, B, & D = G Major
A, C, & E = A minor
B, D, & F = B diminished
If you use the guitar chords chart at http://all-guitar-chords.com/ you can check out all of the shapes for these chords.
What this means is that you can play any of these chords in a song and they will work fine. Try experimenting by starting a song on each one of these chords and only using the chords mentioned above.
Modulation
This is fine but it makes all of our music work only in the scale of C, to make it more interesting we need to “modulate” (change) to another key. It is common practice to modulate back to the key you started in but you don’t have to. Here are all of the chords for the other keys. Purple means a major chord, peach means a minor chord and blue means a diminished chord. Check out any chords you don’t know at http://all-guitar-chords.com/
|
Maj |
min |
min |
Maj |
Maj |
min |
DIM |
Maj |
|
1-3-5 |
2-4-6 |
3-5-7 |
4-6-8 |
5-7-2 |
6-8-3 |
7-2-4 |
8-3-5 |
|
A |
B |
C# |
D |
E |
F# |
G# |
A |
|
A |
B |
C |
D |
E |
F |
G |
A |
|
Bb |
C |
D |
Eb |
F |
G |
A |
Bb |
|
Bb |
C |
Db |
Eb |
F |
Gb |
Ab |
Bb |
|
B |
C# |
D# |
E |
F# |
G# |
A# |
B |
|
B |
C# |
D |
E |
F# |
G |
A |
B |
|
C |
D |
E |
F |
G |
A |
B |
C |
|
C |
D |
Eb |
F |
G |
Ab |
Bb |
C |
|
Db |
Eb |
F |
Gb |
Ab |
Bb |
C |
Db |
|
C# |
D# |
E |
F# |
G# |
A |
B |
C# |
|
D |
E |
F# |
G |
A |
B |
C# |
D |
|
D |
E |
F |
G |
A |
Bb |
C |
D |
|
Eb |
F |
G |
Ab |
Bb |
C |
D |
Eb |
|
Eb |
F |
Gb |
Ab |
Bb |
Cb |
Db |
Eb |
|
E |
F# |
G# |
A |
B |
C# |
D# |
E |
|
E |
F# |
G |
A |
B |
C |
D |
E |
|
F |
G |
A |
Bb |
C |
D |
E |
F |
|
F |
G |
Ab |
Bb |
C |
Db |
Eb |
F |
|
F# |
G# |
A# |
B |
C# |
D# |
E# |
F# |
|
F# |
G# |
A |
B |
C# |
D |
E |
F# |
|
G |
A |
B |
C |
D |
E |
F# |
G |
|
G |
A |
Bb |
C |
D |
Eb |
F |
G |
|
Ab |
Bb |
C |
Db |
Eb |
F |
G |
Ab |
|
G# |
A# |
B |
C# |
D# |
E |
F# |
G# |
4 note chords
Once you completely understand this then you can go one step further. Instead of taking just 3 notes for the chords we could take 4 notes so in C this would be C, E, F, & A which would give us the chord C Major 7. If we do that for every note we end up with the following chords in C…
C, E, G, & B = C Major 7
D, E, A, & C = D minor 7
E, G, B, & D = E minor 7
F, A, C, & E = F Major 7
G, B, D, & F = G Major 7
A, C, E, & G= A minor 7
B, D, F, & A = B minor 7 flat 5
We could write this out for every key as follows
|
Maj7 |
min7 |
min7 |
Maj7 |
DOM7 |
min7 |
m7b5 |
Maj7 |
|
1-3-5-7 |
2-4-6-8 |
3-5-7-2 |
4-6-8-3 |
5-7-2-4 |
6-8-3-5 |
7-2-4-6 |
8-3-5-7 |
|
A |
B |
C# |
D |
E |
F# |
G# |
A |
|
A |
B |
C |
D |
E |
F |
G |
A |
|
Bb |
C |
D |
Eb |
F |
G |
A |
Bb |
|
Bb |
C |
Db |
Eb |
F |
Gb |
Ab |
Bb |
|
B |
C# |
D# |
E |
F# |
G# |
A# |
B |
|
B |
C# |
D |
E |
F# |
G |
A |
B |
|
C |
D |
E |
F |
G |
A |
B |
C |
|
C |
D |
Eb |
F |
G |
Ab |
Bb |
C |
|
Db |
Eb |
F |
Gb |
Ab |
Bb |
C |
Db |
|
C# |
D# |
E |
F# |
G# |
A |
B |
C# |
|
D |
E |
F# |
G |
A |
B |
C# |
D |
|
D |
E |
F |
G |
A |
Bb |
C |
D |
|
Eb |
F |
G |
Ab |
Bb |
C |
D |
Eb |
|
Eb |
F |
Gb |
Ab |
Bb |
Cb |
Db |
Eb |
|
E |
F# |
G# |
A |
B |
C# |
D# |
E |
|
E |
F# |
G |
A |
B |
C |
D |
E |
|
F |
G |
A |
Bb |
C |
D |
E |
F |
|
F |
G |
Ab |
Bb |
C |
Db |
Eb |
F |
|
F# |
G# |
A# |
B |
C# |
D# |
E# |
F# |
|
F# |
G# |
A |
B |
C# |
D |
E |
F# |
|
G |
A |
B |
C |
D |
E |
F# |
G |
|
G |
A |
Bb |
C |
D |
Eb |
F |
G |
|
Ab |
Bb |
C |
Db |
Eb |
F |
G |
Ab |
|
G# |
A# |
B |
C# |
D# |
E |
F# |
G# |
Again, make sure you check out the chords and scales site mentioned above to get the shapes for these chords. Try writing some songs using these chords to help you to understand this a bit better.
My advice to you would be read each section of this several times so that you understand it before trying the next bit. Concentrate on Understanding Diatonics first before you move on to Modulation. If you have any questions then make sure you ask about any bits that don’t make sense to you.
Maybe I should start doing guitar lessons by email J Oh and as for a capo you will need one eventually so you can probably get one now, won’t hurt. Eventually you will need a good chord dictionary as well.
Best of luck mate. You will get there eventually, it just takes time. Have patience and make sure you play every day when possible.
Uncle Mike