Playing Chords and Scales Together

[Tim]

So I have been working on my scales again.

I am gaining some progress. I have been messing around with the "G" scale in the 3rd position. I actually slide up and down a few of the strings during rude and crud solos. Now I am trying to figure out how to play chords and then the scale underneath it. I am not sure just what I am suppose to do.:whatever:

Can anybody provide advice on where I should be playing a scale solo when playing a G-C-D progression (barred chords) at 3rd and 4th positions? I am not sure on what string or fret I should begin after playing each chord. Keep it simple please! It would be much appreciated.

 

[thearabianmage]

The best thing to do is not think about it too much, which is what you are doing. Knowing exactly what note to hit with the chord does come with a bit of practice. You really want to use your ears at first, though. What sounds best?

But generally speaking, there are a few guidelines you can follow:

I assume you are in G Major, so we will go from there -

The relative minor of G major is E minor, so an open E minor pentatonic will work brilliantly, whatever chord you are using. For a slightly different sound, use G minor pentatonic (this is a little dodgier because there are notes you want to avoid - again, your ears are a good guide).

When playing over chords, you always want to use notes relevant to that chord (but also in the key you are in) - so, in practice:

G major chord consists of G-B-E - these are always good notes to use over the chord, and the dominant note in the Gmaj scale will be D, so that is also a good note to use. So in short, B-D-E are the 3 most important notes, as well as 'G' being the most important note, everything else will just add a bit of color.

From here, I can rant on about theory until the cows come home, but I think that is enough of a good place for you start. Get a vamp going and try out the pentatonic scale. Remember, you use your ears to listen to music, so why not use them to play music as well? And. . . HAVE FUN!!! :AOK:

 

[thearabianmage]

Oh, and I almost forgot to ask: do you know what relative major/minors are? I don't wanna blag on about it in case you do, but they are very handy to know (and easy to understand, too!)

 

[Tim]

I thank you and will use this info in my next practice session.

 

[ted s]

Nice 'splain'n there Joe.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

Ok Tim, ready for some blather from some one else just learning about this? Well, anyway, here it is.

One way to find notes that work is to form the barre chord and see what notes are in the chord. Say G Major, form it, and determine what notes are there. remember the barre finger, and of course the three individually fretted notes if you are using an E shaped G major. Once you have those notes, you have chord tones that have to sound good when that chord is being played. You can find an A shapegd G major chord at the 10th and 12th frets (make a barre that is like the nut for an open A at 10, then your third finger barres the A shape two frets up at 12) and find another set of chord tones to play with on a different spot on the neck. Then you can play with scale shapes in that area and use your ear to hear what sounds good. Using what Arabian says about the relative minor pentatonic gives you some good notes. Or, for a different sound, you can map out the mixolydian or the major scale or whatever. In a A, D, E blues, A and D chord tones can be in the same position at 5, but E chord tones are moved over with an A shaped E. That gives you some other notes to use, to slide up to, etc.

This is all my student understanding and if I have it wrong, please one of you guys tell me. I blather on a bit about my experiments and learning in this topic over here: http://www.thefret.net/showthread.php?t=6848 at some length in our Study Group thread. Please hop in there to discuss as well!

One last thing, it is nice to learn the chord tones and scales as reference points, but everyone keeps telling me to use my ears. I am trying to not get too caught up in my head thinking about all this all the time and use my ears as well. I guess I try to use it to form an idea or two and try to flow with my ear a bit from there. :beer: