We start with looking at the guitar.
This may seem as funny information, yet we need to mention it. 🙂
Guitar has 6 strings (5 of different names) this will become important.
When I started with giutar, I made a saying to help me remeber:
Eat Apples Daily Good Belly
Next important thing is distance. Intervals. The smallest interval that is (in our western world) is a half step.
On guitar, half step is one fret.
Whole step is two frets.
It is pictured above.
The C major scale is also pictured there, and you can see the whole step/half step in action.
From C to D is whole step, from D to E is whole step, from E to F is half step, from F to G is whole step, from G to A is whole step, from A to B is whole step, from B to C is half step…and it continues. If guitar is km long, it will repeat.
1 – 2 – 3/4 – 5 – 6 – 7/1 – 2 – 3/4 – 5 – 6 – 7/1 – 2 – 3/4 – 5 – 6 – 7/1
If we would take all tones from C to C, that would be called chromatic scale (Blue in the picture bellow). The scales we know are diatonic scales, and are created by picking notes from the chromatic scale, using the mention whole step/half step rule. C major scale is red in the picture bellow.
Strings are also tuned in certain interval to each other. The interval is 5 half steps…..2,5 steps is probably more common verbal expression.
The distance from E to A string is 2,5 steps,
from A to D string is 2,5 steps,
from D to G string is 2,5 steps,
from G to B string is 2 steps (exception!!!)
from B to E string is 2,5 steps again.
Between the fat E string in the bass, and the melodic E string there is distance of 2 octaves.
Hopefuly the image below will help to digest this information 🙂
If we give number 1 to tone E, the very beginning of the guitar and keep the right interval, it will create for us the scale of E. Which is E: E F# G# A B C# D# E. We just need to remember, that except 3 and 4 and 7 and 1 which are half step appart, it is whole step = two frets on guitar.
Over the one string it is pretty easy.
We can also create the scale verticaly, using all the strings. 3 notes per string, except G string, there we use 2 tones. But I will keep that topic for another session, as it is bit more challenging yet to explain.
Lets just see, how it looks like bellow:
And prolong it to the whole fretboard (keeping the right interval, which is easy, using the numbers)
That gives us the map for tone E. Because the E is the 1. The sun. 🙂
Here you can see all the 1s, all the tone E that are there:
You can see, number 1 appears on each of the strings.
Last thing for today is to check out, how the E major chord is born out of this scale.
When I tried to understand music theory, I was making little stories in my head, and I will share it with you:
I imagined that tone lives in group of friends (thats the other notes in the scale, or numbers). The existence it the scale and I called that the life cycle. After finishing once cycle, starts another one. (on piano one can see it easily)
To create a chord, some friends need to connect. To create a major chord, those friends are 5 1 3. See bellow.
So there is the root ( 1 in the square) and then there are friends connected to it (nucleus of 5 1 3)
There is 5 shapes of chord, related to the strings and the scale they are coming from. Those are the C A G E D chords.
On the map for tone E, the first shape is also a E shape. Second shape is D, follow by C (and they share together the nubmer 1) next shape is A and last is G. All are E major chords, in different shapes. See the picture bellow.
Next time we will look into making the scale verticaly and creating maps, and the other shapes. Likely through Beamail 🙂