1998wdt |
Scale and chord note numbers are written 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 1. Chords are represented by roman numerals I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, referring to their root in a relative scale. In other words the common phrase "I, IV, V" chord change for a song in the key of C means the 1, 4 and 5 notes are the roots for C,F and G chords respectively, making C the I chord, F the IV chord and G the V chord; So the song would work around the chords C, F and G. Now refer to Number System chart 102101-1. Likewise, a I, VImin, IV, V chord change song in the key of C (such as the song Sleepwalk as it's commonly played), uses the chords C, Amin, F and G. In place of the IV chord, a IImin7 chord works equally well with a pleasant voicing, because IImin7 and IV are built from the identical IMaj7 scale. So a I, VImin, IV, V song could be played I, VImin, IImin7, V (not beautiful in this example but it works). Another different accompaniment voicing for that chord change is IIImin7, IMaj7, IImin7, V. They are all different voicings of the same IMaj7 scale and it's suggested chord changes (they're just said to be following different tone centers). So chord substitution can work from the standpoint of using only one single chord, such as the 6th chord of this course, or a few favorite finger positions and moving them around the fretboard where they can become any mode voicing. Stick this course out and it will make that very easy to do. Chord substitution works best from the standpoint of swapping around proper and favorite and substitution chords. This course is particularly handy for being able to go right to SOME voicing of a desired chord even though you might have never been there before. This course's lessons are also valuable for learning with relative ease, where most of the chords we use come from and their relationship to each other and why. If we make a 6th chord on the Guitar, or on a Steel Guitar or any instrument ...we have a mental reason for calling that chord what we perceive it to be (C6 in this text example) although it could be 14 other common chords (and 130 other exotic chords for a total of 144)! ...depending upon how we want to perceive it. Up until now most of you have likely never thought of C6 as being anything but C6. But now we are quickly learning that C6 can also be thought of as 6 other chords and an extension for each of them for a total of 14 chords right off the bat. The perception of what we would call that C6 chord would be based upon what note in it's scale is thought of as the root note for the other scales that have the identical same notes. It could be Amin7, or FMaj7/9, or F#dim, or even D9/11 as an extension of D6, etc etc etc. In the context of this course I have boiled it all down to only 7 positions to remember which are the 7 modes, since those 7 modes will make the scales of the vast majority of music. We will later see that for each of those 7 there is also an extension voicing of each made from notes not in the chord that exist only 2 frets away with the same finger position moved there, for a total of 14 voicings of all th modes' signature chords. We can apply this courses method identically for any key; It's just a matter of placing / relating it all to the l, ll, lll, lV, V, Vl and Vll positions of any key. So, once we learn where to place the 6th chord up and down the neck for any key, we will be able to voice any of the mode's signature chord in any key, by using 1 single 6th chord finger pattern. Now, so as not to confuse folks who might be thinking ahead of the lesson; The 6th chord I am calling Homebase that we are using as an index chord and point from which to navigate, ...IS NOT derived from the Major 7 scale. It is derived from the Dominant 7 scale that sits in the 2 fret box (under the 6th chord) that this lesson's navigation system uses. The whole idea of this lesson is to show that each mode, their signature chords and their scale notes are all arranged in a 2 fret-span box under each 6th chord finger position placed over each mode's scale box. You can understand this by moving a G6 chord down 2 frets to F6 and analyze why it just became a G9/11 chord. A full 6th chord voicing using the 6th chord finger pattern of this lessons course is notes 1, 5, 1, 3, 6, 1. If we move that down 2 frets we get a voicing of b7, 4, b7, 2/9, 5, b7. My goodness, that DOES show that F6 is a G9/11! ....And combine the G6 and F6 (G9/11) notes and we have all the notes of the dominant 7 scale 1, 2/9, 3, 4, 5, 6, b7, 1 ! Wow, that means we can also use the dominant scale finger pattern at this position too and be playing that mode! (Although this course uses the Major 7 scale in a slightly different map for scale substitutions). The reason we can't use a Major7 scale's box for the 6th chord is because the notes in the Maj7 box are not stacked as a 6th chord on either fret in that box; They are stacked as a Maj7/9 chord voicing. We will learn that to make a Maj7/9 chord, all we have to do is move the 6th chord to the V6 position and we get the Maj7/9 signature voicing. So just remember that the 6th chord that we use for a navigation index chord, is located atop the dominant 7 (Mixolydian) 2 fret-span box and not the Maj7 (Ionian) box. Now; When we move ANY chord finger pattern up and down the guitar neck, we can still think of that finger pattern still being relative to it's original root HOMEBASE we relate it to, but becoming a new type of chord for that same root located at different places up and down the neck. In other words, we can move a G6 up to where it's D6 and the G root note will still be in the D6 scale, but as a 4 note in D scale rather than a 1 note like it was for G6; So therefore the chord MUST be not only a D6 but some kind of G chord as well since there is a G note in it. In the case of G6 moved up to D6, it can be said that the roman numeral "l" chord got moved up to roman numberal "V" chord. And a "l6" chord moved up to "V6" chord will ALWAYS make the "V6" ALSO a "lMaj7/9" chord. In other words, V6 = lMaj7/9. So in the case of a G6 chord and it's finger pattern as an example, we can still think of it as a G chord of some type as we move G6's finger pattern up and down the neck into any one of the 7 boxes where a G note is present in a different scale / chord / mode. But we don't have to memorize where those notes are. The purpose of this course's lessons is to eliminate the need to do that. So instead of having to memorize 144 different different chords and scales, we will use a simple navigation system of moving 1 single 6th chord finger pattern into 7 fret boxes along the Major scale step sequence where that 6th chord fingering will become each of the 7 modes signature chord. So let's get to it: If F6 is moved up 3 frets to where it would be commonly thought of as a G#6, ...it is also an Fmin7 (F Dorian) chord voicing. If we move F6 up to where it would normally be thought of as a C6, ...it is also a FMaj7/9 (F Ionian) chord voicing. If we move it up one more fret to where it would commonly be thought of as C#6, ...it would also be Fmin7b6 (F Aolean) chord voicing. There are 7 frets where that F6th chord finger pattern will become a different mode with F note in it as root, and thereby voice that mode's signature chord. And we will learn later, all the remaining notes not voiced in the signature chord positions will occur only 2 frets away from the signature chord at the other fret in the box. What this all means is that we can make some form of every modes signature chord simply by knowing where to move the Homebase referenced 6th chord finger pattern to; and if we can do it for F6 as we have previously seen, then we can do it for ANY key. That is why I call the 6th chord the Homebase chord. And actually, for mind bending trivia, ...any of the mode chords will substitute for each other, but the 6th chord works amazingly well as the index we will call the Homebase 6th chord from which we navigate. The reason all this happens is because every mode's scale and it's signature chord is derived from it's mother Major scale step sequence, so every single mode has a commonality in all keys that makes them all substitutable if placed in the right place (which is the mode slide rule thang); ...and since the notes on a guitar neck always sit right where they are waiting to be played, and never change their position, we are simply moving a finger pattern up and down the neck to where those static notes are (by the character of the guitar) arranged neatly in identical graphic boxes that correspond with the scale / mode / chord we desire. See figure 092501-2. Now go back and review this chart with the last 2 paragraphs, 5 times. -------o0o------- If a Major 7 scale, or a full 6 chord (1 3 5 6) as used in this lesson, were transposed to each of the 12 half-steps in an octave; ....then root, triad and extension note inversions could have made them every common scale and every common chord in Euro-American music and theory. That illustrates that we can use the 6th chord to create any common type of chord once we know the slide rule math which is rather easy with a bit of motivation and mental application. The rewards of doing it for understanding and playing music are great. If we move a 6TH CHORD by a certain number of steps (frets), that chord will become one of the modes depending upon how many steps we move it to get a specific mode's signature chord in that mode's box. Thus if we know what that "slide rule - template" pattern is, we have all modes' scales and chords in our inventory simply by placing either the Major 7 scale or 6th chord to the place it becomes what type of scale / mode or chord we desire. For instance, if we raise any 6th chord one half step (1 FRET), it will become a different chord of the same root prior to raising it! In other words, if we raise a C6 chord 1/2 step (1 fret) it will be a voicing of Cmin7b6b9, Phrygian mode, even though it is also a C# 6 (and of course any number of other chords depending on what root we reference it to). EXTENSION NOTES AND CHORDS: OK, it's later as promised and time to plug in the extensions: A chord is made up of it's triad notes (1 3 5), and extension notes (2 4 6 7) that give the triad additional definition. Extension notes 2, 4 and 6 can also be numbered 9, 11 and 13, ....and extension note 7 remains number 7, in the forms of either Major7 or dominant7 (b7). In technical terms, extensions written either 9, 11 or 13 without Maj being noted, are always understood to include a dominant 7 note. CMaj7 scale is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 1. C7 scale is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, b7, 1. The chord C9 means notes 1,3,5,b7,9. The Chord CMaj9 means notes 1,3,5,7,9. The chord 1,3,5,9 is written Cadd9. If these extension rules are new to you or not welll remembered, then you should go study my Basic Music Theory Math page . It's not difficult. If we play a full G6 chord in the form used in this course, we are voicing the notes 1, 5, 1, 3, 6, 1. That leaves 2, 4, and 7 not voiced, but they are only 2 frets away. It's pretty obvious anyway just not thought about much by most Guitarists; If we move G6 chord down to F6 yet still think of it as a G chord, we get the 1 lowered to b7, the 3 lowered to 2(9), the 5 lowered to 4(11) and the 6 lowered to 5; So we get G11 with the full b7, 9, 11, voicing, which are all the extensions not voiced by G6. If we just don't play the 4 note we get G9. All the extensions not voiced in the 6th chord and it's substitutions, are only 2 frets away (using the same 6th chord finger position but just moving it 2 frets); Those extensions are located either 2 frets up or 2 frets down from their respective chord, depending upon whether the chord is Major or minor. In other words we can get the full scale notes of each mode simply by moving it's root chord back and forth 2 frets in it's box, ...between the chord form position and the extensions position, with half of the mode scale notes being on the signature chord fret position in the box, ...and the other half of the modes notes in the extensions fret position in the box. SO TO RECAP ALL ON THIS PAGE SO FAR USING ANOTHER EXAMPLE (using C6 as Homebase so the alpha-numeric note math is easier if you're digesting it by alpha numberic-notes): If we raise C6 chord 1 1/2 steps (3 frets) up into the Doran box, we will get a Cmin7 (the Dorian mode), ...and all the remaining Dorian extension notes are located 2 more frets UP (up because it is a minor) in the Dorian box. If we are playing G6 chord, all the remaining extensions (G9/11) are located DOWN 2 frets (down because it is a Major). Memory Gouge: Major extensions DOWN; Minor extensions UP. See figure 092901-5. This is a lap steel guitar chart, but it is quite revealing of how steel guitarists use these concepts to get every scale and chord in every mode simply by moving their bar up and down a fixed 6th tuning. You can use this chart to compare to the recap below: Taking C6 chord as an example IN THE KEY OF C, let's see what other common / popular CHORDS might be available for C just by raising C6 up the neck in a SPECIFIC NUMBER OF STEPS: 'I' CHORD (C6) is Cdom7, the Mixolydian mode when considering the adjacent dominant 7 extensions; bII CHORD (Db 6) is the same as Cmin7b2b6, of the Phrygian mode; II CHORD (D6) is the same as C(#4), of the Lydian mode; bIII CHORD (Eb 6) is the same as Cmin7, of the Dorian mode; bV CHORD (Gb 6) is the same as Cdim, of the Locrian mode; V CHORD (G6) is the same as CMaj7/9, of the Ionian mode; bVI CHORD (Ab 6) is the same as Cmin7b6 the pure minor, of the Aolean mode. SO AGAIN, we can compute any chord by realizing that HOMEBASE 6th chord is 'I' Mixolydian (Idom7); ----- And up 1 fret FROM HOMEBASE (bII position) is 'I' Phrygian (Imin7b2b6); ----- And up 2 frets FROM HOMEBASE (II position) is 'I' Lydian (I#4); ----- And up 3 frets FROM HOMEBASE (bIII position) is 'I' Dorian (Imin7) ----- etc. etc. etc. -------o0o------- Since we only use Ionian (Maj7), Dorian (min7), Aolean (pure minor) and Mixolydian (dom7) in the vast majority of music ...and Locrian (dim) occasionally; Then we only have to memorize those 5: Mixolydian as Homebase @ l 6 position, Dom7 mode (Hank Williams, Wooly Bully, Wipeout, etc.); Dorian @ bIII 6 position, min7 mode ("Carlos Santana", most minor and minor over major blues, jam any minor with much color); Locrian @ bV 6 position (diminished mode); Ionian @ V 6 position, Maj7/9 mode (Magnolia, Don't let the Sun Catch You Crying, Harbor Lights, etc.); And Aolean @ bVI 6 position, min7b6 mode (pure minor mode jam any minor with "outside" color). So once we learn the easy navigation math which we will later, we will know that if we want to play Amin7 chord we simply play C6 chord (or other voicing it's extensions UP 2 frets at D6). RECAPPING THE 6TH CHORD IN SUBSTITUTION: Looking back we see that we have learned how to substitute for the vast majority of specific chord types we normally use because we know which relative (dominant) 6 chords are the same as any type chord we desire; which leaves us with only a few and rare abstract chords to otherwise deal with (YOU can deal with it; I like things simple!). For Spanish Guitar, chord substitution does not take the place of specific voicings or well known favorite chord finger positions or any other way we might prefer to play chords, but it provides us with MUCH alternative voicing color, the ability to quickly compute a desired chord, and as you will see, gives us the ability to also use the technique to quickly find scales and harmonies for all those chords, and most important, a good understanding of what is going on in music. For non-pedal Steel Guitar, this substitution method is THE very means a Steel Picker gets all the chord and scale types, whether he/she realizes it or not, and the Master Steel Pickers do realize it in some form. RECAPPING EXTENSION NOTES: Extension notes are notes of a chord's scale that can be added to the triad of a chord. The triad is notes 1, 3, and 5, so the extension notes are 2, 4, 6 and 7. The very functional and amazing aspect of a dominant 6th chord (1,3,5,6,1) is that the remaining extension notes (b7,9,4,5,b7) can all be played simply by moving the 6th chord down 2 frets. Study it, you will see. But even more functional and amazing is that any chord form a 6th chord is used to substitute for ALSO has all the chord's extensions available only 2 frets distance either up or down from the chord depending on whether the signature chord is a Major or minor chord! ! ! The Homebase 6th chord is the only chord in the substitutions that will have all the signature notes voiced on the signature chord fret. All other mode pockets will have some notes of the full signature chord located on the signature fret and some notes located on extension fret position, ... although the notes that define the chord's character signature will be in the signature fret position. ------- EXTENSION NOTES of 6th chord fingering used for Major chord substitutions are found 2 frets DOWN from each Major chord form; And the extensions of 6th chord fingering used for minor chord substitutions are found 2 frets UP from each minor chord form. Therefore, scales and harmonies in each mode can be found and played by playing selective strings while moving back and forth between the signature position fret and the extension position fret. For example, all the scale notes and harmonies of G7 (Mixolydian) can be produced in the notes of G6 chord along with F6 chord position providing the G7/9/11 extensions. Getting all the notes in scale / harmony fashion in the full 6th chord fingering sometimes requires being able to lift the 4th finger's 6 note to access the 5th note below it 1 whole step that's being played by the 1st finger barre. In substitution positions, of course those notes will not be 6 or 5 because of the note inversions of each mode, but the finger technique is still the same in lifting the 4th finger to expose the full range of useable notes in the finger position. In many cases simply moving the 6th chord down to voice the 5 note works, but in some cases you might want to voice the 5 note in the triad voicing rather than the extension voicing, so lifting the 6 note's finger is needed to expose the 5 note; While harmonies on either side of those notes will work naturally regardless of whether the 6th note or the 5th notes are bing played in the signature chord position. -------o0o------- Another really cool thing is that the extensions will always be harmonic to their respective chord and will have the effect of filling in creative chord harmony when played as a chord in place of the triad based chord. In other words, rather than playing, say, an A6 chord, you can play "G6" chord and be playing all the extensions of A6 which would make the "G6" an A11 (or cool A9 by omitting the 4/11 note). Similarly, when changing from a I chord to a IV chord, play bIII6 instead of IV and you will have made that same cool IV9/11 chord instead. If you're catching on to all this pretty good, here's some deeper but cool abstract: If you are using bIII6 as a substitute for Imin7, you could use IV6 as well since the IV6 has the remaining extensions of bIII6 position FOR Imin7 ! As you get into these methods you will be amazed at what you find and how simple, relative and obvious the abstract of music becomes. Don't be discouraged if this paragraph is deeper in theory than you are comfortable with; Repetition works wonders. Just pay attention to the do's and don't worry about the why's, because they really don't mean a whole lot of importance unless you understand the theory behind them. Important to recognize is that the substituted chord forms that result from the 6th chord finger position being moved up and down the neck into the mode boxes, DO NOT ALWAYS have all the notes of the triad stacked as is the case with the homebase 6th chord; But a harmonic voicing is always present in the substituted chord form and in the extensions. For example, if we're playing G#6 substituted for Fmin7, the notes in F are b3, b7, b3, 5, b7, b3 ..... G#6; = Fmin7 ....AND IF WE TAKE IT UP 2 MORE FRETS (to IV6) FOR THE Fmin7 EXTENSION NOTES, WE GET NOTES 4, 1, 4, 6, 2/9, 4 WHICH IS A VOICING OF Fmin11 in this Dorian box, which is a excentuated suspended tone for passing out of Fmin7 to it's next chord or an Fmin9 if you omit the 4/11 notes. NOTE that attention must be paid to avoid the 4/11 notes in a chord when it is not desired (i.e. when a suspended or 11th chord is not desired) since it is not pleasantly harmonious to most chords and circumstances due to it's tension (although it is an integral note in scales and melodic passages). It doesn't take much wood-shedding to recognize and plan around the 4/11 notes, which can be avoided by the techniques of selective finger picking, selective flat picking or selective blocking (muting), etc. A good thing is that the 4th notes are THE ONLY NOTES you have to be concerned about when using the methods of this course because all the other notes will be harmonious to any other note / scale / chord in their mode. -------o0o------- Remember the "5 times" technique? Click HERE to go to the next section, CONCEPTS Review. |
Scale and chord note numbers are written 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 1. Chords are represented by roman numerals I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, referring to their root in a relative scale. In other words the common phrase "I, IV, V" chord change for a song in the key of C means the 1, 4 and 5 notes are the roots for C,F and G chords respectively, making C the I chord, F the IV chord and G the V chord; So the song would work around the chords C, F and G. Now refer to Number System chart 102101-1. Likewise, a I, VImin, IV, V chord change song in the key of C (such as the song Sleepwalk as it's commonly played), uses the chords C, Amin, F and G. In place of the IV chord, a IImin7 chord works equally well with a pleasant voicing, because IImin7 and IV are built from the identical IMaj7 scale. So a I, VImin, IV, V song could be played I, VImin, IImin7, V (not beautiful in this example but it works). Another different accompaniment voicing for that chord change is IIImin7, IMaj7, IImin7, V. They are all different voicings of the same IMaj7 scale and it's suggested chord changes (they're just said to be following different tone centers). So chord substitution can work from the standpoint of using only one single chord, such as the 6th chord of this course, or a few favorite finger positions and moving them around the fretboard where they can become any mode voicing. Stick this course out and it will make that very easy to do. Chord substitution works best from the standpoint of swapping around proper and favorite and substitution chords. This course is particularly handy for being able to go right to SOME voicing of a desired chord even though you might have never been there before. This course's lessons are also valuable for learning with relative ease, where most of the chords we use come from and their relationship to each other and why. If we make a 6th chord on the Guitar, or on a Steel Guitar or any instrument ...we have a mental reason for calling that chord what we perceive it to be (C6 in this text example) although it could be 14 other common chords (and 130 other exotic chords for a total of 144)! ...depending upon how we want to perceive it. Up until now most of you have likely never thought of C6 as being anything but C6. But now we are quickly learning that C6 can also be thought of as 6 other chords and an extension for each of them for a total of 14 chords right off the bat. The perception of what we would call that C6 chord would be based upon what note in it's scale is thought of as the root note for the other scales that have the identical same notes. It could be Amin7, or FMaj7/9, or F#dim, or even D9/11 as an extension of D6, etc etc etc. In the context of this course I have boiled it all down to only 7 positions to remember which are the 7 modes, since those 7 modes will make the scales of the vast majority of music. We will later see that for each of those 7 there is also an extension voicing of each made from notes not in the chord that exist only 2 frets away with the same finger position moved there, for a total of 14 voicings of all th modes' signature chords. We can apply this courses method identically for any key; It's just a matter of placing / relating it all to the l, ll, lll, lV, V, Vl and Vll positions of any key. So, once we learn where to place the 6th chord up and down the neck for any key, we will be able to voice any of the mode's signature chord in any key, by using 1 single 6th chord finger pattern. Now, so as not to confuse folks who might be thinking ahead of the lesson; The 6th chord I am calling Homebase that we are using as an index chord and point from which to navigate, ...IS NOT derived from the Major 7 scale. It is derived from the Dominant 7 scale that sits in the 2 fret box (under the 6th chord) that this lesson's navigation system uses. The whole idea of this lesson is to show that each mode, their signature chords and their scale notes are all arranged in a 2 fret-span box under each 6th chord finger position placed over each mode's scale box. You can understand this by moving a G6 chord down 2 frets to F6 and analyze why it just became a G9/11 chord. A full 6th chord voicing using the 6th chord finger pattern of this lessons course is notes 1, 5, 1, 3, 6, 1. If we move that down 2 frets we get a voicing of b7, 4, b7, 2/9, 5, b7. My goodness, that DOES show that F6 is a G9/11! ....And combine the G6 and F6 (G9/11) notes and we have all the notes of the dominant 7 scale 1, 2/9, 3, 4, 5, 6, b7, 1 ! Wow, that means we can also use the dominant scale finger pattern at this position too and be playing that mode! (Although this course uses the Major 7 scale in a slightly different map for scale substitutions). The reason we can't use a Major7 scale's box for the 6th chord is because the notes in the Maj7 box are not stacked as a 6th chord on either fret in that box; They are stacked as a Maj7/9 chord voicing. We will learn that to make a Maj7/9 chord, all we have to do is move the 6th chord to the V6 position and we get the Maj7/9 signature voicing. So just remember that the 6th chord that we use for a navigation index chord, is located atop the dominant 7 (Mixolydian) 2 fret-span box and not the Maj7 (Ionian) box. Now; When we move ANY chord finger pattern up and down the guitar neck, we can still think of that finger pattern still being relative to it's original root HOMEBASE we relate it to, but becoming a new type of chord for that same root located at different places up and down the neck. In other words, we can move a G6 up to where it's D6 and the G root note will still be in the D6 scale, but as a 4 note in D scale rather than a 1 note like it was for G6; So therefore the chord MUST be not only a D6 but some kind of G chord as well since there is a G note in it. In the case of G6 moved up to D6, it can be said that the roman numeral "l" chord got moved up to roman numberal "V" chord. And a "l6" chord moved up to "V6" chord will ALWAYS make the "V6" ALSO a "lMaj7/9" chord. In other words, V6 = lMaj7/9. So in the case of a G6 chord and it's finger pattern as an example, we can still think of it as a G chord of some type as we move G6's finger pattern up and down the neck into any one of the 7 boxes where a G note is present in a different scale / chord / mode. But we don't have to memorize where those notes are. The purpose of this course's lessons is to eliminate the need to do that. So instead of having to memorize 144 different different chords and scales, we will use a simple navigation system of moving 1 single 6th chord finger pattern into 7 fret boxes along the Major scale step sequence where that 6th chord fingering will become each of the 7 modes signature chord. So let's get to it: If F6 is moved up 3 frets to where it would be commonly thought of as a G#6, ...it is also an Fmin7 (F Dorian) chord voicing. If we move F6 up to where it would normally be thought of as a C6, ...it is also a FMaj7/9 (F Ionian) chord voicing. If we move it up one more fret to where it would commonly be thought of as C#6, ...it would also be Fmin7b6 (F Aolean) chord voicing. There are 7 frets where that F6th chord finger pattern will become a different mode with F note in it as root, and thereby voice that mode's signature chord. And we will learn later, all the remaining notes not voiced in the signature chord positions will occur only 2 frets away from the signature chord at the other fret in the box. What this all means is that we can make some form of every modes signature chord simply by knowing where to move the Homebase referenced 6th chord finger pattern to; and if we can do it for F6 as we have previously seen, then we can do it for ANY key. That is why I call the 6th chord the Homebase chord. And actually, for mind bending trivia, ...any of the mode chords will substitute for each other, but the 6th chord works amazingly well as the index we will call the Homebase 6th chord from which we navigate. The reason all this happens is because every mode's scale and it's signature chord is derived from it's mother Major scale step sequence, so every single mode has a commonality in all keys that makes them all substitutable if placed in the right place (which is the mode slide rule thang); ...and since the notes on a guitar neck always sit right where they are waiting to be played, and never change their position, we are simply moving a finger pattern up and down the neck to where those static notes are (by the character of the guitar) arranged neatly in identical graphic boxes that correspond with the scale / mode / chord we desire. See figure 092501-2. Now go back and review this chart with the last 2 paragraphs, 5 times. -------o0o------- If a Major 7 scale, or a full 6 chord (1 3 5 6) as used in this lesson, were transposed to each of the 12 half-steps in an octave; ....then root, triad and extension note inversions could have made them every common scale and every common chord in Euro-American music and theory. That illustrates that we can use the 6th chord to create any common type of chord once we know the slide rule math which is rather easy with a bit of motivation and mental application. The rewards of doing it for understanding and playing music are great. If we move a 6TH CHORD by a certain number of steps (frets), that chord will become one of the modes depending upon how many steps we move it to get a specific mode's signature chord in that mode's box. Thus if we know what that "slide rule - template" pattern is, we have all modes' scales and chords in our inventory simply by placing either the Major 7 scale or 6th chord to the place it becomes what type of scale / mode or chord we desire. For instance, if we raise any 6th chord one half step (1 FRET), it will become a different chord of the same root prior to raising it! In other words, if we raise a C6 chord 1/2 step (1 fret) it will be a voicing of Cmin7b6b9, Phrygian mode, even though it is also a C# 6 (and of course any number of other chords depending on what root we reference it to). EXTENSION NOTES AND CHORDS: OK, it's later as promised and time to plug in the extensions: A chord is made up of it's triad notes (1 3 5), and extension notes (2 4 6 7) that give the triad additional definition. Extension notes 2, 4 and 6 can also be numbered 9, 11 and 13, ....and extension note 7 remains number 7, in the forms of either Major7 or dominant7 (b7). In technical terms, extensions written either 9, 11 or 13 without Maj being noted, are always understood to include a dominant 7 note. CMaj7 scale is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 1. C7 scale is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, b7, 1. The chord C9 means notes 1,3,5,b7,9. The Chord CMaj9 means notes 1,3,5,7,9. The chord 1,3,5,9 is written Cadd9. If these extension rules are new to you or not welll remembered, then you should go study my Basic Music Theory Math page . It's not difficult. If we play a full G6 chord in the form used in this course, we are voicing the notes 1, 5, 1, 3, 6, 1. That leaves 2, 4, and 7 not voiced, but they are only 2 frets away. It's pretty obvious anyway just not thought about much by most Guitarists; If we move G6 chord down to F6 yet still think of it as a G chord, we get the 1 lowered to b7, the 3 lowered to 2(9), the 5 lowered to 4(11) and the 6 lowered to 5; So we get G11 with the full b7, 9, 11, voicing, which are all the extensions not voiced by G6. If we just don't play the 4 note we get G9. All the extensions not voiced in the 6th chord and it's substitutions, are only 2 frets away (using the same 6th chord finger position but just moving it 2 frets); Those extensions are located either 2 frets up or 2 frets down from their respective chord, depending upon whether the chord is Major or minor. In other words we can get the full scale notes of each mode simply by moving it's root chord back and forth 2 frets in it's box, ...between the chord form position and the extensions position, with half of the mode scale notes being on the signature chord fret position in the box, ...and the other half of the modes notes in the extensions fret position in the box. SO TO RECAP ALL ON THIS PAGE SO FAR USING ANOTHER EXAMPLE (using C6 as Homebase so the alpha-numeric note math is easier if you're digesting it by alpha numberic-notes): If we raise C6 chord 1 1/2 steps (3 frets) up into the Doran box, we will get a Cmin7 (the Dorian mode), ...and all the remaining Dorian extension notes are located 2 more frets UP (up because it is a minor) in the Dorian box. If we are playing G6 chord, all the remaining extensions (G9/11) are located DOWN 2 frets (down because it is a Major). Memory Gouge: Major extensions DOWN; Minor extensions UP. See figure 092901-5. This is a lap steel guitar chart, but it is quite revealing of how steel guitarists use these concepts to get every scale and chord in every mode simply by moving their bar up and down a fixed 6th tuning. You can use this chart to compare to the recap below: Taking C6 chord as an example IN THE KEY OF C, let's see what other common / popular CHORDS might be available for C just by raising C6 up the neck in a SPECIFIC NUMBER OF STEPS: 'I' CHORD (C6) is Cdom7, the Mixolydian mode when considering the adjacent dominant 7 extensions; bII CHORD (Db 6) is the same as Cmin7b2b6, of the Phrygian mode; II CHORD (D6) is the same as C(#4), of the Lydian mode; bIII CHORD (Eb 6) is the same as Cmin7, of the Dorian mode; bV CHORD (Gb 6) is the same as Cdim, of the Locrian mode; V CHORD (G6) is the same as CMaj7/9, of the Ionian mode; bVI CHORD (Ab 6) is the same as Cmin7b6 the pure minor, of the Aolean mode. SO AGAIN, we can compute any chord by realizing that HOMEBASE 6th chord is 'I' Mixolydian (Idom7); ----- And up 1 fret FROM HOMEBASE (bII position) is 'I' Phrygian (Imin7b2b6); ----- And up 2 frets FROM HOMEBASE (II position) is 'I' Lydian (I#4); ----- And up 3 frets FROM HOMEBASE (bIII position) is 'I' Dorian (Imin7) ----- etc. etc. etc. -------o0o------- Since we only use Ionian (Maj7), Dorian (min7), Aolean (pure minor) and Mixolydian (dom7) in the vast majority of music ...and Locrian (dim) occasionally; Then we only have to memorize those 5: Mixolydian as Homebase @ l 6 position, Dom7 mode (Hank Williams, Wooly Bully, Wipeout, etc.); Dorian @ bIII 6 position, min7 mode ("Carlos Santana", most minor and minor over major blues, jam any minor with much color); Locrian @ bV 6 position (diminished mode); Ionian @ V 6 position, Maj7/9 mode (Magnolia, Don't let the Sun Catch You Crying, Harbor Lights, etc.); And Aolean @ bVI 6 position, min7b6 mode (pure minor mode jam any minor with "outside" color). So once we learn the easy navigation math which we will later, we will know that if we want to play Amin7 chord we simply play C6 chord (or other voicing it's extensions UP 2 frets at D6). RECAPPING THE 6TH CHORD IN SUBSTITUTION: Looking back we see that we have learned how to substitute for the vast majority of specific chord types we normally use because we know which relative (dominant) 6 chords are the same as any type chord we desire; which leaves us with only a few and rare abstract chords to otherwise deal with (YOU can deal with it; I like things simple!). For Spanish Guitar, chord substitution does not take the place of specific voicings or well known favorite chord finger positions or any other way we might prefer to play chords, but it provides us with MUCH alternative voicing color, the ability to quickly compute a desired chord, and as you will see, gives us the ability to also use the technique to quickly find scales and harmonies for all those chords, and most important, a good understanding of what is going on in music. For non-pedal Steel Guitar, this substitution method is THE very means a Steel Picker gets all the chord and scale types, whether he/she realizes it or not, and the Master Steel Pickers do realize it in some form. RECAPPING EXTENSION NOTES: Extension notes are notes of a chord's scale that can be added to the triad of a chord. The triad is notes 1, 3, and 5, so the extension notes are 2, 4, 6 and 7. The very functional and amazing aspect of a dominant 6th chord (1,3,5,6,1) is that the remaining extension notes (b7,9,4,5,b7) can all be played simply by moving the 6th chord down 2 frets. Study it, you will see. But even more functional and amazing is that any chord form a 6th chord is used to substitute for ALSO has all the chord's extensions available only 2 frets distance either up or down from the chord depending on whether the signature chord is a Major or minor chord! ! ! The Homebase 6th chord is the only chord in the substitutions that will have all the signature notes voiced on the signature chord fret. All other mode pockets will have some notes of the full signature chord located on the signature fret and some notes located on extension fret position, ... although the notes that define the chord's character signature will be in the signature fret position. ------- EXTENSION NOTES of 6th chord fingering used for Major chord substitutions are found 2 frets DOWN from each Major chord form; And the extensions of 6th chord fingering used for minor chord substitutions are found 2 frets UP from each minor chord form. Therefore, scales and harmonies in each mode can be found and played by playing selective strings while moving back and forth between the signature position fret and the extension position fret. For example, all the scale notes and harmonies of G7 (Mixolydian) can be produced in the notes of G6 chord along with F6 chord position providing the G7/9/11 extensions. Getting all the notes in scale / harmony fashion in the full 6th chord fingering sometimes requires being able to lift the 4th finger's 6 note to access the 5th note below it 1 whole step that's being played by the 1st finger barre. In substitution positions, of course those notes will not be 6 or 5 because of the note inversions of each mode, but the finger technique is still the same in lifting the 4th finger to expose the full range of useable notes in the finger position. In many cases simply moving the 6th chord down to voice the 5 note works, but in some cases you might want to voice the 5 note in the triad voicing rather than the extension voicing, so lifting the 6 note's finger is needed to expose the 5 note; While harmonies on either side of those notes will work naturally regardless of whether the 6th note or the 5th notes are bing played in the signature chord position. -------o0o------- Another really cool thing is that the extensions will always be harmonic to their respective chord and will have the effect of filling in creative chord harmony when played as a chord in place of the triad based chord. In other words, rather than playing, say, an A6 chord, you can play "G6" chord and be playing all the extensions of A6 which would make the "G6" an A11 (or cool A9 by omitting the 4/11 note). Similarly, when changing from a I chord to a IV chord, play bIII6 instead of IV and you will have made that same cool IV9/11 chord instead. If you're catching on to all this pretty good, here's some deeper but cool abstract: If you are using bIII6 as a substitute for Imin7, you could use IV6 as well since the IV6 has the remaining extensions of bIII6 position FOR Imin7 ! As you get into these methods you will be amazed at what you find and how simple, relative and obvious the abstract of music becomes. Don't be discouraged if this paragraph is deeper in theory than you are comfortable with; Repetition works wonders. Just pay attention to the do's and don't worry about the why's, because they really don't mean a whole lot of importance unless you understand the theory behind them. Important to recognize is that the substituted chord forms that result from the 6th chord finger position being moved up and down the neck into the mode boxes, DO NOT ALWAYS have all the notes of the triad stacked as is the case with the homebase 6th chord; But a harmonic voicing is always present in the substituted chord form and in the extensions. For example, if we're playing G#6 substituted for Fmin7, the notes in F are b3, b7, b3, 5, b7, b3 ..... G#6; = Fmin7 ....AND IF WE TAKE IT UP 2 MORE FRETS (to IV6) FOR THE Fmin7 EXTENSION NOTES, WE GET NOTES 4, 1, 4, 6, 2/9, 4 WHICH IS A VOICING OF Fmin11 in this Dorian box, which is a excentuated suspended tone for passing out of Fmin7 to it's next chord or an Fmin9 if you omit the 4/11 notes. NOTE that attention must be paid to avoid the 4/11 notes in a chord when it is not desired (i.e. when a suspended or 11th chord is not desired) since it is not pleasantly harmonious to most chords and circumstances due to it's tension (although it is an integral note in scales and melodic passages). It doesn't take much wood-shedding to recognize and plan around the 4/11 notes, which can be avoided by the techniques of selective finger picking, selective flat picking or selective blocking (muting), etc. A good thing is that the 4th notes are THE ONLY NOTES you have to be concerned about when using the methods of this course because all the other notes will be harmonious to any other note / scale / chord in their mode. -------o0o------- Remember the "5 times" technique? Click HERE to go to the next section, CONCEPTS Review. |
Lesson 5. Part 2. CHORD SUBSTITUTION |
Lesson 5. Part 2. CHORD SUBSTITUTION. |
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