| home | site search | Guitar in ALL FOURTHS® | site index | send email |
(Click HERE for a Javascript scale calculator in ALL FOURTHS)
Included here is table of contents and a bit of the introduction to this work book
If you are interested in reading the entire book, I will make be available from my SALES page, Septempber 5, 1997
Playing in 'ALL FOURTHS'® a registered trademark
EXPLICIT RELATIONSHIPS: Scales Chords Arpeggios as played on a guitar
tuned to ALL FOURTHS® e a d g c f 6 5 4 3 2 1 2nd Rough Draft - uncorrected Rome, Italy Oct 1 - Nov 25 (first revision Nov. 29 - Dec. 5 ) Tom Noonan © 1995 TABLE of CONTENTS Introduction viii Technical Notes xii Fretboard Intervals xvi SCALES and MODES 1 DIATONIC 2 SYMMETRICAL 6 MODES: Root/Step Intervals - Tertial INTERPRETATION 9 PENTATONIC 11 TERTIAL ARPEGGIOS 20 SINGLE POSITION 21 FRAGMENTS 24 MOVING POSITION 31 CHORDS 36 INTERVALS 37 Major 37 Harmonic minor 38 Melodic minor 40 Harmonic Major 41 TRIADS 43 Tertial 43 Quartal 44 Sevens 45 Sliding(or Rolling) 46 Enharmonic 46 Major 47 TRIADIC TETRADS 50 Close Position 50 Open Position 52 QUARTAL TETRADS 54 Close Position 54 Open Position 58 Six Two Chords 63 SEVEN TETRADS 65 Close Position 65 Open Position 67 ALTERED SEVEN TETRADS 70 Close Position 70 Open Position 74 SEVEN EXTENSION TETRADS 79 Close Position 79 Sus Four Chords 80 Open Position 81 SEVEN EXTENSION PENTADS 84 Open and Closed Position84 BAR CHORDS - Close Position 86 Harmonic 86 Enharmonic 87 Sevens 88 Altered Sevens 88 Seven Extensions 89 Quartal Harmony 90 Six Two and Sus Four Extensions 90 Major 90 Harmonic Minor 91 Melodic Minor 92 Harmonic Major 93 BAR CHORDS - Open Position 99 C Major 100 F Major 103 G Major 106 Bb Major 109 D Major 113 Eb Major 116 A Major 119 Ab Major 123 E Major 126 Db Major 130 EXPLICIT RELATIONSHIPS 133 DIATONIC SCALES to CHORDS 134 SYMMETRICAL SCALES to CHORDS 136 PENTATONIC SCALES to CHORDS 136 CHORDS to SCALES 140 CHORD EQUIVALENCIES 144 POLYTONAL EQUIVALENCIES 145 Introduction This is basically a dictionary of scales and chords. I am reminded... A foolish friend of mine, when asked why he was studying the dictionary, answered, "I'm ninety per-cent on the way to becoming a great writer, I know just about all the words. Now all I have to do is figure out what order to put them in!" Please don't expect any music here - there are no songs in this book. Just scale and chords. In this same vein, the relationships described here between scales and chords are explicit - exact, dull, and didactic. A monkey with a typewriter kind of endeavor. For example, on the face of it, a certain scale may contain all the chord tones of your favorite progression - on paper promising wonderful melodic possibility. But when you play that scale against those chords it sounds as dead as dogshit. Meanwhile another scale - unpromising on paper - not containing all or any of your progression's chord tones may sound just sublime (the same is true harmonically where a progression of chords derived from the same scale may sound terrible together while seeminly 'unconnected' chords fit together perfectly). Music is meant to be heard - people don't dance to theories. Or as Duke Ellington put it, "If it sounds good, it is good." Think of this as just collection of materials - a vocabulary so to speak. A system of organizing something that happily is beyond organization. But I must admit that the way scales and chords are described here makes certain assumptions. Sound (and our perception of it) is an expression of the laws of physics. But our diatonic scale, the cycle of fifths and the two-five-one cadence, etc. - are all crude attempts at systematizing our perceptions of these sublime events. The language and symbols chosen here reveal my limitations and prejudices. Beware! And hopefully be forgiving. There are probably a couple of hundred chords laid out here, but I rarely use more than a few dozen of them... the rest almost never. I hope you find a few of them resonant or useful. I included chords which, to me, had a clear definition (even if that clarity expresses something rootless and undefined) and worked in a one progression or another - because chords do not stand alone - they have meaning only in the context of a progression. Again my limited taste and knowledge of progressions indicts this work. For me, music is rhythm. Allow me a visual analogy: the rhythm created by patterns of sound and silence is like seeing in black and white - while harmonic rhythm is like perceiving the consonance and dissonance between a patterns of colors - as in the rhythm of tension and release in a chord progression. In fact, I have a second book in mind. One that might actually require a little life and creativity. I have title in mind: IMPLICIT RELATIONSHIPS Progressions, Substitutions, and Harmonic Rhythm. Or maybe I'll just forget all this and make some music. That's what it's all about anyway, isn't it? P.S. The book is laid out for a guitar tuned to fourths but most of these charts can be easily translated to any tuning and it is really more about hearing and perceiving music, not about any particular instrument or tuning. I hope you find this somewhat useful, not too boring or pretentious; just as long as you don't find it confusing or discouraging. P.P.S I did not include the chromatic scale (12 half step octave) in here. But please don't forget it. Though daunting, it can be very freeing when embracred and is, of course, the parent of all scale and chords. Technical Notes DUCK! Here comes some jargon. I use the word TRIAD for a three tone chord, TETRAD for a four tone chord, a PENTAD for a five note chord and a BAR CHORD for a six note chord. It's a bit pretendo-seriouso but I like the names if for no other reason than simplicity. CLOSE POSITION chords use only adjacent strings, all notes fretted. OPEN POSITION chords have non-adjacent fretted strings sounding - open (unfretted) interior strings may ring through or be muted. DIATONIC scales are made up of seven tones. I chose here to explore the Major (M), the Harmonic minor (Hm), Melodic minor (Mm), and the Harmonic Major (HM). MODES are versions of diatonic scales in which a scale tone other than the tonic is made the root. For example, in the G Major scale if we made 'B' the root, the scale would read: B - C - D - E - F# - G - A - B This mode is called the Phygrian and the intervals between its steps are: · ½ · 1 · 1 · 1 · ½ · 1 · 1 · TERTIAL harmony is based on chords constructed or perceived in thirds (and their upward tertial extensions to Sevens, Nines, Elevens, and Thirteens and their inversions). These chords derive from the diatonic scales. Tertial harmony depends on the cycle of fifths (upward motion of a fourth, or downward a fifth) and two-five-one cadences for tension, movement, and resolution. QUARTAL harmony is based on chords made up of fourths (and their extensions and inversions) constructed from the same diatonic scales. These chords are much less clear in their tonal center and not as defined in terms of tension and resolution. The root motion is less apt to be in jumps of fourths or fifths than in seconds or thirds up and down. In another visual anology, Quartal chords and harmony are more pastel than the primary colors of Tertial harmony. (Quartal organization is very suited conceptually for a guitar, particularly a guitar tuned to all fourths, or all fifths now possible with Midi guitars.) Quartal tonality is generally centered on the lowest or highest chord tone (unlike Tertial chords which often have their roots in an inner voice). In my mind Modes are to Scales what Quartal harmony is to Tertial harmony. But the boundary between Tertial and Quartal is rarely clear cut (except in the case of the Triads of both organizations) and distinquishing between these two organizations often depends more on your perception than strict theory. The two systems tend to smear and bleed into one another, especially when their chords are extended and inverted. ENHARMONIC has two meanings for me. In terms of an isolated chord it means that non-scalar tones are included in its construction. The definition of Enharmonic however, is far narrower in terms of chord progression harmony. In a strict Tertial sense, a triad is made from a root tone and the third (minor or Major) above it and a second third (minor or Major) on top of that equaling a 5th. For example, in the key of A Harmonic minor, if F is the root, A is the first third, C is the fifth. But in A Harmonic minor, the G# is available, as is the B. F - G# - B is a Diminished Triad but it is constructed Enharmonically. F - G# is absolutely a minor third but harmonically it is a #2, and the B is a fourth. The F Diminished chord, if it were thrown into a progression of 'true' triads, depending on strict Tertial harmony, would cause a good deal of ambiguity and confusion. These symbols are used to notate TERTIAL chords: + = Major - = Minor o = Diminished Ø = Half-Diminished as in Ø7 = -7 5 ^ = Augmented SUPERSCRIPT after a chord symbol represents an ALTERATION or EXTENSION of the chord. example: C79 this is a C Seven sharp-Nine chord, with the 9(D)extension: C - E - Bb - D . SUBSCRIPT after a chord symbol represents the bass tone of the particular INVERSION of the chord: example: C+77 this is C Augmented Major Seven chord with the 7(B)tone in the bass. B - E - G - C (one possible arrangement). And for QUARTALS notation: Q = Quartal chord @ = Quintal chord (or flipped Q) This is the inverse of Quartal. A chord based on a series or 'stack' of 5ths. In Quartal notation, preceding the Q symbol the scale mode from which the chord derives is written, for example: QG5Hm This is Quartal whose lowest tone is G and whose upper tones are a series of fourths derived from the 5th mode of the Harmonic minor scale. SUPERSCRIPT after a Quartal symbol describes any gap between the bass note and the upper voices. A '7' means an interval of a seventh (or one string in the case of a guitar) is skipped; a '3' means an interval of a tenth, an octave plus a third (or two strings are skipped). (The letter 'T' in superscript means that the chord is a triad containing three notes, or four if one repeats in another octave): QE3M7 This chord is spelled: E - D - G - C Note: generally Quartal chords contain four notes unless otherwise noted. SUBSCRIPT after a Quartal describes a bass note which is replacing the notated root tone. This tone must be from the scale described, transposed downward: QC7MmD ************************** The charts included here are all based on a fretboard of a guitar tuned to all fourths: E - A - D - G - C - F. Sometimes small sections of a the fretboard are used for explanations but sometimes larger fretboards charts are used; if fact, some of the fretboards are far wider and longer than exists on any actual guitar. This is for the sake of economy and clarity. For example the following chart is the Harmonic Major scale in single position, in all modes, from all starting and finishing points:
| 1 | 4 | 6 | |||||||||||
| 7 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 6 | |||||||
| 2 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 5 | |||||
| 6 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 6 | ||||||
| 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 3 | ||||||
| 7 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 4 | ||||||||
| 7 |
©1979/98 all content on this site copyright of Tom Noonan / Genre Pictures / Paradise Theater Co.