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Chapter 5 - Major Chords and Arpeggios

guitar lesson 1
FORMULAS

When writing a song, some times it may become boring, if a guitar player uses the same chords or arpeggios all the time. To solve this problem there are thousands of other chord forms that can substitute the simple chords and arpeggios.

Chords and arpeggios are categorized into three main groups, MAJOR, MINOR and DOMINANT. The major group is generally bright and happy in sound. The minor group is generally dark and sad in sound. The dominant group creates a tension building sound.

The chart below shows a list of some popular major chords and arpeggios. A chart for some popular minor and dominant chords is found further on.

Sometimes it is impossible or undesirable, to play a chord or arpeggio using all the notes of the formula. The chart below shows, the most important degrees to use, in case this happens.

The chart also contains, the relative modes, in which the chord or arpeggio fits. A major chord for example fits well over a major mode such as the Ionian, Lydian or Mixolydian (1, 4, or 5).

In the chart, there are some formulas that contain a number that is higher than seven. The simplest way to understand this is to just continue counting past the seventh degree 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 instead of 1, 9 instead of 2, 10 instead of 3 and so on.

All the formulas are in comparison to the pure major scale (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7).

Name Formula Most important degrees Relative modes
Major 1, 3, 5 1, 3 1, 4, 5
Major 6th 1, 3, 5, 6 1, 3, 6 1, 2, 4, 5
Major 6/9 1, 3, 5, 6, 9 1, 3, 6, 9 1, 4, 5
Major 7th 1, 3, 5, 7 1, 3, 7 1, 4
Major add 9 1, 3, 5, 9 1, 3, 9 1, 4, 5
Major 9th 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 3, 7, 9 1, 4
Major 13th 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13 3, 7, 13 1

The next few pages contain an illustrated example of these chords and arpeggios. The examples contain only a few possible ways to play these chords and arpeggios. Try to figure out some other ways to play them. There are also chords not listed in the chart above. Try to figure out a few on your own.

 

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