:D - Don't panic... we'll get there

Originally Posted by: Vegas WierdoI have a slight inkling of the differences between "major", "minor", and "diminshed", but I draw a blank at all this 7th/5th/6th stuff.[/QUOTE]

A major chord is the root, third and fifth notes of the parent scale, so an A major chord would have the notes A, C# and E. A minor chord is a root, flattened third and fifth, so an Am chord would be A, C & E. Diminished chords are tricky because a diminshed triad is root, flat third and flat fifth, but a diminished chord is something else to me. We'll leave that for now. A seventh is a major or minor chord with the seventh degree of the scale added (and sometimes flattened). A 5th chord is just the root and fifth - often called a 'power' chord. A 6th, 9th, 13th etc all mean that that degree of the scale has been added. They also include any third in between, so a technically correct 13th chord would be a root, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 11th and 13th degree of the scale bearing in mind that 9, 11 and 13 are in the next octave so are really a 2nd, 4th and 6th. Also, that's 2 more notes than there are strings to play, so some are missed out.... but the theory remains. The 11th is usually dropped...

Originally Posted by: Vegas WierdoIs it possible to do a chord (i.e., a bunch of strings played at once) where it's so dissonant/atonal that it doesn't correspond with any of the 12 notes on the scale?

I think you mean so it doesn't fit in any key rather than any note, and oh yes, it is... there are also a load of real chords that sound like hell to my ear...

[QUOTE=Vegas Wierdo]Is it possible to play chords while my amp or guitar is plugged into a digital tuner thingy, and have the tuner thingy tell me what note on the scale that the chord is?

your tuner will probably only tell you which note it has picked up - probably the last one of the bunch you hit.