Ending On A Chord Tone

 
Not Helpful
Helpful
Very Helpful

In this lesson we'll take our chord and melody combination one step further.

Before we do anything else, let's try and play our scale starting on the lowest note on the open E string and going all the way up. Same notes, but now we're playing it going up the scale instead of down.

Once you're ready, the idea is that we'll look at any of our open chords, like A minor for example. Look at the notes we're fretting with our middle, ring and index finger. Let's pick one of those, let's say we pick the one we're fretting on the B string with our index finger. We call this one of the chord tones because it's one of the notes that makes up our A minor chord.

Now let's start here in the 3rd fret of the A string and play our scale up to this note. Now you can fret the rest of the chord and strum it.

Let's try another example. Grab your G chord now. Notice the 3rd fret of the high E string is the same as the top note of our pattern and it is fretted with our ring finger, just like it is when we play the scale. Let's again start in the 3rd fret of the A string and play our way up to this note. And then strum the g chord.

Now let's try this in a simple example.

Instructor Anders Mouridsen
Tutorial:
Scales And Chords
Styles:
Any Style
Difficulty:
Ending On A Chord Tone song notation

You need to be registered to ask our instructors a question.

Questions & Answers

1 month ago
Hey, I'm trying to understand what these exercises are actually working on — what skill or technique am I developing here?
Mike Olekshy 1 month ago

Hey there - thanks so much for your question! In this lesson, Anders explains what a "chord tone" is. This is a more important concept down the road when it comes to improvisation. Beyond this, technique-wise, this exercise gives you the opportunity to practice combining single notes with full chord strums, which can be challenging at first. Hope this helps!

11 months ago
Hi There. When playing the scale. I see on both you start and end on the same note. Is this a golden rule? It sounds good.
Mike Olekshy 11 months ago

Hello - thanks so much for your question! No, this is not a golden rule. In practice, when using a scale to create melodies or improvise leads, it is common to start and end on other notes in the scale, as well as jumping around the scale (ie not playing the scale in order). However, when first learning and practicing scales, it is a very good idea to start and end with the root note, as it will train your ear to the "sound" of the scale. This is very useful for ear training and memorizing scale patterns. Hope this helps!

3 years ago
I am curious what brand of acuostic guitar Anders uses
Josh Workman 3 years ago

It looks like a VKV, Martin-style acoustic. I had never heard of them and can't really find anything online about them.