Applying the Theory to the Neck of the Guitar
(Video Guitar Lesson 2 of 3)
So every basic major and minor chord that you know, and will ever learn, only has 3 different notes in it. If you are strumming a basic C major chord, and play 5 strings…you are still only playing the notes C, E and G. It’s just that there are 2 C notes and 2 E notes.
Here are some basic chord forms for C, Dm, Em, F, G, A m and Bdim. You will see that each chord only contains 3 different note names. Some of the notes are just doubled or tripled. The notes in the chord do not have to follow any particular order, as long as there is a D F A….it is a Dm chord.
Comparing Major & Minor Chords
No matter what major scale that you build chords from, the order of major, minor and diminished chords remains the same.
Major… Minor… Minor… Major… Major… Minor… Diminished
So the chords built from the D major scale are as follows:
D major scale = D E F♯ G A B C♯ D
Chords in D = D Em F♯m G A Bm C♯dim
♯ = sharp…equal to one fret higher on the guitar
Looking at the D major scale, you can start to see what the difference between a major and minor chord is.
A D major chord is made up of the notes D, F♯, and A. And a D minor chord has the notes D, F and A.
D E F♯ G A B C♯ D –> D major scale
|_____|_____| = D (D major chord)
C D E F G A B C –> C major scale
|_____|_____| = Dm (D minor chord)
Guitar Lesson Navigation
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