This post is going to explore how diatonic scales, like the Major or Natural minor scales can be harmonised into a collection of triad chords built off of each note of the scale.
The Chords Of A key
Harmonising diatonic scales into their respective chords is an incredible tool for learning a variety of concepts relating to harmony. From chord construction, voicing and inversion to creating or analysing chord progressions and voice-leading.
If you want to find out more about diatonic and tertian harmony registered users can access the free guide,
An Introduction To Three Part Harmony: Triads, Voicing, and Inversions
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It is not uncommon to hear musicians talk about musical keys, or chord progressions in an almost numerical manner. “The five of six in the key of E “. It’s very common to see these written down using roman numerals, V of iv.
Dull Theory?
Many people will find the theoretical ideas dull and uninspiring. It’s not necessarily essential to understand the underlying theory to take advantage of harmonised scales. However, remain open-minded and don’t totally dismiss all the theory as using diatonic scales to generate exercises is a powerful tool. Don’t over think or worry about misunderstanding the theory. It will become clearer in practice.
Advantages of harmonising diatonic scales
- Covers a large area of the fretboard.
- Increases knowledge of specific physical fretting of chords and names.
- Develops an intuition for sounds of the chords and how they fit within a given context.
- Allows a deeper inspection specific diatonic keys.
- Encourages the concept of chord voicing and inversions.
Variation
Practicing the exercise explained in the video above can soon get tiresome, a key element of using Fretharmony effectively is incorporating more specific concepts or constraints within the harmonic context. Ultimately how to do this depends on the individual but the video below explains how a right hand picking pattern could be applied across a harmonised scale.
General Practice Guidelines
Although fretboard diagrams can be useful for learning new things or for reference there are some significant but subtle disadvantages when practicing using illustrative diagrams. The video below offers advice regarding how to avoid potential pitfalls.