This article uses Fretspace to explore minor scales. Minor-scale harmony is based around minor chords instead of major chords. The tonic, subdominant, and dominant chords are all minor in Aeolian harmony (i iv v instead of I IV V), and the tonic and dominant chords are also minor in Dorian harmony. However, the minor dominant … Continue reading Minor scales
The Major scale
This article uses Fretspace to explore the Major scale and its modes. The Major Pentatonic scale can be regarded as a simplified version of the full Major scale, which has seven notes and is the foundation of western musical harmony. Alternatively, the Major scale can be regarded as an extension of the Major Pentatonic scale. Chords, … Continue reading The Major scale
Blues scales
This article uses Fretspace to explore blues scales. These are pentatonic scales that have been extended by adding one or more chromatic notes between the existing notes. Chromatic (in this context) means that a note is outside the key signature. In the key of C, the white notes on a piano are diatonic (scale) notes and … Continue reading Blues scales
Pentatonic scales
This article uses Fretspace to explore pentatonic scales. The Major and Minor Pentatonic scales are a basic tool that guitarists use to improvise (or compose) solos. They are also a starting point from which we can explore more complex scales. The first scale that most guitarists learn is the Minor Pentatonic scale. There are five shapes that are … Continue reading Pentatonic scales
Chord progressions and voice leading
This article uses Fretspace to explore chord progressions and voice leading. One way to create interesting guitar parts is to use a succession of chords in which the notes are static (the same note is used by successive chords) or change only slightly from the previous chord. This is known as voice leading. If you use four-note … Continue reading Chord progressions and voice leading
Chord inversions
This article explores chord inversions, and shows how Fretspace can be used to create an organized set of four-note chord charts in just a few simple steps, starting from a single (well-known) chord shape: According to music theory, a chord in which the lowest note is the root note is known as a root-position chord, … Continue reading Chord inversions
Chord types
This is the first in a series of articles on using Fretspace to explore music with a guitar or with another fretted instrument. Fretspace is a chord and scale editor for Mac computers. It is published by Softpress and is also available from the Mac App Store. There are three types of chord that are fundamental to music … Continue reading Chord types