The Standard Harmony Rule

Alright, now we're going to have some fun! Now as you might notice, I've skipped a few lessons. That's because these lessons are taken from my Guitar Theory Made Useful course and there are obviously a lot of other things to cover.

But I really wanted to give you a taste of what a little theory knowledge can do for you - in hopes that you'll want more and become a total theory geek like me :)

Before you start this video, I'd recommend you grab your page with all of the major scales written out on it from the last video. It's handy to have them all right next to you while you work through this lesson.

If you don't have that page, you can download mine:

 

Again I'll encourage you to try out some of the exercises for yourself. In this one, it's not as much pen and paper (though that will probably help to work through it first) but you should really try them out on your guitar.

One of the most important things is now to listen and start to recognize how chords act. This is a huge part of training your ear and is responsible for me learning songs in my car on the way to a gig without ever having a guitar in my hand! I don't have perfect pitch at all... it's just from recognizing how chords function and act and you can do it to!

So take some time and mess around with this, and tomorrow I'll actually appear in the video and I'll walk you through some of the examples personally :)

Downloads For This Lesson

You may need to right-click the following links and select Save Link As to download the file to your computer

The Video (WMV)
The Video (MP4)
The Exercises

Leave A Reply (25 comments So Far)


  1. Joe

    great thanks


  2. Ed White

    Hey Griff
    Great stuff. It sure helps me when our
    mucic director in my church decides at
    right before the service to lower the key
    (easy for him with his electronic keyboard
    and it's transposing capabilities) not os
    easy for me when I'm playing My Gibson EB4l
    and not my Ovation-Numberig system time.
    I keep a pencil handy.


  3. Damien

    As last comment,for some unknown reason,your videos are not "playing" on my Mac.


  4. jerry brock

    For some reason I can't watch any of your videos lately. It says I have too download adobe flash player which I already have.


  5. Dave Gunter

    Love it! I purchased your "Blues Guitar Unleashed" lessons and have been saving the e-mails you send me. I am so impressed with how easy you make it look and how well you are able to break everything down into simple to understand lessons. My guitar playing has leaped forward dramatically. Thank you ! Thank you!


  6. Charles

    Griff!
    Thanks for the insight of how to put chords progression together to hear the different sounds of the chords in any key! It works!!
    Again Thanks!! By the way I accident deleted you last email, so will you send me your last email?


  7. Mike Watland

    Griff,
    The next obvious question I would have is what if the key is a minor key is there another harmony rule for that?
    Mike


  8. Griff

    @Mike - They come from the chords position in the major scale. So if you have a C major scale (C D E F G A B C) the I chord is C because it's built off of the first note of the major scale. The IV chord is F since it's built off of the 4th note of the major scale. I, IV, and V (C, F, and G) are all major... while ii, iii, and vi (dmin, emin, amin) are all minor because of the SHR.


  9. Mike

    I've been playing the guitar, piano, and sax since the age of 12. I'll just say that I'm close to retirement age now and have been exposed to lots of music theory over those years, but I think one can never get too many reminders on these fundamentals. Thanks for the reminder and great job.


  10. Danny Brady

    Excellent, very well explained.


  11. Mike Webb

    I'm a little confussed!.. I'm having problems understanding chord progressions. In your last video on SHR, where do the chord progression numerals come from? .


  12. Griff

    @ Brian - That's a good one. I've always use "Fat Cats Go Dancing At Ernie's Bar" but it's totally the same idea. That shortcut isn't in this video but it's in one of the others.

    @ Allen - sorry I missed your questions earlier. Yes, a whole step bend is often called a full (for full-step) bend. IF the next note in the scale is a half-step away you do a half-bend or a half-step bend depending on how it's written.


  13. willie

    awesome, really brings things to light. 11


  14. Frankie Michel

    Clear and simple instructions as usual. Fantastic . Thanks


  15. Brian

    Nice job. I have a little thing to add regarding what notes are sharp in a major key. I came up with a sentence where each word starts with the letter of the sharps in order. F C G D A E B - "Fat Cat Goes Down And Eats Burgers". You can use whatever works for you. Don't ask me where this came from, not sure. Anyway, once you know that you can then realize the following:

    In F, G is sharp. (G comes after F in the alphabet), F & C are sharp in D (D comes after C in the alphabet), F,C,G are sharp in A. ( A comes after G in the alphabet). F,C,G,A are sharp in B (B comes after A in the alphabet). F,C,G,A,B are sharp in C#. And of course there are no sharps in C.


  16. David Echerd

    Excellent material and well presented. It is obvious that you love music theory and it is fascinating. Much easier to "see" on a keyboard so appreciate your walking through relationships of major scales and harmony theory on the guitar. Look forward to future lessions. Thanks


  17. John Legge

    Griff,

    Just to let you know that the guitar course material that I have purchased and the downloads that you send are excellent.

    Regards

    John Legge UK


  18. A Martinez

    Thank you, basic, but always helpful, especially if someone is just learning.


  19. ramsey horton

    Very nice presentation on a subject so essential for studio gigs.
    Great teaching,
    Ramsey


  20. Ken

    Brilliant. Griff you are the MASTER.


  21. Ken Spiby

    Very well explained Grif and also presented in a manageable way so that the student does not get confused and frustrated ( bit at a time to get the foundation right ).nice lesson hope to see more.
    Regards KS


  22. Allen Butturini

    Very cool and important stuff. Thx Griff

    BTW, I asked earlier whether a full bend is always a whole tone. So sad...no response. The question is if the next note in the progression is a half tone, is the full bend to that note or the next note + another half tone.

    Thanks in advance for your reply.


  23. ray

    after all theses years its good to take a step back and review what you have forgotton Opps did i say that,
    theory is one thing i need to get back too .i never like it but you need it if you going to play good. Thanks


  24. corey

    Griff, thanks again for another aha guitar lesson. You have a great ability to break down major musical knowledge, and make it easy to comprehend.


  25. G. P. Wilson

    Great to see the theory. I do love that part of music and it really helps to understand why we do the things we do. Thanks