Most people might not realize it, but scales have their own built in chord systems. By using the notes from a scale we can make up 7 different chords. We can then use the 7 chords as a blueprint for creating chord progressions. The scale that the chords were built from can be used to create a melody or used to solo over the progression with. We call theses scale/chord systems. The Chord Progression section of the Guitar Alliance Member's Site will show you each scale's chord system, how these chord systems are built, and most importantly how they are used.

If you are interested in writing your own songs, these scale/chord systems are by far one of the most important songwriting tools you'll ever come across. Each chord construted from a scale plays a different role and knowing how they interact with each other will make you a better songwriter. All you have to do is pick the key signature you want your song to be in then you find the correct scale/chord system chart for that key and then you can know exactly what chords and scales will work for your song.

Creating Chord Progressions In The Key Of A Major

To figure out the chord system from a scale you must create triads off of the scale steps. Triads are three notes that spell a chord. There are three triad types that are extracted from scales: major, minor, and diminished (we show you how to do this in the Member's Site).

Note: The 1st, 4th and 5th chords that are built from a scale are the most used chords in popular music. The standard blues progression is made up of these three chords and most early rock songs (rock was spawned from the blues) used these same 3 chords. Not much has really changed as a majority of popular music are still 3 chord songs using mostly the minor 2nd, 3rd, and 6th minimally-usually in bridges or interludes. Keep that in mind when creating your own progressions!

A Major Scale In 1st Position

Triads Built From The A Major Scale

Triad Names

1.) A Major

2.) B minor

3.) C#/Db minor

4.) D Major

5.) E Major

6.) F#/Gb minor

7.) G#/Ab dim.

Example

Here is a sample progression built from the A major scale/chord system on this page. You'll notice in this example that chord phrasing is used instead of simply strumming through the chords.You can just strum along if you don't know chord phrasing.

A - D - F#/Gbm - E - A

Triad Names

1.) A Major

2.) B minor

3.) C#/Db minor

4.) D Major

5.) E Major

6.) F#/Gb minor

7.) G#/Ab dim.

Example

Here is a sample progression built from the A major scale/chord system on this page. You'll notice in this example that chord phrasing is used instead of simply strumming through the chords.You can just strum along if you don't know chord phrasing.

A - D - F#/Gbm - E - A

This chord scale is built from the C Major Scale. The seven different chords make up every chord in the key of C Major. (Upper Case Roman is Major, Lower Case Roman is minor)

C is the one chord- I Major
Dm is the two - ii minor
Em is the three - iii minor
F is the four - IV Major
G is the five - V Major
Am is the six - vi minor
B diminished is the seven - vii diminished

Now that you know every chord in the key of C, we can create a chord progression. Here are ten common progressions in the key of C:

Songs which use a simple chord progression (some are above):

(I - IV - V) 'La Bamba' - Richie Valens
(I - IV) 'You Can't Always Get' - Rolling Stones
(IV - V - I) 'Mr. Tambourine Man' - Bob Dylan
(I - V - vi - IV) 'Damn It!' - Blink 182

Write down the names of the notes in this F Major Scale. Put the 1st, 3rd, and 5th note together to build an F Major Chord. Now if you want to build the F Major chord scale, write down the notes in the scale starting from the 1st(F), 3rd(A), and 5th note(C). Here's what you get:

F A C = F Major, G Bb D = G minor,
A C E = A minor, Bb D F = Bb Major,
C E G = C Major, D F A = D minor, E G Bb = E diminished.

Learning which guitar scale or scales goes with guitar chords is a MUST if you want to play killer solos! In this lesson, learn how to use a Pentatonic, Major, and Blues guitar scale over a simple chord progression.

The first step is figuring out the key of the solo progression

The guitar chords in our progression are: E - B - C# - A
These chords are all from sharp keys. Sharp keys contain from 1 to 7 sharps depending on the key. Here are the sharp keys and the the number of sharps that are in each:

G-1, D-2, A-3, E-4, B-5, F#-6, C#-7

Now you can use the process of elimination to narrow your choices. G can't be it because it contains no C# note. B, F#, and C# can't be it because they don't contain the A note. So now you know the key is either D, A, or E.

Now you can play the D, A, or E Major scale along with our E - B - C# - A chord progression. Listen to see which scale works better with the progression. An easier way to figure out which guitar scale goes with a progression is to memorize how many sharps or flats are in every major scale or minor scale.

Well, lets think up a scenario. Lets say a bunch of your friends wanted you to jam with them. You’re down with that, it’s a cool. But, when you’re about to start, someone says “okay, lets start in A major!” WHAT! People jam…in KEY!? What do you do now, you don’t know any chord progressions! Or at least you don’t think you do! There is an easy way to think of chord progressions on the fly!

The Root:

Okay, you’re about to jam in A major. So, you will want a chord progression in…A major! So, lets make your first chord of this chord progression A major:

E||--0----||
B||--2----||
G||--2----||
D||--2----||
A||--0----||
E||-------||

Okay, now what? Are you just going to play A major over and over and over and over again? No! What you are going to do next is build off that A major using a scale. What scale? Well…A major!

Using The Scale:

Okay, so we know how a major scale works. It starts at the root and goes tone, tone, semitone, tone, tone, tone, semitone. So, than the A major scale is A B C# D E F# G#. And guess what? The same thing applies to chords! So, lets take some chords we already know really well out of there. How about D and E major:

E||--2----0----||
B||--3----0----||
G||--2----1----||
D||--0----2----||
A||-------2----||
E||-------0----||

So, now we have three chords to use in our chord progression, A D and E!
Building The Progression:

Now, you have three chords that you can play around with. First of all, you shouldn’t feel restrained to play them in the order they are in the scale. So, how about we change this progression to A E D. Secondly, feel free to repeat any chords. So, how about we repeat the root chord at the end, to make our progression A E D A. And finally, feel free to stray away from major. As long as the root stays major or minor, the chord progression should still sound good. Like…how about we try changing the D to Dsus4. So, if you remember to not be restrained by order, feel free to repeat chords, and not be restrained by major of minor, you should get a pretty rockin’ chord progression! Try playing our A E Dsus4 A progression:

E||--0----|--0----|--3----|--0----||
B||--2----|--0----|--3----|--2----||
G||--2----|--1----|--2----|--2----||
D||--2----|--2----|--0----|--2----||
A||--0----|--2----|-------|--0----||
E||-------|--0----|-------|-------||
Pretty sweet, eh?

Don’t Stop At The Top!
You thought you were done, didn’t you. Well…you’re not. You can get even better with you chord progression! There are many more things you can do other than add a pretty little strumming pattern to this progression.

One thing I should defiantly mention is that you should know what style you’re playing in. If your friends are playing with a kind of jazzy feel, for example, you probably won’t be tuning down to drop C much. If it’s blues, change the progression to A7 E7 D7 A7, and maybe add a bit of swing to your strumming pattern. If it’s metal, play them all as power chords, A5 E5 D5 A5, and maybe add some palm mutes. Be aware of your style!

Basics:

The first thing you must do to play over a chord progression is to know what key you are in. If some one is playing a chord progression of I-IV-V and the I chord is C Major, then you are in the key of C (the I chord determines the key if the I chord were D major then you would be in the key of D).

Next, Find a pattern for the major scale of the key you are in (ex. C major scale for the key of C)

Now to put it simply, all you have to do is use that scale and be creative. You will never strike a bad note while you use this method.