Volume I · FoundationsStage 3 of 15
3
Scales, chords and where chords come from
Triads, scales in thirds, chords on every degree, and which key/scale each chord belongs to.
- 3.1 The raw materials Scales, scales in thirds, triads in four qualities Barry’s starting kit for improvising: the major scale, the same scale in thirds, one triad made major, minor, augmented and diminished, plus the whole-tone scales and the diminished sevenths. Known in every key, these are what you learn to hear with.
- 3.2 A chord on every degree; how many keys each chord type belongs to Every degree of the major scale carries its own four-note chord. Major sevenths turn up on two degrees, minor sevenths on three, dominant sevenths and minor 7 flat 5 chords on one, so you know how many keys a chord could be in, and which.
- 3.3 Every chord takes the scale it comes from Over any chord, play the scale of the key that chord belongs to at that moment, not a scale picked for the chord by itself. A C minor 7 in A♭ takes A♭ major, with D♭, so first work out which key you are in.