How To Find The Chords Of Any Key
This lesson is based on a chapter from the book Mastering the Fretboard in Open D and the video course Mastering Open D Tuning.
What Is Harmony?
Harmony is the result of two or more notes played simultaneously. When we speak of harmonizing a scale, we’re referring to constructing chords using notes of that scale. One way we can harmonize the major scale is by building triads on each scale degree. (Need a refresher on triads? Check out “How To Form Triads” and “Beautiful Triad Shapes.”)
Why Harmonize A Scale?
Harmonizing a scale gives us a bunch of chords we can play that all go well together. For example, when we harmonize the major scale in triads, we get all seven diatonic triads of the major scale. (A diatonic note is a note that is native to the scale.)
The D major scale, harmonized in intervals of thirds, yields the diatonic triads in the key of D major. When we do this, we get seven chords: D major, E minor, F# minor, G major, A major, B minor, and C# diminished.
Forming Chords From The Scale
We can take each note of the D major scale and harmonize it in thirds to create chords. A “third” refers to the interval of a major 3rd or minor 3rd, and has been discussed at length in “How To Form Triads.” In that article we also learn about a quick hack to form chords of a scale without worrying so much about intervals. Triads can be extended to seventh chords and beyond, but triads are the foundation upon which all more complicated chord theory is based.
Harmonization In Use
The great advantage of harmonizing a scale is that you can use the resulting chords to form a ton of different chord progressions. This concept can be applied to any scale in any key.
Chords, scales, and harmony are discussed at length in the video course Mastering Open D Tuning as well as in the book Mastering the Fretboard in Open D . Both are designed to teach the practical applications of music theory from the ground up, with the goal of giving the guitarist the knowledge and confidence necessary to play chords, scales, and songs all around the guitar neck. This was the road I followed to finally be able to improvise freely and always discover something new and exciting every time I pick up the guitar.
Join our mailing list to receive the latest tips!
RELATED LESSONS YOU’LL ENJOY: