B.Next, how the chords are formed from "scales". For this method you
would have to know the notes in each scale. Twelve possible notes to start on, so twelve scales to learn. Mind you, each scale is based on "intervals", so you can work a scale out if you don't already know it.
I'm sure we all know what a "scale" is in Tonic Sol-fa. If not from our school days, then from Julie Andrews teaching the children how to sing in The Sound Of Music. "You start at the very beginning .. a very good place to start" .. with Doh. The notes in a scale are doh, ray, me, fah, soh, lah, te, doh (the top 'doh' being one octave above the first). And there are other names for the sharps and flats .. but don't ask me what they are!
If you want more of the history of Tonic Sol-fa then take a look at the entry on the Wikipedia website by clicking the LINK below:
Do a right-click to open this up in a New Tabhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonic_sol-faSo starting on any note you play the "scale" doh, ray, me, fah, soh, lah, te (I haven't gone right to the end) and from this point on will use numbers to donate the position on the scale. So doh=1, ray=2, me=3, fah=4, soh=5, lah=6 and te=7.
Another way to form a scale is by "intervals", and I use this terminology as this is the basis for Method C. I shall define an
interval as
one semitone "up" (ie. the next note up, whether it be white or black). The "intervals" for a scale, starting on any note, are as follows:
Tonic (base note .. the one you are starting with) then (in intervals) 2, 2, 1, 2, 2, 2, 1.
So starting with C, the "Scale" (doh, ray, me, fah, soh, lah, te, do) .. working it out using the "intervals" above .. is
C, D, E, F, G, A, B (and then on to "top C" with the final interval of 1). Now we all know the scale of C, I'm sure .. but you could use this method for working out the notes in the scale of, say, F#.
The idea now is just to use the numbers to represent the scale rather than the tonic sol-fa names. So the scale becomes
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, x (
x being note 8, but being the octave above 1 and having the same letter as 1 it will not be referred to as 8. It is 1 again!).
The chords are described using the numbers in the scale. Which is why I said you would have to know your scales to use this method.
So, in
C , 1=C, 2=D, 3=E, 4=F, 5=G, 6=A and 7=B.
And in
F , 1=F, 2=G, 3=A, 4=Bb, 5=C, 6=D and 7=E.
A
MAJOR chord is
1 - 3 - 5C MAJOR ( C ) is C - E - G and
F MAJOR ( F ) is F - A - C (ie. the first, third and fifth notes of the respective scales).
A
MINOR chord is
1 - 3 (flatted) - 5C MINOR ( C m ) is C - Eb - G and
F MINOR ( F m ) is F - Ab - C (ie. the first, third “flatted” and fifth notes of the respective scales).
A
SIXTH chord is
1 - 3 - 5 - 6C SIXTH ( C 6 ) is C - E - G - A and
F SIXTH ( F 6 ) is F - A – C - D (ie. the major chord + the sixth note of the respective scales).
A
MINOR SIXTH chord is
1 - 3 (flatted) - 5 - 6 C MINOR SIXTH( C m 6 ) is C - Eb - G - A and
F MINOR SIXTH ( F m 6 ) is F - Ab - C - D (ie. the minor chord + the sixth note of the respective scales).
A
SEVENTH chord is
1 - 3 - 5 - 7 (flatted)C SEVENTH ( C 7 ) is C - E - G - Bb and
F SEVENTH ( F 7 ) is F - A - C - Eb (ie. the major chord + the seventh note “flatted” in the respective scales).
A
MAJOR SEVENTH chord is
1 - 3 - 5 - 7 C MAJOR SEVENTH ( C maj 7 ) is C - E - G - B and
F MAJOR SEVENTH ( F maj 7 ) is F - A - C - E (ie. the major chord + the seventh note in the respective scales).
An
AUGMENTED chord is
1 - 3 - 5 (sharpened)C AUGMENTED ( C + ) is C - E - G# and
F AUGMENTED ( F + ) is F - A - C# (ie. the first, third and fifth note “sharpened” in the respective scales).
A
DIMINISHED chord is
1 - 3 (flatted) - 4 (sharpened) - 6C DIMINISHED ( C dim ) is C - Eb - F# - A and
F DIMINISHED ( F dim ) is F - Ab - B - D
A
SUSPENDED 4th chord is
1 - 4 - 5 C SUSPENDED 4th ( C sus 4 ) is C - F - G and
F SUSPENDED 4th ( F sus 4 ) is F - Bb - C (ie. the major chord with the third note “sharpened” in the respective scales).
A
NINTH chord is
1 - 2 - 3 - 5 -7 (flatted) C NINTH ( C 9 ) is C - D - E - G - Bb and
F NINTH ( F 9 ) is F - G - A - C - Eb (ie. the "seventh" chord with the ninth note added, in the respective scales).
Now having written all this out it looks so complicated I think I’ll go back to method
A ! Seriously though, if you do know your scales then the “numbers” mentioned above become second nature and it is a fairly simple process to work out the chord from scratch.