The Harmonized Major Scale

A harmonized scale is the process of taking a note from a scale and treating it as the root note of a chord then adding two or more notes above the root to create harmonies. When all of the notes are played together we create a chord.

In this lesson we deal with the harmonized major scale.

Before we can understand any of the above we need to learn the step pattern for the major scale. This will provide us the root notes of each of the chords. 

For ease of identification each chord is assigned a name and a number. To avoid confusing the chord number with fingerings, frets or scale degrees the chord is numbered using roman numerals.

In this lesson each chord is written melodically (horizontal) and harmonically (vertical)

To create the first chord in the key of C Major take the 1st, 3rd and 5th notes from the scale. These notes create the C Major chord. 

Taking the 2nd, 4th and 6th notes of C Major we create a D minor chord. This is the second chord of C Major.

Now by taking the 3rd, 5th and 7th notes of C Major we create an E minor. This is the third chord of C Major.

Repeating the process take the 4th, 6th and 8th or octave of the 1st notes of C Major to create an F Major chord. This is the fourth chord of C Major.

Now that we have introduced the octave of C you will notice that C could be considered the 1st or 8th note of the scale. Here we will consider it to be the 1st.

This is illustrated in the next chord. We crate the fifth chord in the key of C Major by taking the 5th. 7th and 2nd (same as the 9th). This is gives us a G Major chord.

Taking the 6th, 1st and 3rd notes creates the sixth chord of the Key of C Major.

 To create the last chord in the key of C Major we take the 7th, 2nd and 4th notes. This makes the 7th chord, B Diminished

The next chord is written out to illustrate the use of the octave from where we started. It is the same as the 1st chord but one octave higher. From this point the process of making each chord repeats in the second octave.

When all the chords put played one after the other we end up with this series of chords.

Just as the step pattern to create a major scale stays the same regardless of key centre so does the order of the chord types stay the same:

It is limiting to play these chords on just three strings so we can find the notes that make each chord type, Major, Minor and Diminished on multiple strings. Doing so benefits us in two ways;

1.  We have more than just three string chords

2.  We create shapes that involve less physical stretching.

Utilizing these shapes we create the C Harmonized major with "garden variety" chord forms. Shapes that are common to all guitarists regardless of genre.

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