If you have ever tried writing a song while guessing random chords to put in it you know how time consuming and frustrating it can be. You may ask yourself, “Do I use a minor chord or a major chord? Do I use A or A#?� These questions can be difficult to answer if you don’t know how scales fit into the picture. However with the proper knowledge of music theory you will find using chords in a song fairly straightforward.

If you have not already read Chords and Harmony I, I encourage you to do so now.

We are going to use the Minor scale in the key of F as an example. The main idea this lesson is to show you how to keep every note of every chord in scale. If that statement does not make sense to you now, don’t worry, it will by the end of this lesson.

First of all, which notes do we use A, A#, B, C? There are 12 out there, A, A#, B, C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#. We will only be using 7 of them. The spacing between the notes of a scale stay the same no matter what key they are in. The amount of frets between the 1st note and the 2nd note in the minor scale key of F is exactly the same as the number of frets between the 1st note and the 2nd note in the minor scale key of A. You could say you slid the minor scale pattern from key to key. The minor scale in the key of F has the same exact pattern as the minor scale in the key of A. The difference is that the minor scale in the key of F starts on the 1st fret and the minor scale in the key of A starts on the 5th fret.

We are going to use the key of F as an Example. It contains the notes F, G, G#, A#, C, C# and D#. So guess what chords we can use? We can use the chords: F, G, G#, A#, C, C# and D#. Okay, that explains what chords we can use, but how do we tell which ones are minor, major or diminished.

As we talked about in the first lesson, a chord is made up of the 1st, the 3rd and fifth note away from itself. We figure out what type of chord it is by counting how far away the 3rd and the 5th note are away from the 1st note.

We will start with F, its 3rd note is G# and its 5th note is C. The distance from F to G# is 1 and a half steps or 3 frets (Each step equals 2 frets). That rules out F being a major chord because a major chord has a distance of 2 steps or 4 frets from the 1st note to the 3rd note. That means it is either a minor chord or a diminished chord.

Let’s check the distance from F to C. There is 3 and a half steps or 7 frets from the 1st to the 5th. That rules out it being a diminished chord because a diminished chord has 3 steps or 6 frets from the 1st to the 5th. That means it must be a Minor Chord.

To review, a minor chord has 1 and a half steps or 3 frets from the 1st to the 3rd and 3 and a half steps or 7 frets from the 1st to the 5th.

A major chord has 2 steps or 4 fret from the 1st to the 3rd and 3 and a half steps or 7 frets from the 1st to the 5th.

Last, the diminished chord has 1 and a half steps or 3 frets from the 1st to the 3rd and has 3 steps or 6 frets from the 1st to the 5th.

Fill free to figure the rest of them out on your own or read on to find out what they will be. You will find that in every key of the minor scale the 1st is minor, the 2nd is diminished, the 3rd is major, the 4th is minor, the 5th is minor, the 6th is major and the 7th is major. That means in the minor scale key of F, F is minor, G is diminished, G# is major, A# is minor, C is minor, C# is major and D# is major.

Here is some chords you can use in the minor scale key of F.

Minor F

Diminished G

Minor A#

Minor C

Major C#

Major D#

By doing this you will keep every note of every chord in the same scale. You can use notes that are out of the particular key of a scale you are using, but for the most part is best to use notes and chords that are within the given key.
Next lesson, we will talk about how to harmonize your guitar solos and sing in a harmony.

If you have any questions ask them in a comment below and I will answer them as soon as possible.