Chord and Scale Calculator

The calculator is fairly self explanatory, but there are a few things that might be helpful to know. First the color coding is according to the formula value of the respecive major key. So, for example, if you're looking at a "C" chord or a scale in the key of C, a white circle will appear wherever the the note of C occurs. The color white is the most important, because it indicates the "root" of the chord or the "tonic" of the scale. With chords it is usually the first note played, and in a melody it is usually the last note of the scale played to give the melody a finalizing resolve.

Continuing with the example of C, if you click on a minor scale or the chord C minor and then click on the "formula" box, you will see some blue circles labeled with b3 (flat 3). First, that shade of blue corresponds to the formula value of b3. The formula values, as already said, are relative to the major scale. What that means is that the note is flat, or a half-step below the third note of the C major scale. The notes of C major are C, D, E, F, G, A, B; and they are numbered from 1-7 (with 8 often referring to the "octave", or another C at the next higher pitch). The third note of C major is E, so b3 equals Eb, thus the chord C minor with the formula 1-b3-5 (all minor chords have this formula) is made up of the notes: C, Eb, G. Take note that sometimes b3 doesn't refer to a flat note -- it's only flat with respect to the indicated major scale. For example, the notes of D major are D, E, F#, G, A, B, C#. The third note is F#, so b3 in the chord of D minor is a half step lower than F#, which is F. Thus the chord D minor (1-b3-5) consists of the notes D, F, G -- F is the b3 with respect to D but isn't a flat note such as Fb.

Hopefully that makes sense. The best way to get a feel for it is to play with the calculator. Change the note value of the minor chords with the slider, and switch between "notes" and "formula". With a minor chord, you'll notice that the formula is always 1-b3-5, then switch to "notes" to see what notes make up the chord.

You may also notice that some colors have different formula values displayed. For example, #9 has the same color of blue as b3 does (check out the dominant sharp 9 chord). That's because there's no difference between a #9 and a b3. Since 9 goes past the octave (a value of 8), #9 is equivelent to #2. and a half-step above 2 is equivalent to a half-step below 3. Another example is that bb7 (flat flat 7) is equivalent to 6. Formula values are sometimes just different ways of saying the same thing.

On the left side of the calculator, often small colored circles will appear to the left of the nut. These indicate that the open strings are part of the chord or scale, and the colors indicate the relative scale values.

The calculator only shows 14 frets, whereas guitars have 20 or more. That's because everything repeats after the 12th fret. In other words the 12th fret is almost like a second nut. The small white dots on the diagram should help to orient you in playing anything above the 12th fret.

Enough already! :) Playing with the calculator will teach you much faster than all these word.

The Major Chords

The following chord diagram is color-coded according to recommended finger usage, where blue is for the index finger, yellow is the middle finger, green is the ring finger, and magenta is for the little finger. The numbers inside the colored circles represent the numeric values of the scale. For example, for the C major chord, the numers 1-7 correspond to the notes of the C major scale: C, D, E, F, G, A, B. Since major chords consist of the first, third and fifth notes of the scale, only the numbers, 1, 3, and 5 appear in the major chord diagram. These numbers also appear at the top of the diagram when open strings are to be played.

On the left hand side of the diagram are the numbers for the frets, and at the bottom are the notes of the chord that are played. X's at the top of the diagram indicate that the string is not to be played. In some cases the string should be muffled with one of the left-hand fingers.

Much more to come!