Course: Beginning Chord Harmony

Overview

Harmony describes which notes and chords sound good together, and how to evoke certain feelings with certain combinations of sounds.

This course shows what to do with the E-shape Movable Chords and E-shape Scales we've already learned, to make them actually sound like music. It mostly focuses on how chords fit together in a major key. For more information, see Introduction to Harmony on Guitar and Minor Key Harmony.

Playing up and down the neck

Because these concepts are illustrated with only E-shape chords, playing the examples involves jumping across long distances up and down the neck. This is challenging at first, but it's worth doing. It gives a visceral sense of the interval distance between the chords, and helps us get comfortable playing all over the fretboard. With a bit of practice, it becomes surprisingly natural and almost automatic.

Later lessons will explore these concepts using multiple chord shapes so they aren't so far apart. This makes the changes easier to play, but not easier to understand. See Intermediate Chord Harmony and Position Playing in a Major Key to learn more.

Lessons