Major Scale and Triads

[FISHYBASS]

I recently got back into playing bass again after over 15 years, and unlike my first experience, I want to incorporate more theory. I have a chart of bass chords (by walrus), but it appears wrong.

If you make triads from the Major Scale, you should get the root, 3rd, and 5th notes. Then 6th's, 7ths so on add the extra 4th note to the cord. Well this chart has an A chord as A-C#-E and B as B-D#-F#, and so on.

I'm seeing some musicians counting sharps and some not. Totally confused here.

[spc]

I'm not sure what your question is...
An A chord is A C# E, and a B is B D# F#,

Could you be a bit more specific?

thanks

[dlloyd]

Originally Posted by FISHYBASS

I recently got back into playing bass again after over 15 years, and unlike my first experience, I want to incorporate more theory. I have a chart of bass chords (by walrus), but it appears wrong.

If you make triads from the Major Scale, you should get the root, 3rd, and 5th notes. Then 6th's, 7ths so on add the extra 4th note to the cord. Well this chart has an A chord as A-C#-E and B as B-D#-F#, and so on.

I'm seeing some musicians counting sharps and some not. Totally confused here.

Make the triads from the major scale, let's say C major:

You get:
CEG
DFA
EGB
FAC
GBD
ACE
BDF

Those triads have different qualities based on the intervals between the root and third and root and fifth

Taking the thirds, the following all have four semitones between them:

CE, FA, GB

and the following have three semitones:

DF, EG, AC, BD

The thirds that are four semitones apart are major thirds, those that are three apart are minor thirds.

With the fifths, all of them except BF are seven semitones apart. We call that a perfect fifth. BF is six semitones apart, which is a diminished fifth.

Major triads are made up of a major third and a perfect fifth, so the following triads are all major chords:

CEG
FAC
GBD

Major chords are refered to just by the root note, so a C chord is CEG

Minor triads are all made up of a minor third and a perfect fifth, so the following triads are all minor chords:

DFA
EGB
ACE

Minor chords are referred to by the root note and a small "m", so those chords are Dm, Em, and Am

The third type of triad is the diminished triad made up of a minor third and a diminished fifth. You would refer to the BDF triad as Bdim or B○

If you wanted an A chord you would have to sharpen the third to make it major.

If you wanted a B chord you would have to sharpen both the third and the fifth to make it major.

[FISHYBASS]

I probably didn't the question very well...sorry. I am just going on the basic diatonic scale

A A# B C C# D D# E F F# G G#

In the example of the A chord, wouldn't C# be the 5th position and not the third (counting the root A as the 1st)?

Does this make more sense now?

[Chipsonfire]

If memory serves my right, in the A major chord the C# is the third position (A being 1, B being 2, C being 3 and so on). You need to make it sharp because, in a major chord the first 2 notes need to be a major third apart (4 half steps) which brings us to the C# (A#, B, C, C#... 1 2 3 4). The next note would be an E, which is a perfect fifth above the A (7 half steps) or you can see it as a minor third above your C# (3 half steps). I hope this helps and if I'm wrong about something please correct me.

[jenderfazz]

Originally Posted by FISHYBASS

A A# B C C# D D# E F F# G G#

In the example of the A chord, wouldn't C# be the 5th position and not the third (counting the root A as the 1st)?

It's the 5th semitone, but the 3rd note in the scale.

It's like saying your scale has 8 notes - A B C# D E F# G# A

But the entire octave has 12 semitones... A A# B C C# D D# E F F# G G#

C# is the 3rd note in the A Major scale, even though it's the 5th semitone in the 12 tone octave.

[dlloyd]

Originally Posted by FISHYBASS

I probably didn't the question very well...sorry. I am just going on the basic diatonic scale

A A# B C C# D D# E F F# G G#

In the example of the A chord, wouldn't C# be the 5th position and not the third (counting the root A as the 1st)?

Does this make more sense now?

I see what's confusing you.

You only count the letter names (A, B, C, D, E, F, G) when identifying the "quantity" of the interval (2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc.)

You count the sharps and flats when identifying the "quality" of the interval (major, minor, perfect, diminished, augmented)

So, the following intervals are all thirds of some variety:

A## C##
A# C##
A C##
Ab C##
Abb C##
A## C#
A# C#
A C#
Ab C#
Abb C#
A## C
A# C
A C
Ab C
Abb C
A## Cb
A# Cb
A Cb
Ab Cb
Abb Cb
A## Cbb
A# Cbb
A Cbb
Ab Cbb
Abb Cbb

Some are major, some are minor, some are diminished, some are augmented, some are double augmented, some are double diminished.

All are thirds because A, B, C = 1, 2, 3

[FISHYBASS]

Thanks guys that helps out big time. It also makes perfect sense. I obviously had some bad instruction somewhere. Although it doesn't make my playing any better...

[sedan_dad]

Oh God ,my head is spinning.

[jtkennedy9]

Would this help me play "Smoke On The Water"?...lol

[iplaybassguitar]

Originally Posted by FISHYBASS

I probably didn't the question very well...sorry. I am just going on the basic diatonic scale

A A# B C C# D D# E F F# G G#

thats the basic chromatic scale...not diatonic.