This Beginner's Guide to Guitar Soloing™ is brought to you by the following sponsors: JoeGuitar.com Professional Music Products 99dollarGuitars.com Guitars, Effects, Basses, even Keyboards. Mostly under $99!   Introduction to Chord/Scale Relationships So far, we've explored different types of chords and how to play them. We have seen that chords are derived from the major scale and that, by changing some of the notes, we can make a major chord minor or dominant. In this lesson, we'll take a look at the relationship between the various types of chords and scales and see how they work together in a melody or as a basis for improvisation. Earlier, we built chords from the major scale. By flatting the third and/or the seventh, we derived the major, minor and dominant chord types. The table below is a summary of these chord types: Major 1 3 5   Minor 1 b3 5   Maj 7 1 3 5 7 Min 7 1 b3 5 b7 Dom 7 1 3 5 b7 color tones = 3rd and 7th The chord is defined by the 3rd and the 7th. It is the 3rd and 7th that determine the chord as major, minor or dominant. We'll call these notes color tones. Generally, scales are defined by the same color tones. Any scale with a natural 3rd and 7th is major. Conversely, a scale with a flat 3rd and 7th is minor and a scale with a natural 3rd and a flat 7th is dominant. Pictured above is the C major scale. To the right of the scale is the C major chord. Notice that like the chord, the scale has no sharps or flats and that the chord tones (notes) are the 1, 3, 5 & 7 from the scale. It is common in music to use these scale tones to make a melody to be played over the Cmaj or Cmaj7 chord. There is also a chord/scale relationship between minor scales and minor chords. Pictured above is a minor scale and a minor chord. Notice that these have the b3 and b7 in common. Again, it is typical in music to use this scale for melody notes to work over the Cmin or Cmin7 chord. At this point, you should begin to see a pattern develop. Again the chord tones are derived from the scale. In this case, both are dominant. In music, there is always a relationship between the scale tones that make up the melody and the chord that supports it. There are many different types of chords and, in some cases, more than one scale will work over a given chord, and vise versa. One example of this is the minor scale pictured above. This scale has a b3 and b7 making it minor. But, in the previous lesson (Major/Relative Minor), the relative minor scale also had the b6 interval. Both scales may be used to create a workable melody over a minor chord. Each has a unique timbre as the result of the natural vs. flat 6th. Soon, we'll begin to explore the many possibilities that exist for many chords.