Lesson 17

Constructing Arpeggios by using the C Major Ionian Scale

Pentatonic means the five note scale. So remember, the pentatonic scale will only have 5 notes. The major scale has 7 notes. 

You can play this as an arpeggio or strum it as a C chord. Start with the C note, 8th fret 4 finger. The E note is played with the 3 finger and the G C and E notes are played with the 1 finger. Play this chord and then play the C chord in the open position and compare the sound. But also try to see the chord relation to the scale it is formed in. You can move this chord around and play other chords. The note on the Low E string determines the chord. If you moved this fingering to the 5th fret you could play the A  chord in a totally different way. Move it around and experiment. But most of all, try to see how the chords relate to the scale it is from. In this case, notice how each chord lays over the key of C major. 

Play the C chord and then play this scale starting from the Low E string C note 8th fret to the C note on the high E string 8th fret. Notice how these notes sound nice over the C chord. Now pick the notes of the C chord. Pick on the C E and G notes. These are the notes of the C Chord. 

To play the Dm chord in this position you would bar the 5th fret with your 1 finger. Use your 2 finger on the F note. Use your 3 and 4 finger on the A and D notes. You can move this fingering around to play other chords as well. This is a root 5 movable minor chord. The note on the A string determines the chord. By moving this chord to the 7th fret you would be playing the Em chord. Move it to the 2nd fret and you are playing the Bm chord.

There is one important thing to realize about all of these chords. One way or another each of them have the same fingerings as the open position chords. For Example, notice that this F chord has the Same fingering pattern as the open D chord. We know that the open D chord is at the 2nd fret, but if you move the D chord up to the fifth fret, it would now be the F chord. If you move the open D chord to the 4th fret it would be the E chord. Of course you would have to use a little different fingering to play the complete chord, but you should understand all of this. Also notice if you bar the 5th fret, the F chord would have the fingering of the open C chord. This is where the capo comes in to play. But you can use your 1 finger in place of the Capo to play this chord and others. 

One of the most important things to understand is the note and chord placement. Once you become comfortable playing chords in different positions, you can use these chords for little fills. Or you will begin to use just parts of each chord in your rhythm and lead work. You may only play two notes of each chord as a cool fill.

Assignments:

This illustrates the key of G major or G Ionian. Notice the only note that is different from the key of C major is the F# note in G. The key of C major has the F note. However, the chords are different in the key of G major. G, Am, Bm, C, D, Em F# dim. But the key of G major has the Am and Em like that of the C major key. 

So you can either play G Mixolydian or G Ionian over the G chord. Or E Aeolian or E Phrygian over the Em chord. To take things a little further, you can play E blues, Em pentatonic or G major pentatonic over the G chord if you wanted to. Each key or mode will always have the notes of that chord in it. Look at illustration 2 above and look at the G major chord. G B and D. Em E, B and G. Am chord, A, C, E. C chord, C, E and G. Notice that C major is also in G major. 

These two scales are very popular and can be inter changed in your lead work. You can find Em pentatonic above, since Em is in G major. It is also in C major above. Am in both, C major in both. You will eventually see that you should learn how to play the Aeolian mode, the Dorian mode and the Ionian mode in every key. But pay particular attention to A major, C major, E major and G major keys to start with. Once you master the Key of C major, the other keys have the same fingering, but different positions. Use the blank illustrations and fill in every note in the Key of G major. Then learn each pattern. This will become second nature eventually.

Good Luck,