The previous chord theory post looked at extending chords past the seventh by adding ‘tensions’. Tensions are the more ‘colourful’ notes of the chord and add interest to the basic chord’s sound. Adding tensions to triads is a way of adding more colour to triads, without needing to include the seventh.
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Unlike all of the chords we have learned about so far, suspended chords are not major nor minor, and are not built in thirds.
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In the previous chords post we learned about seventh chords. Today we are going to add even more notes on top to create extended chords.
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This post looks at applying modes in the context of melodic construction (such as in composition or improvisation) over a predefined chord progression. Specifically we are going to learn about scale choices, and finding the most appropriate modes and scales for given chords. In fact, modes and chords are really just two different ways of thinking about what is essentially the same thing (so its definitely worth making sure that your chord theory is up to scratch).
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In the last chord families post we looked at every possible three note combination of stacked major and minor thirds. Today we’re going to look at each of the four note combinations.
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Many guitar students know a few open chords and the ‘basic’ barre chord shapes, but get discouraged from furthering their chord vocabulary due to off-putting nomenclature (Gb7#9b13 anybody?) and immense (not to mention mostly useless) chord dictionaries with ‘10,000 Chords You Must Know’ – just where is the student supposed to start? And what is a ’sus’ chord, an ‘augmented’ or a ‘diminished’ chord, anyway?
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Today I’m taking a break from the modes series and writing a post on intervals and scale degrees. Although intervals are kind of ‘boring’ as far as theory goes (not ‘cool’ like modes or fancy jazz harmony) they do form the basis of everything in Western music. They are some of the fundamental stepping stones to a deeper understanding and appreciation of the music we play and love (I’ll get back to fun modes stuff next week 
).
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Ok, one last post on modal theory… then we can start getting in to the practical stuff.
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Lets explore the interval structure of the modes.
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In the last modes post I introduced all of the modes of the major scale, and included the fretboard diagrams of each of the CAGED positions of each of the modes. Today we’re going to look closer at how the CAGED system and the modes work together.
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