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The theory of chord construction is no more complex then learning formulas in Math. If you weren’t very good at math at school then I’ll let you know that the numbers you are working with a quite small and you don’t need any other arithmetic skill then you would have in early grade school.

It is important to understand Major Scale theory. Scale theory can get a little complex and complete knowledge of all scales is unnecessary for understand how chord is constructed.

During these chord examples that I will go through, a chord will be often referred to as a triad. Triad being a group of three notes that harmonise together.

Some Quick Major Scale Theory (start here):
A major scale is a group of 7 different notes and an octave. We can start on any note but for this example we’ll use C. When starting on C, creating a C major Scale there are no Sharps or Flats. So a C Major scale will run through like this

C Major - c,d,e,f,g,a,b,c

The formula for creating a major scale needs to be understood. Each increment of increasing pitch is called a half tone. For example: going from C to C# would be considered to be a Half Tone (also known as a half step). If we W to represent a Whole Tone or Whole Step (being two half tones or the step from a C to D) and H to represent a Half Tone or Half Step (the Step up from C to C#) we can create a Major Scale formula that looks like this:

Major Scale Formula: W-W-H-W-W-W-H

Here’s a chart to make it as clear as possible (note: we refer to first C in this scale as the ROOT):

The final thing that you need to know is that each note is represented in chord construction theory as the 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc or ROOT, 2,3,4,5,6,7. You’ll also need to know that when when we play the note as is ,without a flat or sharp, it will be accompanied by M or P, example M3 meaning the major third or P5 which is a perfect 5th). If a note is flat it will be represented as something like m3 - further examples will be included when it is pertinent do so.

With that information in hand you can start creating Chords on your own, with your instrument and without a chord chart. The best way to work through the knowledge would be with Keyboard or Piano.

I’ve done my best to keep all this information as simple as I can. Read through it a couple times and refer back to this post if required.

Well as a muso you may find that you’re not really interested in working for the ‘MAN’. Well, if you’re a bass player you’ll probably have a small stream of income coming in as where usually well educated musicians. Although Bass seems easy to play, it isn’t really if you want to do it well.
What would be great is that if you could continue playing music and another income stream that allowed you to be creative and even include your passion every step of the way. That’s what I do. In the process of finding alternative incomes I’ve developed some great internet savvy. I know what affiliate programs you can put on your sites to earn money and even how to build sites that convert well. I know where to purchase the traffic as well. Most importantly, I know who are the big rip-offs. I write about all of this in my Affiliate List Blog.

So, if you want to earn money on the net, learn about how I do it at The Affiliate List. This is not a scam, and I don’t want your money. This isn’t a system or pyramid selling scheme, you will not be telling your neighbors about this stuff. You’ll still have to work-out what affiliate programs and adzone selling partners you will have. This is also not easy money, but it is ongoing and residual.

Hey, we have a site/blog that we are developing called Audio Mixing. It has some great software recommendations and some other tech info stuff. Pretty soon I’ll be writing articles for local magazine and I’ll be duplicating them to the blog. You’ll be able to learn about ringing out systems, cabling standards, rigging, mixing and recording techniques and all that good educational stuff.

Well this almost a copy of a post I have on my guitar player blog but everyone really needs to see this. As a bass player I look at this, I see it’s simplicity, I learn it, I play, it grooves. If you’re a guitarist you see how special the groove is and wonder why you didn’t take up bass. Guitarist will also develop a new respect for the bass guitar. There are a lot of rules in bass that you can’t stray from. Timing is paramount and rules of scale theory and chord construction need to be the rudiments. Patterns matter a lot less on bass and you need to be scrolling through music notation in your head when you’re playing anything off the root note.

Well here it is, probably the best Seinfeld Theme song performance on bass readily available on the internet.

STRINGS AND TUNING: Guitars have strings, true. Electric guitars usually have plain steel strings with Low E, A and D wound in a steel material usually nickel. The higher strings are not would and are just varias guages of plain steel. Occasionally a guitarist feels it necessary to have a wound G. This is consistent with the usual set up of an acoustic guitar but not generally applied to the electric variety.

INTONATION:
Intonation is the note a string rings at a given point of the neck. When your intonation is out it means that notes are not sounding at certain frets as they should (either sharper or flatter). There are factors that effect an instruments intonation, some are - string guage, string composite and the age of the strings. Tired old strings will not vibrate as they should. It is possible to stretch a string unevenly this will cause the vibration of the string to differ from that of a new string and will force intonation to ‘go-out’. It is advised for that reason to never set an instruments intonation with old strings. That’s true for any stringed instrument. Remember when setting intonation on a guitar that by lengthening the strings ability to ring will lower the note value at any given point of the neck.