Adding Chromatic Notes to Keys
Many melodies use notes from outside the major scale, particularly in styles such as Blues, Jazz, Rock and Funk. These extra notes relate to the chromatic scale starting on the same note as the major scale of the key the music is written in. Therefore, if you have a piece of music in the key of C which contains notes which are not in the C major scale, you can relate those notes to the C chromatic scale.
The "in between" notes in the chromatic scale can be described as either sharps or flats. Because of the way scales and chords are constructed, flats are used more often than sharps. Here once again is the C chromatic scale with scale degrees written under the notes. The scale degrees written here relate to the natural notes and the flat notes. The sharps are enharmonic equivalents, which means they are the same pitch (e.g., C# =Db and F# =Gb).
The following example demonstrates a melody in the key of C which contains notes from outside the major scale.
Here is the melody from the previous example transposed to the keys of F and G. Once again, you should transpose it to all the other keys. Before doing this it is worth learning to play the chromatic scale starting on any note. Once you can do this, you will find it easier to play melodies in any key and also make it easier to transpose any melody that you learn in any key.
Here is a Rock guitar example which makes use of power chords, major chords and chromatic notes. Although this example is in the key of A, it is not strictly in a major or minor key, but makes use of elements of both. This is common in all modern music. Whatever sounds good is ultimately the best thing to play, regardless of what scale, chord or key it comes from. Experiment with all the sounds you have learned and have fun with them.
Rhythm Pattern
Here is another fingerpicking piece which moves between various positions on the fretboard. This piece is based on the clawhammer style which you learned in lesson 31. In bar 3 the symbol B II (4) indicates that a 4-string (4) bar (B) is used at the second fret (B II ). In bars 17 to 20 the picking pattern used is:
The style of this piece is called Ragtime, which was very popular at the beginning of the 20th Century. To learn more about this style, and fingerpicking in general, see Progressive Complete Learn to Play Fingerpicking Guitar Manual.
