Chord Tone Practice Tool for Guitar

How to use it

Choose a progression and a key, then a neck area: five frets you’re going to stay inside for the whole progression. Start slow. The point isn’t speed. It’s getting to the next chord’s notes without jumping around the neck to find them.

The dots tell you what each note does in the chord. Black is the root, grey is the 3rd and the 7th, and the outlined dots are the 5th. Label them as intervals or note names, whichever you think in.

If half a beat of warning isn’t enough, set the dots to switch a full beat early. Once a progression feels familiar, set them to switch on the change, so the board follows the music instead of leading it.

Three ways to practise with it

• Land on the change. Play whatever you like, but on the first beat of each new chord, land on one of its dots. That’s the whole exercise. It sounds simple, and it shows you very quickly which changes you’ve been fudging.
• Grey dots only. Ignore the roots and 5ths and play only the 3rds and 7ths. They’re the notes that tell the listener which chord they’re hearing. On a blues in A, the ♭7 of A7 (G) is half a step from the 3rd of D7 (F♯). Move from one to the other across the change and you’ve outlined both chords with two notes.
• Stay put, then move. Get through the whole progression in one area, then move the window up the neck and do it again. Five areas later you know the progression across the neck, and you learned it one position at a time instead of memorising five shapes.

Why not just play the scale?

Because over changes, the notes of a scale aren’t equal. Over A7 going to D7, the C♯ that sounded right a moment ago is now the wrong note, and the scale doesn’t tell you that. Chord tones do. The scale is the map; the chord tones tell you where you are on it. There’s more on the method in Chord Tone Soloing.

It’s also why the tool keeps you in one area of the neck. Most players who know the pentatonic in five positions really know one or two, and move between them out of habit. Working one small area against moving chords teaches you more about the fretboard than running a shape up and down it.

Progressions included

12-bar blues, minor blues, major ii–V–I, minor ii–V–i, I–vi–IV–V, I–V–vi–IV, a I–vi–ii–V turnaround with two beats per chord, and the i–♭VII–♭VI–V minor descent. All of them work in any key, as 7th chords or triads, with an electric piano, pad or guitar backing.

Questions

• Do I need to know theory to use this? No. If you can see a dot and put a finger on it, you can use it. The interval labels are there if you want them, and you’ll pick them up by playing rather than reading.
• What’s the difference between chord tones and scale notes? Chord tones are the notes of the chord that’s playing right now: root, 3rd, 5th and, for 7th chords, the 7th. Scale notes are everything in the key. Chord tones are the strong notes to land on. The rest of the scale is how you get between them.
• Why do the dots change before the chord does? Because you need to see where you’re going before you get there. If the board changed exactly on the beat, you’d always be late. Set it to change on the beat once you don’t need the warning.
• Can I use my own progression? Not yet.