FALKEN said:
I don't know of a resource....never needed one. You could just learn the notes in the scale and how to build chords off of them. for instance, Emajor is
E F# G# A B C# D# E
you can build a chord off of any note in that scale.
E major is E G# B
F# minor is F# A C#
G# minor is G# B D#
A major is A C# E
B major is B D# E
C# minor is C# E F#
D# dimished is D# F# A
do you see the pattern?? each chord is built off of the 1st, 3rd, and 5th note in the scale, counting forward from the root. you can add the 7th note of the scale counting forward...for instance F#m7 would be F# A C# E. it works the same in any scale....
an inversion is simply putting the 3rd, 5th, or 7th of the chord below the root. so F#m7 first inversion is A in the root, and any combination of A, C#, and E above that.
Good information. Just to clear a few things about chords up a bit...
the 1st 3rd and 5th aren't actually from any scale itself when talking about chords. The numbers actually come from the musical staff used to read music.
Intervals and Major chords
Whatever the root note is of any chord is usually the 1st interval of the chord. The exception being when a chord is inverted, but that information can be ignored here. For this explaination we are going to assume that the root note is always the 1st interval. To build a chord: based off of the 1st interval, count on the musical staff, 3 notes up (this includes counting the 1st.) The last note that you count will be called the 3rd interval of the root. Now, starting with the 3rd interval count again, 3 notes up the staff. The last note that you count will be the 3rd interval of the 3rd, it is also the 5th interval of the root. This stacking of thirds builds a chord containing the 1st (or root,) 3rd, and 5th intervals. The chord itself is called a Triad, or also a major barre chord on the guitar.
Minor Chords
Intervals 2, 3, 6, and 7 can be minor or major. When reading sheet music, a major interval and a minor interval will have the same location on the musical staff. The defining attribute is the amount of half steps that are played. For example, in the key of C major, an interval containing a C and E is a major third. But if the E is flattened by one half step it is then called a minor 3rd. So a triad containing the 1st, minor 3rd, and the 5th is called a minor barre chord on the guitar.
Power Chords
Each note generates a specific frequency. When you have two notes, the difference between their frequencies is called the tonal difference. The tonal difference between a 5th interval (the root and 5th) is equal to the frequency of the 3rd interval. This is why 5th interval double stops (a power chord) sound cool.
Inverted Power Chords
By inverting a power chord the root becomes the 4th interval and the 5th interval becomes the root. The tonal difference between a 4th interval is a the minor 3rd interval (or augmented 2nd.) Generally power chords imply a major bar chord while inverted power chords imply a minor bar chord. An example of a 4th interval double stop is D and A. It sounds the same harmonically as a 5th interval double stop of D.
For more complex chords you need to understand how intervals work first.
Scale Patterens
A box pattern of the Major scales (demonstrated using G Major)
On the low E string (by frets)
3rd; 5th; 7th
A string:
3rd; 5th; 7th
D string:
4th; 5th; 7th
G string:
4th; 5th; 7th
B string:
5th; 7th; 8th
High E string:
5th; 7th; 8th
A box pattern of the Minor scales (demonstrated using E minor)
On the low E string (by frets)
zero; 2nd; 3rd
A string:
zero; 2nd; 3rd
D string:
zero; 2nd; 4th
G string:
zero; 2nd
B string:
zero; 1st; 3rd
High E string:
zero; 2nd; 3rd
Whats major and whats minor
The pattern is as follows (using scale steps)
1st - major
2nd - minor
3rd - minor
4th - major
5th - major
6th - minor
7th - diminshed
an easy way to remeber it: most rock songs use a 1, 4, 5 progression; 1, 4, and 5 are the only major scale steps.
Relative minors
In any Major scale the sixth interval (or scale step) is refered to as the Relative minor of the key. In G Major its E minor. You will notice when you play the patterens above that G major and E minor both contain exactly the same notes. This is the case with all Major scales and harmonic minor scales. The difference is that the emphasis of tonality is placed on different notes for each scale.
Modes
In the Major scale the 1st 4th and 5th intervals are Tonal. The 2nd 3rd 6th and 7th are Modal, meaning they are subject to change. To find the unknown chord your probabily are going to have to know what mode (or modes) the melody is in. I would imagine that the chord is from the same mode that the melody is in. Modes are one of the last things to learn in music theory as far as i am aware of.