Chords for This Simple Pattern Tells You Every Chord In Every Key (this blew me away!)

Welcome to your chordal guitar lesson of the week.
Today I'm gonna show you a pattern on the fretboard
that's going to help tremendously to find out
which chords are in [C] any major or minor key.
I have met with an old teacher of mine in the last days.
It's been several years since I last saw him.
And he said, Antoine, you've gotta learn this trick.
I've been teaching it to my new students in the last months.
And it does wonder for them to understand
_ harmonization quicker and better.
And at first I was really skeptic
because the usual way to learn about _ harmonization
is to learn your scales, your tones and semitones,
and the order of the chords in a _ harmonization.
You have to learn this by heart usually.
So let's say I am in the key of C major.
I have to know my whole C major scale
[D] _ [E] _ [F] _ [Em] _ [A] _ [B] _ [C] _ _
in order to be able to take that scale
and make chords on each of the notes.
[Dm] _ [Em] _
[F] _ [G] _ _ [Am] _ [Em] _ [C] _ _ _
But in order to master this,
you have to know your tones and semitones.
So how the scale goes, it's [D] like [E] tone, tone,
[F] [Cm] semitone, [C] tone, [B] tone, [Cm] semitone, tone.
And [Dm] then you need to know that the first chord is major
and then it's minor, minor, [F] [E] major, major, minor,
_ [C] diminished and major.
It's like, whoa, whoa, slower, please.
It's like too much at the same time.
But it's how we usually learn a harmonization, right?
And if you learn like that, it's good for you
because you can memorize the order of the notes
and the structures of the chords,
but you get comfortable in the key you're practicing in.
That's the problem.
You are going to get comfortable in C [D] major.
_ [Ab] And then if I ask you to play in the key of,
let's say, A flat major, you are going to be lost.
You are going to be, okay,
_ I don't know where I am at right now.
So the pattern I am teaching you right now,
you can know in any key and [C] super easily.
So let's say we stay in the key of C major. _
We are going to locate the C note on the sixth string.
So it is here on the eighth fret.
_ _ _ From that point,
you are going to play a simple power chord _ _ like this.
So you play your index on the eighth fret
of the sixth string,
and then your ring finger on the 10th fret
of the fifth string.
_ _ _ _ And then we are going to play an extra note
that is going to be on the fifth string
just below your fretted note on the sixth string.
So you are going to play this [F] _ [G] _ _ _ like [C] this.
So [F] C, [G] F, G in our [D] case, one, four, five.
If we count the note of the scale,
[C] _ _
[E] it's one, [F] _ [G] four, five, [C]
right?
[F] So this little pattern is super simple,
but super important.
_ [G] _ So [Eb] this is our first pattern.
What we are going to do now is to go down three frets.
So [Bb] one, [A] two, three.
So now we are on the fifth fret,
and we are going to repeat the same exact pattern.
[D] _ [E] _ _ So the same notes at the [D] same place.
[E] _ So now we [C] have this here,
[F] _ [G] _ _ _ and three frets higher, one, [D] two, three.
We have the same pattern. _
[E] _ And [B] now we just need one more note.
We still keep our ring finger,
and we play the notes on the sixth string _ here.
So [F] now we have this,
_ [G] _ then three frets [D] down,
_ [A] and this note [B] here. _
_ So by doing this,
we end up having all the notes of our C major scale, [C] right?
_ _ [D] _ [E] _ [C] I have [D] C, [E] D, [F] E, [G] F, [A] G, [B] A, B, _
[C] and going [F] back to C.
So I have all seven notes.
And what is wonderful with these patterns
is now all the chords are pre-organized for you.
So in this first pattern here, starting from C,
[G] _
_ [F] we know that the first note we play here is our root note.
So it tells what is our key.
So now we know that we are in the key of C major
because we start on C right here.
So the first pattern of three notes _
[G] are [C] going to be your major chords.
So if you build a chord from each of those notes,
you are going to build C major, _ _ _
[F] F major,
[Dm] _ _ and G [G] major.
_ _ [C] So, _
[F] _ _ [G] _ _ _ and [D] then the pattern, which is three frets below,
[E] _
[D] you are going to build _ minor chords only.
So now you have A, D, [A] E.
So you are going to build A _ [Am] minor, _
_ [D] D [Dm] minor,
_ and E [Em] minor.
_ _ _ [B] And the lone note that was here,
the little B, is the exception.
This is going to be the diminished chord. _
_ _ _ So you have [C] this _ major.
_ [F] _ [G] _ _ [D] This is going to be minor _ [Am] structures.
[Dm] _ _
[Em] _ And [B] then you have your diminished as the _ only missing note. _ _
_ _ Super easy to _ understand, to locate, and to remember.
And now you know all the chord structures
in a C major key, right?
So if I play all the chords not in [C] our pattern order,
but in the regular order,
you have [Dm] _ _ [Em] _ [F] _
_ [G] _ _ [Am] _ _ [B] _ _ [C] _
_ _ all your seven chords in the harmonization,
and you didn't have to memorize anything
aside from this [G] little _ [D] _ [E] _ _
[Bm] _ pattern.
[C] This is blowing my mind because this is an easy trick,
and you can be more fluent in any key right now.
So let's say that you learn it,
_ you usually learned your harmonization in C major, right?
[Dm] _ [Em] _ [F] _ [G] _ [Am] _ _ [B] _ [C] _
_ _ And you are confused when you need to pick up
a different key that is less used.
Like I say, let's pick the key of A flat major.
Sometimes [Ab] it's hard to [Bbm] _
[Ab] know where you're at,
but now with this little trick, you can do it.
So you locate your A flat note on the sixth string,
which is on the fourth fret. _
You do your little pattern.
[Db] _ [Eb] _
So now [Ab] you know that these three notes
are going _ to build major chords.
_ [Db] _ _
[Eb] _ So you automatically know that the three major chords
in the key of A flat [Ab] major are A flat,
_ _ [Db] D flat major, and E [Eb] flat major.
_ And then if you want to know the rest of the chords,
you go three frets down from this point,
[Gb] one, two, [F] three, and then you play your little pattern.
[Bb] _ [C] _ _ So now [Fm] we have [Bb] F, B [C] flat, and C.
So you know that the minor chords in the key of A flat major
are going to [Fm] be F minor, _ _ _ [Bbm] B flat minor, _ _ and [Cm] C minor. _
And then [G] the little note that is missing here
is going to be a diminished chord.
_ So we are going [Ab] to have a G diminished.
So in the key of A flat major, this is really easy.
You have, [Db] _ [Eb] _ _ _ [Fm] _ _
[Bbm] _ [Cm] _ _ _ _ [G] _ and [Ab] if you want to play them in order, _ _ [Bbm] _ _
[Cm] _ _ [Db] _ _ [Eb] _ _ _ [Fm] _
_ [Gb] _ _ [Ab] _ _ _ _ _
super [F] easy.
But now maybe you're thinking, okay, that's right.
Now I can know any chord in any major key,
but what do I do for minor keys?
Because you say you start from your root note.
You know that it's your major key,
and then you do your pattern,
but it doesn't work for minor.
Yes, it works for minor.
You just have to do the opposite.
So let's say I want to know what are the chords
in the key of C minor, right?
So I'm gonna start here and do the same pattern.
[Cm] _ _
_ But now I know that my root note is in minor.
So these three chords are going to be minor chords.
So I'm going to have C minor, _ F [Fm] minor, and [Gm] G minor, _ [G] _ [Cm] right?
[Fm] _ [Gm] But now instead of going three frets [Cm] down,
we are going to go three frets up.
It's logical, right?
Because now we are doing the opposite.
So I have these [Fm] three, [Gm] _ and [Am] then I start from my C
and I [Dbm] go [D] one, [Eb] two, three.
So from this point, I do the same pattern again,
_ but now it's gonna be major chords.
[Ab] _ _
[Bb] _ _ _ And don't forget that the little diminished note
is always going to be on the pattern
of your minor chords, right?
So if I start [F] here [Cm] and I have my minor chords,
[Fm] _ [Gm] _ it means [D] that the little added note with my ring finger
is still going to be _ around the minor chords.
So my diminished chord is going to be here.
So the chords for C minor, [Cm] in the key of C minor,
are going to be, _ [D] _ _
_ [Eb] _ _ _ _ [Fm] _ _ [Gm] _
_ [Ab] _ _ _ [Bb] _ _ _ [Cm] _
_ right, because of my pattern _
[Fm] and [Gm] _ _ [Ab] _ [Eb] _ _ [Ab] _ [Bb] _
the [D] little note. _ _ _ _
_ And you don't even have to start from the sixth string.
You could start from anywhere.
So let's say you want to find it in the key of D major.
If you start here, _ maybe it's going,
if it's very up on the fretboard,
it's a little bit _ restrained to play some barre chords.
So you could play your D note on the fifth string.
So my index is on the fifth fret of the fifth string
and play the same pattern.
[A] _ _ [D] And then I could build my chords,
my major chords from here.
_ [G] _ _ [A] _
_ _ [Db] And then three frets down
[B] _
and play my minor chords [E] from [Bm] here. _ _
_ [Em] _ _ [Gbm] _ _ And then [Db] my _ _ little diminished chord. _
So in the key of D [A] major, if I don't want to play here,
I [D] can play here _ and _ [Em] _
_ [Gbm] _ _ [G] _ _ [A] _ _ [Bm] _
_ [Db] _ [D] _ _ know all the chords.
So I hope this is very helpful to you.
_ This is blowing me away that I didn't know that before,
but this is a great way to learn _ harmonization. _
That being said, this is a quick, easy way.
This is a little shortcut,
but there are many benefits to learn it by heart
and know your tones and semitones
and know the structure of the chords by really studying it.
So if you want to go further,
you can check out my free mini course
by clicking on the first link in the description box.
In this course, I am teaching you _ ambient guitar chords,
which are spread triads.
And the second module, we are studying _ harmonization.
So I make you find the chords of your harmonization
so you are more fluent to play any chord in any key
without having to rely on any kind of trick.
So if you want to go further,
go sign up for my free mini course.
It's completely for free.
It's my gift to you.
So you should take it.
All right, thank you very much for watching my lesson.
And until next time.