What is the difference between chords and scales

What is a chord and what is a scale when it comes to playing the piano? Different people have different definitions and slightly altered ways of looking at it. As you go more into music theory you might start to develop a different take.

When you see a pianist playing three or more notes at the same time, pressing them together, that is usually them playing a chord. When you see a pianist playing a melody, moving up and down the piano, often one note at a time, that will be along a scale. This is an incredibly simple way of putting it. For a beginner who wants to work out the difference between chords and scales, though, this is a good way of trying to make sense of it.

Put a sticker on each of these notes on your piano, and you are playing the scale in question, this is the C Major scale. Play them in any order or rhythm, you are still on this particular scale. There are different scales. Note: The progressions listed in the Common Chord Progressions 1 are in the key of G; you will need to move your Am pentatonic scale up to the twelfth fret which will then make it a G major pentatonic scale. See the diagram below.

After you have become proficient playing the minor pentatonic scale with a backing track, the next step is to develop phrasing. Think of it this way — learning the scale is similar to learning the alphabet, whereas phrasing is similar to learning how to make words and put them into a thoughtful sentence. A very common type of phrasing is actually called a sentence. It consists of three parts: the initial riff, an exact repeat or slight variation of the initial riff followed by a movement to a resting point.

If you are ready for this step, check out my lesson How To Create Interesting Solos on the lessons page. The blues scale is the minor pentatonic scale with an added blue note — a raised 4th. It creates added dissonance and adds more expressive possibilities to the minor pentatonic scale. Use this scale with the twelve bar blues to create that authentic bluesy sound. Note: in the diagram below there are two blue notes; however, they are the same note an octave apart.

The natural minor scale or aeolian mode can be easily learned by adding notes to the minor pentatonic scale. Practice hearing the difference between the minor pentatonic and natural minor scales.

The sound of each scale is unique. As you gain experience, you will be able to move between these scales and create variety in your lead playing. Forums New posts Search forums. What's new New posts New profile posts Latest activity. Members Current visitors New profile posts Search profile posts. Log in Register. Search titles only. Search Advanced search…. New posts.

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So, you can say that chords are a group of tones belonging to a scale. When you know the scale and how the notes are arranged on the fretboard you can catch on to the related chords. The scales are often easy to learn on the guitar because they are of the same patterns, often referred to as a "box", and can be moved to another fret starting on another root note. All scales in a certain category have the same interval formula, this become even more apparent if you are learning piano scales.