Lesson 13 · Part 3, Hearing the changes

Which note now

Your five notes do not change as the chords go past, but their jobs do, and the score says which job each one has in each bar.

In Part 2 you played one box through all twelve bars, and it worked. Nothing under your hand changed while you did it — the chords changed underneath. This lesson is about what that does to the notes you are holding.

Take one note at a time. A note that belongs to the chord sounding now is a place you can stop: land on it, hold it, and it sounds settled. A note that does not belong is still yours to play, but it wants to go somewhere, and where it wants to go depends on the chord. That is the whole of it, and the figure below is that answer for every note in every bar.

Where every note lands, bar by bar

1A72A73A74A75D76D77A78A79E710D711A712E7A1A rests over A7A rests over A7A rests over A7A rests over A7A rests over D7A rests over D7A rests over A7A rests over A7A leans onto G♯ over E7A rests over D7A rests over A7A leans onto G♯ over E7Bin E7B sits outside over A7B sits outside over A7B sits outside over A7B sits outside over A7B sits outside over D7B sits outside over D7B sits outside over A7B sits outside over A7B is the chord’s own note over E7B sits outside over D7B sits outside over A7B is the chord’s own note over E7C♭3C bends up over A7C bends up over A7C bends up over A7C bends up over A7C rests over D7C rests over D7C bends up over A7C bends up over A7C leans onto B over E7C rests over D7C bends up over A7C leans onto B over E7C♯in A7C♯ is the chord’s own note over A7C♯ is the chord’s own note over A7C♯ is the chord’s own note over A7C♯ is the chord’s own note over A7C♯ sits outside over D7C♯ sits outside over D7C♯ is the chord’s own note over A7C♯ is the chord’s own note over A7C♯ sits outside over E7C♯ sits outside over D7C♯ is the chord’s own note over A7C♯ sits outside over E7D4D leans onto C♯ over A7D leans onto C♯ over A7D leans onto C♯ over A7D leans onto C♯ over A7D rests over D7D rests over D7D leans onto C♯ over A7D leans onto C♯ over A7D rests over E7D rests over D7D leans onto C♯ over A7D rests over E7E5E rests over A7E rests over A7E rests over A7E rests over A7E passes through over D7E passes through over D7E rests over A7E rests over A7E rests over E7E passes through over D7E rests over A7E rests over E7F♯in D7F♯ sits outside over A7F♯ sits outside over A7F♯ sits outside over A7F♯ sits outside over A7F♯ is the chord’s own note over D7F♯ is the chord’s own note over D7F♯ sits outside over A7F♯ sits outside over A7F♯ sits outside over E7F♯ is the chord’s own note over D7F♯ sits outside over A7F♯ sits outside over E7G♭7G rests over A7G rests over A7G rests over A7G rests over A7G leans onto F♯ over D7G leans onto F♯ over D7G rests over A7G rests over A7G bends up over E7G leans onto F♯ over D7G rests over A7G bends up over E7G♯in E7G♯ sits outside over A7G♯ sits outside over A7G♯ sits outside over A7G♯ sits outside over A7G♯ sits outside over D7G♯ sits outside over D7G♯ sits outside over A7G♯ sits outside over A7G♯ is the chord’s own note over E7G♯ sits outside over D7G♯ sits outside over A7G♯ is the chord’s own note over E7

C bends up over A7 C bends up over A7 C bends up over A7 C bends up over A7 C rests over D7 C rests over D7 C bends up over A7 C bends up over A7 C leans onto B over E7 C rests over D7 C bends up over A7 C leans onto B over E7

Read along the C row: it bends up over A7, rests over D7 and leans onto B over E7. A filled disc is a note you can stop on, a smaller one passes through, a tick under it leans onto the note below, a tick over it bends up into the note above, a diamond is a note the chord has and the scale does not and a small dot is a note that belongs to neither.

Rows are notes and columns are bars. Your five notes have a degree beside them — 1, ♭3, 4, 5, ♭7 — and the rows without one are notes the chords have and your box does not. They are drawn because they are worth knowing about: a diamond is a note the chord is sounding that you will not find under your hand.

Read down the first column and you have bar one. Read along a row and you have one note’s life through the whole form. Both readings are useful, and the second is the one players practice: pick a note, follow it across, and you learn where it is safe and where it is asking to move.

The same neck, chord by chord

The box, repainted for each chord

  • land a note of the chord, so a phrase that stops here sounds finished
  • your root A, the root of your scale rather than of the chord, and every number on the neck is a degree counted from it
  • bend a place to land, a semitone below the chord's 3rd, so bend the string up into it
  • pass in your scale but not in the chord, so move through it on the way to a chord tone
  • leans a semitone above a chord tone, so it wants to fall onto that tone
A7 · I7 · bars 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 11
EADGBE567894415♭7155♭71♭3♭3♭3
D7 · IV7 · bars 5, 6, 10
EADGBE56789555♭7♭71♭341♭341♭3
E7 · V7 · bars 9, 12
EADGBE567891♭31♭31♭345455♭7♭7

Over A7, land on scale degrees 1, 5 and ♭7. C♯ belongs to the chord but not to A minor pentatonic. Over D7, land on scale degrees 1, ♭3 and 4. F♯ belongs to the chord but not to A minor pentatonic. Over E7, land on scale degrees 4 and 5. G♯ and B belong to the chord but not to A minor pentatonic.

Position 5 is drawn once for each chord. Your hand stays in the same place, but the notes worth landing on change with the chord.

These are the same answers on the neck you are playing, one diagram per chord. The score tells you what a note does; the necks tell you where your fingers are when it does it. Nothing here asks you to move position: every disc is in the box you already know.

This lesson was drafted with the help of AI, so it may contain a mistake. Its diagrams are drawn by Everyfret’s own software. How Everyfret is made