G Major and E Minor
The G Major scale consists of the notes G A B C D E F#. G is a 5th above C, or one clockwise movement along the circle of fifths above C. It shares all the same notes as C Major, except the F#, which is the leading tone in G Major.
E Minor is the relative minor of G Major, sharing all the same notes. E is the 5th of A, and A Minor is the relative minor of C Major. Just as we traverse the circle of fifths clockwise to go from C to G, we can do the same for A to E. E Minor is a rather popular key for guitar, having a tonic note as the lowest note of the standard-tuned 6-string guitar.
PreReqs
- Music Theory Basics
- C Major Chord
- G Major Chord
- E Minor, D Minor, and A Minor Chords
- Other Open String Chords
- Circle of Fifths
Contents
G Major
Diatonic Chords
G Major contains the following diatonic chords:
| I | ii | iii | IV | V | vi | vii° |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | Am | Bm | C | D | Em | F dim |
| G B D | A C E | B D F# | C E G | D F# A | E G B | F# A C |
Notice the 3 chords with the F# are the only ones that aren't also diatonic to C Major. The Bdim in C Major gets a raised 5th to become Bm. The Dm gets a raised 3rd to become D, and the F becomes F#dim. Their inclusion of the F# leading tone gives them a dominant harmonic function.
| Bm | D | F#dim |
|i|-|-|-|-| |)|m|-|-|-| |)|-|p|-|-| |)|-|r|-|-| |i|-|-|-|-| |-|-|-|-|-| 2 |
|-|-|m|-|-| |-|-|-|r|-| |-|-|i|-|-| |o|-|-|-|-| |-|-|-|-|-| |-|-|-|-|-| 0 |
|-|r|-|-|-| |i|-|-|-|-| |-|m|-|-|-| |-|-|-|p|-| |-|-|-|-|-| |-|-|-|-|-| 1 |
If the F#dim shape is too difficult to reach the F# on the high E string, you can leave it off.