Harmonizing The Major Scale

This post will be talking about harmonizing the Major scale.This fits in with the earlier post on chord progressions.We talked about the I-IV-V chord progression and the chords were C Major-F Major and G Major.And we talked about a I-VI-IV-V chord progression or C-A minor-F and G.Now why are the chords C,F and G Major,but the A chord is minor?It is because there is a formula,it is the Major scale harmonized.The formula is below....

Harmonizing the Major Scale
The Basics:

Most chord progressions that you will come across are based on a formula. That formula is the harmonized major scale, or what I call the CHORD SCALE. There are exceptions to this statement, but usually, those exceptions can be traced back to the harmonized major scale as well.



If we take the major scale:



C - D - E - F - G - A - B - C



And we build a triad off of each note of the scale using only notes found within the scale, we get this:


I

C-E-G(notes of triad)-chord
1-3-5
Cmaj(the 1 is Major)
ii

D-F-A
1-b3-5
Dmin(the 2 is minor)
iii

E-G-B
1-b3-5
Emin(the 3 is minor)
IV

F-A-C
1-3-5
Fmaj(the 4 is major)
V

G-B-D
1-3-5
Gmaj(the 5 is major)
vi

A-C-E
1-b3-5
Amin(the 6 is minor)
vii

B-D-F
1-b3-b5
Bdim(the 7 is diminshed)
VIII

C-E-G
1-3-5
Cmaj(and Major again)
I-IV-V-I means to play the chord built off of the first degree (note) of the scale followed by the chord built from the 4th degree, the chord built off of the 5th degree and back to the chord built off of the 1st degree. In the key of C, that would be C-F-G-C.
If the chord progression was a I-VI-IV-V,the chords would be C-Am.F-G.A being a minor because the 6th(VI)tone of the major scale harmonized is a minor.Now if the chord progression was a,say,I-II-VII-I(1,2,7,1),the chords would be C-Dm-B diminished-C.So apply the harmonized major scale along with the chord progression,in determining if the chord will be a Major,a minor,or a diminished!
Now a B diminished chord chart...

...the fingering is...4th string-1st finger
3rd string-3rd finger
2nd string-2nd finger
1st string-4th finger
***strings 5 and 6 are not played in this shape
Now,in addition,the previous post on the Major and minor Bar chords can apply to the above.Simply use the bar chords instead of using "open" chord shapes for the harmonized Major scale and chord progressions.

Links for further studies... www.musiciansfriend.com
... www.guitarchordsmagic.com
Thanks to Musicians Friend and Guitar Chords Magic