Now that we’ve played through a few chord progressions, we’re definitely getting better. Our brains are bigger and our hands have gotten a lot of target practice moving back and forth between chords. But after a while, life would get pretty boring with only three primary chords, right? So to keep things interesting, musicians often like to add even more chords to a song.

The best place to get these “other” chords is from—you guessed it—the major-scale chord pattern. Cool? Yes. Surprising? No. Like a painter’s palette full of colors, this simple progression gives us tons of options for adding just the right chords to a song.

In the same way we chopped up the notes of a scale to create melodies, we simply rearrange the chords of this pattern to form chord progressions. (Snap!) And to see this in action, try playing our next song … called “Pachelbel’s Canon.”

Like a calm ride down a smooth river, we can float through each measure of this song. From beginning to end, the chords naturally flow forward in a constant motion toward the final tonic chord (I). In fact, this progression is so nice, I could play it all night long and never get tired. Which is why it’s such a classic.

By simply rearranging the major-scale progression, we can create magic. Like a path of dominoes, each chord naturally falls into the next … generating a chain reaction that’s totally cool. The “gravitational pull” between chords keeps pushing this basic chord progression along.

Of course, there are many other ways to rearrange these same simple chords. But each one is almost guaranteed to sound good. Why? Because there’s a powerful connection between the chords of a major-scale progression that gives our music life and energy. And as it turns out, musicians often rely on some fairly common “rules” for rearranging these chords. It’s all pretty simple, actually. So here, let me show you.

After playing through each major scale progression, you might have noticed something cool. For some crazy reason, Mother Nature totally loves us. Instead of throwing us some curveball, she decided to make things easy. When it comes to chord progressions, we don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Because they’re really just based on the same, old scale patterns we already know by heart.

In fact, we can even chop up and rearrange the chords in a progression to create new and interesting patterns … just like we did with the notes in a melody. As long as we favor the tonic chord (I), everything will sound nice. And that’s because the tonic chord (I) in a progression is like the tonic note (1) of a scale. It plays a central function in any particular key. The other chords simply play supporting roles in between.

You might even think of the tonic chord (I) as a strong and constant center of gravity. Like the center of its own little solar system, it creates a pull between the other chords … giving any progression a real sense of movement and direction. As we move away from and then back toward the tonic, we create a feeling of tension and release. And this back-and-forth motion between activity and relaxation brings our music to life.

In almost any song we play, the goal is to get back to our home—the tonic chord (I). All of the other chords in the progression exist as part of a roadmap to deliver us to our destination. The route can be simple (through just a chord or two) … or it can be complex (involving lots and lots of chords). But in the end, we always want to return to the tonic (I). Our “home sweet home.”

To see what I mean, let’s play a few simple chord progressions, shall we? Starting with the basic “I–V” pattern….

Chord progressions are really easy to play. And that’s because they’re based on the old, familiar scale patterns we already know. Using the C major scale, for example, we can come up with a chord progression that sounds awesome. We simply build one chord on the tonic (1) note … and another on the major-second (2) note … and another on the major-third (3) note … and so on. It’s all pretty straightforward.

Just like before, we still label each note with its own letter name. And we show the relationship between notes using numbers. But now, to show the relationship between the different chords in a progression, we simply turn those number labels intoRoman numerals … like this:

There’s nothing tricky about these Roman numerals. They still count out the same numbers of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. But they also help us keep track of whether we’re talking about individual notes or entire chords. You see, we use the “regular” numbers to describe the notes in a scale or chord … while we use the Roman numerals to show the relationship between the chords in a progression. Get it?

Roman numerals even give us a quick way of showing whether a chord is major or minor. For example, can you see how the numerals for chords I, IV, and V are upper-case? That’s because those triads are major … while the lower-case numerals show us which chords are minor. (The vii chord—with its “o” symbol—is simply diminished.)

Sometimes, you’ll also hear people calling chords by their general names … like the tonic (I), subdominant (IV), dominant (V), etc. But these are just the same convenient labels we’ve already seen before. Sure, it might seem a little like déjà vu, but that’s what makes music so easy.

To get a feel for how these different labels work, try playing the same major scale progression in each key. Starting on the tonic chord (I), work your way through each triad. At this point, let’s focus on using only the left hand for each chord, shall we? And remember, it’s okay to glance down at the keyboard every once in a while … just to make sure our hands are moving into the correct position. After you’ve had a little practice, try showing off to your friends. Because they’re going to be jealous of your new skills.

Musicians are always creating cool, new sounds by using different chord patterns in a song. Together with scales and melodies, chords and progressions are like the nuts and bolts of music. All we have to do is combine these patterns, and we really start to see the payoff of everything we’ve learned so far.

You see, it works like this: We started off with just 12 notes spaced at basic intervals. (You remember those good, old days.) Then using simple patterns, we built a few basic scales (like the major scale). Then from those scales, it was easy to make nice little melodies … and then a few chords after that. Then, by putting all these patterns together, we’ve been able to play entire songs.

And, of course, all of this has been easy to see using Color Music. It’s kind of like that famous picture showing the evolution of man. We start out with the basics … and end up with total excellence.

But, of course, making music is a little more than just throwing a few note patterns together. I mean, notes, scales, melodies, and chords aren’t exactly like the ingredients of a recipe … that we simply toss into a dish and stir. It turns out, there’s more of a method to the madness. And a lot of it has to do with chord progressions….

The nice thing about chords is that they use the same 12 notes we all know and love. Sure … we have to play those notes together in a chord … instead of only one at a time. But there’s nothing too special about that. In fact, you might even say that chords are easier to play than any of the scales we’ve seen so far. And that’s because, while most scales include five, six, or seven notes, most chords have only three notes.

Chords might take a little more coordination as our fingers work together at the same time. But no worries … we have Color Music on our side. By using colors and shapes, we can quickly pick out the right notes and intervals. Which makes it easy to find and play any chord.

Just like before, the colors, squares, and circles, show us which notes to play and why. And that means we’ll spend less time thinking … and a lot more time playing.

As always, those nice, little squares and circles make life good. Like a pattern of lights guiding our way, they show us exactly what we should play.

Right now, it might still be difficult to get your hands playing together. But honestly, that’s okay. If you’ve already mastered the art of playing chords with a melody, then you’re a fast learner. And if you need some more practice (don’t we all?), then try playing this next song. It’s a classic and one you’ve definitely heard before.

Again, this new song is pretty simple. All we have to do is play a C major chord at the start of each measure with our left hand. And with our right hand, we’ll play the notes of the melody … which is based on the C major scale (like all the songs we’ve played so far).

Just like before, it may help if you practice the melody alone with your right hand first. Then, once you know which notes to play and when to play them, go through the song hitting just the chords in each measure with your left hand. Once each hand knows its part, go back to the beginning of the song and play each measure … mixing both parts together.

It also helps to focus on playing one measure at a time. For example, as you go through this song, remember to play both hands together at the start of each measure. And keep your left hand in place until your right hand has played all the melody notes in that measure. Then repeat this same process in the following measures until the end of the song.

After you’ve learned one or two more songs, things will get easier … I promise. Teaching your hands to work like this is a lot like learning to swim or ride a bike. Before long, you barely have to think about what your hands are doing. But until then, the best thing to do is practice.

Of course, our hands have got it pretty easy … now that we can actually see which notes to play. And that’s why Color Music is so awesome. It lets us focus more on the fun of music … and less on the mechanics of playing.

Now that we know how to play music’s most popular chord—the major triad—let’s see it in action, shall we? In our next song, we’ll focus on hitting each major chord with the left hand … while playing the melody line with the right hand. In music notation, we show this by splitting the bass staff and treble staff, like so:

Because chords are used to support the melody, they’re usually written on the bass staff. Like pillars or columns, chords lay a solid foundation for the melody—which is usually written on the treble staff. By playing the chords and the melody together, we simply blend all the notes into a full and complete song.

To keep things simple, our first song includes just one major chord, C major … while the melody is based on the C major scale.

You’ve definitely heard this tune before. Some of you might know it as “Are You Sleeping?” … and others might know it as “Frere Jacques.” But either way, it’s pretty basic. Because we’ll play just one C major chord at the start of each measure.

At first, it might be a little hard to get both of your hands working together. But that’s only natural, so don’t worry. It can be a little strange to play one part with your left hand … and another part with your right hand. Which is why a lot of musicians learn new songs using a special trick. They simply practice each part separately before putting the melody and chords together.

To see what I mean, let’s try doing this with our new song. With the right hand, start out by going through the melody alone a couple of times. It’s in the key of C (with a 4/4 time signature), so it should be pretty easy to learn. Then with your left hand, go through the song again, hitting only the chords at the start of each measure. And once each hand is ready, go back to the beginning and play both the melody and the chords together.

The chords on the bass staff are written exactly under the notes of the melody. So as you play, make sure all the notes are lined up and played together at the same time. That way, the song will sound right and everyone will be happy.

Seriously … who knew that adding a few chords could make our music sound so much better?

Now that we know how to illustrate time (or “duration”) in music, we can play anything we’d like. After all, music is really about two basic things:

1. Pitch (that is, the 12 notes of the chromatic scale), and
2. Duration (like whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, etc.)

All we have to do is combine these two elements of music … and we are in business. For example, check out the following melodies. And as you play each one, notice how every song is just a bunch of notes (pitches) held for different amounts of time (duration). In fact, it’s so easy that it makes me want to cry.

To keep things simple, each of these melodies comes from the same basic C major scale. And every beat follows a basic 4/4 pattern. So just like in the song “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,” every melody is just a different rearrangement of the same few notes. And each pattern forms a nice little tune.

Of course, nothing is really new here. And we’re just building on what we’ve already learned. For example, we can look at any key signature to quickly know which notes will be included in a song (right now, everything is in the key of C). And we can also look at each time signature to follow the beat (right now, everything is also in 4/4 time).

Just to get a feel for things, it might help to tap or clap each beat first. Then, after you have a sense of when to hit each note, try playing the melodies with your fingers. As you begin to play, you’ll definitely recognize each melody because they’re all really well-known.

Also, don’t worry if you make a few mistakes. Everybody does when they start a new song. Just go back to the part that gives you trouble and play through the notes again. It might take a couple of tries to get things sounding right. But that’s okay … because all great musicians need practice. As they say, “the more you play, the better you’ll get.” And now that we see exactly what we’re doing, we have a huge advantage in music. Ahhh … life really is good.

Music is cool because we can always come up with new and interesting patterns. For example, we’ve already seen how the major scale can be rearranged into other note patterns … like the minor scale, pentatonic scale, and blues scale. It turns out that music is simple because it’s all just a bunch of notes … in different combinations … spaced at different intervals.

In fact, when musicians write a melody or a song, they’re really just combining notes that sound good together. And they usually base their ideas on common, simple patterns … like the major scale, for example. More than any other pattern, the major scale has inspired most of the songs we hear today. Which is probably why it sounds so nice and familiar.

Using the notes of a C major scale, for example, we can create a very good melody. Try playing the following note pattern on the treble staff and see if it sounds familiar. If you look closely, it’s really just the C major scale … which has been chopped up and rearranged. From left to right, hit each note—one at a time. And notice how the notes rise and fall as you move through the melody.

Do you recognize this tune? It’s the melody of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” by Mozart. (Some people might also know this melody as the “Alphabet Song.”) Try playing through this note pattern again … only this time, follow the lyrics. They can help us get a feel for how this note pattern flows.

There’s not much to it, really. It’s just the notes of a C major scale … which have been rearranged into a pleasant little melody. Sometimes the notes move up and sometimes they move down. And together, they create a nice motion that’s easy to hum or sing.

In fact, let’s try playing through the entire song now. (If you’ve never played a whole melody before, then this might seem like a lot of notes. But if you look closely, it’s just more of the same C major scale pattern.) As you play, check out the connection between the notation and the notes on your instrument. It’s easy to play when you can actually see what you’re doing.

Of course, there’s more to music notation … and we’ll take a look at that coming right up. But now that we’ve already started reading melodies, it kind of makes you wonder. What’s stopping us from playing anything we’d like? And the answer, my friends, is … nothing. Now that we’ve cracked the code to music—and we can see where we’re going—we can quickly learn any song. After all, we just started out by playing Mozart….

The chromatic scale is important because it’s the basic layout of all 12 notes in music. In other words, it includes every interval of half-steps and whole-steps. But, as we’ve seen before, the chromatic scale is also kind of boring … because it doesn’t sound very interesting.

The major scale, on the other hand, sounds really good. In fact, its interval pattern of 1, 2, 3, 4 … 5, 6, 7, 8 is so strong and stable that it’s the foundation of most music today. I mean, the major scale is so important that the scale degree numbers even outline its pattern of half-steps and whole-steps. For example, check out the C major scale below. Without a doubt, the major scale is the king of all musical patterns.

And since we’ve played through the major scale about a million times already, you probably know it by heart. So, to mix things up a bit, let’s take a look at some other scale patterns in music. After all, the major scale isn’t the only game in town. There are some other interesting interval patterns, too. And as it turns out, they’re all basic variations on … you guessed it … the major scale.

Next to the major scale, the second most popular note pattern has got to be the “natural minor scale.” It’s used a lot in music. And, unlike the major scale—which sounds bright and happy—the minor scale sounds kind of dark and sad. It’s sort of a ying-yang thing.

Anyway, here’s how you play it. Start out like you’re playing a happy major scale … but then lower (or flatten) notes 3, 6, and 7 … like this:

It’s pretty easy, actually. But the effect is noticeably dark. The minor scale simply shifts a couple of intervals … so you play notes b3, b6, and b7. Like before, you hit the first half of the scale with your left hand (1, 2, b3, 4) … and then you play the second half with your right hand (5, b6, b7, 8).

Back in the day, musicians liked this scale so much that they even came up with different versions of it … including the “harmonic” minor scale and the “melodic” minor scale. The difference between each pattern is only slight, so you have to listen for it. But it’s noticeable. For example, try playing the harmonic minor scale first. It’s a lot like the natural minor scale … only it has a natural 7 note instead of a b7:

Then try playing the melodic minor scale, which is basically just a major scale pattern with a flatted-third note (b3). Can you hear the difference between these scales? Each one sounds a little melancholy, but they’re all unique. (And we’ll look at how they’re used in music coming right up.)

Another popular scale you’ve probably heard is the “pentatonic” scale, which is used a lot in country western music. Just like the minor scale, the pentatonic scale is also based on the major scale pattern. Only it has just five notes (… because the termpenta means “five” in Greek). To play it, start out like you’re going through the major scale pattern … but then skip notes 4 and 7. Somehow, this pattern sounds even brighter and happier than the major scale pattern, itself.

Finally, let’s look at the “blues” scale pattern. Just like any other scale, this pattern is also based on the basic major scale. And it’s especially popular in blues and jazz music. (The “blues” is a style of music … not the color blue.) You play it like this:

Of course, there are many other scales in music. And we’ll look those other patterns later. But, for now, try playing through these minor, pentatonic, and blues scales to get a feel for how they sound. And just as you’d expect, they work the same way in every key. So let’s practice these patterns starting on each note of the chromatic scale. And as we do, our minds will totally expand.