Lesson #3: How To Remember Hundreds Of Scales & Chords Without Theory Books

You can remember hundreds of chords and see them using the CAGED system above!

The key to doing this is to realize a few things…..

1. E minor pentatonic = E Minor scale (but is missing two notes)
2. Lots of chords can be made by tweaking one note of some very common chord shapes

So first, scales…..

Maybe you already know the pentatonic box patterns. I found this image from a google search: 

Which looks like this when they’re all connected together…..

There’s no shortcut to learning these patterns and where all the notes are. So take the time to do that. 

However what I’m about to show you next is much easier to remember once you know what’s up above…..

So E Minor Pentatonic = E – G – A – B – D 

And the E Minor Scale = E – F# – G – A – B – C – D 

It’s the exact same thing as E minor penatonic but it has two new notes!!! F# and C. 

Once you know where all those notes are, you can apply this to any other scale, like A minor: 

The patterns are all the same but they’ve shifted over! F and B are the notes you’d add to A minor pentatonic (A – C – D – E – G) 

You can use this same idea with all sorts of scales too….

Want to remember the harmonic minor scale everywhere? Take the minor scale and play the note right behind the root note (D#): 

Want to know the major scale and major pentatonic? Well you already know it too….

You just move the E minor pentatonic patterns BACK by THREE half steps….

And the entire system is the exact same, patterns and all! 

Even the places you add those two extra notes are the same! 

I reveal a lot more of these hacks and how to use these scales in the Music Theory Demystified module of the Play It Loud Method. 

Many of my products on Slash, David Gilmour, Eric Clapton, Marty Friedman, Country, Blues etc. all show you how to use this as raw material for creating licks and solos of your own. 

And I tell you how to do it by using the information I just laid out for you……

Now let’s quickly cover how to remember lots of chords…..

Trust me. It’s quick. 

So you may know the common CAGED chords: 

C = X32010

A = X02220

G = 320033

E = 022100

D = XX0232

Well, these chords all reappear across the fretboard for one harmony (take E major) like you see below: 

E = 022100 

Then XX2454 (D shape), X76454 (C shape), X79997 (A shape), then 12-11-9-9-9-12 (G shape) 

E – D – C – A – G

Every scale and chord system will align this way! 

The CAGED system has lots of flaws though because you still don’t know how to use this to solo and use it when soloing over a progression like “Sweet Child O’ Mine.”

This is something I talk about in the PIL Method too….

Now that’s how to see how all the chords are connected across the fretboard….

But here’s how to make lots of various chords instantly. 

E major into Em:

022100 = E

022000 = Em 

020100 = E7

022030 = Em7 

Then in another position: 

X79797 = E7 

X79787 = Em7 

If you can remember these chord shapes, understand some stuff about intervals (which will be in the next lesson), and apply it….