John’s notes; I’ve arranged this short (45 seconds) ‘Country / Gospel’ tune to demonstrate how useful knowing the scales associated with the ‘A’, ‘D’ and ‘E’ shape chords are. The ‘A’, ‘D’ and ’E’ shape chords get their name from the basic ‘open’ position chords people normally learn when starting to play the guitar. However, moving these chord ‘shapes’ up and down the fret board alters the name of the chord being played. For instance, if you play a standard A Major chord on the 2 nd fret then move it to the 5 th fret and play the D,G and B strings only (this is called a triad) you are playing a C Major ‘A shape’ chord - very useful ! The same applies to the other two ‘shapes’. Not only that but each of these 3 chord shapes have their own built in Major scale, and that is how musicians can play solo leads etc over these triad chord shapes in a very melodic way. Also note, you are not limited when soloing to playing the notes taken from the chord you are playing over. You can always play the scale of the ‘KEY’ the tune is in and ignore the chords, especially if the chord progression is moving along quickly. An example of this is phrase 7. Here I’m playing notes from the E Major scale position 5 ignoring the fact a B Major chord is underneath. Keep in mind that playing notes only from the basic key still needs to serve the chord progression otherwise it can sound a bit bland, after-all, chords serve to ‘flavour’ a tune, this is why professional musicians use both methods i.e playing through the chord changes AND playing notes from the basic key of the tune. It all depends on the sound the musician wants!