so i'm reading the Guitar Grimoire and it says if you flat a major get a minor, flat a minor get a diminished, sharp a major get an augmented, sharp a perfect get an augmented, flat a perfect get a diminshed. if someone could explain this in tab that would be extremely helpful. i think i understand it but i'm hesistant to move on in case i'm wrong

I'm not sure about some of that.

-0-----1---2---------3------------4--------5-------6----7---
-3-----3---3---------3------------3--------3-------3----3---

sus2, min, maj, inverted fifth/sus4, dim, perfect fifth, aug, 6th

Jesus Christ... I think I blew a good 3000 brain cells reading that

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All the perfect and major intervals relate to the tones of the major scale. Look up major scale for the notes, easy enough.

1st/ROOT - Perfect
2nd - Major
3rd - Major
4th - Perfect
5th - Perfect
6th - Major
7th - Major

The major notes have minor notes, which are all one semitone down from them. Whereas, perfects don't have minors.

When you go one semitone below perfect or minor, you get diminished, whereas if you go above major or perfect, you get augmented. Of course, you get some overlaps, but it depends on the scale/key/chord progression you are using.

For example, both the augmented 7th chord and the wholetone scale have augmented sevenths, but an augmented 7th is the same as the octave or root (shut up about temperament/meantone tunings), thus do the chord and scale have only three and four six notes, respectively. In the case of the augmented 7th chord, it is also identical to the augmented chord.

Note that the names refer more to the state of the 5th note in a chord. The names major and minor refer to the state of the 3rd because the 5th is perfect, it's like multiplying by 1, if you get it, the 1 disappears.
You may wonder why that there aren't 'minor/augmented' chord and 'major/diminished' chords, then. 'Minor/augmented', if one looks at the intervals, does in fact turn out to be major starting with its 3rd note. Major/ diminished, just, does not exist. I'm honestly puzzled there.

Hope that's helpful. Ignore the last paragraph, just some notes for the more inquisitive.

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it's not that complicated if you break it down

That book is just trying to illustrate how you can move one note in a chord to get to another chord. Here's some examples using triads.

D|----4---
A|----6---
E|----7---

E major
move one note...

D|----4---
A|----5---
E|----7---

and you get E minor
move one more note...

D|----3---
A|----5---
E|----7---

and you get E diminished

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Better would be to start with augmented.



Sometimes, on another note, diminished 7th is seen as being just diminished so it appears symmetric like its kinda 'twin', augmented. Although a chord to me is 1, 3, 5.

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thank you that all helped. i thought it was along the lines of somehitng like that and that hit the nail on the head. makes sense now

It's hard to determine exactly in guitar tab if the writer wanted the chord to be diminished, augmented, minor, or major.


A|---3---|
E|---5---|

When I look at this, I see an A minor chord. But it could also be an augmented 2nd, depending on what the writer wanted. It depends on how the notes are written. something may appear to be an augmented 3rd, but enharmonic-ally it'll sound like a perfect 4th. That's one of the limits that I've noticed in guitar tab.

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Well technically that isn't a full chord (triad). That is just a diad. Can you have augmented 2nds?

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Yes, as well as doubly augmented seconds.

Yes. They are also called enharmonically minor 3rds, I believe.

And the quality of a triad is determined by the intervals of the two diads that make it; From the root to the 3rd, and from the 3rd to the 5th.

Major Triad;
minor 3rd
Major 3rd

Minor Triad;
M
m

Diminished Triad;
m
m

Augmented Triad
M
M

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wrong

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In a major triad, it is a major 3rd from the root to the 3rd and a minor 3rd from the 3rd to the 5th.

In a minor triad, it is a minor 3rd from the root to the 3rd and a major 3rd from the 3rd to the 5th.

Major;
G
E
C

Minor;
G
Eb
C

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you've proved my quote.
you just got them mixed up.
no big deal

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Yes it is a big deal. It's a very fucking big deal. I'm talking the whole 3 and a half inches here.

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Ha! That is cool! I never looked at all the different triad intervals as 3rds like that. That's a pretty easy reference. Killer!

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