This pattern of two frets and one fret between notes carries over to all major scales. This means that if you pick any note on the fingerboard and go up 2 frets, 2 frets, 1 fret, 2 frets, 2 frets, 2frets, 2frets, 1 fret you will be playing the major scale for the note you start on. That's it! You can memorize all of the different scales, but the pattern we've discussed applies to every one. Similar patterns define other type of scales including the minor scale, but these won't be covered here.

The last subject we need to cover are chords. What are they and why are they the way they are? The simple answer to the first question is that chords are groups of 3 or more notes that are related to each other. The answer to the second question is a bit more complicated, but what we need to know for our purposes is pretty simple.

Basic chords contain three notes. Each major key has three chords that go together. Just like the underlying structure of scales that we saw above these three chords are not chosen randomly but come from a pattern that is simple to understand. First we need apply what we just learned to figure out the notes of the G major scale we normally use on the banjo. Then will learn how to find chords in this key. Here's our scale:

G A B C D E F# G

When I was explaining reading music and key signatures we talked about the fact that the key of G has one sharped note in it, F#. We need to know this in order to figure out the chords in the key of G. I assume most of you already know what these chords are but maybe not how to figure this out for other keys. The chords in any key are based on specific notes of the scale, the 1st, 4th, and 5th notes. In the key of G we see that this means the chords are G, C, and D. If we use the C scale we get C, F, and G for the chords. Here are the note of the C scale again with the 1st, 4th, and 5th note highlighted:

C D E F G A B C

I hope you get the idea. You won't need to do this very often, but it can come in handy, especially when you're playing with a capo, but other musicians aren't and you need to “translate” for them.

The last thing I'd like to talk about are the specific notes that make up each major chord. As you may be able to guess, these notes are also not random: they are also based on specific notes of the scale. We'll start by the obvious note which is the note the chord is named after.

The first note used in a G chord is obviously the note G, while for a C chord we start with the C note, etc. If you think about tuning the banjo to a G chord you will understand where this is going. The 3rd string is tuned to G so this is the start of our G chord. If you are tuning the 2nd string to the 3rd string you fret the 3rd and the 4th fret and tune the 2nd string to match this note which is a B. The open 1st string matches the 2nd string at the 3rd fret and is a D note. These are the 3 notes of a G major chord. If we look at the G scale we see that these are the 1st, 3rd, and 5th notes.

G A B C D E F# G

If we look at the C scale and pick the 1st (C), 3rd (E), and 5th (G) notes we have a C major chord. All major chords are based on this pattern.

C D E F G A B C

No we can go to the C scale and do the same thing with the F and G chords. The F chord is made of the notes F, A, and C. The G chord is made of G, B, and D. Note that for the G chord we go from the G note in the C scale to the B note and them loop back to the start of the scale to get to the D note. When we're playing in the key of G the notes of the G chord line up just like our G scale above. This happens because we're already tuned to an open G chord. Obviously this can't happen all the time.

If we played the next G chord up the neck on the banjo by moving an F chord position up 2 frets we are played the same notes, but in a different order. The same thing is true when we play G at the 7th fret using a D chord position. We're playing the same chord, but each position sounds different. The musical term for this is “inversions”. With our G example the open G chord is in the 1st inversion since the first note is G, the “root” or the note the chord is named after. The next position is the 2nd inversion and our G up the neck is the 3rd inversion. You don't need to know this but it's very helpful to know that chords sound different played in different positions. When you play backup, for example, it often sounds the best if you play a different inversion from the other instruments that are also playing chords. Otherwise what you play can get lost or make whatever you are backing up tend to disappear.

I hope this explanation helps eliminate some of the confusion about understanding the basic structure of the music you are trying to learn. Some of the pieces will be more important when you start out playing than other that will make a lot more sense later on. Many pickers never learn any of this but I think learning as you go along will be very helpful to virtually all banjo players. It allows you to understand what's really going on with most of the music you play and will help point out new directions you can go to as your skills and interest grow.

Good Luck!