Highway To Heaven is an accessible pop song to learn on guitar for beginning players, only requiring Em, F, C and G chords and capo use to sync up with vocal pitch.
This song provides an effective way of learning the difference between major and minor chords, with practice you will quickly be able to recognize them all when playing any major scale.
C Major
C Major is an uplifting key signature, often associated with joy and happiness, but can also evoke feelings of serenity and purity.
This key is one of the simplest and uncomplicated, making it ideal for beginning musicians just starting to learn music. There are no sharps or flats present here either.
Keep in mind that intervals (the distance between two notes) play an integral role in scales.
D Major
To create a chord from the D Major scale, we combine its first, fifth, and seventh notes before adding one from lower octave octaves for a major 7 chord.
Practice this voicing over and over until your fingers have become adept at fretting it cleanly, taking time and practicing at your own pace – hurrying can often result in missed notes that irritate and tighten.
E Major
E major is a widely utilized key, often featuring major chords like E-G#-B (although Emaj7 can also exist).
It’s an expressive key, perfect for communicating strong physical desires and triumphant sentiments, while still having that gritty sound associated with blues music.
F Major
F Major is one of the most commonly utilized scales across many musical genres, featuring seven pitches without any sharps or flats.
Practice this scale slowly and don’t rush it – doing so will prevent tightness in your hands and missed notes, plus this scale can even be used to build basic triad chords!
G Major
G Major chord keys are popular across various genres of music, spanning classic pieces like British and New Zealand national anthems to country, pop, rock and metal genres.
Skoove provides real time feedback to help beginners master the open G chord quickly. Put it into practice now with Skoove!
A Major
A major is an excellent key for writing descending bass lines, as demonstrated in the second measure above which recalls David Gray’s Babylon lick (Guitar Noise Songs for Intermediates # 1). For added variety in chord progressions, add non-diatonic chords from D harmonic minor for the last measure – these will help break up monotonous progressions!
B Major
B Major is a major scale with five sharps. This scale is often employed by composers writing in the German classicism/romanticism style.
B is also important because it contains the first “A-shape” barre chord most beginners learn to play. Remember to be patient when learning barre chords as overwork can strain and wear on your left hand – practice often and well for optimal results!
C Minor
This variation of the C minor chord is easier for beginner guitarists, and still sounds similar. No barred shape across all frets is necessary – simply sounding similar.
C minor is known for its melancholic sound and can help create emotion-laden songs. Major chords often pair nicely with C minor to add tension and release.
D Minor
The D minor chord evokes feelings of sadness and grief, making it popularly used by singer-songwriters to convey such emotions in their songs.
This song uses an unconventional technique when starting: it begins with IV and V chords from F major that have been taken from D harmonic minor. Songwriters frequently employ this trick to build tension before relieving it through release.
E Minor
E Minor is the relative minor to G Major. A relative minor key will always be three half-tones lower than its relative major key.
Once the chord sounds good, use a fingering pattern that enables your fingers to curve naturally with minimal tension and avoid muted strings. After finding one that sounds good, count to four and practice switching between it and another chord such as G.