# 3 - Chord Tone Targeting in Licks
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# 3 - Chord Tone Targeting in Licks

Updated: Apr 4, 2022

We've already looked at how chords are made, and so understand that a chord tone is generally the 1st, 3rd or 5th note in a scale, and it's these notes that a basic major, minor, augmented and diminished chord are made from. These types of basic chord are called 'Triads' as they use only 3 notes.

Here's link to the lesson: How are Chords Made? and Why Should We Care:


There are extensions that are added, the most common being the 7th, 9th, 11th, 13th and so on, but we're only dealing with triads in this lesson series.


The second lesson in the series dealt with the A minor pentatonic scale in position one. We learnt this as it's a great scale for beginners and can also be adjusted easily to give more complex sounds. Here's a detailed article about this:


And if you'd like more information on how to play this scale and where the chord tones of the A minor lie in it, check out this lesson here:




This 3rd lesson assumes you already understand the content covered and gives some practical ways to practise the chord tones. In many ways the licks are less important than the targeting of the tones, so this should be your focus.



As I mention in the lesson, try playing the licks as written, then change the final note to another chord tone to hear how they all sound. So whether you finish on an A, C or E (the chord tones in the Am chord) it will sound great, but notice the differences so you can choose your notes to fit the music in an informed way rather than guessing.


Download link for the PDF is at the bottom of this page.


The licks each use different techniques, so you'll also be practising useful things like hammer-ons, hybrid picking, sweep picking and string skipping.


I hope this is useful and also, most importantly, that you have fun!


You might also want to check out pedal reviews here:



Download the PDF here:


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