New answers tagged chord-progressions
3
One way to approach this would be to use D Dorian for the first three chords, then D# Lydian on the D# chord.
2
Thinking of it as D dorian with a passing chord is a perfectly good approach, but theres actually some cool jazz theory going on too. ignore this if its overwhelming - jamming and listening are much more important :)
Major chords built on the flattened second of the scale can work a lot like a chord built on the 5th of the scale. (in this case, that D# Major ...
0
Apart of a) difficulties with sight reading and learning to understand the chords by analyzing the triads, intervals and progression beginners always have b) sensomotoric problems with the coordination of the body, arms, elbow, hand, wrist and fingers.
Some ideas for practice:
a) notate the chord, not only you have to play in this piece, write down similar ...
0
Realising that block chords are just broken chords re-joined will help. Look at your broken chords, usually done in triads, occasionally in fours. The triad version uses a pattern of root (1st 3), 1st inversion (2nd 3) and 2nd inversion (3rd 3). Play those as chords, moving up and down as you would with broken chords. You'll see that each new set leaves the ...
3
From what I could read in your explanation, I think the first important thing to do is to slow down the tempo, so that you can perform all the changes in the metrum.
Practice in sequences (e.g. every change is one sequence). Sometimes this is a tedious task, but think as if this is the whole piece and if you wanted to make music with it.
Be aware of what ...
10
A chord progression doesn't have to all fit one scale. This one seems basically in D Dorian, with the E♭ a chromatic passing chord between Em and Dm. (I wonder why they named it D♯ instead of the more logical E♭? But same difference.)
8
I'd consider that progression in D minor (Dorian) with the D♯ as a transition chord. In other words, the D♯ is a chromatic transition chord, taking you from Em to Dm: Em -> D♯ -> Dm
1
Try G-major chord, followed by B-major chord (raising the iii-chord in key of G up to a Major), then follow with C#-major and then D#-major, which are the new IV and V chords of the new (raised) Key of G#.
I'm still trying to find the theory-reason why the B-major works, but I've played it multiple times and it sounds to the ear like it "works."
...
4
There seems to be some misunderstanding between key and range.
It is quite conceivable to have two completely different songs, one in key C the other in key F, with exactly the same range.Not only in the number of tones but also in which notes are highest and lowest.
The range of any piece is the difference between the highest and lowest notes in that piece. ...
2
You tagged your question with "transposition" but most of the question seems to be about writing different songs in C and F.
A general melodic approach you can take is to switch between placing the tonic at the top and bottom of the range or in the middle. You could treat F with a range of F3 to F4 and C with a range of G3 to G4 with the tonic in ...
2
Not necessarily. Don't forget that a song in F major can easily be exactly 7 semitones lower (a.k.a. a perfect 5th lower) than that song in C major. This may also take the music out of the range of the singer you're working with, force you to rewrite parts for instruments such as tuba and guitar (or possibly transpose them up instead of down), etc.
1
It's only the beginning that hasn't any chords, isn't it? The marimba-like instrument is mostly doubling the bass part two octaves higher, but there are synths in there from the first chorus on. The singer sings in thirds with herself throughout (there's an occasional fourth) so you know what the harmony is. It's
||: Dm / / / |G / / / |C / / / |Am / / / :|| ...
0
In the beginning the chords (mostly Am and G) are sort of implied by the bass line and the melody, towards the end the progression C Am Dm G is played explicitly.
0
There could be all sorts of chord substitutions, extensions, etc that create deviations from the norm. But western music is really pretty simple. The most common movements within a key are I-->IV and back, and I-->V and back, also in there is IV-->V and back. If you play an instrument I'd recommend playing these simple cadences over and over and ...
1
LISTEN to the song. Over and over. Maybe slowed down, and in short sections. (There's a little program called Transcribe! that has all the tools you'll need in one convenient package, I highly recommend it.)
Work out the bass note. Work out the other notes in the chord. Tip - it can be easier to tell what notes AREN'T there! Narrow your options.
A ...
4
Having spent many happy years playing along to the radio and t.v., just doing that is my first recommendation!
Once the key of a song has been established, life isn't that difficult. Initially, listen to where a song feels at rest, at home, could end there. That chord at that point is usually the root/key chord. Nine times out of ten, it'll be major.
I don't ...
2
This is true, but think of it less as a rule and more of a byproduct of following other rules. Specifically, following these two concepts will result in what you describe:
The bass moves up by step because, typically speaking, the deceptive resolution is understood as a V moving to its related vi (or VI). There are other deceptive/evaded/attenuated ...
0
Depending on what kind of music you like and whether you are working up an arrangement of a particular song, or attempting to duplicate an already released song, or even attending a jam session and wishing to participate, there are a few different methods to decide which chords to play. Figuring chords for a Jazz piece can get pretty advanced and it usually ...
1
Without knowing whether having problems means it’s very difficult for you or you can’t do it at all I would suggest focusing on the bass and the melody. Try to figure out the bass line or root movement of the bass and the melody of a song first. Work no more than 4 or 8 bars at a time. The combination of these two things will give you some insight into what ...
0
The pattern II-V-I is rather common in country and pop from the 20s to the 50s. Analytically, it's a V/V-V-I, the V gets its own dominant. (This is very common in classical). "San Antonio Rose" is one example.
Likewise the sequence V/IV-iv-V/V-V-I is common too (sometimes called the Montgomery Ward turnaround.) Example: C7-iv-D7-G7-C. The "ragtime sequence" ...
1
I won't write a long answer. The theory explained in other answers is good. Whether you want to play Fm6 or Fm7 largely depends on the kind of music you desire to play.
1
As the other answers suggest, both options have equal validity when considered exclusively from the perspective of a successful cadence, because they both provide good resolution back to the I chord. So the question "which makes more sense?" won't have an answer--they are equally correct, and both are used.
However, if we leave the vacuum of pure cadential ...
2
This is possibly a tangential answer, but just to make the point that the flattened seventh arguably has quite a strong relationship to the tonic compared to the major seventh...
If we consider C as a tonic on the circle of fifths, the flattened seventh (Bb) is very close - only two fifths away - while B is way over on the other side of the circle. The Bb ...
0
C7-F6-Fm6-C is called the sub-dominant cadence in Jazz (o when the saints go marchin' in), also as final ending below the octave note C.
Fm7-B♭-C is equivalent with Ab6-B♭-C (as you say the "back door cadence). Billy Shears ending cadence.
Mostly they are exchangeable - if the main-tune allows it! If you play alone or arrange a piece you can do ...
3
Both versions occur frequently. As usually, let your ears decide. Theoretically speaking, the Fm6 chord just uses one note outside of the C major scale (the third A♭), whereas Fm7 also uses an E♭. So by using Fm7 you temporarily move a bit further outside the scale. It's true that if the Fm chord is followed by a B♭7 chord, then it's more ...
1
This is a vibe! The first thing to point out is that "Time 3" and "Time 4" are exact parallel transpositions of "Time 1", which means that yes, basically they "have their own key" as you put it. The other thing (which is what makes this piece such a vibe!) is that each "Time" actually contains two chords, which correspond to when you change the note in the ...
1
Just allow ♭VII honorary membership of the 'diatonic' club. It's been used this way in popular music for at least 50 years. Then a whole lot of special-case 'theory' becomes unnecessary.
2
I've already declared in other answers (to other questions) that I interprete the bVII like a kind of suspension of the V. This theory of mine has been denied by others - but may be I can convince you ...
The use of bVII preceeding the dominant is very common in pop music. Also it is quite common to introduce the dominant by its secondary dominant and the ...
4
Not really an answer, but I want to add a diagram to go with @Richard's answer.
I didn't really understand the Schenkerian part, but I found a diagram that made it clear to me...
RODNEY GARRISON, Unrolling Schenker's Ideas of Musical "Unfolding". Theory and Practice, Vol. 37/38 (2012-13), pp. 111-138
In lots of rock music there are progressions like I V ...
6
The bVII is probably the most used non-diatonic chord in music. So much so that it’s the only non-diatonic chord included in Apple’s GarageBand chord palette. As for its function there are many different and valid explanations as to why it works. For me one of the most important reasons it works so well is it mimics the parallel whole step movement between ...
8
This is an interesting progression, and that move from D♯ minor to A major is pretty jarring!
I understand this in at least two ways:
First, as you said, is the obvious result of the chromatic voice leading in the bass. We call this a lament bass, and although this is an uncommon harmonization of it, it's not completely unheard of: a famous prelude ...
1
First thing - if we're talking in terms of functional harmony, dominants, subdominants and tonics, it's likely to be V (major) not v (minor) even in a minor key.
(OK, I see you've edited that in your question.)
Yes, iv fits nicely before V. We can explain this by noticing that iv is closely related to ii7. And ii7, V, i is a standard 'cycle of 5ths' ...
2
In the major/minor system chord I, IV, and V are the primary chords. (In minor you can generally use symbols i, iv, V.) These are the primary chords. In very loose terms you can play these chords in any order and produce a clear sense of tonality. IV is one of the tonal pillars.
In functional harmony there is a sort of norm for harmonic flow moving pre-...
2
I would say that it's a bit the other around. At least classical or more accurately CPP composers tend to establish three main harmonic areas. The "tonic" is the harmonic area of rest or finality or even beginning. The "dominant" harmonic area tends to signal the approach of the tonic area (though event may be evaded for artistic reasons.) The "predominant" ...
5
If I understood you correctly, you're trying to play notes from a scale that's always rooted on the root note of whatever chord there is at that moment. And that's why for example if your chords are C - Dm - G - Am, a minor pentatonic scale seems to work nicely on the Am and Dm, but feels a bit funky on the C major and G major chords. If this is what you're ...
0
'v is the dominant'. Not necessarily. V can be and is more often the dominant.
But that's not the point. It's called subdominant because it's under the dominant. It has no particular role with relation to the dominant. Sometimes it precedes the dominant, sometimes it doesn't, and other chords do instead.
So, basically, no. In fact, if the 'dominant' is v, ...
8
Your question is a little bit unclear, but yes: generally speaking, the subdominant chord (IV or iv) prepares the dominant (V).
(In the answer below, the Roman numerals should be understood in both major or minor. When I say IV, I mean IV in major or iv in minor. The only exception is V, which must be major [V, not v] to create dominant function.)
To ...
0
The minor pent. has been used for decades by guitarists to solo over both major and minor chords.
It's the mainstay for three chord wonders, 12 bars et al.
Let's take a key. A major, when there are simply three chords - A D and E, then A pent. works over most of the song. In fact, a lot of guitarists would make it work over all the song.
One could also ...
1
It would help if you provided an example. In any Key there are a combination of major and minor chords. Specifically the folling list of 7th chords are in each Major key,
IMaj7, ii-7, iii-7, IVMaj7, V7, vi-7, vii-7(b5)
So, in principle if you see anything from this combination would could just stay on the I major scale and be fine. For example, in the ...
0
Here is an online tool where you can enter a sequence of chords, and see what scales and modes are a best fit for those chords:
http://www.micrologus.com/tools/online_harmonic_analyzer
Below the form for entering the chords you'll also find an explanation of how are the scales and modes chosen to fit the different chords.
For disclosure, I programmed that ...
Top 50 recent answers are included
