Understanding Chord Progressions Pt 2

Welcome back! How was the exercise? I hope you actually did it because there are benefits from doing so particularly knowing how chords are derived and recognising whether a chord is major or minor by just examining the interval of the root and the 3rd and how it looks on the fret board.

Anyway, here are the answers: C Dm Em F G Am Bdim (root+minor 3rd+flat 5th which is a half step below 5th)

Did you get all of most (or all) of them? If yes then congratulations. If no, don’t worry. It takes only a little practise in order to get used to it. So keep practising.

So the chords in the key of C major are as stated above. Let’s try putting it into a song (we don't have to use all of them although you can choose to). For the stanza, try C- G- Dm- G--4x; for the chorus C- G- Am- G- C- G- F- G; and for the bridge Am- G--3x – F-G-G ... and so on. The possibility is limitless. You can even put non-diatonic chords (chords that do not belong to a given key). For now just experiment by ear with any 'outsider' chords as there are many approaches to this. In music theory this is called modulation. But this is yet for a future topic. For now determine the chord progression for the other keys as an exercise to help you get used to this. Also, don’t forget to apply this knowledge—write songs of your own now!

Tip: Review the Major scale, write  down on paper the major scale for any key of your choice (other than C), then list the chord progression for this, and voila!... you now have a list of chords to choose from which will fit into your song. No trial and error approach! Well, there is still but then you would have already filtered and narrowed down the chord choices to 7 (all of which fits into your song's key).

Application of things is the only true way to mastery. If you don’t use it, you lose it.

Understanding Scales and Chord Progressions Pt 1

Almost every aspiring guitar player, as he or she progresses and develops into a more highly skilled one eventually appreciates the need or at least becomes interested in learning scales. We all should be! Why? Because it is through understanding and familiarity of it that one can also understand chord progression—a very useful tool when writing your own songs. If you are new to guitar scales, check out my previous post The Major scale.

Writing your own songs

We all know that without any chords, there can be hardly any song or melody that makes sense. A chord is the harmony that results from combining at least three basic pitches. This group of three pitches in harmony is called a triad or chord consisting three notes. But in the context of song- writing, granting that you already know many chords, does this necessarily mean that you know how to organise them in to a flowing music or background music? Not necessarily. Or do you know what gives a chord its name (major, minor, dominant 7^th, major 7^th minor 7^th, etc.)? Not necessarily. Well you can still write a song even without understanding chord progression. The problem is you are only going to go through the painful process of trial and error and it will take a ridiculously long time before you can complete even the simplest song.

In this article, we will learn how to determine the diatonic chords (chords that belong to a particular key) to the C Major key/scale.

From my previous article we have come to know that the C Major scale is C  D  E  F  G  A  B  C. To determine the chords, we just pick every other note in the scale.

So let start by picking C, being the root of the whole scale. Skip the D, pick the E, skip the F, and then pick the G

We have:    C    E   G – C is the root note and we have E as the Major third (2 whole steps from C or simply count 1, 2, 3 from C)  and G as the fifth (count 5 from C taking into account the half step between the 3^rd and 4^th, E and F). In music theory, root +major 3^rd+5^th= Major chord. Therefore the first chord is C major.

Next we have:   D   F   G – D is the root note and we have F as a minor 3^rd (1 ½ steps from root note D) and we have G as the 5^th. This time it is root+minor3rd+5^th= minor chord. Therefore the second chord is D minor.  

Do you see the process now? Do yourself a favour, STOP reading and derive the remaining chords yourself and then get back to compare your answer.

The Major Scale

It is simply the succession of notes in half (semitones) or whole (whole tones) steps within a given key. For example, the C Major scale: C D E F G A B (or the do re mi fa so la ti) with C being the first-degree note, D the second-degree note and so on. For now also take notice that the 6th degree is A (you will later see why). Now notice the distances or intervals between each note. From C to D, it is a whole step as well as the rest except from E to F and B back to C (high).

 

If you find it difficult to understand this, take a look at the keyboard picture below.

As you can see it is composed of black and white keys. Now note that there are no black keys (flat or sharp) in between E and F, and B and C. This explains why it is only a half step between E and F, and B and C. From that analysis we can set the formula for the C Major scale (and all Major scales) which goes: w-w-h-w-w-w-h (w- whole step; h- half step).

               C          D          E          F          G          A          B          c

                 \       /   \       /  \       /   \      /   \       /   \      /   \      /

                    w            w        h          w          w         w          h

On the guitar a whole step is equivalent to two frets and a half step, to one. So if we lay it down on the guitar neck it looks like this:

The C is the root note in the key of C Major

Anything in between the notes are the flats and the sharps. For instance the fret between C and D is called C sharp or D flat. And as you would notice, there is nothing in between E and F, and B and C.

As an alternative to memorising the interval formula, as guitarists we have the benefit of shape or pattern recognition at our disposal. Take note of the peculiar fingering shape as this will help you to easily transpose this to other keys other than C Major so long as they are also ‘Major' keys (C sharp Major, D Major, D sharp Major, and so on) which works exactly like barre chords. This is one advantage that the guitar has above most other instruments. This is the reason why most guitar players and teachers refer to the guitar as a symmetrical instrument. For the mean time, try to familiarise yourself with the Major scale fingering shape/pattern in all keys and get the feel for it so that you can almost immediately play it when the situation calls for it (don't be afraid to use your pinkie). If you are having problems doing this, feel free to leave a comment and I'd be glad to help you.

Watch out for my upcoming post—The Minor scale.