Topic: Chords and Progressions
Hello,
In some recent discussions, Jerome has referred to what notes made up a F chord and I know alot of folks knew what he was talking about but probably alot didn't.
Anyway chord progressions are also derived from the scale that made up the chord.
a 1,4,5 progression in C refers to the notes that follow C in the C Major Scale
As Russell has pointed out on numerous occasions the 1,4,5 chords are major chords and the 2,3, 6 are minors , lets not go into 7
This explains things without going into great depth.
How Chords are Formed
In any give key certain chords are more common then others. For example in the key of C, the chords C, F and G are usually present, and quite often they are complemented with Am, Dm, and Em. The reason for this is each key has it’s own set of chords constructed from the notes of it’s scale. This is basic music theory and will work starting with any note. We will start with C, consider the scale of C major:
C D E F G A B C
I II III IV V VI VII VIII
Chords are constructed by notes that are a 3rd apart in it’s scale. So the following positions would give us the root major chord of a key:
I – II – III
Using the C major scale written above, chords can be constructed by placing 2 third intervals above each note. So a C chord has C, E and G in it.
Here are the chords of the key of C and how they are constructed:
Chord
Constructed C Dm Em F G Am Bo
C Scale C D E F G A B
III E F G A B C D
V G A B C D E F
The chords are always named according to their root note. They are chords in the key of C because they only contain notes from the C scale. This method of constructing chords can be applied to form the chords of any major scale. The result will always produce the chords of whatever root note you start with.
Scale Note I II III IV V VI VII
Chord Constructed major minor minor major major minor diminished
Chord Substitutions
The chords studied so far involve the placement of 3 notes. The root note of the chord and the 2 third interval notes above it. This method of building chords can be extended by adding another note illustrated below. These chords could then be substituted for chords in the key of C, to color things up.
Chord
Constructed Cmaj7 Dm7 Em7 Fmaj7 G7 Am7 Bo7*
C Scale C D E F G A B
III E F G A B C D
VII B C D E F G A
V G A B C D E F
From this example chords for any key can be substituted by using the chart below:
Scale Note I II III IV V VI VII
Chord Constructed major seventh minor seventh minor seventh major seventh seventh minor seventh half diminished seventh
