Chord Progressions and Chord Voicings

[mlb1399]

Fatjack and MWR did such an awesome job explaining modes I was wondering if we could rack there brains to get a little light shed on these areas. Personally, I have been trying to come up with some of my own stuff but it would be nice to have a better understanding of how these things work together.

My first question: what are the general rules as far as what chords can follow what chords? (Ex. :When you can play a II and what should follow?)

How do you determine when you can use a m7, sus4, M7, 6, 9, 11, etc.?

[Davy28]

m7 chords can go wherever a minor chord would normally be, but the seventh is used to give it a little jazzy flavor.

A sus4 chord goes well on the fifth chord of a major scale (ie. Asus4 on the D major scale), leading into the root chord (D). Thats just what I have found.

maj7s tend to go well on the sixth chord of a scale (ie c major for E minor or F major for A minor) to give it additional jazz flavor. Check out the outro for Stairway to heaven (Am, G, Fmaj7) and you'll see what I mean.

A 9 chord is a major chord that has both the 7th and the 9th notes added to it. the root major chord can be used in any major scale as a 9th chord for a funk feel. (Check out the jam on Ants marching, Dave plays D major and then D9, then G major and then G9.

As for the others, Fatjack and MWR know a hell of a lot for than I do.

[MahlerGrooves]

CHORD PROGRESSIONS: So, let's say we are in a major key (just to make life a little easier).

The most basic progression EVER is I - IV - V (or V7) - I

This has to do with the number of shared notes in each chord. In the key of C major (easy because of no accidentals), the root chord is C-E-G. The IV chord, F, shares the tone C with the root (F-A-C). This makes it a very logical choice to come immediately after the C chord, as there is a gradual moving away effect.

The V chord (G-B-D) shares the note G with the root chord, and, if using G7, it also shares the F in the IV chord, creating harmonic tension and pull to those two chords (actually more to C because the F will want to resolve to E, the B up and the D down to C, and the G remains). The V chord has, as its root, the fifth of the root chord, thus making it sound SOME of the same overtones of the root chord, and therefore almost REQUIRING it to resolve to the root (to wake me up, my dad used to play a I-IV-V7 on the piano, and I would be so disturbed that I would have to run down and play the I to resolve it.)

Now, for the rest of the explanation, I will use actual chord names, as the numerals will start to get confusing with the inversions.

A basic variation on the C-F-G7-C progression is C - F - C/G - G7 - C. This is interesting because the C/G ALMOST sounds like a G chord due to the strong 5th degree presence.

After you understand that, you really have all the info you need to create every other progression. Below I have listed chords in the major scale and noted which function they serve (tonic, subdominant, or dominant....aka I-IV-V).

TONIC FUNCTIONING CHORDS:
I , vi (lower case denotes a minor chord).

SUB-DOMINANT CHORDS:
ii, IV and SOMETIMES I 6/4, bII 6/4 and iii....but more on that later

DOMINANT CHORDS:
V, vii (which is a diminished chord).

This means that, in the key of C, C and Am would serve as tonics, Dm and F (and sometimes C/G or Db/F or Em) could serve as subdominant chords, and G and Bdim (or G7 and Bdim7) could be dominant chords.

The iii chord (Em in C major) is very interesting, as it is a great transitional chord. It can serve as MANY things, and is very helpful in modulation (a topic I could make another post on if there is a demand).

The other chord I talked about, the Db/F, in the key of C is called the Neopolitan 6th (6th because in classical music notation, a 6th chord is one where the third of the chord is in the bass...in this case, F-Db-Ab instead of Db-F-Ab). This chord must ALWAYS goes to the V chord in the scale.

OK...so, using those rules, and staying only in one key, you have a seemingly LIMITLESS possibility.

Minor keys are different. in Cminor, the F chord becomes F minor, the Em chord becomes Eb major, the G and G7 will stay the same (to preserve the B natural leading tone), the vi chord (Am in C) becomes Ab major in C minor, and the Neopolital stays the same.

If you all want, I can post a detailed minor progression analysis and a modulation analysis as well.

Hope this helps!

[mlb1399]

Could you explain what sub-dominant and dominant means and how it relates to the key and when it can be played in a progression?

[MahlerGrooves]

Yeah. The sub-dominant is, basically, the IV chord function. It has less pull to the tonic than the dominant, and usually leads to it. The Dominant is, basically, the V chord function. Comes after sub dom, USUALLY, and right before the tonic. Usually contains the leading tone in the scale (G-B-D...B is the leading tone), and therefore has a huge pull to the tonic.

[dmbguitar718]

oh my god do you kick ass. jesus man, you are incredibly generous.

[mlb1399]

Yeah. The sub-dominant is, basically, the IV chord function. It has less pull to the tonic than the dominant, and usually leads to it. The Dominant is, basically, the V chord function. Comes after sub dom, USUALLY, and right before the tonic. Usually contains the leading tone in the scale (G-B-D...B is the leading tone), and therefore has a huge pull to the tonic.

So you would play a tonic chord to start then you could follow by either a dominant and then back to the tonic or you could play a tonic then sub-dominant which would need to be followed by a dominant before going back to tonic???

[MahlerGrooves]

Yeah. The sub-dominant is, basically, the IV chord function. It has less pull to the tonic than the dominant, and usually leads to it. The Dominant is, basically, the V chord function. Comes after sub dom, USUALLY, and right before the tonic. Usually contains the leading tone in the scale (G-B-D...B is the leading tone), and therefore has a huge pull to the tonic.

So you would play a tonic chord to start then you could follow by either a dominant and then back to the tonic or you could play a tonic then sub-dominant which would need to be followed by a dominant before going back to tonic???

Don't get in the locked mindset that I have been taught of "need to". USUALLY it goes, tonic-sub dom- dom -ton -dom -ton - transition - tonic --- etc.

If you learn the sound and the pull of each chord and where they feel like they WANT to go, you will learn with your own sense of the music.

But what i outlined is the way it is taught in music school....tonic to start, followed by sub dom, followed by dom, ending with tonic.

If you want, I can post some chord progressions and chordal analyses of dave songs to illustrate.

[MahlerGrooves]

oh my god do you kick ass. jesus man, you are incredibly generous.

Thanks! I have had almost 10 years of composition and music theory instruction, and this stuff is like SO natural to me now. It is like being fluent in a different language sort of. It just clicks after you use it day in and day out.

As a tip, I find PIANO is better to actually visibly see the relationships between the cords due to shared keys rather than barre chords.

[mlb1399]

Yeah. The sub-dominant is, basically, the IV chord function. It has less pull to the tonic than the dominant, and usually leads to it. The Dominant is, basically, the V chord function. Comes after sub dom, USUALLY, and right before the tonic. Usually contains the leading tone in the scale (G-B-D...B is the leading tone), and therefore has a huge pull to the tonic.

So you would play a tonic chord to start then you could follow by either a dominant and then back to the tonic or you could play a tonic then sub-dominant which would need to be followed by a dominant before going back to tonic???

Don't get in the locked mindset that I have been taught of "need to". USUALLY it goes, tonic-sub dom- dom -ton -dom -ton - transition - tonic --- etc.

If you learn the sound and the pull of each chord and where they feel like they WANT to go, you will learn with your own sense of the music.

But what i outlined is the way it is taught in music school....tonic to start, followed by sub dom, followed by dom, ending with tonic.

If you want, I can post some chord progressions and chordal analyses of dave songs to illustrate.

That would ROCK!!! Or you can just use general chords too, whichever you prefer.

[MahlerGrooves]

OK....so I will have an analysis of Grey Street, Big eyed fish and Bartender up by the end of the night. Crash tomorrow.

[mlb1399]

Thank you so much!

[MahlerGrooves]

Thank you so much!

no problem. Everyine here has been super helpful to me in learning guitar and about DMB. The least I can do is give back in anyway I can.

[fatjack]

Yeah. The sub-dominant is, basically, the IV chord function. It has less pull to the tonic than the dominant, and usually leads to it. The Dominant is, basically, the V chord function. Comes after sub dom, USUALLY, and right before the tonic. Usually contains the leading tone in the scale (G-B-D...B is the leading tone), and therefore has a huge pull to the tonic.

you are acutally using this term a little incorrectly...

the sub dominant is the term used to describe scale degree four (because it is a dominant BELOW the tonic)

the term you are looking for is PRE-dominant. chords like II and IV are pre-dominants, meaning that they come before the dominant (V).

[MahlerGrooves]

Yeah. The sub-dominant is, basically, the IV chord function. It has less pull to the tonic than the dominant, and usually leads to it. The Dominant is, basically, the V chord function. Comes after sub dom, USUALLY, and right before the tonic. Usually contains the leading tone in the scale (G-B-D...B is the leading tone), and therefore has a huge pull to the tonic.

you are acutally using this term a little incorrectly...

the sub dominant is the term used to describe scale degree four (because it is a dominant BELOW the tonic)

the term you are looking for is PRE-dominant. chords like II and IV are pre-dominants, meaning that they come before the dominant (V).

Actually, that is incorrect...partially. The subdominant IS the fourth scale degree, but is also assigned to name the chord built upon that degree and is the name of a function. Pre dominant chords precede the dominant, that is true, but only a sub dominant chord has an illicit pull and theoretical requirement to find a dominant. Or at least that's how my professors taught it.