Chord Req: Figuring out chords you don't know...

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Figuring out chords you don't know.
From: Sorcha
Date: 16 Sep 05 - 11:28 PM

Yea...try swing, Shetland or jazz.....

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Figuring out chords you don't know...
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 16 Sep 05 - 07:57 PM

"If you are working out basic chords FIND THE BASS NOTES FIRST. They will point to the correct chords."

Absolutely! That's the whole point of studying and understanding 'Music Theory"... :P)


"chord changes tend to occur on strong beats"

For certain styles of music.

"which would be the first and third count in 4/4 time, meaning that the chord on the second beat is going to be the same as the chord on the first beat" etc

There are music styles in which 'vamping' occurs, in that the first beat is a 'root chord' and the offbeat or second etc beats are harmonically related, such as the relative 5th to the 'root chord'.

There are also 3/4 pieces in which alternate bars do the same trick.

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Figuring out chords you don't know.
From: GUEST,Fullerton
Date: 16 Sep 05 - 04:48 PM

I have kind of sound metaphors for spotting chords

7#9 remind me of train whistles or Purple Haze

min/maj7 reminds me of crisis in australian soap operas.

closed 6th chords remind me of the andrew sisters

maj7 reminds me of Jobim, the style council and radio 2

7 chords sound like something is about to happen

sus4 chords remind me of pinball wizard

Quartial chords - Star Trek and "So What"

Power chords - bagpipes.

9 - Django Reinhardt

Augmented chords - A dreamlike state or "Oh I do like to be beside the Seaside"

#9#5 chords - Reminds of Stevie Wonders "Preetiest Star"

Diminished chords - Horror films - Balloon music from "tale of the riverbank"

These are my own memory aids but I do have an exotic taste in chords!

If you are working out basic chords FIND THE BASS NOTES FIRST. They will point to the correct chords.

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Figuring out chords you don't know.
From: Stewart
Date: 16 Sep 05 - 03:47 PM

M.Ted, I couldn't have said it better. So a little music theory might be helpful, at least it wouldn't hurt. I know some guitar players who will try every chord that they know of until something 'sounds right'. That seems like a very tedious and haphazard way of going about it.

Cheers, S. in Seattle

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Figuring out chords you don't know...
From: M.Ted
Date: 16 Sep 05 - 03:27 PM

Your question isn't clear--do you want to know how to finger or play unfamiliar chords, or are you asking how ones goes about figuring out what the chords to the song are when you don't know them?

If you want to know how to figure out chord progressions, it makes a lot of difference what songs you are trying to figure out. It also depends on how much playing you have done. Most folk stuff is easy enough to follow by ear, if, as Sorcha points out, you know the key. A lot of pop and rock stuff is just as easy to follow--even a fair amount of the old time jazz stuff is easy to follow, if you know the circle of fifths--

The most important thing, when figuring out chords, is to make sure that you have the melody down, dead to rights--then pick your key and go to it. The melody usually follows the chord form--where you have a problem finding a chord, simply play the melody note, find a bass note that goes with it, and drop in the note a third above it--if that doesn't work, try a minor third below--you should be pretty close now--

If you are still having trouble, simply make a list of all the chords that use that note and try them all. If you still can't find the chord, go back and check to make sure you've got the melody note right.

Also, keep in mind that the chord changes tend to occur on strong beats, which would be the first and third count in 4/4 time, meaning that the chord on the second beat is going to be the same as the chord on the first beat, and the chord on the fourth beat is going to be the same as the chord on the third beat, even if the notes aren't in the chord--


Even though I will probably get clobbered for saying this, the truth is thatyou can work out simple chording if you just write out the melody and pencil some notes in following basic harmony rules--and you won't have to listen to a recording over and over again to do it.

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Figuring out chords you don't know.
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 15 Sep 05 - 06:12 PM

Good site s&r...

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Figuring out chords you don't know.
From: Sorcha
Date: 15 Sep 05 - 05:46 PM

I find all this chord request stuff kinda strange...we just tell our players what key we are in, and they play along. Now, I know that once in a while there is a 'weird' one tossed in...but mostly not.

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Figuring out chords you don't know...
From: s&r
Date: 15 Sep 05 - 02:51 PM

use this site


Stu

Subject: Chord Req: Figuring out chords you don't know...
From: GUEST,Johnny E. Mack
Date: 15 Sep 05 - 02:05 PM

When trasnscribing (or trying to at any rate) songs, how do you figure out chords you might not be familiar with?

Thanks,
Johnny