Subject: RE: Scared of Music theory? Faggggedaboudit!
From:
Gary T
Date: 05 Dec 01 - 01:57 AM
Before we move on to chord progressions, let's review (oh, what fun!).
We know that our music (music of Western civilization, as opposed to say, much Oriental music) is based on certain tones which, by definition, comprise the notes of the chromatic scale.
From those notes, certain groups can be selected by a set formula to form major scales.
From the notes of a given major scale (and other notes defined in relation to that scale--for example, the flatted 3rd note used in a minor chord), we can form various chords, each of which has its own formula or definition.
Okay, so now we got all these chords, what do we do with them? Lay down the framework for songs and tunes.
In discussing chords, we can save a lot of effort by using a number system that applies to any key, rather than talking about each of the twelve possible keys individually. We numbered the major scale with Arabic numerals to talk about the notes used to form chords. Now we'll number it with Roman numerals to talk about chords themselves.
Let's look at our good friend, the C major scale.
C D E F G A B C
The notes of this scale can be numbered thus: C D E F G A B C
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 (or 8, if continuing)
If I mention 1, 3, 5, it means those NOTES, which can form a chord.
Now we're going to number it this way: C D E F G A B C
I II III IV V VI VII I (no need to ever go above VII)
Now, if I were to mention I, III, and V, it would mean a C chord, an E chord, and a G chord. We know that each of those chords is made up of several notes taken from the C, E, and G scales, respectively, but we're not talking about those notes. We're referring to the chords themselves.
Now "3" and "III" are both forms of "three", and obviously based on the fact that E is the third note of scale here. But other than that, the "3" and the "III" have nothing to do with each other. One's a note, the other's a chord. Apples, oranges. When I talk about chords as units, rather than about the notes used to construct chords, I use Roman numerals. When I use Roman numerals, I'm talking about chords.
A jillion songs use the I, IV, & V (or V7) chords. On Top of Old Smokey, Amazing Grace, Oh Suzannah, etc., etc. etc. In folk, bluegrass, and country music, it's by far the most common grouping of chords. These songs are the "three chorders."
A lesser number use I & IV (Wild Mountain Thyme), or I & V(7) (Short'nin Bread).
There are lots of typical chord groupings that are used in a great number of songs. Some of these are:
I-VIm-IV-V(7)--classic "doo wop" progression--Silhouettes, Santa Catalina
I-IIm-V7--Don't It Make You Want To Go Home
I-VI7-II7-V7--classic ragtime--Salty Dog
I-VIIb--Old Joe Clark, Little Maggie
That's just a tiny sample. There are booklets available that listen many common chord progression.
So why talk about, say, I, IV, & V? You can't play a "IV" on an instrument--you can play a C chord, or a D chord, or an A chord, but what's a IV chord?
Talking about these numbers helps you see patterns. Grasping patterns helps to make sense out of things.
Say you usually play a song in the key of C, and the chords are C, F, & G. Someone says they're going to play that song now, in the key of G. What are the chords to play along in G?
In the key of C, C is the I chord, F is the IV chord, and G is the V chord. The G scale is: G A B C D E F# G
I II III IV V VI VII I
The I chord is G, the IV chord is C, the V chord is D. So this song uses the chords G, C, & D.
Any song can be played in any chosen key. If it uses I, IV, & V in one key, it will use I, IV, & V in every other key, and in the same respective places in the song. You can transpose it to any desired key so long as you know the scales of the "from" key and the "to" key.
Say you have a book that shows chords for a certain song, as follows:
Eb, Gm, Cm, Bb, Ab, Bb, Eb
This is almost certainly in the key of Eb (the I chord is the first chord in a song more than half the time, and the last chord more than 95% of the time). Suppose your vocal range, or the fact that you play guitar, or the fact that you have an autoharp without half of those chords, dictates that you do it in the key of C or G. Just look at the scales: I II III IV V VI VII I
Eb F G Ab Bb C D Eb
C D E F G A B C
G A B C D E F# G
The sequence is I, IIIm, VIm, V, IV, V, I.
In Eb, that's...Eb, Gm, Cm, Bb, Ab, Bb, Eb.
In C, that's....C, Em, Am, G, F, G, C.
In G, that's....G, Bm, Em, D, C, D, G.
You can also transpose a song's chords by moving EVERY chord up (or down--but not both) the SAME number of half steps. To go from Eb to C, everything would go down three half steps. To go from Eb to g, everything would up four half steps. You don't need to know the keys involved to do this, but knowing them could help ensure you get into the right key with one attempt.
This may sound tedious, but I suggest charting out a number of songs you currently do and identifying the chord sequence with Roman numerals. Do it with songs in various keys. I'll bet you start to see some patterns in terms of the chords used (not necessarily the exact order of the chords, but the selection of chords in the piece). Keep an eye out for these patterns, especially in songs you run across in oddball keys. When various patterns start becoming second nature, things tend to get a lot easier to understand and work with.
Here's a chart of chords commonly found in songs and tunes, along with the actual chords in the keys of C and A. These are in roughly estimated order of frequency of use in popular styles of music: I IV V V7 I7 VIm IIm IIIm II7 VI7 III7 IVm VIIb IIIb VIb
C F G G7 C7 Am Dm Em D7 A7 E7 Fm Bb Eb Ab
A D E E7 A7 F#m Bm C#m B7 F#7 C#7 Dm G C F
Sometimes if I'm trying to work out a song's chords by ear, and the more common choices don't fit, going through a chart like this helps me find the right chord.
Next--tying it all together with the cycle of fifths.
| 
sj
