|
The "Oh Duh!" Chord Progression
I think we have laid
the foundation for understanding chord progressions now.
We have covered chords from basic triads to extended, altered,
suspended, and slash chords. We have learned how the circle
of keys works in both major and minor keys. And we have
learned how to tell what key a song is in when there are
flats in the key signature, when there are sharps in the
key signature, and when there is neither.
So let's begin learning
some of the most used chord progressions -- the progressions
that happen over and over and over again in song after song
after song.
The first progression
we will consider I have labeled the "Oh Duh!" chord
progression. When my daughter, Kendra, was in junior high
school, she and her friends used to use that term a lot.
Whenever I said something overly obvious, she would say
"Oh Duh!" -- meaning, of course, that whatever I said was
so painfully obvious that it really didn't need to be said
at all.
And that's exactly what this
chord progression is -- so obvious that it hardly needs
to be mentioned.
Except
it DOES need to be mentioned, because most people don't
know the fundamentals that YOU now know -- they don't know
that there are 3 chords in any key that are MUCH more likely
to be used than any others. We call them primary chords
-- the I, IV, and V chords.
Just to briefly review, here they are again -- the 3
most used chords -- the primary chords -- in each major
key:
You may find it easier to
see this information in a tabluar format (note all chords
are major chords):
|
Key
(I)
|
C
|
G
|
D
|
A
|
E
|
B
|
F#/Gb
|
C#/Db
|
Ab
|
Eb
|
Bb
|
F
|
|
IV
|
F
|
C
|
G
|
D
|
A
|
E
|
B
|
F#/Gb
|
Db
|
Ab
|
Eb
|
Bb
|
|
V
|
G
|
D
|
A
|
E
|
B
|
F#
|
C#/Db
|
G#/Ab
|
Eb
|
Bb
|
F
|
C
|
So if a song you want
to play is in the key of C, what are the chords you would
expect to find most?
We
also know that the "I" chord is THE most used chord in that
key, and songs nearly always (probably 90% of the time)
start and end on the I chord.
So if you determine that a song is in the key of F, what
is far and away the most likely chord?
What
chord would you expect the song to start on?
What
chord would you expect the song to end on?
So
after the first chord, there are just two possibilities
for the 2nd chord. Either the IV chord or the V chord. (It
might be any chord if you care to get picky, but we're speaking
here in mathematical terms. The likelihood of the second
chord of a song being anything other than IV or V is small,
so if you were betting, you would certainly bet on IV or
V.)
So
the obvious question then is:
And
the answer is:
What's
the melody note at that point? Is it part of the IV chord,
or part of the V chord?
If
the melody note is a member of the IV chord, then....
If
on the other hand the melody note is a member of the V chord,
then...
Here's a tune in the Key of
C. The first few notes (C, E, G) are all members of the
C chord -- correct? Since we expect any song in the Key
of C to start with the I chord, we have "double evidence"
that the first chord is indeed C because the tune spells
out the C chord.
Oh
Duh!
When the melody uses a note
that is NOT part of the I chord, then we have to guess whether
the next chord will be a IV chord or a V chord -- correct?
What is the melody note?
It's an "A." Is that part of the V chord or the IV chord?
Right! It's part of the IV chord -- F -- which consists
of three notes: F, A, C.
It's
NOT part of the V chord -- G -- which consists of three
notes: G, B, D.
All
together now:
"Oh Duh!"
You
may be wondering "But what if the melody is C -- that's
part of the I chord as well as part of the IV chord!" That's
right. That's where
your ear comes in. If you feel a change of chords, then
change it. If you don't feel a change of chords, don't change
it. Duh! If you can't hear the difference, then it doesn't
matter.
|
|
So
you use your brain
-- what you know about chords --
along with your ear.
Together they are a dynamite combination.
|
|
|
