I'm starting to understand how to use theory to arrange chord progressions. I decided to make an excerise for myself: Pick a key at random then using David's A Before E lessons as a guide, make a chord progression and see how it sounds.
I picked F minor and chose the chords Fm, Cm and C#. And it worked! It sounded pretty good. I'm not sure if that progression is right for F minor though, David's general rules of thumb for chord progressions are for major keys.
One thing I'm stuck on though. Let's say I wanted to now take that progression and work it into a song, using power chords. How would I do it? I'm lost since power chords aren't major or minor. Would it just be F5, C5 and C#5?
So long as you understand that major chords, which have 3 notes, are different then power chords, that have two strong notes, then I would say that you can easily do that. The reason being is that power chords use the root note and the 5th, the root note is always the same no matter what type of chord, and the 5th will be the same so long as it is not a b5, augmented or diminished chord. Sometimes power chords work, sometimes 3 note chords work, sometimes 7ths, 9ths, 11ths and 13ths work. In F minor, the scale is: F G Ab Bb C Db Eb. So TECHNICALLY: the progression would be Fm, Cm and Db, but really, who cares? (the notes are the same anyways, just in theory, Fminor is written with 4 flats, so you use flats) The great thing about minor scales too is that there are actually three of them, so there are tons of chords you can use (13 instead of only 7). There's an article on guitarnoise about these scales if you're confused.
Steve-0
I read the article but got lost about halfway through. I understand the different types of scales but am not sure how to get what chords are used by looking at the scale.
I read the article but got lost about halfway through. I understand the different types of scales but am not sure how to get what chords are used by looking at the scale.
Oh, okay, let's see if i can show you. I'll use the A minor key as the simplest:
A natural minor scale: A B C D E F G
So if we harmonize that scale, we start on the root and use thirds to create chords, so in A minor it would be:
Am Bm7(b5) C Dm Em F G
A B C D E F G
C D E F G A B
E F G A B C D
Now in A harmonic minor, everything is the same except a raised 7th note: A B C D E F G#, if you harmonize it, you get a few different chords:
Am
Bm7(b5)
Caugmented (C E G#, the raised 5th makes the major chord augmented) Dm
E major (E, G#, B)
F
G# diminished (G#, B, D)
That's 3 chords that aren't normally in the natural minor scale, if you move on to the melodic minor scale, it's a minor scale with a raised 6th and 7th: A B C D E F# G#. Again, when you harmonize the scale:
Am
B minor (F is changed to F#)
Caugmented
D major
E major
F# diminished
G# diminished
Now you have Bminor, D major and F# diminished, so that's another three chords. So now you have 3 scales you can use, and 13 chords you can technically use in a minor key. Now, that doesn't mean you can use all 13 chords in a progression, but it definitely gives you alot more options. I hope this clarifies your confusion.
Steve-0
I understand now. I see how you got those chords, I can't explain it but know how you did it. I already arranged a piece in F minor using chords F5, C5 and C#5. Am I restricted to the chords in a key or have I already kind of gone out of key by using those chords?
You haven't gone out of key, but you haven't named them 'in key'.
The key of Fm has these notes: F-G-Ab-Bb-C-D/Db-E/Eb-F (whether the D and E chords are flat or not depends on the particular minor scale you're harmonizing)
Within a key, you only have one note with the same name. It makes things easier to read in standard notation, which is where all these scales and chord names come from... so if you call them F5-C5-Db5 you're in the key of F minor. They'd be the I-V-VI chords in that key.
Guitar teacher offering lessons in Plainfield IL
Ok, but I can use chords not in that key, right?
Ok, but I can use chords not in that key, right?
Yup, one of my favorite songs that has out of key chords is "Blow up the outside world" by Soundgarden. You just have to be careful when using out of key chords because there's nothing in theory about that (well, there might be in advanced harmony and counterpoint, but i haven't studied any of that) so it's very easy when working with out of key chords to completely ruin a progression, but you can create some great progressions using "outside chords", i guess it's really just a matter of figuring out what sounds good.
Think of chords in a key as "Safe chords", although some chord combinations can sound bad, most of the time so long as you stay in the key, it'll sound acceptable. It's very similar to the way lead players know that going outside of a perticular key or scale is acceptable and sometimes completely necessary.
Steve-0
I think Kittie steps out of key. The song Brackish is in E major and the progression is C5, C#5, F#5. Or are all those in that key?
Don't think tabs or transcriptions are the best way to tell though. Bet the person hears the chords then decides that the song must've been written in a certain key. Who knows what was going through the mind of the composer though.
