What Chords work with what?

a1075dd63aa12 · Unread post by **a1075dd63aa12** » Wed Dec 08, 2004 11:51 pm

How do you figure out which chords work with other chords, how minors and sevenths fit in and so on?

DMBFan63 · Unread post by **DMBFan63** » Wed Dec 08, 2004 11:56 pm

wkpggrvn2001 wrote:How do you figure out which chords work with other chords, how minors and sevenths fit in and so on?

Basicly you have to know music theory. You could always just go with what sounds good.

a1075dd63aa12 · Unread post by **a1075dd63aa12** » Wed Dec 08, 2004 11:58 pm

yea i try that, but it be nice to know chord families to know where youre going

breyean · Unread post by **breyean** » Thu Dec 09, 2004 12:01 am

thats a good question. i've often wondered the same.

Matty Boom · Unread post by **Matty Boom** » Thu Dec 09, 2004 12:52 am

theory

Easy E · Unread post by **Easy E** » Thu Dec 09, 2004 2:38 pm

basically you got you chords in basic keys

So in the Key of C you have these notes in the scale

C D E F G A B

your 1st, 4th, and 5th chords will be major
2nd, 3rd, 6th will be minor
7th diminished

This works for every key, there can be subtle changes that you can figure out through experimenting, but thats the basics.

firedancer86 · Unread post by **firedancer86** » Thu Dec 09, 2004 3:19 pm

eze3484 wrote:basically you got you chords in basic keys

So in the Key of C you have these notes in the scale

C D E F G A B

your 1st, 4th, and 5th chords will be major
2nd, 3rd, 6th will be minor
7th diminished

This works for every key, there can be subtle changes that you can figure out through experimenting, but thats the basics.

that is true in a MAJOR harmonic prog...to add on, a minor equivelent would be...

c d(dim) E f G A b(dim)

but just knowing chord theory, scales, and keys would help you out immensly...

mlb1399 · Unread post by **mlb1399** » Thu Dec 09, 2004 3:30 pm

Most popular music is written with the I IV V and VIm.

The I is the root or tonic, so in the key of C, the C is the I. A major scale is whole, whole, whole, half, whole, whole, half. So in the key of C you have your C, F, G, Am. You break down a key by the intervals I talked about earlier. So in the key of c:

I II III IV V VI VII
C D E F G A B

So in the key of C you can use any of those chords.

When you play the I, it is usually followed by the IV or V.
The II is most often followed by the V
The III is followed by the VI
The IV is followed by the V
The V is usually followed by the I
The VI is usually followed by the II or V

Now these aren't concret rules, as you can sometimes use different intervals. To add flavor to music, you add 7th's, 9th's, 11th's, 13th's and so forth. If any of this is confusing you should probably just do some web surfing for a music theory site.

filmdude100cms · Unread post by **filmdude100cms** » Thu Dec 09, 2004 4:43 pm

you need to know keys, scales, and just in general theory.

a1075dd63aa12 · Unread post by **a1075dd63aa12** » Sat Dec 11, 2004 12:05 am

firedancer86 wrote:
eze3484 wrote:basically you got you chords in basic keys

So in the Key of C you have these notes in the scale

C D E F G A B

your 1st, 4th, and 5th chords will be major
2nd, 3rd, 6th will be minor
7th diminished

This works for every key, there can be subtle changes that you can figure out through experimenting, but thats the basics.
that is true in a MAJOR harmonic prog...to add on, a minor equivelent would be...

c d(dim) E f G A b(dim)

but just knowing chord theory, scales, and keys would help you out immensly...

cool that helps a lot, i think understand it a lot better, I know the scales and the modes, so basically i just use those and those chords voicings sound good together?

Ive surfed around but the way everyone here put it made more sense, i know theres more to it but this seems like a good base.

dmbvideos · Unread post by **dmbvideos** » Sat Dec 11, 2004 12:23 am

Here's some crazy theory I typed up one day when I was bored...

Code: Select all

NOTES:

Major:	W	W	H	W	W	W	H
------------------------------------------------------------
C	D	E	F	G	A	B	C
C#	D#	F	F#	G#	Bb	C	C#
D	E	F#	G	A	B	C#	D
D#	F	G	G#	Bb	C	D	D#
E	F#	G#	A	B	C#	D#	E
F	G	A	Bb	C	D	E	F
F#	G#	Bb	B	C#	D#	F	F#
G	A	B	C	D	E	F#	G
G#	Bb	C	C#	D#	F	G	G#
A	B	C#	D	E	F#	G#	A
Bb	C	D	D#	F	G	A	Bb
B	C#	D#	E	F#	G#	Bb	B



Minor:	W	H	W	W	H	W	W
------------------------------------------------------------
C	D	D#	F	G	G#	Bb	C
C#	D#	E	F#	G#	A	B	C#
D	E	F	G	A	Bb	C	D
D#	F	F#	G#	Bb	B	C#	D#
E	F#	G	A	B	C	D	E
F	G	G#	Bb	C	C#	D#	F
F#	G#	A	B	C#	D	E	F#
G	A	Bb	C	D	D#	F	G
G#	Bb	B	C#	D#	E	F#	G#
A	B	C	D	E	F	G	A
Bb	C	C#	D#	F	F#	G#	Bb
B	C#	D	E	F#	G	A	B


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CHORDS:

Major
I	ii	iii	IV	V	vi	vii°	I
------------------------------------------------------------
C	Dm	Em	F	G	Am	Bm	C
C#	D#m	Fm	F#	G#	Bbm	Cm	C#
D	Em	F#m	G	A	Bm	C#m	D
D#	Fm	Gm	G#	Bb	Cm	Dm	D#
E	F#m	G#m	A	B	C#m	D#m	E
F	Gm	Am	Bb	C	Dm	Em	F
F#	G#m	Bbm	B	C#	D#m	Fm	F#
G	Am	Bm	C	D	Em	F#m	G
G#	Bbm	Cm	C#	D#	Fm	Gm	G#
A	Bm	C#m	D	E	F#m	G#m	A
Bb	Cm	Dm	D#	F	Gm	Am	Bb
B	C#m	D#m	E	F#	G#m	Bbm	B

° = diminished chord - rarely used

Minor
i	ii°	III	iv	v	VI	VII	i
------------------------------------------------------------
Cm	Dm	D#	Fm	Gm	G#	Bb	Cm
C#m	D#m	E	F#m	G#m	A	B	C#m
Dm	Em	F	Gm	Am	Bb	C	Dm
D#m	Fm	F#	G#m	Bbm	B	C#	D#m
Em	F#m	G	Am	Bm	C	D	Em
Fm	Gm	G#	Bbm	Cm	C#	D#	Fm
F#m	G#m	A	Bm	C#m	D	E	F#m
Gm	Am	Bb	Cm	Dm	D#	F	Gm
G#m	Bbm	B	C#m	D#m	E	F#	G#m
Am	Bm	C	Dm	Em	F	G	Am
Bbm	Cm	C#	D#m	Fm	F#	G#	Bbm
Bm	C#m	D	Em	F#m	G	A	Bm

[/code]

a1075dd63aa12 · Unread post by **a1075dd63aa12** » Sat Dec 11, 2004 12:47 am

nice man thats great thanks a lot.

Pickles · Unread post by **Pickles** » Sat Dec 11, 2004 1:33 am

dmbvideos... thats some sloppy stuff...

a scale is supposed to have each letter from A to G. to achieve this, each scale is either a sharp or a flat key (except C major)

Sharps:
G (1 sharp)
D (2)
A (3)
E (4)
B (5)
F# (6)
C# (7)

Flats:
F (1)
Bb (2)
Eb (3)
Ab (4)
Db (5)
Gb (6)
Cb (7)

why does it work like that?

lets take Gmaj.

G A B C D E F#

now, if you were using flats, youd have to change the scale accordingly...

Abb Bbb Cb Dbb Ebb Fb Gb

so whats easier?

what notes are sharped and flatted in each key?

lets take this:

Flats: BEADGCF

Sharps: FCGDAEB (flats backwards)

to use this, start at C (0). the next letter is 1, then 2, etc... thats the number of sharps or flats in the key. so, start at the beginning of the line and count x and those are your sharps/flats.

when you go back to the beginning of the line when trying to determine how many, it will make the note flat or sharp.

example:

Bb. start at C. you have to go back to the beginning of the line, so you know its Bb.

you have 2 flats in that key. the first 2 notes on that line are B and E.

so your Bbmaj scale is:

Bb C D Eb F G A

as for minor scales, they can get confusing because of the different types of minor scales (natural, harmonic, and melodic).

but i dont feel like typing that right now.

a1075dd63aa12 · Unread post by **a1075dd63aa12** » Sat Dec 11, 2004 2:52 am

yea i got that, like a know that c major is the only perfect major scale, and how that works, i was basically after what chords work with what thanks a lot for the help.

MWR · Unread post by **MWR** » Sat Dec 11, 2004 4:29 am

There's plenty of resources out there for learning basic music theory. I suggest reading as much as you can as often as you can. Repitition is key when learning theory, awful pun intended.
After you get the basics down feel free to ask specific questions. This topic could fill a book and I don't feel like writing that much.

Dmbvideos- your crazy theory is crazy but it's not really theory. It's just long hand for writing out key signatures. Keys signatures are a way of creating consistant pitch and generally a means to an end. That's why you commonly see roman numerals when talking about theory because it's pitch and key independant.

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What Chords work with what?

What Chords work with what?

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