first, i think it would be helpful to look at and define the 4 types of chords we will encounter while using the notes from the major scale...
the major 7th chord - in the key of C, lets take the chord made from the notes C E G B. lets look at the basic triad that is there, the C E G. that is a C major triad and we have a B on top of that. the C is the 1 (or tonic) the E is the major 3rd, the G is the 5th and the B is a major 7th... we call this chord a C major 7th chord or Cmaj7.
the dominant 7th chord - if we look at the chord made from the notes C E G Bb, we still have the C major triad, but now we have a Bb on the top which is a flat 7th. this chord is called C7.
the minor 7th chord - lets look at what happens if we change the E to Eb. we would have the chord C Eb G Bb. here we have C Eb G which is a minor triad with the Bb on the top. this gives us a C minor 7th chord, or Cmin7.
the minor 7th flat 5 chord - the last chord we will find in this process is made using the notes C Eb Gb Bb. again, C is the 1 and we have Eb as the minor 3rd again. also now we have Gb as the flat 5th and Bb as the flat 7th on the top. we can call this chord C minor 7th with a flattened 5th like this: Cmin7(b5). this can also be called C half-diminished 7th, but we will get into that later.
here are the possible chords built on all the notes of the C major scale...
C E G B = Cmaj7 = I
D F A C = Dmin7 = ii
E G B D = Emin7 = iii
F A C E = Fmaj7 = IV
G B D F = G7 = V
A C E G = Amin7 = vi
B D F A = Bmin7(b5) = vii
we find the chords contained in the C major scale by starting at the tonic note (the C) and building a 4 note chord, skipping every other note. then go to the 2nd note (the D) and do the same... and so on until we reach the last one, the B. notice that each chord has a roman numeral associated with it. the uppercase roman numerals are for major and the lowercase ones for minor. if i want to say to you 'play a ii V I chord progression', no matter what key your in, you'll be able to find the ii V I. for example, in the key of F, Fmaj7 is the I chord Gmin7 is the ii chord and C7 is the V chord.
notice also that there is only one minor 7th flat 5 chord. next time, we'll get into its role and where we can usually find them. try and write out the chords from other major scales.
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ya. the part about the roman numerals was very helpful.
ReplyDeleteRock on man!
ReplyDeleteVery Clear and connected way of explaining. Thanks!!
ReplyDelete"if you are in the key of Bb and you want to change keys to the key of C, a quick and easy way to help make that happen is by playing or writing a G7 chord."
ReplyDeleteCan you elaborate upon this, please? I understand going from V to I within the same key (i.e. G7 to C), but not changing keys.
if one wanted to facilitate a key change, you can use the tendency that the V7 (or five) chord has to want to resolve to its I (or tonic). as in the example above, if you are in the key of Bb, or some other key, if you wanted to change to the key of C, you could use G7. G7 will want to resolve to C. it will help create the sound as though C is the new tonic or home. for example..
DeleteBbmaj7 Gmin7 | Cmin7 F7
Bbmaj7 | G7
Cmaj7 Amin7 | Dmin7 G7
Cmaj7 | Cmaj7
..you can see this is a simple I vi ii V progression first in the key of Bb in the first line, then in the key of C in the 3rd.. with the second line being the material that connects the 2 keys, and the G7 helping facilitate the movement to the new key.