Fretboard Evolution Vol. I - A Guitarist's Guide to Harmony

Thanks for buying Fretboard Evolution Vol. I ___________________________________________ just in case you got it from a friend or found it on the internet and haven’t paid for it yet, I understand. It happens but… If you find this book useful, please consider supporting the author (me). I do have a family to support and this book contains a lot of valuable information that took a great deal of time to organize. In addition, your purchase entitles you to all future revisions free of charge. The official price of this PDF download is $8 (US) which you can send via paypal (www.paypal.com) to: [email protected] If you feel like it’s worth more to you, please donate any amount you’re comfortable with. For more information, you can visit my website at: www.steverieck.com Once again, thanks for your support! © 2011 Steve Rieck – all rights reserved

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FRETBOARD EVOLUTION VOL. I A GUITARISTS GUIDE TO HARMONY (Revision 3 – Sept. 9th, 2013)

© Copyright 2011 Steve Rieck Forward This book was written with a specific type of guitar player in mind – One who's played for several months or years and is comfortable with open major and minor chords as well as barre chords and some scale patterns. If you feel like most of what you do on the guitar is based on visual patterns and shapes and it’s hard to make a lot of logical sense of it, this book is for you. If you’ve had a good background in music theory but feel blurry on some aspects or how to relate it to the guitar, this book is also for you. Although much of the information is presented in the context of what is known as “jazz harmony” and is written with guitarists in mind, the information is universally useful to most styles of music and instruments. In addition, each chapter contains a summary quiz as well as a series of exercises to practice on your guitar. The goal of this book is to embrace the patterns and shapes we all must know and at the same time liberate you from being able to approach the guitar from only that angle. Hopefully the result will be better ideas all around. You should also be aware that I’m going to start simply, from the beginning. Without a doubt, many of you will already have knowledge to varying degrees of many of the things presented in this book but again, my hope is that the information can fill in the gaps and be presented in the most effective way possible.

© 2011 Steve Rieck – all rights reserved

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Why many guitarists are challenged by music theory The visual shape and pattern-based nature of the guitar fretboard is great news to any beginner. Not many instruments allow a novice with good ears and instincts to memorize a few shapes and fingerings and simply shift those same shapes up and down to change keys, develop music etc. That’s one of the reasons the guitar is so popular. Consequently, a lot of players develop who can play a lot of music but suddenly feel lost when they try to step out of their comfort zone. The guitar eventually becomes an endless, compounding game of visual memorization. It's interesting to notice that from the first lesson, a piano or wind player needs to think about the notes on their instrument and some basic music theory in order to get almost anything done. String instruments, by their very nature, lend themselves to playing by instinct alone. The real goal of course, is to get the information so under control that it becomes something much more subconscious. A place where we can feel the creative possibilities expand. The two most important things! Ultimately, this book is about putting the missing pieces of music theory and harmony together for a guitarist who has the mechanical basics covered. The fact is, if you want to advance any amount of theory information and be able to apply it in any practical way you MUST start with two critical things: (The first chapters of this book are devoted to simple exercises for developing both of these.) 1] You must become effortless in your knowledge of all of the notes on your fretboard, the octave relations and why the notes occur where they do. 2] You must become effortless in your knowledge of the seven notes of all of the major scales with and without your guitar.

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The good news is that once that critical foundation is firmly set, each concept of music theory, every chord and scale you learn no matter how advanced becomes a relatively simple formula you can memorize and play easily in any key. The other huge advantage is that you begin to not only see but also hear how these chords and scales are related. For example, if we say that a “dominant 7th” chord is made up of the 1st, 3rd, 5th and “flatted 7th” notes of a major scale, that is meaningless and useless to a player who doesn’t know the notes on their fretboard and isn’t confident with the notes of their major scales. For the player who has set that foundation however, the notes of any 7th chord are instantly defined and he/she sees dozens of ways of arranging those notes on the fretboard into useful chords and - equally as important they begin to recognize and hear that flatted 7th. That’s just a single example. ALL scales and chords can be thought of as formulas applied to the notes of a major scale as above. Luckily, we don't need to just memorize all those formulas by rote. There is a method to the madness. Again, these two things are the basic requirements for any music theory knowledge, without them, we hit a brick wall. Any chord is merely a combination of three or more specific notes. Any two notes within a chord or scale represent an “Interval” or simply a measurablemusical distance between the two notes (Chapter 3 is devoted to understanding intervals in more detail). A two-note combination (interval) may sound stable or unstable to your ear or in more basic terms pretty or ugly. This relationship of consonance and dissonance is a big part of what creates the magic in any chord – or for that matter any melody and music in general. Lastly, I want to point out the obvious - that music theory is not a system of laws to rigidly restrict your musical decisions. It’s merely the facts about harmony (“These notes make this chord – Here's how I could combine them on the fretboard” and so on…). Your ears are the ultimate judge of © 2011 Steve Rieck – all rights reserved

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whether something “works” or not. Theory helps you interpret what you’re hearing the same way grammar helps you communicate in language. Knowledge of grammar doesn’t negate your ability to use slang or intentionally use colorful language it merely allows you to recognize it and be in better command of what you’re trying to say. So harmony, like spelling and grammar is a series of facts that allow you to see a bigger picture. It should not choose your words for you. Another way to look at it is that harmony is such a profound and wondrous system that it would be a shame for any lover of music to not study and understand it. It’s been said that being too educated in an art form will tend to make you think and create within accepted parameters. My thought is, when you understand the fact that certain chords fit into a certain key or that certain notes make up a certain scale or chord, you can just as easily find the ones that don’t fit and use them, but this time with intention. As one of my former teachers told me, “you need to know the rules before you break them”. "Poets say science takes away from the beauty of the stars - mere globs of gas atoms. I, too, can see the stars on a desert night, and feel them. But do I see less or more?" - Richard Feynman Predictability is generally a bad thing in art and if you treat music theory as a set of rules that you shouldn’t or can’t break, your music is probably going to be predictable. When used well, it can give your compositions a sense of clarity and intent in those situations where good ears and instincts aren’t enough. It also helps you interpret other music on an entirely different level and is an enormous aid in the transcription process. Having taught thousands of students this information for decades, I can promise you, you're going to be amazed how much of this you can master and how straightforward it is. Hopefully you'll find this book is set up so that each chapter is immediately helpful as each successive chapter increases your knowledge and that knowledge makes a practical difference in your playing.

© 2011 Steve Rieck – all rights reserved

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The first 13 Chapters are what I'd think of as the essentials. I know 13 chapters sounds like a lot for essentials but I think you'll find I’ve spread a lot of information into many smaller chapters in order to keep things clear. Beyond chapters 1 - 13, you might choose to learn some more advanced concepts in the remaining chapters. MASTER THE FUNDAMENTALS! Looking at the index, you might feel intimidated at first. I promise you it will all seem fairly easy once you are completely comfortable with – 1. The notes on your fretboard and how the fretboard works. 2. The seven notes of each of the major scales and how/why the scales themselves relate to each other. One last time, anyone trying to learn music theory without being completely at ease with those two most important things is attempting an impossible task in my opinion. You cannot construct a building from the 10th floor. You need to set a solid foundation and give that foundation time to take hold before you start building on it! Additionally, becoming a competent reader of standard notation is beyond the scope of this book as is the extended world of rhythm the value of which is impossible to overstate. In fact, be sure that with an underdeveloped sense of rhythm, none of the content of this book is worth much at all. The second book in this series will be an extended look at rhythm and time signatures whereas this book focuses strictly on harmony. These subjects should be a top priority for any serious music student. Although many of the exercises contain tablature as well, both of these books assume a basic knowledge of standard music notation. There are many books on harmony and I think you'll be glad you made this purchase. If you have any comments or questions, I’m happy to respond to emails at: [email protected]

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INDEX CHAPTER 1 – Understanding the Fretboard CHAPTER 2 – Understanding the Major Scales CHAPTER 3 – Intervals CHAPTER 4 – Triads CHAPTER 5 – Seventh Chords CHAPTER 6 – The “CAGED” System CHAPTER 7 – Minor Scales CHAPTER 8 – Guide Tones CHAPTER 9 – Tensions CHAPTER 10 – Chord Progressions CHAPTER 11 – Modes CHAPTER 12 – Chord Scales CHAPTER 13 – Blues Form CHAPTER 14 – Drop Voicings CHAPTER 15 – Quartal Voicings CHAPTER 16 – Non-Traditional Voicings CHAPTER 17 – Chord Borrowing CHAPTER 18 – Chord Substitution CHAPTER 19 – Implied Harmony

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CHAPTER 1 UNDERSTANDING THE FRETBOARD The first step in understanding how the fretboard works is the realization that all (western civilization) melodic instruments share the same 12 notes repeated over and over in different ranges (octaves). Although the physical mechanics and timbres of different instruments vary, the system of how those notes relate to each other (music theory) is universally consistent between instruments and styles. Like all string instruments, a guitar produces sound by vibrating a string of a certain thickness at a certain length at a certain tension. The shorter and/or tighter a given string becomes the higher the pitch becomes. Each progressive fret represents the least common denominator of musical distance known as a “Half-Step”. Therefore, moving two frets (two halfsteps) is called a “Whole Step”. As a starting point, the 12 notes of our musical system are best seen on a piano keyboard where they are represented in a simple linear way. I want to strongly recommend at this point, if you are new to this, that you find a piano or keyboard somewhere and study the material in this chapter thoroughly.

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The white keys on the piano represent what are known as the “natural notes”. They range up the piano (from left to right) following a repeating pattern of the first seven letters of the alphabet: A B C D E F G A B C D E F G A B C etc… It's easy enough to see the white keys moving upward from left to right repeating the first seven letters of the alphabet. Take some time to carefully play the natural notes in order and randomly all around the piano, calling out the names of the notes as you play them. The black keys in between certain white keys can be initially confusing. Oddly, these black keys can be referred to by either of two names - their “sharp” (#) name or their “flat” (b) name. The reason for this will be made very clear once we begin to learn the major scales in the next chapter. Take for example, the black key in between white keys “A” and “B”. This note is an “A” raised up in pitch a half-step and can be called an “A#” (A sharp). This note is also a “B” lowered in pitch a half-step and can also be called a “Bb” (B flat). Once you can clearly see that, it becomes obvious how the other black keys are named. Take some time and play some black keys carefully noticing their names and why. If we played each note from left to right including all white and black keys, we'd be playing what is known as a “chromatic” scale. A simple definition of a scale can be “a series of notes which are defined within an octave”. “Chroma” in Latin means all colors, so here we have “all” the notes of music or what amounts to a successive order of half-steps. Now do that slowly on the piano calling out the names of each note. Notice that any time you go from C to the next C up or G to the next G down, you’ve actually moved 12 halfsteps commonly called an octave. As you can see a “half-step” is the smallest incremental distance we can move up or down. Pay special attention to – and MEMORIZE - the fact that E to F and B to C have no black key between them and are therefore halfsteps. © 2011 Steve Rieck – all rights reserved

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Logically, the next important term, a “Whole-Step” is the sum of two halfsteps (A to B or as another random example C# to D#). Take a moment and play whole-steps randomly around the piano both up and down until you are absolutely confident with the concept and can see how they are the sum of two combined half-steps. On a string instrument of course, you can bend between these half-steps and play “micro-tonally” which can be a good or bad thing depending on the circumstances. That's not really relevant right now though. Once that’s clear, it’s time to translate that information onto the guitar fretboard. To begin, I want you to consider only the sixth string (or Low E string). When played open, this string produces the lowest pitch on a standard tuned guitar which is of course “E”.

If you progress up the neck one fret at a time, you’ll be moving in half-steps up the chromatic scale just as we saw earlier on the piano. The same rules apply: B to C and E to F will be half-steps (one fret) and there will be sharps/flats between F to G, G to A, A to B, C to D and D to E. Notice also that by the time you get to the 12th fret, you’ve cycled through all of the notes and have reached an E which is one octave higher than the open string. This is what makes the 12th fret a very significant fret and why it has the two dots on the fretboard.

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The A 5th string starts on the note “A” and the same logic applies in terms of moving up in half-steps. The thing that you must understand is that this A is exactly the same A in exactly the same octave as the 5th fret of the 6th string. If you’re not familiar with this, play the 5th fret of the 6th string and the open 5th string back to back. These two notes should sound identical in terms of pitch. What may sound slightly different is the timbre of the notes because one is produced on a physically thinner string. So as the above diagram shows, the 5th string begins at the same A that’s found on the 5th fret of the 6th string. As a simple exercise, Play the notes (A B C D C B A) on the 6th string from frets 5 to 7 to 8 to 10 and back.

Now play the same exact notes on the 5th string from the open string to the 2nd, 3rd and 5th fret. It should sound the same as the previous example because these are exactly the same notes in the same octave.

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Regardless of the specific notes of that last little exercise, you should see the broader reality that almost all string instruments are based on an overlapping note system. The same notes can be played in the same range (octave) at different locations on the fretboard.

Looking at the entire fretboard, you can now see that: The 5th string open (A) is the same note as the 5th fret of the 6th string. The 4th string open (D) is the same note as the 5th fret of the 5th string. The 3rd string open (G) is the same note as the 5th fret of the 4th string. The 2nd string open (B) is the same note as the 4th fret of the 3rd string. The 1st string open (E) is the same note as the 5th fret of the 2nd string. Notice the fact that the 2nd string open (B) is the same as the 4th fret of the G 3rd string (not the 5th fret). That was a compensation designed by the earliest guitar makers in order to facilitate two “E” strings on opposing sides of the fretboard making barre chords and chords in general far easier.

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For another example of this overlapping relation, play: The open 1st string (E). The 5th fret on the 2nd string. The 9th fret on the 3rd string. The 14th fret on the 4th string. The 19th fret on the 5th string.

They are exactly the same E in the same octave. They sound different only because they have a different timbre due to string gauge, wound/unwound etc. And here’s another exercise playing the first 5 notes of the C major scale (C D E F G) in one octave. Below are just four of the many possible ways to play these notes in the same octave at various places on the fretboard.

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Look back to the fretboard diagram. How many more ways can you find to play these exact notes in this same octave ?

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CHAPTER 1 QUIZ & EXERCISES Each octave is made up of ______ half-steps. The distance of two half-steps combined is called a _______________. The seven natural notes are ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___. On the piano, the black key between the notes A and B could be referred to as an _____ or a _____. On the piano, the black key between the notes D and E could be referred to as an _____ or a _____. Which two groups of neighboring white keys have no black key between them and are therefore half-steps ? _____ and _____ as well as _____ and _____. What does the word “chromatic” mean ? Write the note that each open string is tuned to: (6)_____ (5)_____ (4)_____ (3)_____ (2)_____ (1)_____ String instruments are based on an ______________ note system. What is the significance of the twelfth fret ? Play “C” at the 1st fret of the second string. Where else on the fretboard can you find this same note in the same octave ? Play “F” at the 3rd fret of the fourth string. Where else on the fretboard can you find this same note in the same octave ? Play “G” at the 3rd fret of the sixth string. Where else on the fretboard can you find this same note in the same octave ? Play “E” as the open 1st string. Where else on the fretboard can you find this same note in the same octave ? © 2011 Steve Rieck – all rights reserved

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Play a simple melody anywhere on the fretboard and be able to demonstrate the same melody in several different positions. Be able to count up and identify any of the notes along any of the strings.

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CHAPTER 2 UNDERSTANDING THE MAJOR SCALES As I mentioned earlier, a scale is a series of notes defined within an octave. Like chords, there are many different types of scales and each has it’s own characteristic sound. You can think of them as a series of notes that tend to set a certain mood. A film composer is a good example of someone who needs many different types of scales with which to create themes and melodies in order to set the tone for scenes ranging from joy to sorrow to horror to comedy and anything in between. For purposes of understanding this wide variety of scales, we need to define one type of scale as the most “basic scale” in order to understand and compare the differences with other types of scales. That basic scale is the MAJOR scale. It’s created by starting on a note (the first note of a scale is called the root) and proceeding up in whole steps and half steps in this exact order: WHOLE - WHOLE – HALF - WHOLE - WHOLE - WHOLE - HALF If we start with a root note of “C”, we get: C

D Whole

E Whole

F Half

G Whole

A Whole

B Whole

C Half

Notice that this “C major scale” contains only natural notes (no sharps or flats). This is the first of 15 major scales. There are actually 15 major scales because there are only 12 notes as we learned earlier BUT 3 of the major scales can actually be spelled two different ways. Each of these 15 notes is a potential “Root” or starting point for it’s own major scale. © 2011 Steve Rieck – all rights reserved

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Unlike the C major scale, the other major scales will have one or more notes that will be sharp (#) or flat (b). Although the thought of memorizing the specifics all of these scales can seem daunting, the next few pages present a simple organized method for mastering them all in a short amount of time. First a few “facts” we need to understand before we spell them all out: 1] Each major scale will contain exactly seven different pitches due to the order of whole-steps and half-steps which define all major scales. The diagrams above seem to show eight notes but remember not to count the very last note which is merely the same pitch as the first note but one octave higher. Again, the order of whole-steps and half-steps that define all major scales is: WHOLE - WHOLE – HALF - WHOLE - WHOLE - WHOLE - HALF 2] The spelling of each major scale will have one of the seven letters represented (A B C D E F G) regardless of what may or may not be sharp or flat. 3] With the exception of the key of C which contains no sharps or flats, a given scale will either be a “sharp key” (spelling any non-natural notes with a “#”) or a “flat key” (spelling any non-natural notes with a “b”). Once each of those concepts is clear in your mind, we can look at an important concept in the process of understanding the major scales called the “Circle of Fifths”. A “fifth” is a distance between two notes (interval) in which one note is five letters away from another. For example C to G, G to D or D to A. The way these intervals are counted can be a point of confusion for those who are new to it. This will be discussed in far more detail in Chapter 3, but for right now, It’s very important to understand the following point.

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When we say that C to G is a “fifth”. What this means is that there are five actual letters in the count including the first note (C D E F G) NOT that we’ve made five steps forward from “C”. The count of “one” begins on the note “C” itself NOT in the movement from “C” to “D”. We’ll start learning the remaining major scales by working through the sharp keys first. Let’s begin with the C major scale: C

D

E

F

G

A

B

C

And then separate it into halves: C

D

E

F

G

A

B

C

Each of these halves has a very technical name but the concept is very simple. • The “Tonic Tetrachord” (Four note sequence beginning on the tonic or first note of the scale.) • And the “Dominant Tetrachord” (Four note sequence beginning on the dominant or fifth note of the scale.) That’s a lot of fancy names for a simple concept but it is important here. The reason it is so important is because the DOMINANT tetrachord of the C scale ( G A B C ) will be used as the TONIC tetrachord of our next key and by “next” key, I mean the scale with one more sharp than the previous key. For example: The “C” major scale: C

D

E

F

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G

A

B

C

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The LAST four notes of the C major scale become the FIRST four notes of the G major scale. G

A

B

C

D

E

F#

G

Notice the remaining notes I filled in for the G major scale (D E F# G or G majors “dominant tetrachord” ) Why does it contain an F# ? Because all major scales must follow the order of whole-steps and halfsteps: WHOLE - WHOLE – HALF - WHOLE - WHOLE - WHOLE - HALF If we used a natural F, it wouldn’t follow this order and it wouldn’t be a major scale. Why is this note called an “F#” rather than a “Gb” ? Because each major scale must contain one of each alphabetical letter. If we used Gb, the scale would contain two kinds of G’s and no F’s ! Is that uptight ? Absolutely, but that’s important for organizing this information. Looseness in music has it’s place. Looseness in music theory really doesn’t and just makes things confusing. It’s a lot like trying to be loose in math. It just doesn’t work. So therefore the “key of G major” is our first “sharp key”. Now look at the following diagrams of all of the sharp keys (major scales). Notice first that: All of them contain exactly seven notes each with the seven alphabetical letters. © 2011 Steve Rieck – all rights reserved

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Notice second that the last four notes of each scale are the first four notes of the next. Now notice that each scale progressively includes one more sharp note than the last and that new sharp occurs on the seventh note of the scale. C Major Scale C

D

E

F

G

A

B

C

B

C

D

E

F#

G

F#

G

A

B

C#

D

G Major Scale G

A

D Major Scale D

E

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A Major Scale A

B

C#

D

E

F#

G#

A

G#

A

B

C#

D#

E

D#

E

F#

G#

A#

B

E Major Scale E

F#

B Major Scale B

C#

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F# Major Scale F#

G#

A#

B

C#

D#

E#

F#

Once that all seems clear, finally notice something that looks a bit odd. The seventh note of the F# major scale is called an E#! Remember an E raised a half-step is merely an F natural. In this case, we need to call this note an E# in order to be consistent with the idea that each major scale should contain each of the seven alphabetical letters and never contain two of any letter in it’s spelling. Next lets look at the “flat keys”. For these, we need to understand another term which relates to that last E# = F point and sounds more complicated than it is – the term is “Enharmonic”. To spell a note enharmonically simply means to spell it by its “other” name – for example: C# = Db Bb = A# F# = Gb F = E# etc… So, if we took our last sharp key (F#) and spelled the entire thing in enharmonic terms, the result would be the “Gb” major scale. In other words, these two scales will sound exactly the same but one will be spelled with sharps and the other with flats. F# Gb

G# Ab

A# Bb

B Cb

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C# Db

D# Eb

E# F

F# Gb

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Gb Major Scale Gb

Ab

Bb

Cb

Db

Eb

F

Gb

These two scales of course, sound exactly the same to your ears but are spelled enharmonically. Note also the “Cb” in the Gb major scale. As you can see, things get enharmonically interesting as we get into the most extreme sharp and flat keys. Both of these spellings (the F# major scale and the Gb major scale) are valid and find practical use although the pitches are exactly the same to your ear. I want to also mention two major scales that are more theoretical than practical in most cases but you will see them on occasion. Those are the C# major scale (a scale in which all seven notes are sharp)… C# Major Scale C#

D#

E#

F#

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G#

A#

B#

C#

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And the Cb major scale (a scale in which all seven notes are flat) Cb Major Scale Cb

Db

Eb

Fb

Gb

Ab

Bb

Cb

In practical terms, musicians generally use the enharmonic (and easier to deal with) Db and B major scales respectively to C# and Cb, but you may see these impractical scales in use occasionally and in theory books for purposes of completion. Because of the enharmonic spellings of the B/Cb, F#/Gb and Db/C# major scales, there are actually 15 major scales in total. So now let’s look at the remaining “flat” keys starting with the Gb major scale. We’ll continue with the “last four notes of one scale are the first four notes of the next” concept and something interesting is going to happen – This time, we’ll progressively LOSE a flat (again on the seventh note of each scale) until we finally get back to a scale of all natural notes which we know as the “C major scale”. This is of course the scale we started this journey with when we began learning the sharp keys a few pages ago - hence the term “circle” of fifths. Gb Major Scale Gb

Ab

Bb

Cb

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Db

Eb

F

Gb

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Db Major Scale Db

Eb

F

Gb

Ab

Bb

C

Db

C

Db

Eb

F

G

Ab

G

Ab

Bb

C

D

Eb

Ab Major Scale Ab

Bb

Eb Major Scale Eb

F

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Bb Major Scale Bb

C

D

Eb

F

G

A

Bb

A

Bb

C

D

E

F

E

F

G

A

B

C

F Major Scale F

G

C Major Scale C

D

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So to summarize: 1. we began with the C major scale (no sharps or flats) and progressed through each of the sharp keys by starting each scale with the last four notes of the previous scale until we reached the key of F# (six sharps). 2. Then we spelled the F# major scale (six sharps) enharmonically and the result was the Gb major scale (six flats). 3. We progressed through the flat keys again by starting each new scale with the last four notes of the previous scale, this time losing flats until we finally made our way back to the C major scale. The following diagram should help you visualize this relationship. ROOT 2ND 3RD 4TH 5TH Whole Whole Half Whole Whole C D E F G G A B C D D E F# G A A B C# D E E F# G# A B B C# D# E F# F# G# A# B C# Gb Ab Bb Cb Db Db Eb F Gb Ab Ab Bb C Db Eb Eb F G Ab Bb Bb C D Eb F F G A Bb C C D E F G

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6TH

7TH Whole

A E B F# C# G# D# Eb Bb F C G D A

ROOT Half

B F# C# G# D# A# E# F C G D A E B

C G D A E B F# Gb Db Ab Eb Bb F C

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Another important way to conceptualize the circle of fifths is with the following classic diagram.

Although that’s pretty cool, it’s nowhere near as amazing as the realization that a scale (if it’s doing it’s job) sets up a “TONAL CENTER”. All that really means is that the notes of the scale and any melodies created within it feel like they want to resolve or finish on the root (first note of the scale).

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Take some time to play a single major scale up and down and then randomly. Notice the sense of resolution when you end on the root. Notice the opposite effect if you try to end on other notes like the 4th or 7th note of the scale. This sense of “Tonality” is the essence of what it means to be playing in a specific key. Now play another entirely different major scale. Notice how your ear immediately picks up on the new tonal center created by this new scale. When we get into minor scales and modes, we’re going to do some interesting things with the concept of tonal center but for now take the time you need to get a sense of this important concept. In later chapters, we’ll learn more finger patterns for the major scale as well as the fact that it also has a “modal” name (Ionian). To begin with, be sure to learn the following two-octave major scale pattern. This is a closed position pattern (meaning it doesn’t contain any open strings) and can therefore be shifted up and down the fretboard. This allows you to play any of the major scales by starting at the appropriate fret. Be certain to memorize where each scale degree is located within the overall shape.

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CHAPTER 2 QUIZ & EXERCISES What is a scale ? What order of half-steps and whole-steps defines a major scale ? How many major scales are there ? Which major scale contains no sharps or flats ? How many notes does each major scale contain ? Can there be two notes of the same letter (ie: C, C#) in a major scale ? Can a major scale contain both sharps and flats ? What is a “fifth” ? What is a “tonic” ? What is a “tonic tetrachord” ? What is a “dominant” ? What is a “dominant tetrachord” ? How does the “circle of fifths” work ? What is the seventh note of the F# major scale and why is it called this ? What is the fourth note of the Gb major scale and why is it called this ? In which major scale are all seven notes sharp ? What is a more common enharmonic spelling for this scale ? In which major scale are all seven notes flat ? © 2011 Steve Rieck – all rights reserved

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What is a more common enharmonic spelling for this scale ? As we progress through the sharp keys, on which scale tone does each new sharp occur ? As we progress through the flat keys, on which scale tone do we lose a flat ? What is a “tonal center” ?

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CHAPTER 3 INTERVALS An interval by it’s most common definition, is usually a measurement of time. For purposes of music theory, the term has nothing to do with time but is rather a measurement of distance between two pitches. Not to get too far into the science of harmony (which is profound but beyond the scope of this book) our ears perceive pitches based on frequency which means the number of vibrations which occur within a second (hertz). An “A 440” which you might be familiar with, is a standard reference tuning pitch. The 440 refers to the fact that this pitch vibrates 440 times per second or has a frequency of 440 hertz. An “A” one octave higher would be “A 880” and an “A” an octave below A 440 would be “A 220”. So now we have a slightly more scientific understanding of octaves. They are an exact doubling of frequency. The subject of intervals is one of the most important but unfortunately one of the most tedious aspects of music theory to comprehend. For this reason, We tend to burn through this information a little too quickly. There are severals definitions that may seem overly rigid at first but again to see these subjects clearly, you need to understand the whole story and the information needs to be well organized and logical. For the purposes of this introductory chapter, we are going to look only at the types of intervals contained within a single octave. Later on, we’ll discuss extended intervals ( 9ths, 10ths, 11ths etc…). As we learned earlier. Each octave is divided into 12 equal half-steps. This is the reason the 12th fret on any string is the octave point or the fret at which you are exactly one octave above the open string. There are several things to learn about intervals but before we get into the details of all of the various types (major, minor, perfect, diminished and © 2011 Steve Rieck – all rights reserved

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augmented), the most important concept to begin with is that an interval is first and foremost a simple measurment based on the number of letters between any two pitches. For example, if we started with a “C” and counted up to the “G” immediately above it, we would count five actual letters (C D E F G) and this interval would therefore be a “5th”. If we counted from the same C to the E immediately above it (C D E) the interval would be a 3rd. It’s important to remember to begin this count from the number 1 on the note you are actually starting with (C in this case) NOT the D which is your first step forward in the count. This concept does not change due to any sharps or flats being considered. It is simply about alphabetical lettering and nothing more. For example, C to Gb would still be considered a 5th whereas C to F# would sound the same but be considered a 4th. C to Eb would be considered a 3rd and C to D# would sound the same but be considered a 2nd. As we get into a deeper understanding of intervals we’ll need to think beyond that concept but it is the first fundamental truth of any interval. The actual spelling itself determines wether it’s a 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th etc…It’s as easy as counting a few letters in the alphabet and it must be automatic. So C to C (in the same octave) would be called a “unison” or a “1”. This means no movement and no distance between the notes because they are of course the same. It could help to imagine we are both playing guitars together. If I play the C at the 3rd fret of the 5th string and you play the exact same note on your guitar, we are playing “in unison”. There is no distance between our notes. We are playing the exact same thing. Now if I play the same C and you play the D immediately above it, we would count two alphabetical letters (C & D) and the interval would therefore be a “2nd”. C to E would be a “3rd”, C to F would be a “4th” and so on… As you probably guessed, the term “octave” gets its name because it is an “8th”. Follow the diagrams on the next page until this is absolutely clear. © 2011 Steve Rieck – all rights reserved

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C to C Unison

C to D 2nd

C to E 3rd

C to F 4th

C to G 5th

C to A 6th

C to B 7th

C to C Octave

For the purposes of this example, we’re starting everything from “C” but of course you can count an interval from any starting note. A few random examples: D to F would be a 3rd (D E F) G to E would be a 6th (G A B C D E) B to E would be a 4th (B C D E) A to B would be a 2nd (A B) So before we get into more details about intervals, be sure to understand that in the broadest sense, an interval is just measured by alphabetical letters. Interval Inversion Next, we need to look in more detail and understand the idea of inverting an interval. All this means is we are going to take the bottom note of the interval and move it up one octave. Below are a few examples. Ex. 1 (C to E / E to C)

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Ex. 2 (C to G / G to C)

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Ex. 3 (E to C / C to E)

Ex. 4 (G to C / C to G)

In example 1 notice that C to E (a 3rd) inverts to E to C (a 6th). In example 2 notice that C to G (a 5th) inverts to G to C (a 4th). In example 3 notice that E to C (a 6th) inverts to C to E (a 3rd). In example 4 notice that G to C (a 4th) inverts to C to G (a 5th) Now you’re ready to see one huge fact about intervals… THE SUM OF ANY OF THESE INTERVAL INVERSIONS WILL ALWAYS EQUAL 9. Memorize that! A unison will always invert to an octave. A 2nd will always invert to a 7th. A 3rd will always invert to a 6th. A 4th will always invert to a 5th. A 5th will always invert to a 4th. A 6th will always invert to a 3rd. A 7th will always invert to a 2nd. An octave will always invert to a unison. Major & Minor Intervals Now, that we know intervals are always counted by alphabetical letters and that the sum of any interval inversion equals 9. Let’s move on to understanding the more detailed differences. These terms can seem daunting but the logic between these definitions is pretty simple. The first thing to do when trying to define an interval as we © 2011 Steve Rieck – all rights reserved

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know is to count the actual amount of letters to determine if it’s a 2nd, 3rd, 4th etc…Once that is established, continue by asking one simple question: IS THE TOP NOTE OF THE INTERVAL IN THE MAJOR SCALE OF THE BOTTOM NOTE ? If the answer is YES, (with the exception of “perfect intervals” which I’ll explain in a moment) the interval is defined as a MAJOR interval. Let’s look at the examples again: Ex. 1 (C to E / E to C)

Ex. 2 (C to G / G to C)

In example 1, notice that the first interval (C to E) is a MAJOR 3rd because C to E is three letters apart and E is a part of the C major scale. Now notice the inversion of that interval (E to C). This is a MINOR 6th because E to C is six letters apart and the top note C is NOT in the E major scale. The note C is actually a half-step lower than the 6th note of the E major scale (C#). A minor interval is simply a major interval which has been lowered a half step using the same lettering. For example, A to C# (major 6th and A to C (minor 6th) or C to E (major 3rd) and C to Eb (minor 3rd). Example 1 also demonstrates another huge fact about intervals: (with the exception of “perfect intervals”…which we’re getting to) MAJOR INTERVALS INVERT TO MINOR INTERVALS AND MINOR INTERVALS INVERT TO MAJOR INTERVALS. Memorize that also!

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Perfect Intervals Now look at example 2 on the previous page. The first interval (C to G) is a 5th and it would apear that we’re going to call this a major interval because G is part of the C major scale but look carefully at the inversion (G to C). Do you notice that C is ALSO part of the G major scale ? So this seemingly “major” interval DID NOT invert to a minor interval but rather what appears to be another major interval. This relation is what defines an interval as “perfect”. The only perfect intervals by definition will be unisons, octaves, 4ths and 5ths . It’s also important to know that these four interval types will never be major or minor due to the way the inversions work out. The remaining intervals: 2nds , 3rds , 6ths and 7ths , can never be “perfect” also due to the way the inversions work out. Diminished and Augmented Intervals These are a bit tedious but are really only based on two rules: 1. Any perfect or major interval moved up a half-step and spelled with the same alphabetical letters (ie: C to D moved to C to D# or C to G moved to C to G# is an AUGMENTED interval. One additional thing to notice about this rule would be the case of a major 3rd or major 7th interval raised up a half-step (C to E# and C to B# respectively). Those intervals are awkward to say the least and would almost never be seen because in most situations, they would be written as C to F (perfect 4th) or C to C (perfect octave).

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2. Any perfect or minor interval moved down a half-step and spelled with the same alphabetical letters (ie: C to G moved to C to Gb or C to Eb moved to C to Ebb …Yes – that’s a “double flat” which means down a whole-step) is a DIMINISHED interval. Like the rule above, some of these spellings can become a bit ridiculous in practical use but do actually follow the same logic we learned earlier in the chapter. Like the perfect to perfect and major to minor inversions we saw above, you might have already guessed that: A DIMINISHED INTERVAL WILL ALWAYS INVERT TO AN AUGMENTED INTERVAL AND VICE VERSA. Below are some ascending intervals beginning on C. It’s important to explore these concepts from other starting notes but for clarity, I think it’s good to see it all from one note (in this case, “C”). Notice all of the various enharmonic spellings and how the interval names are different for each due to the actual letters involved. C to C = Perfect Unison (same note) C to C# = Augmented Unison (1 half-step) C to Dbb = Diminished 2nd (0 half-steps – enharmonic) C to Db = Minor 2nd (1 half-step) C to D = Major 2nd (2 half-steps) C to D# = Augmented 2nd (3 half-steps) C to Ebb = Diminished 3rd (2 half-steps) C to Eb = Minor 3rd (3 half-steps) C to E = Major 3rd (4 half-steps) C to E# = Augmented 3rd (5 half-steps) C to Fb = Diminished 4th (4 half-steps) C to F = Perfect 4th (5 half-steps) C to F# = Augmented 4th (6 half-steps) © 2011 Steve Rieck – all rights reserved

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C to Gb = Diminished 5th (6 half-steps) C to G = Perfect 5th (7 half-steps) C to G# = Augmented 5th (8 half-steps) C to Abb = Diminished 6th (7 half-steps) C to Ab = Minor 6th (8 half-steps) C to A = Major 6th (9 half-steps) C to A# = Augmented 6th (10 half-steps) C to Bbb = Diminished 7th (9 half-steps) C to Bb = Minor 7th (10 half-steps) C to B = Major 7th (11 half-steps) C to B# = Augmented 7th (12 half-steps) C to Cb = Diminished Octave (11 half-steps) C to C = Perfect Octave (12 half-steps or 1 Octave) C to C# = Augmented Octave (13 half-steps) Again, notice how rigid the definitions are. They are based on the actual spelling of the interval regardless of the fact that they may sound exactly the same to your ear (ie: augmented 4th / diminished 5th etc.) For the purposes of these explanations, we’ve been thinking of only ascending intervals. It’s equally important to consider descending intervals also. For example: C UP to G is a perfect 5th (C D E F G) but what about C backwards DOWN the scale to G (C B A G) ? Notice that it’s a perfect 4th. Again, notice that the sum of this inversion equals nine and that the perfect interval inverted to another perfect interval. C UP to E (C D E) is a major 3rd but C DOWN to E (C B A G F E) would be a minor 6th. Again, notice that the sum of the inversion is nine and that a major interval inverted to a minor interval.

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C UP to F# (C D E F#) is an augmented 4th but C down to F# (C B A G F#) is a diminished 5th. Notice how the sum of the inversion is nine and that an augmented interval inverted to a diminished interval. Now that we’ve thought about intervals enough, be certain that there are few things more important to a guitarist than recognizing the shapes and hearing the sound of these intervals instantly on the fretboard. The foundation of ear-training is based on interval recognition. Think about it this way. Any melody is nothing but a series of melodic intervals strung together in rhythm one after another. Any chord is just a series of intervals stacked together and played simultaneously. If you can see and hear these clearly, you have a profound advantage. In this sense, intervals truly are the building blocks of it all and they are worth mastering. Below are just SOME of the interval shapes on the fretboard. Because you can play the same note on various strings, there are plenty more to discover. Be sure to step through these slowly and carefully. Listen to the overall sound of each interval. Once you’ve learned these, try to find others. A great teacher made me describe each one’s sound with an adjective that popped in my head as I heard it (dark, bluesy, happy etc…) This is a great way to connect the sound with the concept.

Unison (C to C)

Minor 2nd (C to Db)

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Major 2nd (C to D)

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Minor 3rd (C to Eb)

Perfect 4th (C to F)

Major 3rd (C to E)

Diminished 5th (C to Gb)

Minor 6th (C to Ab)

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Perfect 5th (C to G)

Major 6th (C to A)

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Minor 7th (C to Bb)

Major 7th (C to B)

Perfect Octave (C to C)

After all of that feels comfortable, remember to study the fretboard slowly and find and listen carefully to the other interval shapes not shown above. So to summerize, remember these important points: • An interval is first and formost measured by the number of actual letters contained within the interval itself (ie: Just count the letters). • The sum of any interval (within an octave) plus it’s inversion will always equal 9. • An interval is MAJOR if the top note is in the major scale of the bottom note and this is NOT TRUE of it’s inversion. • An interval is PERFECT if the top note is in the major scale of the bottom note and this is ALSO TRUE of it’s inversion. • Any major interval that is lowered a half-step and spelled with the same letters becomes a MINOR interval. • A major or perfect interval that is raised a half-step and spelled with the same letters becomes an AUGMENTED interval.

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• A minor or perfect interval that is lowered a half-step and spelled with the same letters is a DIMINISHED interval. • Major intervals always invert to minor intervals and vice-versa. • Perfect intervals always invert to perfect intervals. • Augmented intervals always invert to diminished intervals and viceversa.

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CHAPTER 3 QUIZ & EXERCISES What is an interval ? What is a frequency ? What does the word hertz mean ? What is the standard reference tuning pitch ? How does frequency relate to octaves ? In the most basic sense, an interval is measured by ? How many letters are contained in the interval F# up to D ? How many letters are contained in the interval G up to Bb ? How many letters are contained in the interval C up to F# ? How many letters are contained in the interval C up to Gb ? What is a unison ? What is an octave ? What is an interval inversion ? The sum of any interval (within an octave) + it’s inversion will always equal ? What is a major interval ? What is a minor interval ? Major intervals always invert to ____________ intervals and vice-versa. What relation to it’s inversion defines an interval as perfect ? © 2011 Steve Rieck – all rights reserved

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The only perfect intervals by definition will be __________, __________, __________ and __________. Which four intervals can never be perfect ? __________, __________, __________ and __________. Any perfect or major interval moved up a half-step and spelled with the same letters is: Any perfect or minor interval moved down a half-step and spelled with the same letters is: A diminished interval will always invert to an ____________ interval and vice-versa. How many letters are contained in the interval C down to D ? How many letters are contained in the interval Ab down to F ?

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CHAPTER 4 TRIADS Once you’re very confident with the fretboard, major scales and intervals, it’s time to consider exactly what chords are and how they are created. Before we start, I want to point out that academically, most music is built from three basic ingredients. 1. Rhythm – This is the lowest common denominator of all music. Timing and the various subdivisions of a steady pulse. This is the most basic and important element of all. Be certain to study rhythm carefully outside of this book. 2. Melody – A progression of single pitches organized by rhythm. (As we’ll see later, because any melody is comprised of specific notes, it will also tend to imply a chord or series of chords). 3. Harmony – two or more notes played simultaneously (intervals and chords). Dynamics, tone, intonation, timbre etc. are vital as well but for this opening discussion, let’s narrow it down to the three basics of rhythm, melody and harmony. Think of a specific recording of one of your favorite songs. Now think of a favorite section of that song and play it back in your memory or even better actually put it on and listen carefully to it. Obviously, there are specific rhythmic things happening around a steady pulse (time signature, tempo, straight feel or swing feel, pushing or laid back). And likely there is a melody out in front being sung or played (vocal phrases or an instrumental solo).

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Beyond that, there is likely someone playing chords or harmonies underneath or alongside the melody (guitar strumming, piano chords, bassline, vocal harmonies, keyboards, horn sections, orchestral arrangements etc…) Take some time and really think about what is happening in the music you’re listening to rhythmically, melodically and harmonically. Obviously, we don’t need to think about all of this stuff to appreciate or react to music. Especially since you’re listening to one of your favorite pieces of music, there is an urge to turn your mind off and just get into it. That’s the coolest thing of all and it’s a good idea most of the time. There is something transcendant in the merging of these things with the human element that a book won’t explain. But for the purposes of studying and understanding music theory it’s important that you take some time for this type of “active listening” to real music and specifically the music that is important to you. It’s much more fun and way more productive than trying to learn all of this stuff dry off a page with just your guitar. In the last chapter, we exhausted the harmony of two-note combinations called intervals. For the purposes of this chapter, we’re going to be taking the next logical step into three note combinations and specifically the simplest types of chords known as “triads”. We need to first realize that there are many types of chords from simple major and minor triads to chords with much more complexity which we’ll get to later. The simple chords we’ll be dealing with in this chapter are called triads because they are each defined by three and only three notes. The first chords most of us learn on the guitar are the open position chords of C, G, D, A, E, Em, Am and Dm. If you aren’t already aware, all of these chords are actually triads because they are each built from only three notes.

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When you learned these open chords as a beginner, chances are you memorized them by shape as most of us do. You also probably noticed that these chords involved 4, 5 or even 6 strings played simultaneously. Your first assumption of these chords could understandably be that they actually contained 4, 5 or 6 different notes when in fact, as triads, they were built from only three notes which were in some cases duplicated on other strings in different octaves. It’s important to start with the basic understanding that any chord is by definition, a combination of three or more specific notes. Anything you might look at as a memorized shape on the fretboard (from a basic C, G or D chord to the most advanced and convoluted chord imaginable) exists ONLY because it happens to be a good way to combine some very specific notes on the fretboard. It’s certainly not as if somebody just came up with a good sounding shape on the guitar fretboard a long time ago and named it a “C chord”. And all of this is not to minimize the importance of “shapes” which are an integral part of guitar and fretboard theory. Simply to explain that there is much more to it. By learning this stuff, not only do your creative ideas become more clear but you gain a deeper respect for the subject of music and harmony in general. Just as advanced mathemeticians or scientists aren’t just looking at numbers or test tubes. When they see the elegant order of their systems clearly, they see something profound and they are far closer to mastery. Going back to the last chapter. Intervals, as you’d suspect play a fundamental role in chords. In the case of building the simple “triads” we’re going to discuss in this chapter, the intervals of 3rds and 5ths are critical because: Any major chord is merely the 1st, 3rd and 5th notes of it’s major scale combined.

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In this example, for simplicity, we’ll use a C major scale but everything that we learn is directly true for all the other major scales using their respective notes as well. We have a starting note called a “root” (C), a note which is an interval a third above the root (E) and a note which is a fifth above the root (G).

C

D

E

F

G

A

B

C

It’s easy enough to see based on that information, that in all circumstances, a “C major” chord is nothing more than the notes C, E and G combined together. Again, if we took the first note of the C major scale and stacked a third and a fifth above it, that would mean we were adding the notes E and G to the original note C. G (the 5th of the chord) E (the 3rd of the chord) C (the Root of the chord) One of the most important things to understand is that for purposes of defining the notes of a chord, this simplistic stacking method is crucial but it will give you only the most simplistic and possibly the least interesting “voicing” or arrangement of the notes of the chord. Below are just a few ways (there are dozens more) to combine the notes C, E and G together (a C major chord) on the fretboard in some common and not so common ways.

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C Major:

The term “voicing” refers to how many and in what order these defining notes of a chord occur. Regardless of the fact that each of these voicings sound different in terms of arrangement of the notes and range. They are ALL C major chords because they all contain only the notes C, E and G. The 1st, 3rd and 5th notes of the C major scale and nothing else. All of these chords are also triads because regardless of how many strings are being played, it’s still just those three notes. We also see that we can setup these three notes to sound high or low, thick or thin, but again, it’s still just a C major chord if the only notes involved are C, E and G. In fact, you could have an entire stadium full of guitar players (or any other instrument) and if everyone is playing either a single C, E or G note at the same time, and no other notes beyond that, together they would create an enormous sounding yet very simple C major triad. Conversely, if you just played three little notes (C, E, G) on three guitar strings or a piano, you would have an equally complete but much thinner sounding C major chord. Now that you know the notes of the all of the major scales (or are working with a plan to get them all memorized in the near future), the revelation

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that any major chord is merely the 1st (root), 3rd and 5th notes of its corresponding major scale is huge. Chord Name C Major G Major D Major A Major E Major Etc...

3rd E B F# C# G#

Root C G D A E

5th G D A E B

Take some time to verify that on your fretboard. Look at those basic open major chord shapes you know and think about the individual notes on each string. Since we’ve built a C major chord from the first note of the C major scale by stacking a third and a fifth on top of it, the next step in the process of finding the basic chords in a scale is to do the same thing with each of the remaining notes of the scale. Next up is the second note of the C major scale which is D. If we add an interval of a 3rd and a 5th on top of D (staying within the C major scale) we’ll be adding the notes F and A. Remember, we’re using only the notes of the C major scale for now and in this case, we’re building a chord from it’s second note so the result is D, F and A. C

D

E

F

G

A

B

C

Be sure to understand all of the above information clearly before continuing further in this chapter.

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If you happened to notice a few pages back, we learned (among some other stuff) that a D major chord is made up of the notes D, F# and A (the Root, 3rd and 5th of the D major scale). So the point is, this chord that we just built from the second note of the C major scale, does not match up and is NOT a D major chord. If you just played this chord, you might have already recognized the fact that this chord lacks the “happy” major chord sound and instead sounds “sad”. This is a D minor chord and it’s the second chord built from the C major scale. We use the roman numeral notation “ii-“ to indicate that it’s the second chord in the key (ii) and that it’s minor (-). The C major chord would be referred to in roman numeral notation as a capital “I” to indicate that it’s the first chord and that it’s major. Why is this chord minor ? Play the basic open position D major and minor chords back to back. Notice all that’s really happening is you’re moving the only 3rd (F#) that happens to be in this particular voicing (located on the 1st string) to an F natural. For this reason, we’re going to call the F natural a “flatted 3rd” or “b3” as it relates to a D root.

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A (5th of the chord) F (Flatted 3rd of the chord) D (Root of the chord) So now we have a C major chord (C, E, G) built from the first note of the C major scale and a D minor chord (D, F, A) built from the second note of the C major scale. Here’s a very important point. Like a lot of concepts in music theory, it’s important to be able to look at this D minor chord (or any chord for that matter) from two different angles. 1. RELATIVE - First, we need to understand it in the key we are considering it in. In this case, we can see that this D minor chord is “in the key of C” meaning simply that we built it from the C major scale and that is functioning as the second chord in the key (ii-). 2. PARALLEL - We also need to compare it to it’s same root note major chord or scale. It’s crucial to understand the exact differences between this D minor chord and a D major chord in order to see why it’s not major. If a D major chord is the notes D, F# and A... And a D minor chord is the notes D, F and A... Then any minor chord can easily be thought of as a major chord with it’s 3rd lowered a half-step. Now we’re going to look at what happens when we build the rest of the triads from the remaining notes of the C major scale but before we do, I want to remind you that what you’re going to see will work exactly the same way with all of the other major scales using their respective notes. The note names and therefore the chord names will vary but the overall concept will remain consistant.

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I

ii-

iii-

IV

V

vi-

viiº

I

By stacking a 3rd and a 5th on top of each of the notes of the scale, we get seven individual chords all of which must be “in the key of C” because they were built strictly from the notes of the C major scale itself. You’ll notice when you play through these that the voicings sound thin because we’re playing only a single root, a single 3rd and a single 5th in order to clearly demonstrate the three notes of each triad. The term “diatonic” has a stricter definition but it’s usually used in reference to anything that is built using only notes within a given scale. In this sense, these seven chords are all “diatonic” to the key of C. In other words, we haven’t used any notes outside of the C major scale to create them. Notice that the chords built by starting from the 1st, 4th, and 5th scale tones created MAJOR chords (specifically C, F and G major) and are referred to in capital roman numerals as the “I, IV and V” chords. The chords built from the 2nd, 3rd and 6th notes created MINOR chords (D, E and A minor) and are referred to in lower-case roman numerals as the “ii-, iiiand vi-“ chords. But what about the Bº(“diminished”) chord built from the 7th note of the scale ? To understand this B diminished chord which contains the notes B, D, and F, we can compare it to what we know are the notes of a B major chord. Based © 2011 Steve Rieck – all rights reserved

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on what we learned earlier, these must simply be the 1st, 3rd and 5th note of the B major scale ( B, D# and F# ). As you can see, like a minor chord, this B diminished chord contains a flatted 3rd. But unlike a minor chord it ALSO contains a flatted 5th. So this chord is literally condensed or diminished. It is notated with the roman numeral “vii˚”(notice that little circle indicating “diminished”). Now let’s move back to the three major chords in this key. There are always three major chords built from any major scale • one built from the first note (called the “tonic” or “I”), • one built from the fourth note (called the “sub-dominant” or “IV”) • and one built from the fifth note (called the “dominant” or “V”) Notice how in all three cases, each of their notes match up exactly with the R, 3rd and 5th of their own respective major scales. For example, G major created as the fifth chord (V) in the key of C is made up of the same notes as the R, 3rd and 5th of the G major scale. In this case, the notes are G, B and D. The C Major Scale: C

D

E

G

F

B

A

C

D

The G Major Scale:

G

A

B

C

D

E

F#

G

F major created as the fourth chord (IV) in the key of C is made up of the same notes as the R, 3rd and 5th of the F major scale. The notes of an F major chord are F, A and C.

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The C Major Scale: C

D

E

F

G

A

B

C

A

Bb

C

D

E

F

The F Major Scale:

F

G

This brings up another vital point. Any chord, like C major for example, usually exists in multiple keys. A C major chord as it turns out, will be: The “I” chord in the key of C (the “tonic” chord) The “IV” chord in the key of G (the “sub-dominant” chord) The “V” chord in the key of F (the “dominant” chord) And in each circumstance, it’s just the same notes C, E and G combined. Looking at the minor chords that exist in the key of C (built from the 2nd, 3rd and 6th notes of the scale), we notice that they all have a flatted 3rd when compared to their “same root note” major chords. For example: D minor ( D,F,A ) is the “ii-“ chord in the key of C (D major is made up of the notes D, F# and A) E minor ( E,G,B ) is the “iii-“ chord in the key of C (E major is made up of the notes E, G# and B) A minor ( A,C,E ) is the “vi-“ chord in the key of C (A major is made up of the notes A, C# and E) It’s also important to look a little deeper at the exact intervals that make up each of these common triads.

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In a MAJOR chord: The distance from the root to the 3rd is a “major 3rd interval” (4 half-steps) The distance from the 3rd to the 5th is a “minor 3rd interval” (3 half-steps) The distance from the root to the 5th is a “perfect 5th interval” (7 half-steps) In a MINOR chord: The distance from the root to the 3rd is a “minor 3rd interval” (3 half-steps) The distance from the 3rd to the 5th is a “major 3rd interval” (4 half-steps) The distance from the root to the 5th is a “perfect 5th interval” (7 half-steps) In a DIMINISHED chord: The distance from the Root to the 3rd is a “minor 3rd interval” (3 half-steps) The distance from the 3rd to the 5th is a “minor 3rd interval” (3 half-steps) The distance from the root to the 5th is a “diminished 5th interval” (6 half-steps) Next, I want to mention a triad that isn’t created from a major scale but is important to understand. It’s called an “augmented” chord and as the name © 2011 Steve Rieck – all rights reserved

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implies, you can think of it as an expanded major chord. More specifically, a major triad with the fifth raised up a half-step. In an AUGMENTED chord: The distance from the Root to the 3rd is a “major 3rd interval” (4 half-steps) The distance from the 3rd to the 5th is a “major 3rd interval” (4 half-steps) The distance from the root to the 5th is a “augmented 5th interval” (8 half-steps) So to recap, we built seven individual chords from the C major scale. These chords can be represented specifically as: C

Dm

Em

F

G

Am

Bº

vi-

viiº

Or more generically in roman numeral notation as: I

ii-

iii-

IV

V

Once we know that the I, IV and V chords in any key are the major chords, the ii-, iii- and vi- chords are minor and the vii˚ chord is diminished, we can easily apply that reality to any major scale to instantly see the chords in any key.

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I

ii-

iii-

IV

V

vi-

Viiº

C G D A E B F# Gb Db Ab Eb Bb F C

Dm Am Em Bm F#m C#m G#m Abm Ebm Bbm Fm Cm Gm Dm

Em Bm F#m C#m G#m D#m A#m Bbm Fm Cm Gm Dm Am Em

F C G D A E B Cb Gb Db Ab Eb Bb F

G D A E B F# C# Db Ab Eb Bb F C G

Am Em Bm F#m C#m G#m D#m Ebm Bbm Fm Cm Gm Dm Am

Bº F#º C#º G#º D#º A#º E#º Fº Cº Gº Dº Aº Eº Bº

Once that is clear, we can talk about simple “chord progressions”. For example, If I said the verse to “She Loves You” by the Beatles is a: I , vi- , iii- , V chord progression in the key of G That means it goes from G to Em to Bm to D. We could just as easily apply that same progression to any other key and in effect, “transpose” the chords of the song (the verse at least) to another key. For example: In the key of C, the same chord progression would be: C to Am to Em to G Or in the key of D, the same chord progression would be: D to Bm to F#m to A.

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That should get you started with the concept but we’ll also talk about chord progressions in much more detail in a later chapter. Suspended Triads There are two other common triads that are important to understand and those are the “suspended 4th” (sus4) and “suspended 2nd” (sus2) chords. The first thing to understand about a suspended chord is: There can be no 3rd in it. So, in the case of a sus4 chord the 3rd is completely replaced with the 4th note of the scale. It becomes a combination of the 1st, 4th and 5th notes of the scale. This creates an unresolved sound that tends to feel like it needs to resolve back to the major chord (1st, 3rd and 5th). Some examples of the notes of a few common “sus4” chords are: Csus4 = C, F, G Gsus4 = G, C, D Dsus4 = D, G, A Asus4 = A, D, E Remember in each case, these are nothing more than the 1st, 4th and 5th notes of each chords major scale. The sus2 chord is conceptually the same except that instead of replacing the 3rd with a 4th, it is replaced with the 2nd note of the scale. Sus2 chords are characterized by a more spacey “open” sound and unlike sus4 chords, they do not particularly feel like they want to resolve back to major chords. Csus2 = C, D, G Gsus2 = G, A, D Dsus2 = D, E, A Asus2 = A, B, E

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Now let’s look at some major triad shapes around the fretboard. For the purposes of the next few examples, I’m using a G major chord (G, B, D). Notice that the roots (R) are all located on the fretboard at “G”s. (If we were to locate these same shapes at other places on the fretboard, they would still be major chords but built from whatever note the root happened to be). Be sure to memorize where the 3rds and 5ths are in all of these voicings as well.

Major triad shapes on strings 1, 2 and 3:

Major triad shapes on strings 2, 3 and 4:

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Major triad shapes on strings 3, 4 and 5:

All of the Root , 3rd and 5th patterns around the entire fretboard (using G major as the example):

Think of all of the different ways on adjacent and non-adjacent strings that you could combine one or more Roots, 3rds and 5ths together. They are all G major chords! So there are lots of major triad shapes to discover but here’s the really cool part: Based on the information in this chapter, it should be clear that if you: 1. Move the 3rd of any major chord down one fret (a half-step), the chord will become a minor chord (R, b3, 5). 2. Move the 3rd of any major chord up one fret (a half-step), the chord will become a suspended 4th (sus4) chord (R, 4, 5).

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3. Move the 3rd of any major chord back two frets (a whole-step), the chord will become a suspended 2nd (sus2) chord (R, 2, 5). 4. Move the 3rd and 5th of any major chord back one fret (half-steps), the chord will become a diminished chord (R, b3, b5). 5. Move the 5th of any major chord up one fret (a half-step), the chord will become an augmented chord (R, 3, #5). Now take the time you need to practice changing a variety of major chords into these other types of triads. Listen carefully to the differences among them. Remember if there are multiple 3rds in any particular voicing you happen to be playing, they all must move. It’s also very important at this stage that you are completely familiar with the open major and minor chord shapes, the four basic barre chord shapes as well as the power chord shapes (power chords are roots and 5ths only and do not contain any 3rds at all). Be certain to memorize where the Roots, 3rds and 5ths are in each of these most common chord shapes.

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CHAPTER 4 QUIZ & EXERCISES What does the term “triad” refer to ? How many actual notes do all major and minor chords consist of ? What is the definition of a chord ? What is a root ? Any major chord is merely the _____, _____ and _____ of it’s respective major scale. What is a chord “voicing” ? What are the notes of a G major chord ? What are the notes of an F major chord ? What are the notes of a Db major chord ? An easy way to determine the notes of any minor chord is to take the notes of the major chord and lower the _____ a half-step. What does the term “diatonic” mean ? When looking at the diatonic triads (three note chords built only from the notes of the scale) in any major key, the _____, _____ and _____ chords are always major. When looking at the diatonic triads in any major key, the _____, _____ and _____ chords are always minor. When looking at the diatonic triads in any major key, the _____ is always diminished.

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How would a D minor chord in the key of C be represented in roman numeral notation ? How would a C major chord in the key of G be represented in roman numeral notation ? How would a G diminished chord in the key of Ab be represented in roman numeral notation ? What does the term “tonic chord” refer to ? What does the term “sub-dominant chord” refer to ? What does the term “dominant chord” refer to ? In any major chord, the distance from the root to the 3rd is a __________ and the 3rd to the 5th is a __________. In any minor chord, the distance from the root to the 3rd is a __________ and the 3rd to the 5th is a __________. In any diminished chord, the distance from the root to the 3rd is a __________ and the 3rd to the 5th is a __________. In any augmented chord, the distance from the root to the 3rd is a __________ and the 3rd to the 5th is a __________. What is the vi- chord in the key of Eb and what is it’s root, 3rd and 5th ? What is the V chord in the key of B and what is it’s root, 3rd and 5th ? What is a I, ii-, vi-, IV progession in the key of Bb ? What are suspended 4th and suspended 2nd chords ?

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CHAPTER 5 SEVENTH CHORDS As we saw in the last chapter, three note chords (triads) are created by stacking a 3rd and a 5th interval on top of each of the notes of the major scale. Seventh chords are four note chords and are most commonly seen as a natural extension of this same concept created by simply adding one more note above the 5th of each chord. ROOT

C

2nd D

3rd

E

4th F

5th

G

6th A

7th

B

ROOT C

So if we, add a 3rd, 5th, AND a 7th to each note of the major scale, we’d get the “diatonic seventh chords” or the four note chords built directly from the notes of the C major scale. th

7 5th 3rd ROOT

I Maj7 B G E C

ii-7 C A F D

iii-7 D B G E

IV Maj7 E C A F

V7 F D B G

vi-7 G E C A

vii–7b5 A F D B

The first thing that’s really important to notice is that because these chords are made up of four actual pitches, their overall sound will be more complex. Just like a recipe with more ingredients, their flavor is different. Not stronger or better, just more complex. As you can see in the diagram above, we get seven unique chords (one built from each note of the scale) each containing four actual pitches. The next thing to notice is that there are four “types” of chords created. For example, The I chord and IV chord are called “major 7th” chords. The V chord is a “dominant 7th” chord. The ii, iii and vi chords are “minor 7th” chords. The vii chord is a “minor 7th flat 5” chord. © 2011 Steve Rieck – all rights reserved

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To get started on the fretboard, here are some chord forms to give you the general idea and let you hear what some of these chords sound like.

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How do you memorize all those shapes ? The answer is you shouldn’t need to, at least, not at first. You really need to know only the major 7th forms and by know I mean be certain where the Root, 3rd, 5th and 7th are located within them instead of just memorizing the shapes. Once you have that, you can merely apply a few simple formulas. Later in the chapter, we’ll discuss these formulas in more detail but for now, be sure to memorize the following: • • • •

Starting with any Major 7th chord (R, 3, 5, 7): Lower the “7th” a half step to make it a dominant 7th chord. Lower the 3rd and 7th a half-step to make it a minor 7th chord. Lower the 3rd, 5th and 7th a half step to make it a minor 7th b5 chord.

Notice the overall sound each of these four chord types create. Generally speaking major 7th chords are characterized by a soft, mellow sound. Dominant 7th chords have a slightly bluesy sound. Minor 7th chords sound like richer, jazzier minor chords and minor 7th b5 chords contain a characteristic dissonance that makes them feel like they need to resolve somewhere. To truly understand the differences between these chord types, we need to look at the individual major and minor 3rd intervals within them. Using C major 7th as an example: Notice that the root (C) to the 3rd (E) is a 4 half-step distance (a major 3rd). Notice that the 3rd (E) to the 5th (G) is a 3 half-step distance (a minor 3rd). This as you know, creates a C major triad (C, E, G). © 2011 Steve Rieck – all rights reserved

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Now notice that the 5th (G) to the 7th (B) is a 4 half-step distance. This circumstance is what defines the chord as a major 7th chord. It follows the order of Major 3rd / Minor 3rd / Major 3rd from the root to the 3rd to the 5th to the 7th. When you look at the IV chord in this key (F major 7th), you’ll notice that the notes are F,A,C and E and the relationship of major and minor 3rd intervals are the same as we just saw with the C major 7th chord. Therefore, both the I chord and the IV chord built from any major scale are “major 7th” chords. Now let’s look at the V chord in this key (“G7” or “G Dominant 7th”). The notes of this chord are G, B, D and F. The Root (G) to the 3rd (B) is a major 3rd. The 3rd (B) to the 5th (D) is a minor 3rd. So far, this looks just like what we had with the I and IV chord but here is the difference. The 5th to the 7th is only a 3 half-step distance (minor 3rd). This is what defines a chord as a “Dominant 7th” chord. The interval relation is Major 3rd / minor 3rd / minor 3rd from the root to the 3rd to the 5th to the 7th. Unlike the major 7th chord, which was created by stacking notes on top of the 1st and 4th scale degrees, the “dominant 7th chord” occurs only when building a four note chord from the 5th note of the scale (also called the “dominant” scale degree – hence the name “dominant 7th chord”). So now when we look at either of the chords built from the 2nd, 3rd or 6th scale degree (D minor 7th, E minor 7th or A minor 7th), we can see that they all share the following interval relation: minor 3rd / Major 3rd / minor 3rd from the root to the 3rd to the 5th to the 7th.

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Finally, the chord built from the 7th degree of the scale (B) is a “minor 7th flat 5” chord (B, D, F, A) and it’s interval relation is: minor 3rd / minor 3rd / Major 3rd Take some time and play these chords on your guitar or a piano. Pay special attention to the overall sound of each of them and then try to hear the individual note differences. Be aware that the reason these chords sound the way they do is because of all of the interval relations we just talked about. Once you feel like you understand the seventh chord types, their intervals and have played and listened to the examples above, remember to be able to interpret these chords from the two different perspectives we discussed in the last chapter on triads. In other words, it’s vital to see that G dominant 7th (G, B, D, F) is the V chord in the key of C but what if you compared a G dominant 7th chord to a G major 7th chord ? What exactly is the difference between these two chords ? The easiest way to think about any major 7th chord is to recognize that it’s simple the Root, 3rd, 5th and 7th notes of its own major scale. Using that logic, a G major 7th chord must be the notes G, B, D and F#. So you could say a G7 chord is like a G major 7th chord but the 7th (F#) is “flatted” or a half-step lower (F). From this perspective, you can make some simple formulas to identify the notes of chords quickly. Any major 7th chord can always be defined as the Root, 3rd, 5th and 7th notes of its respective major scale. For example: C Major 7 = G Major 7 = D Major 7 =

ROOT C G D

3rd E B F#

5th G D A

7th B F# C#

etc…

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And if we know that a Dominant 7th chord is the same thing but in each case, the 7th note is lowered a half-step, we can easily memorize the Dominant 7th chord formula R,3,5, b7 and apply it to any major scale: C Dom 7 = G Dom 7 = D Dom 7 =

3rd E B F#

ROOT C G D

5th G D A

“Flat” 7th Bb F C

Comparing a D minor 7th chord (D,F,A,C) to a D major 7th chord (D,F#,A,C#), we can see that the formula for a minor 7th chord is R, b3, 5, b7. C minor 7 = G minor 7 = D minor 7 =

ROOT C G D

“Flat” 3rd Eb Bb F

5th G D A

“Flat” 7th Bb F C

etc… And as you’d guess the formula for a Minor 7th flat 5 chord is R, b3, b5, b7. C min 7 b5 = G min 7 b5 = D min 7 b5 =

ROOT C G D

“Flat” 3rd Eb Bb F

“Flat” 5th Gb Db Ab

“Flat” 7th Bb F C

So here’s an amazing thing to realize. If you know the notes of all 12 major scales (one of those two “most important” things) AND you know these simple formulas: Major 7 = Dominant 7 = Minor 7 = Minor 7 b5 =

ROOT ROOT ROOT ROOT

3rd 3rd b 3rd b 3rd

5th 5th 5th b 5th

7th b 7th b 7th b 7th

You can easily spell the notes of any of these four seventh chord types in any key.

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One exercise I like to do with my students is have them play a C major 7th arpeggio (C,E,G,B) slowly up and down each string calling out the notes aloud as they go. Then do the same thing with G major 7th (G,B,D,F#), D major 7th (D,F#,A,C#) and so on eventually around the entire circle of fifths through all twelve keys. This should be done very slowly and could take awhile to accomplish. The point is DON’T RUSH IT and say the notes clearly and accurately! Granted, it doesn’t sound like the most fun you can have with an electric guitar but this simple exercise teaches you four vital things. 1. You begin to memorize the note names of each major 7th chord (by doing this and knowing that lowering the seventh a half-step makes the chord a Dominant 7th chord, lowering the 3rd and 7th a half-step makes it minor 7th etc…you suddenly see how these chords relate and can spell any of them easily.) 2. You visually see where these notes (and the “building block” major and minor 3rd intervals between them) are on the fretboard and why. 3. You train your ears to hear these intervals. 4. You reinforce your awareness of the circle of fifths by practicing from Cmaj7 to Gmaj7 to Dmaj7 to Amaj7 to Emaj7 and so on. The other cool thing about this exercise is it might take about 10 or 15 minutes to do each day. There’s no need for this to be a huge investment of time. The important thing is that you do it consistently and accurately. After weeks, months or a year, you will know this information effortlessly. A quick and obvious word about doing these kind of exercises too fast Simply put, if you race through this exercise, you can teach yourself things that are not accurate. In the long run it can do more harm than good. It’s sort of like racing through a page of math problems without carefully doing the arithmetic. Close approximates and estimations are your enemy here. You almost can’t do it too slowly if it’s new to you.

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One other common type of seventh chord I want to introduce at this point is the “diminished 7th” chord. This chords formula is: R, b3, b5, bb7 That’s a double flatted or “diminished” 7th (which is enharmonic to the 6th scale degree). If that seems at all confusing to you, be sure to go back and thoroughly understand Chapter 3 before continuing. A C diminished 7th would be spelled C, Eb, Gb, Bbb (And yes, most people are happy to think of that chord as C, Eb, Gb and A for simplicity.) A couple interesting things about this chord. 1. It is not created in any way by harmonizing a major scale as we saw with the other four seventh chord forms. 2. It is what’s known as a “symmetrical” chord, meaning the intervals between each of the notes happen to be the same. In the case of a diminished 7th chord, each interval between the root and 3rd , 3rd and 5th, 5th and 7th, and the 7th back to the Root is always a minor 3rd. minor 3rd / minor 3rd / minor 3rd Another nice thing about diminished 7th chords is they can be moved around the fretboard in three fret distances because the four notes of the chord will always invert into another combination of the same four notes.

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The next and most practical step in having a confident grasp on seventh chords is to be able to quickly modify some of the obvious major and minor chord shapes on the fretboard into the basic seventh chord types. (Major 7th, Dominant 7th, Minor 7th, Minor 7th b5 and Diminished 7th). A good way to do this is to find a Root in any major chord you can think of anywhere on the fretboard. For this exercise, avoid moving the bass (lowest) note of the voicing. As a starting point, its a good idea to keep the root in the bass in order to hear the various 3rds, 5ths and 7ths against it. Any roots that are moved should be in the middle or higher range of the chord. From the major chord you chose, drop a single root note a 1/2 step (one fret). The chord instantly changes from a major triad to a major 7th chord because you just added in the 7th note of the major scale which is always a half-step below the root (R, 3, 5, 7). Listen carefully to the difference. Now go back to the original major triad voicing you started with. This time, drop the Root note a whole step (two frets). The chord changes from a major triad to a Dominant 7th chord because you just added in “flatted 7th” note or a note which is a half step lower than the 7th note of the major scale (R, 3, 5, b7). Listen carefully to the difference.

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Now go back to the original major triad voicing you started with and turn it into a minor triad by dropping all of the 3rds within the voicing a half-step. (R, b3, 5) From this minor chord, drop the root note a whole step (two frets). The chord changes from a minor triad to a minor 7th chord because you just added in “flatted 7th” note (R, b3, 5, b7). Listen carefully to the difference. Now flat all of the 5ths in this minor 7th chord. The chord is now a minor 7th b5 chord (R, b3, b5, b7). Listen carefully to the difference. Finally, lower all of the b7s in this minor 7th chord an additional half-step. The chord is now a diminished 7th chord (R, b3, b5, bb7). Listen carefully to the difference. But aren’t there other combinations that we missed? Yes. For example: R, b3, 5, 7 or “minor/Major 7th chord” R, b3, b5, 7 or “minor/Major 7th b5 chord” R, 3, b5, b7 or “Dominant 7th b5 chord” R, 3, b5, 7 or “Major 7th b5 chord” (Although that’s an accurate name, this chord is more commonly referred to as a “Major 7th #11” chord for reasons we’ll discuss in a later chapter). And just as we saw with triads, you can also augment a seventh chord by raising its 5th a half-step. R, 3, #5, 7 or “Major 7th #5 chord” R, 3, #5, b7 or “Dominant 7th #5 chord” R, b3, #5, b7 or “minor 7th #5 chord”

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Feel free to experiment with and listen to the unique sounds of each of these seventh chord types although they will be discussed in more detail in later chapters. That is alot to think about and seems like alot to memorize but again we DO NOT want dry memorization. What we need is to understand the logic of these spellings and why they each make sense with the resulting chord names as well as visualize them on the fretboard. CHORD NAME Major 7th Dominant 7th Minor 7th Minor 7th b5 Diminished 7th Minor/Major 7th Minor/Major 7th b5 Major 7th b5 Major 7th #5 Dominant 7th #5 Minor 7th #5

ROOT R R R R R R R R R R R

THIRD 3 3 b3 b3 b3 b3 b3 3 3 3 b3

FIFTH 5 5 5 b5 b5 5 b5 b5 #5 #5 #5

SEVENTH 7 b7 b7 b7 bb7 7 7 7 7 7 b7

To reiterate those “two most important things”: • Any of these chords should be easy to spell from any root note if you know your major scales. • And you should see all kinds of ways to combine the notes of any of these chords together if you are effortless in your knowledge of the fretboard.

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Finally, lets create several of these chord types from a single C major voicing on the fretboard. The voicing I happened to choose for this is the typical 3rd position C major barre chord (Root on the 5th string). C Major Triad E C G C C Major 7th E B G C C Dominant 7th E Bb G C C Minor 7th Eb Bb G C C Minor 7th b5 Eb Bb Gb C © 2011 Steve Rieck – all rights reserved

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C Diminished 7th Eb Bbb (or A) Gb C C Minor/Major 7th Eb B G C And so on... Again, it’s amazing how helpful it is to try all of this on both the guitar AND the piano. If you aren’t already interpreting this information on the piano as well, be sure to make the correlations.

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CHAPTER 5 QUIZ & EXERCISES Unlike a triad, a seventh chord contains _____ notes. What are the four basic types of seventh chords ? When looking at the diatonic chords in any major key, the _____ and _____ chords will be major 7th chords. When looking at the diatonic chords in any major key, the _____ chord will be a dominant 7th chord. When looking at the diatonic chords in any major key, the _____, _____ and _____ chords will be minor 7th chords. When looking at the diatonic chords in any major key, the _____ chord will be a minor 7th b5 chord. The order of major and minor 3rds that build a major 7th chord is ? The order of major and minor 3rds that build a dominant 7th chord is ? The order of major and minor 3rds that build a minor 7th chord is ? The order of major and minor 3rds that build a minor 7th b5 chord is ? What is the chord “formula” for a major 7th chord ? What is the chord “formula” for a dominant 7th chord ? What is the chord “formula” for a minor 7th chord ? What is the chord “formula” for a minor 7th b5 chord ? What are the notes of a D major 7th chord ? © 2011 Steve Rieck – all rights reserved

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What are the notes of an F dominant 7th chord ? What are the notes of a Bb minor 7th chord ? What are the notes of a G minor 7th b5 chord ? What is the chord “formula” for a diminished 7th chord ? What does the term “symmetrical” mean as it relates to a diminished 7th chord ? Play a C major 7th chord anywhere on the fretboard and change it into a dominant 7th , minor 7th, minor 7th b5 and diminished 7th chord by lowering the appropriate notes. Try changing it into some of the less common 7th chord types discussed at the end of the chapter. Repeat this process with several other major 7th chord voicings. Try this exercise on the piano as well.

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CHAPTER 6 THE “CAGED” SYSTEM As we know, the fact that the fretboard lends itself to visual memorization of shapes and patterns is an aspect of string instruments that has alot of advantages and a few specific disadvantages. Many people have played a lot of guitar based on good instincts, good ears and the shapes on the fretboard that we all need to be comfortable with. There is nothing wrong with shapes and patterns. They are absolutely vital. The premise of this book is not to dismiss all of the important shapes but see beyond them. When I teach reading classes, we generally start with a discussion of instrument-specific challenges and why guitar players can tend to have a bad reputation when it comes to reading as compared to piano and horn players for example. Are we dumber ? Less disciplined ? Probably not, but unlike pianos and trumpets, our instrument invites us to play without thinking about much at all. We can play entire songs, get paid playing for hours in bands and in some cases, actually have little or no idea what the notes on the fretboard are or what the names of the chords mean...and if we need to transpose something, all we have to do is slide it up or down a few frets! In some ways, that's very cool but it can impede the necessity/desire for more formal knowledge and it tends to force people to get stuck in their comfort zone. Most chords on the fretboard evolve one way or another out of the five basic open chord shapes of C A G E or D. Even the more convoluted voicings are created by moving, adding or leaving out various notes within these five basic structures to create 7ths, tensions, suspensions etc... So the "CAGED" system as its known becomes an organizational tool with which to categorize chord voicings and scale patterns. We can say this or that chord is derived from the "E shape" or the "C shape" etc...and these

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“shapes” refer back to the basic open chord shapes of C A G E and D even though they are various chords at different frets. In addition to its uses with chords, each of the five shapes also implies a specific major scale pattern on the fretboard as well. It's critical to be comfortable with these five patterns as well as "see" the corresponding chord shape within each scale pattern. Starting with the “C” chord shape, play the individual notes of the chord and be careful to clearly notice where the roots, 3rds and 5ths are within the shape. Next, fill in the gaps and visualize an entire “C” major scale built around this shape by adding in scale degrees 2, 4, 6 and 7. Now extend the scale beyond the boundaries of the chord shape itself. In this case, down into the 6th string.

We should now be able to clearly visualize the entire C major scale within the context of this very familiar open “C” chord shape. And again, it’s absolutely vital to understand each note name and scale degree and how each one fits into the overall shape. Resist the urge to just play this as a pattern or shape without thinking about the note names. Now that this overall shape, the major scale and the major chord within it are easy to see, we need to understand that moving this fixed shape up the

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fretboard will transpose the entire thing into new keys. This is one of the great advantages of string instruments. Recognize that, in the case of an open position C major chord, there happens to be a root on the 5th string as well as on the 2nd string (take some time to find those if that isn’t obvious). By sliding this entire pattern to the 2nd position, we will have transposed this entire C chord and C scale pattern to the key of D major. The scale is now a D major scale and the “C shape” chord within it is now actually a D major chord. Remember that the notes of the D major scale are D, E, F#, G, A, B, C# and the notes of the D major chord are D, F# and A. It is extremely important that you take whatever time you need to clearly see these new notes in this new position. Again, the root notes on this particular pattern happen to be on the 5th and 2nd string. At this point, it should become obvious to you that if we moved this pattern up two more frets to the 4th position, we would have an E major scale and an E major chord…One more fret beyond that would be F major and so on. Once that feels secure, you can imagine all the things we can do with it to turn it into other scales and chords (flat the 3rd, raise the 4th etc…) which can be generated from this “home” pattern so to speak. If all of the above is comfortable and you can see how we: 1. Started with the basic open C chord shape. 2. Built the corresponding C major scale pattern around it. 3. Extended the scale pattern beyond the strings used by the chord shape.

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4. Can move the entire fixed shape up the fretboard transposing the entire major scale and the major chord within it to new keys. (Be careful to keep track of where the root is at all times.) 5. Alter the scale and chord shape within it by raising or lowering specific notes. Finally, it’s also important to notice that in order to keep these five patterns clear, nothing happens behind the barre. That is to say that the lowest fret played in each of these fixed patterns will be the equivelant of what would have been the open strings on the originating open chord shape. This concept is much like using a capo. Once this is clear, it is relatively obvious how we’ll use the same exact method and logic applied to the remaining open major chord shapes of A, G, E and D. Carefully practice the examples below for each chord shape:

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CHAPTER 6 QUIZ & EXERCISES Most chords on the fretboard evolve one way or another out of the five basic open chord shapes of _____, _____, _____, _____, _____. Memorize and practice this five step process: 1. Pick one of the five basic open chord shapes and clearly identify the Roots, 3rds and 5ths within it. 2. Fill in the gaps around the chord shape by adding in scale degrees 2, 4, 6 and 7. 3. Extend the scale in position beyond the range of the chord shape. 4. Transpose this entire pattern somewhere else up the fretboard and keep track of where the root is at all times. 5. Be able to alter the scale and chord shape within it by raising or lowering specific notes. Play the open position “C shape” pattern then transpose the entire thing up the fretboard to the key of F. Play the open position “A shape” pattern then transpose the entire thing up the fretboard to the key of F. Play the open position “G shape” pattern then transpose the entire thing up the fretboard to the key of F. Play the open position “E shape” pattern then transpose the entire thing up the fretboard to the key of F. Play the open position “D shape” pattern then transpose the entire thing up the fretboard to the key of F

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CHAPTER 7 MINOR SCALES One of the most important things we learned when we talked about major scales in chapter 2 was the concept of “tonal center”. If you play any major scale up and down you immediately get a sense that the first note (“root” or “tonic”) feels like a point of resolution. If you play a simple melody or chord progression in C major, you also get the sense that things want to finish on the C major chord. If this isn’t easy to hear yet, take the time you need to play some major scales and notice how in each case, the first note feels “resolved” or “finished”. Here’s a simple melody in the key of C to give you the idea.

Once that’s very clear, let’s suppose you were playing a melody, riff or chord progression based on the notes or chords of the C major scale...BUT, what you were playing emphasized the sixth note of the scale (A) and the sixth chord in the key (A minor) so much that it actually overwhelmed C and became the new tonal center ? Try the following example.

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Notice how it uses the notes of the C major scale, yet it definitely resolves to A minor rather than C major. This is because the second melody is actually in the key of A minor rather than C major. “A” has become the new tonal center. So what is the difference between the C major scale and the A minor scale if they contain exactly the same 7 notes ? The answer is simply the tonal center. Where is the overall emphasis in the music and ultimitely which note does the music feel like it wants to resolve to ? The C or the A ? Is the chord progression more focused on the C major chord or the A minor chord ? One more point that helps is the significance of what the bass is doing in a piece of music…Let’s say you’re playing a melody using the notes of the C major scale and your bass player plays a riff based on the notes of a C major triad (C, E, G). There should be no question that your combined sound creates a tonal center of C major. But what if instead, you played the same C major scale melody but this time the bass players riff focused on the notes on an A minor triad (A, C, E). The overall tonality as a band will now feel like A minor as your notes are now felt and heard in relation to this “A” root rather than “C”. So does that mean that everytime the bass player switches riffs, we’re in a new key ? Definitely not. © 2011 Steve Rieck – all rights reserved

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Notice the two examples below. Both contain C major and A minor chords. For simplicity, all of the chords used are taken directly from the notes of the C major scale but one clearly has an emphasis on C major and the other on A minor. So it all comes down to “how much and how long” and there can sometimes be grey areas. Often, the simple act of listening carefully will clear up any questions as to where a piece of music wants to resolve. Many times it’s obvious. Simple progression in the key of C major:

Simple progression in the key of A minor:

Now that we understand how the A minor scale relates to the C major scale (it shares the exact same notes). The term for the relation of two different scales which contain the same exact notes is “Relative”. Therefore A minor is relative to C major. But we also need to compare this new minor scale (A Minor) to the major scale which shares the same root (A Major). A Major A Minor

A A

B B

C# C

D D

E E

F# F

G# G

As you can see, if we compare a minor scale to a major scale with it’s same root, we notice that a minor scale could also be thought of as a major scale with a flatted 3rd, 6th and 7th scale degree.

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The term for the relation of two different scales with the same starting note (root) is “Parallel”. Therefore, A minor is parallel to A major. So you could say that A minor’s relative major scale is C Major (it shares the same notes) but it’s parallel major scale is A major (it contains different notes but shares the same tonal center or root). It’s crucial to understand a scales relationship to it’s relative and parallel major scales. You noticed that the melody a few pages back basically sounded “happy” when it was presented in C major and “sad” when it was presented in A minor. That’s a very important aspect of scales in general. Each has it’s own unique mood. The melodies and to a certain extent the chords you create from each scale will share it’s overall mood. Again, the relation between the C major scale (C D E F G A B C) and the A minor scale (A B C D E F G) is known in music theory terms as a “relative” relationship meaning that both scales contain exactly the same notes but different tonal centers. So we’d say that the A minor scale is C major’s “relative minor” scale. The relative minor scale of any major scale will always be that major scale with it’s tonal center shifted to the 6th note. This 6th note of the major scale therefore becomes the first note of the relative minor scale. Each of the 15 major scales we learned in chapter 2 has a “relative minor” scale which shares it’s same seven notes. For example: C major’s (CDEFGAB) relative minor scale is A minor (ABCDEFG) G major’s (GABCDEF#) relative minor scale is E minor (EF#GABCD) D major’s (DEF#GABC#) relative minor is B minor (BC#DEF#GA) A major’s (ABC#DEF#G#) relative minor is F# minor (F#G#ABC#DE) etc…

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Because a major scale and it’s relative minor scale share the same exact notes, they will also share the same key signature in standard music notation. There’s another important term used to refer to the minor scales created from this relative relation and that is the “natural” minor scale. This minor scale is “natural” in the sense that all we’ve done is effectively shift the tonal center of a major scale to it’s 6th note. Beyond that, we haven’t actually changed any pitches. In the table below, you’ll find all of the triads (three note chords) for each minor key. Notice that these are the same exact chords found in each minor scales relative major scale. They are merely starting on what used to be the “vi-“ chord of the major key. This chord now becomes the “i-“ of this new minor key. Notice also the numbering conventions in the roman numeral notation. There are bIII, bVI and bVII’s because we think of any natural minor scale as scale degrees (1, 2, b3, 4, 5, b6, b7) as it relates to a major scale (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7). Natural Minor Scale Triads iAm Em Bm F#m C#m G#m D#m Ebm Bbm Fm Cm Gm Dm Am

iiº Bº F#º C#º G#º D#º A#º E#º Fº Cº Gº Dº Aº Eº Bº

bIII C G D A E B F# Gb Db Ab Eb Bb F C

ivDm Am Em Bm F#m C#m G#m Abm Ebm Bbm Fm Cm Gm Dm

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vEm Bm F#m C#m G#m D#m A#m Bbm Fm Cm Gm Dm Am Em

bVI F C G D A E B Cb Gb Db Ab Eb Bb F

bVII G D A E B F# C# Db Ab Eb Bb F C G 94

And the 7th chords… i-7 A-7 E-7 B-7 F#-7 C#-7 G#-7 D#-7 Eb-7 Bb-7 F-7 C-7 G-7 D-7 A-7

ii-7b5 B-7b5 F#-7b5 C#-7b5 G#-7b5 D#-7b5 A#-7b5 E#-7b5 F-7b5 C-7b5 G-7b5 D-7b5 A-7b5 E-7b5 B-7b5

bIIIMaj7 C Maj7 G Maj7 D Maj7 A Maj7 E Maj7 B Maj7 F# Maj7 Gb Maj7 Db Maj7 Ab Maj7 Eb Maj7 Bb Maj7 F Maj7 C Maj7

iv-7 D-7 A-7 E-7 B-7 F#-7 C#-7 G#-7 Ab-7 Eb-7 Bb-7 F-7 C-7 G-7 D-7

v-7 E-7 B-7 F#-7 C#-7 G#-7 D#-7 A#-7 Bb-7 F-7 C-7 G-7 D-7 A-7 E-7

bVIMaj7 F Maj7 C Maj7 G Maj7 D Maj7 A Maj7 E Maj7 B Maj7 Cb Maj7 Gb Maj7 Db Maj7 Ab Maj7 Eb Maj7 Bb Maj7 F Maj7

bVII7 G7 D7 A7 E7 B7 F#7 C#7 Db7 Ab7 Eb7 Bb7 F7 C7 G7

Notice that in either case, wether you’re building triads or seventh chords from these natural minor scales, the chords created are exactly the same as those found in the relative major keys because the notes contained within each pair of relative major and minor scales are exactly the same.

Take the time to practice each of the following natural minor scale patterns slowly calling out each note and listening to the overall feel of the scale.

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The Harmonic and Melodic Minor Scales There are two very common variations of the minor scale. The first is called the harmonic minor scale. This is nothing more than the standard natural minor scale where the 7th note has been raised a half-step. This creates some interesting melodic possibilities because there is now an augmented 2nd interval (3 half-steps) between the 6th and 7th notes of the scale. The other important thing to realize is that because the seventh degree of the scale has been raised, any chord built from the scale that includes that 7th degree will now be different than what we saw with the natural minor scale. Most prominantly the V chord will now be major rather than minor and if extended to a four note chord, will create a dominant 7th chord. The V major triad or V7 chord is a very common thing to see in a piece of music in a minor key as it has a much more determined sense of resolution to the ichord than v- to i-.

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Here are the triads (three note chords) created from each harmonic minor scale. iAm Em Bm F#m C#m G#m D#m Ebm Bbm Fm Cm Gm Dm Am

iiº Bº F#º C#º G#º D#º A#º E#º Fº Cº Gº Dº Aº Eº Bº

bIII+ C+ G+ D+ A+ E+ B+ F#+ Gb+ Db+ Ab+ Eb+ Bb+ F+ C+

ivDm Am Em Bm F#m C#m G#m Abm Ebm Bbm Fm Cm Gm Dm

V E B F# C# G# D# A# Bb F C G D A E

bVI F C G D A E B Cb Gb Db Ab Eb Bb F

viiº G#º D#º A#º E#º B#º F##º C##º Dº Aº Eº Bº F#º C#º G#º

And here are the seventh chords (four note chords) created from each harmonic minor scale. i-M7 Am/M7 Em/M7 Bm/M7 F#m/M7 C#m/M7 G#m/M7 D#m/M7 Ebm/M7 Bbm/M7 Fm/M7 Cm/M7 Gm/M7 Dm/M7 Am/M7

ii-7b5 B-7b5 F#-7b5 C#-7b5 G#-7b5 D#-7b5 A#-7b5 E#-7b5 F-7b5 C-7b5 G-7b5 D-7b5 A-7b5 E-7b5 B-7b5

bIIIMaj7#5 C Maj7#5 G Maj7#5 D Maj7#5 A Maj7#5 E Maj7#5 B Maj7#5 F# Maj7#5 Gb Maj7#5 Db Maj7#5 Ab Maj7#5 Eb Maj7#5 Bb Maj7#5

F Maj7#5 C Maj7#5

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iv-7 D-7 A-7 E-7 B-7 F#-7 C#-7 G#-7 Ab-7 Eb-7 Bb-7 F-7 C-7 G-7 D-7

V7 E7 B7 F#7 C#7 G#7 D#7 A#7 Bb7 F7 C7 G7 D7 A7 E7

bVIMaj7 F Maj7 C Maj7 G Maj7 D Maj7 A Maj7 E Maj7 B Maj7 Cb Maj7 Gb Maj7 Db Maj7 Ab Maj7

Eb Maj7 Bb Maj7

F Maj7

viiº7 G#º7 D#º7 A#º7 E#º7 B#º7 F##º7 C##º7 Dº7 Aº7 Eº7 Bº7 F#º7 C#º7 G#º7 97

The Melodic Minor scale (Also known as the “Jazz Minor scale”) is a variation in which the 6th and the 7th notes of the natural minor scale are raised a half-step. For this reason, you could also see a Melodic Minor scale as a Major scale with a flatted 3rd. (In classical harmony, The melodic minor scale contains these raised 6th and 7th notes only as the scale and the melodies played from it are ascending.)

Here are the triads (three note chords) created from each melodic minor scale. iAm Em Bm F#m C#m G#m D#m Ebm Bbm Fm Cm Gm Dm Am

iiBm F#m C#m G#m D#m A#m E#m Fm Cm Gm Dm Am Em Bm

bIII+ C+ G+ D+ A+ E+ B+ F#+ Gb+ Db+ Ab+ Eb+ Bb+ F+ C+

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IV D A E B F# C# G# Ab Eb Bb F C G D

V E B F# C# G# D# A# Bb F C G D A E

viº F#º C#º G#º D#º A#º E#º B#º Cº Gº Dº Aº Eº Bº F#º

viiº G#º D#º A#º E#º B#º F##º C##º Dº Aº Eº Bº F#º C#º G#º

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And here are the seventh chords (four note chords) created from each melodic minor scale. i-/M7 Am/M7 Em/M7 Bm/M7 F#m/M7 C#m/M7 G#m/M7 D#m/M7 Ebm/M7 Bbm/M7 Fm/M7 Cm/M7 Gm/M7 Dm/M7 Am/M7

ii-7 B-7 F#-7 C#-7 G#-7 D#-7 A#-7 E#-7 F-7 C-7 G-7 D-7 A-7 E-7 B-7

bIIIMaj7#5 C Maj7#5 G Maj7#5 D Maj7#5 A Maj7#5 E Maj7#5 B Maj7#5 F# Maj7#5 Gb Maj7#5 Db Maj7#5 Ab Maj7#5 Eb Maj7#5 Bb Maj7#5 F Maj7#5 C Maj7#5

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IV7 D7 A7 E7 B7 F#7 C#7 G#7 Ab7 Eb7 Bb7 F7 C7 G7 D7

V7 E7 B7 F#7 C#7 G#7 D#7 A#7 Bb7 F7 C7 G7 D7 A7 E7

vi-7b5 F#-7b5 C#-7b5 G#-7b5 D#-7b5 A#-7b5 E#-7b5 B#-7b5 C-7b5 G-7b5 D-7b5 A-7b5 E-7b5 B-7b5 F#-7b5

vii-7b5 G#-7b5 D#-7b5 A#-7b5 E#-7b5 B#-7b5 F##-7b5 C##-7b5

D-7b5 A-7b5 E-7b5 B-7b5 F#-7b5 C#-7b5 G#-7b5

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CHAPTER 7 QUIZ & EXERCISES Define the term “relative minor” as it relates to tonal center. How does a natural minor scale compare to it’s parallel major scale ? What is G major’s relative minor scale ? What is G major’s parallel minor scale ? What does the term “natural” minor scale refer to ? What is a i-, bVI, iv-, bVII chord progression (in triads) in the key of E minor ? Which type of minor scale would this be derived from ? What is a i-7, bVIMaj7, iv-7, bVII7 chord progression (in seventh chords) in the key of E minor ? Which type of minor scale would this be derived from ? What is a i-, bVI, iv-, V chord progression (in triads) in the key of E minor ? What type of minor scale does this progression imply ? What is a i-, IV, ii-, V chord progression (in triads) in the key of E minor ? What type of minor scale does this progression imply ? What is a i-, bVI, iv-, bVII chord progression (in triads) in the key of C minor ? Which type of minor scale would this be derived from ? What is a i-7, bVIMaj7, iv-7, bVII7 chord progression (in seventh chords) in the key of C minor ? Which type of minor scale would this be derived from ? What is a i-, bVI, iv-, V chord progression (in triads) in the key of C minor ? What type of minor scale does this progression imply ? What is a i-, IV, ii-, V chord progression (in triads) in the key of C minor ? What type of minor scale does this progression imply ?

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CHAPTER 8 GUIDE TONES The "guide tones" of chord are typically considered to be it’s 3rd and 7th. These notes tend to be heard as more harmonically important. The reason is that the character of the chord, that is to say the notes which differentiate a Major 7th sound from a Dominant 7th from a Minor 7th are contained within these specific notes. (In the case of major and minor 6th chords, the guide tones would be the 3rd and 6th). If you compare, for example, a C major 7th chord with a C Dominant 7th chord or a C minor 7th chord, you can see that the only differences between these chords are their 3rds and 7ths. As an exception, in the case of the Minor 7th b5 chord, obviously the flatted 5th is a critical part of of it’s sound.

C Major 7 C Dom 7 C Minor 7 C min 7 b5

Root C C C C

3rd E E Eb Eb

5th G G G Gb

7th B Bb Bb Bb

Like any musical concept, It’s important to not only see but hear these differences. Take a moment and play these four chords on your guitar or piano. Be certain to hear the changes in the 3rds and 7ths and the overall sound of each type of chord. The nice thing about realizing this is that in most situations when you’re playing with someone who is responsible for the roots of the chords (bass player, etc.), you can leave out the roots and often the fifths in the chords entirely if you feel it’s a musical improvement. Below are two examples of the first eight bars of the Jazz standard “All The Things You Are”.

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In the first example, I’ve used four note chords each containing a Root, 3rd, 5th and 7th. (Notice for these next two examples we are not using any tensions.) These chords will sound very stock and dry (boring) but will without a doubt clearly state the opening chord progression of the song. The second example is the exact same eight measures using only the 3rds and 7ths of each chord.

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Guide Tones (3 & 7) only:

Did you hear how the essence of the chord progression was contained within these two simple notes ? You also noticed that in the case of this chord progression, there was a “common tone” from each chord as it switched to the next. The other note tended to move by “stepwise motion” (by half-step or whole-step) into the next chord. This smooth sound using the least motion to get from one chord to the next is the essence of “voice leading”. So now that we’ve achieved this chord progression by simply moving two notes (guide tones 3 & 7) minimally (voice leading) down the 3rd and 4th string, we’ve left plenty of room on the fretboard to add a tension or two to each chord. In the next chapter, we’ll see how we can add tensions to these two note guide tones to produce some great chord voicings. One other concept that is somewhat related to guide tones and voice leading is known as a “Line Cliché”. The idea is that a single note will move © 2011 Steve Rieck – all rights reserved

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down or up (usually chromatically) within a chord progression producing a very smooth and somewhat predictable sound. The Beatles, for example used this compositional technique in dozens of songs and were probably inspired by standards like “My Funny Valentine” and others. Here are just a couple of chord progressions using the more obvious examples of Line Cliché. Am Am(M7) Am7 D9 Fmajor7 Where there is the following chromatically descending note within the progression: A to G# to G to F# to F

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Or C C+ C6 C7 Where there is a chromatically ascending note within the progression: G to G# to A to Bb

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CHAPTER 8 QUIZ & EXERCISES The "guide tones" of chord are typically considered to be it’s _____ and _____. Why are these notes more harmonically important than others ? Play the following chord progression using only the guide tones of each chord. Try to voice lead the notes carefully: Cm7 Fm7 Bb7 Ebmaj7 Abmaj7 Am7 D7 Gmaj7 Try the same exercise with this progression: F#m7b5 A7 Cm7 F7 Fm7 Bb7 Ebmaj7 Ab7 Now voice lead the above progressions using all four chord tones rather than just the guide tones. Remember that the general rule with voice leading is to keep any common tones and try to move the other notes up or down by half-step or whole-step at the most. This isn’t possible in all cases. What is the chromatic line cliché occurring in the following progression ? Fm Fm(M7) Fm7 Bb7 Dbmaj7 Gb7b5 What is the chromatic line cliché occurring in the following progression ? F#m G#7/F# Bm/F# F# What is the chromatic line cliché occurring in the following progression of major triads? E

C

A

D

B

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CHAPTER 9 TENSIONS Earlier in this book, we learned that simple major chords are constructed by playing the Root, 3rd and 5th notes of a major scale together. Adding the 7th note of the scale turned this simple major triad into a Major 7th chord. Just as we saw seventh chords constructed by combining Root, 3rd, 5th and 7th note of a scale together, we can extend a scale into two octaves and continue the process of adding notes to the chord as 9ths, 11ths and 13ths. These extensions of the harmony are commonly known as “tensions” whereas we would consider Roots, 3rds, 5ths and 7ths the more basic “chord tones”. Adding more notes of the scale to a chord creates a more complex sound just as adding a new ingredient to an otherwise simple recipe creates a more complex flavor. It’s worth noticing in that cooking analogy, that a more “complex” recipe is not a “better” recipe or somehow superior by default. A good chef or musician should have respect for the balance of simplicity and complexity. The following two-octave C major scale should help illustrate the point clearly. CHORD TONES-----------------------] TENSIONS-----------------] R 3 5 7 9 11 13 C D E F G A B C D E F G A B

C

I’m using C major in the example for simplicity but of course, this concept is the same for all major scales. One of the first things you’ll notice is that the 9th (D) is the same note as the 2nd (D), just one octave higher. Likewise, the 11th (F) is the same note as the 4th (F) and the 13th (A) is the same note as the 6th (A). In essence, these are the notes that we skipped over building the original major 7th

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chord in the first octave. This brings up a simple point that is absolutely vital to memorize: 9=2 11 = 4 13 = 6 Memorize it! Actually, don’t just memorize it. First understand why it’s true and then MEMORIZE IT. Finding tensions on chords will be very simple when you can say “What’s the 9th on this chord? Oh, it’s just the 2nd note of the scale etc... That’s another example of something that is SO EASY assuming you know the notes of all of the major scales QUICKLY. So what kinds of sounds do these tensions create ? That is a broad question with an even broader answer. In general, they will color the sound of the chord, create a more complex flavor and will be consonant or dissonant to varying degrees. Certain tensions will create a dissonance so strong that they’d be undesirable in most cases. We need to understand why this happens and be in control of it. Personally, I think it’s nonsense to consider any of these tensions “correct” or incorrect”, (although for learning, we will use the terms “available” and “unavailable” in a moment). Dissonance is half of the yin-yang of all good music. There are some musical situations where extreme dissonance is called for (film scoring, children’s birthday parties etc). So there are certainly FACTS in music theory. These notes make this chord, those chords are in that key...etc. But the CHOICES you make in music…”should I add this note to that chord ?”…” Should I put this chord in that song ?”

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These CHOICES should be gauged by only one simple question: “Was it your intent?” - If it was, and you understand what you are doing, are achieving the sound you want – and even if it breaks the so called “rules”, then you are CORRECT. You’ve earned that right so to speak. In my experience, it’s often true that the best moments in music are those unexpected places where the “rules”, are broken intentionally and the worst moments in music are those places where the “rules” are broken unknowingly. One sounds intentional and clever and the other is just clumsy. Now lets talk specifically about why a tension would sound consonant or dissonant. When I learned this concept, my instructors helped me understand it by labeling the tensions “available” (consonant) and “unavailable” (dissonant). Another very common term for an unavailable tension is an “avoid note”. With the exception of dominant chords, there is a very simple question to determine if a tension is available or not. Is the tension a WHOLE STEP above the chord tone directly beneath it ? If the answer to that question is yes, the tension is available and should sound consonant. For example, looking at tension 9 (D) on a Cmaj7 chord (as shown on the previous page). Notice that the note “D” is a whole step above the chord tone directly underneath it (In this case, the root “C”). This situation pretty much guarantees a consonant sound and therefore we would say that this tension is “available”. Next let’s look at tension 11 (F) on a Cmaj7 chord. Notice that the note “F” is only a half-step above the chord tone directly underneath it (In this case, the 3rd “E”). This situation, in most voicings, creates a very dissonant sound and therefore we would say that this tension is “un-available”. The reason this can sound so hideous, is because of the “minor 9th interval” which is often created in the voicing of the chord (specifically between the “E” and the “F” in the C major 7th example above). © 2011 Steve Rieck – all rights reserved

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As you’ll recall from chapter 3, the minor 9th interval (13 half-steps) is the most dissonant sound you can create on a musical instrument apart from being out of tune. Before we write off the 11th on this C chord altogether, there are ways to voice (specifically arrange) the notes of any chord which can soften the blow so to speak. For example, if you put the F underneath the E rather than the other way around, the result is usually a very pretty chord. And again, if it’s the sound you are looking for then do it and don’t worry. Moving on, if we look at tension 13 (A) on a Cmaj7 chord. You’ll notice that the note “A” is a whole step above the chord tone directly underneath it (In this case, the 5th “G”). You can then assume that “A” will sound consonant on a Cmajor7th chord and it will. But of course, don’t assume any of this. Take some time and play each of these tensions against the chord and listen carefully to the result. So that available/unavailable concept pretty much stands and is a good rule of thumb with one important exception. That exception is the common use of tensions which are a half-step above a chord tone on dominant 7th chords. This will be explained clearly later in the chapter but before we get to that explanation, we need to understand the concept of “altered tensions”. ALTERED TENSIONS Using the C major scale example in the beginning of this chapter, we saw the tensions 9, 11 and 13 as they naturally occur in the second octave of the C major scale. For this reason, they are considered the “natural tensions” of the C chord. Conceptually, these natural tensions (9, 11 and 13) are the most straightforward as they are simply the same as the 2nd, 4th and 6th notes of any major scale. This is true for all keys. So the easiest way to find all of the natural tensions on any chord is to simply ask yourself, “What are the 2nd, 4th and 6th notes of the major scale that shares the same root as this chord?” The answer will be that chords natural tensions 9, 11 and 13. It’s that easy. © 2011 Steve Rieck – all rights reserved

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Here are a few examples: QUESTION] What is a 9th on an F major 7th chord ? ASK] What is the 2nd note of the F major scale ? ANSWER] “G” QUESTION] What is a 11th on a Bb minor 7th chord ? ASK] What is the 4th note of the Bb major scale ? ANSWER] “Eb” QUESTION] What is a 13th on a E dominant 7th chord ? ASK] What is the 6th note of the E major scale ? ANSWER] “C#” Again, these are all NATURAL TENSIONS because they are simply being drawn from the parallel (same root) MAJOR SCALE of the chord in question. Once we clarify what the natural tensions are on a chord, we can easily alter these tensions by merely lowering or raising them a half step. That’s really all there is to altering tensions. A “#9” for example is a natural 9 raised up a half-step. A “b13” is a natural 13 lowered a half-step. I’m gonna be very specific and say that ALTERED TENSIONS SHOULD ONLY BE USED ON DOMINANT SEVENTH CHORDS AND MAJOR7#11 CHORDS. I know, I know I just told you not to think in terms of too many rules but this one is worth adhering to. If you try to use altered tensions on minor 7th chords for example, not only will you create horrendous sounds but you’ll also confuse the function of the chord and yourself in the process. For example - NO minor 7th b13 chords !!! – It just becomes an inversion of a Major 7th chord a third below and would be more accurately referred to as that. Could you have a Minor 7th #9 chord ? No, the #9 would be enharmonic to the b3 already in the chord and would therefore be meaningless!

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How about a major 7th b9 chord? Ouch, Now THAT’S a sound you can seriously scare people with. In those rare times when you are actually trying to repulse people with sound, this might be an option. That’s just a few examples. Stick with the above rule and you’ll be fine. Better yet, try some of those (a good distance away from anyone you might be trying to impress) and carefully notice the confused sounds they create. Also, as we look at other types of scales and modes later in the book, we’ll be able to quickly see how some of these altered tensions (b9, #9, #11 or b13) are intrinsic to those scales but not necessarily available to the chord built from it’s first degree. So why are altered tensions so commonly found on Dominant 7th chords ? In most cases, for two reasons. 1) The Dominant 7th chord has an inherent dissonance of it’s own due to the tritone interval (three whole-steps) between it’s 3rd and b7. This built in tension helps “support” the added sonic friction that these altered tensions create resulting in an even stronger sense of needing to resolve. 2) These dominant chords often function as V7 chords in minor keys meaning they are often derived from the 5th note of the harmonic minor scale. This results in a b9 and b13 tension which are a part of the scale associated with that V7 chord. (a harmonic minor starting from the 5th degree creates a scale called the “phrygian-dominant” scale (R, b2, 3, 4, 5, b6, b7). We’ll discuss this scale in more detail later. Also, don’t underestimate the fact that these are simply the sounds we are used to hearing in our particular culture. I know that’s a random thought, but remember, as adults, we tend to get used to the sounds we’ve heard all our lives. And what about the “Major7th #11” chord mentioned on the previous page ?

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We learned earlier that Major 7th chords are created from the major scale from the 1st scale degree, as well as, the 4th scale degree. The IV chord in the key of C for example is an F major 7th chord. To understand this, let’s write out a two octave C major scale but this time beginning and ending on it’s 4th note (F): R F

G

3 A

B

5 C

D

7 E

F

9 G

#11 A

B

C

13 D

E

F

So why is that “B” called a #11 here rather than a natural 11 ? Ask yourself how you would know what a natural 11 on any F chord would be ? Based on what we learned earlier in this chapter, it would simply be the 4th note of the F major scale which is a “Bb”. So an 11th on an F chord would be a “Bb” but here we have a “B” because we are considering this particular F major 7th chord as a IV chord in the key of C. Therefore we are using only notes of the C major scale (starting from F) to see it’s tensions. Because this “B” is a half-step higher than an F chords natural 11 (Bb), we refer to it as a #11. Would this #11 tension be available or unavailable ? Since B is a whole-step above the chord tone directly underneath it (A), this tension is available. So #11 tensions on major 7th chords are pretty common but almost always used on the IV chord of the key. To put a #11 tension on a I chord would introduce a note which is pretty drastically out of key and would have to be done with a very particular intent.

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Last, I want to discuss the range within a chord voicing where these tensions are placed. Available tensions are usually safe bets and if they are placed within the higher or middle range of a chord voicing, you can pretty much be sure they will sound consonant. Any tension placed in the bass or lowest range of your chord voicing is often going to do at least one of two undesirable things. 1) Make the chord sound awful. 2) Confuse the function of the chord. Play a D minor 7th chord and put an “E” in the bass and you’ll quickly hear that we’re not getting the results we’re looking for. Not only does this sound horrible but I don’t think we’re getting anything like the intended “D minor” sound here. If however, you put the “E” in the middle or higher range of the chord, you can expect to hear a nice D minor9 voicing. So now lets look back at the eight measure chord progression we saw in the last chapter. We left off with the guide tones to the first few measures of “All The Things You Are” being voice led down the 3rd and 4th string. In the following example, I’m going to add a single tension (or possibly a 5th) to each chord in the progression on the 2nd string followed by another example where I’ll add yet another note on the 1st string.

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CHAPTER 9 QUIZ & EXERCISES Roots, 3rds, 5ths and 7ths of a scale are considered ___________________. 9ths , 11ths and 13ths are considered ___________________. Why is there no 15th or beyond ? A 9th is the same note as the _____ degree of the scale. An 11th is the same note as the _____ degree of the scale. A 13th is the same note as the _____ degree of the scale. What question determines if a tension is “available” for all chords except dominant 7ths ? On a I chord in a major key, what are the available tensions ? On a ii- chord in a major key, what are the available tensions ? On a iii- chord in a major key, what are the available tensions ? On a IV chord in a major key, what are the available tensions ? On a V chord in a major key, what are the available tensions ? On a vi- chord in a major key, what are the available tensions ? On a viiº chord in a major key, what are the available tensions ? What interval creates the most dissonant sound (apart from being out of tune) ? What does it mean for a tension to be “natural” ? What does it mean for a tension to be “altered” ? © 2011 Steve Rieck – all rights reserved

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What types of chords support altered tensions ? Why do altered tensions sound good on dominant chords ? Why is a “B” called a “#11” on an F chord ? On which diatonic chord is this #11 tension usually found and why ? What two undesirable things will putting a tension in the bass range of a chord generally do ?

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CHAPTER 10 DIATONIC HARMONY AND CHORD PROGRESSIONS The term “diatonic” refers to a seven note scale containing five whole-steps and two half-steps. The major scale and it’s relative natural minor scale are the most obvious examples. In practice, when we say that something (like a chord or a melody) is diatonic to a certain scale, we usually mean that it is built from and contains only notes from that particular scale. We know that a seven note scale (like a major scale) has seven basic chords created from it and that there is a symmetry to this among all keys, for example the I, IV and V chords in any major key are major chords. The ii, iii and vi chords in any key are minor and the vii chord is diminished. We can arrange these chords in patterns or “progressions”. If you understand how the chords of a song work together in terms of these progressions, not only can you apply the same progression to other keys (transposition) to accomodate a vocalists range perhaps but you have a much better understanding of how the song works, its form, how the melody functions with the harmony etc... In this chapter we’re going to look at a few options that can help make the use of diatonic progressions a little more interesting. The first thing that should be absolutely understood and memorized in terms of diatonic chord progressions is this series of chords which is true for all major keys: I

ii-

iii-

IV

V

vi-

viiº

The I, IV and V chords are major chords and are represented by capital roman numerals.

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The ii-, iii- and vi- chords are minor and are represented by lowercase roman numerals with a “minus” sign and the viiº chord is diminished and is represented by the “ º ” symbol. One of the simplest chord progressions is a “I, IV, V”. These are just the major chords of whatever key you happen to be playing in. So if we say that an old 50’s rock song is a “I, IV, V”, we should be able to tell instantly what the chords are in any key we decide to play it in. If we played the song in “A”, it would be an A major chord to a D major chord to an E major chord and if we played the same song in F, it would be F to Bb to C etc... Another extremely prevelant sequence of chords in pop music is I, V, vi-, IV. The chords to hundreds of songs are really just those four diatonic chords in one order or another. In the key of G, those chords would be G major to D major to E minor to C major, in the key of E it would be E to B to C#m to A etc...That progression is probably overused. There isn’t anything wrong with very simple chord progressions. They are sort of like a simple color on an artists palette. No one would suggest that a basic shade of the color blue was inferior. It all comes down to how it gets used I think. Paul McCartney wrote “Let It Be” using only these four chords but he also wrote “Penny Lane”. The point is he chose the simpler diatonic progression when it was right for the song. I do think that in some cases, players can be dismissive of simple musical ideas. In my opinion that’s a huge mistake, here is what’s missing (to paraphrase something I heard Joe Satriani say in a clinic when I was a kid): There is a big difference between something that is simple because the writer has no other options to work with and something that is simple because it’s right for the music. I think that isn’t as subjective a question as some would like to believe. When a player clearly sees that line and has many options available through years of practice and study, they step into a different level of musicianship.

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One in which they don’t feel compelled to overplay (or underplay) at every turn…only to do what’s musical. So to sum it up, simple can be boring or profound. In fact, complexity can be boring or profound. The point is the correlations are weak and we really need both. To use the “music as a language” analogy, no one would be more in awe of a complex story over a simple one or one told by a literature professor over a someone with no formal education. Although vocabulary helps to express the thought, it’s the actual content of the story itself that matters not it’s complexity or the vocabulary used to deliver it. OK, enough philosophy… Next up let’s look at a few common diatonic progessions using seventh chords: Key of C Key of F Key of Bb

Imaj7 Cmaj7 Fmaj7 Bbmaj7

vi-7 Am7 Dm7 Gm7

ii-7 Dm7 Gm7 Cm7

V G7 C7 F7

Key of C Key of F Key of Bb

ii-7 Dm7 Gm7 Cm7

V7 G7 C7 F7

Imaj7 Cmaj7 Fmaj7 Bbmaj7

IVmaj7 Fmaj7 Bbmaj7 Ebmaj7

KEY OF THE MOMENT In many jazz standards, you’ll see these types of diatonic progressions used in the “key of the moment” for a period of time before the chords modulate to a whole new key. For example the first eight measures of “All The Things You Are” look like this: Diatonic to the key of Ab --------------------------] Diatonic to the key of C ---] vi-7 ii-7 V7 Imaj7 IVmaj7 ii-7 V7 Imaj7 Imaj7 Fm7 Bbm7 Eb7 Abmaj7 Dbmaj7 Dm7 G7 Cmaj7 Cmaj7 © 2011 Steve Rieck – all rights reserved

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That particular song (like many jazz standards) actually continues to go through more progressions in several different keys. So the concept of using a simple diatonic progression in one key before actually modulating to another diatonic progression in a new key is a well used and fun compositional technique that you should be comfortable with. DIATONIC “SUS” ALTERNATES You can also take what would be a simple diatonic progression and play it in suspended chords giving it a more interesting sound as always be certain that any modifications you make to a chord progression complement rather than fight the MELODY of the song: Lets say we took this diatonic progression in C major (I, vi, iii-, IV): Basic Chord Sus Alternate

I C Csus2 or Csus4

viAm Asus2 or Asus4

iiiEm Esus4

IV F Fsus2

The sense of the progression and tonality can sometimes get a little coudy with this technique but that’s actually what’s nice about it. We get a much less common sound that could be useful when you want to take an otherwise simple chord progression and give it a cool twist. The riff to the Police song “Message in a Bottle” would be the classic example of this. So here are the suspended chord alternates for each of the seven diatonic triads. I iisus2/sus4 sus2/sus4

iiisus4

IV sus2

V visus2/sus4 sus2/sus4

vii˚ n/a

Here’s what the same approach would look like with the diatonic seventh chords (demonstrated in the key of C). When learning this, be careful to keep your suspensions diatonic to the key you’re in. Although these can be great sounds, you might want to be careful not to stray too far away from the intended function of the original chord. (ie: does it still work as a “I” chord or a “IV” chord ? etc...) © 2011 Steve Rieck – all rights reserved

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I

ii-7

iii-7

IVmaj7

V7

vi-7

CMaj7sus2 or G/C n/a

Dm7sus2 or Am/D Dm7sus4

n/a

FMaj7sus2 or C/F n/a

G7sus2 or Dm/G G9sus4 or F/G

Am7sus2 or Em/A Am7sus4

Em7sus4

vii7b5 n/a n/a

Some of those are really nice, especially G/C as a replacement to Cmaj7 or C/F as a replacement for Fmaj7. One good example for the type of caution I mentioned would be if we had used a Cmaj7sus4 (C,F,G,B). This chord would have really tended to sound like a G7 chord with a C in the bass. Kind of an odd sound not at all representing the original “I” chord. Let your ears be the ultimate judge though. MINOR KEYS Of course, you can have progressions which are diatonic to any particual scale so you’ll want to be totally familiar with the concept of chord progressions in the context of the minor scales as well. iAm

ii˚ B˚

bIII C

ivDm

vEm

bVI F

bVII G

So for example, if we had a minor progression that went i-, bVI, bIII, bVII we’d get: Key of Am Key of Em Key of Bm

iAm Em Bm

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bVI F C G

bIII C G D

bVII G D A

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And if we added a little “harmonic minor” (chapter 7) twist to that progession by replacing that bVII chord at the end of each progression with a V7 chord we’d get: Key of Am Key of Em Key of Bm

iAm Em Bm

bVI F C G

bIII C G D

V7 E7 B7 F#7

Notice that this would be a non-diatonic adjustment because the four chords in the progression are not created from the same exact scale and also because a harmonic minor scale is not technically “diatonic” in the first place. Of course, you can also play the above progressions in seventh chords, with tensions etc... In the next chapter we’ll look at “modes” and see that we can have diatonic progressions within them as well. In summary, this chapter was a brief exploration of some ideas within a diatonic context. These are the simplest types of progressions and can sometimes be dull. There is nothing wrong with using chords that step out of key intentionally and with musical purpose. In fact, that can often be the best part of a song so explore all the options.

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CHAPTER 10 QUIZ & EXERCISES What does “diatonic” mean ? What are the seven diatonic triads in any key ? What are the seven diatonic seventh chords in any key ? What is a I, IV, V progression in E major ? What is a I, V, vi-, IV progression in A major ? What is a I, V, vi-, IV progression in Eb major ? What is a vi-7, ii-7, V7, Imaj7, IVmaj7 progression in the key of Eb major ? What is a vi-7, ii-7, V7, Imaj7, IVmaj7 progression in the key of Bb major ? What is a ii-7, V7, V7, Imaj7, IVmaj7 progression in the key of G major ? What is a ii-7, V7, V7, Imaj7, IVmaj7 progression in the key of Db major ? What does the term “key of the moment” refer to ? Write the following chord progression using diatonic suspended chords: C#m A B F#m Write the following chord progression using diatonic suspended chords: Gmaj7 Am7 Cmaj7 D7 What is a I-, bVII, bVI, bVII progression in C minor ? What is a I-, bVII, bVI, bVII progression in A minor ? What is a I-, bVII, bVI, bVII progression in E minor ? © 2011 Steve Rieck – all rights reserved

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What is a i-7, bVImaj7, iv-7, bVII7 progression in the key of B minor ? What non-diatonic chord could you include in that progression to give it a sense of B Harmonic Minor ?

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CHAPTER 11 MODES The idea of a “mode” is simple. It’s really just a familiar scale where the tonal center or resolution point has been shifted to some other note within the scale. When we learned the natural minor scale, we saw that it was actually the same notes as a major scale but the tonal center had been shifted to the 6th note. Therefore, when we conceptualized the scale as starting, ending and resolving to that 6th note, we were actually talking about a “Mode”. Sometimes modes are taught with the following careless definition: “It’s just a major scale starting from another note…”. What that fails to explain is actually the most important aspect of modes. In “modal” music, the entire tonal center of the music is shifted to another note not just that some scale starts and stops somewhere. Of course, we can take this approach with each of the notes in the major scale. So for example, if we played the notes of the C major scale but focused the music so heavily around the second note (D) that it actually took over as the tonal center we’d create the second “mode” of the major scale also known as the “Dorian” scale. The funny names of these modes are derived from ancient Greece as is much of our funny tonal system in general. C Major: C

D

E

F

G

A

B

D Dorian: D

E

F

G

A

B

C

Take some time to play the D dorian mode slowly, emphasizing the “D”...So now this scale resolves and ends on D. Although it contains the same seven

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notes as the C major scale, it is no longer the C major scale and no longer contains the simple, happy sound of the major scale. It has it’s own mood. At this point, when you can see how this is exactly the same notes as the C major scale but we’ve shifted the tonal center to “D”, the next step is to compare the differences between this new D dorian scale and the more common D major and D natural minor scales. First let’s compare D dorian to a straightforward D major scale: D Major: D

E

F#

G

A

B

C#

D Dorian: D

E

F

G

A

B

C

Notice in this comparison that dorian looks like a major scale with a lowered 3rd and 7th. Now let’s look at D dorian as it compares to D natural minor: D Minor: D

E

F

G

A

Bb

C

D Dorian: D

E

F

G

A

B

C

Notice in this comparison that dorian looks like a natural minor scale with a raised 6th. It’s vital to see and hear these modes from each of these angles. Consider the major and natural minor scales the most basic scales to which we should compare any more exotic scale. How does it compare in a relative sense to C major ?

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It contains the exact same notes only with a tonal center of “D” rather than “C” How does it compare in a parallel sense to D minor or D major ? It’s like a D minor scale with a natural 6th. It’s also like a D major scale with a flatted 3rd and 7th. We can think of this dorian scale as a D major scale with it’s 3rd and 7th notes lowered a half-step but it’s actually a better idea to generally think of this scale as a minor scale with it’s 6th note raised a half-step. The reason is the dorian scale is more like a minor scale than a major scale because it has a flatted 3rd. So it’s best to understand and hear this scale as a type of modified minor scale. In this case, a minor scale with a natural 6th. So the natural 6th becomes what we would call the “characteristic tone” of the dorian scale. In other words, its the note which differentiates this particular mode from the standard (natural) minor scale. Again, It’s very important to clearly understand these modes from two different perspectives. (Using D dorian as an example) 1] The D dorian mode is a C major scale where the tonal center has been shifted to it’s second note (D). 2] The D dorian mode is a D natural minor scale with it’s sixth note raised a half-step. Let’s look at this in another key… If we thought about an “A” dorian mode, we could say it was a G major scale with it’s tonal center shifted to the second note (A) or it was an A minor scale with it’s sixth note (F) raised a half-step (F#). Now that we understand the concept of a mode, it’s time to lay out all of the modes of the major scale using the C major scale as an example (but remember it works exactly the same way for all of the other major scales). © 2011 Steve Rieck – all rights reserved

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C Ionian: C

D

E

F

G

A

B

D Dorian: D

E

F

G

A

B

C

E Phrygian: E

F

G

A

B

C

D

F Lydian: F

G

A

B

C

D

E

G Mixolydian: G A

B

C

D

E

F

A Aeolian: A

B

C

D

E

F

G

B Locrian: B

C

D

E

F

G

A

The 3rd is a crucial note in any scale. It is the note that gives the scale it’s basic sense of major or minor tonality. Once you’ve played around with these modes a bit, it’s important to separate them into two categories. The Major Modes (those that contain major 3rds) - Ionian, Lydian and MixoLydian. And the Minor Modes (those that contain minor 3rds) - Dorian, Phrygian, Aeolian and Locrian. When we look at the modes from this perspective, we can compare them to the basic major and minor scales in order to see how each one differs. This way we can find each modes “characteristic tone” which again, means the note that differentiates the mode from a basic major or minor scale. © 2011 Steve Rieck – all rights reserved

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IONIAN - This is just a major scale with it’s first note as the tonal center so it’s…just a major scale. MAJOR IONIAN

C C

D D

E E

F F

G G

A A

B B

DORIAN - This is the one we looked at earlier. This is like a minor scale with a natural 6th. This natural 6th is the dorian scales characteristic tone. MINOR DORIAN

D D

E E

F F

G G

A A

Bb

B

C C

PHRYGIAN - This is like a minor scale with a flatted 2nd. This flatted 2nd is the phrygian scales characteristic tone. MINOR PHRYGIAN

E E

F#

G G

F

A A

B B

C C

D D

LYDIAN - This is like a major scale with a raised 4th. This augmented 4th is the lydian scales characteristic tone. MAJOR LYDIAN

F F

G G

A A

Bb

C C

B

D D

E E

MIXOLYDIAN - This is like a major scale with a flatted 7th. This flatted 7th is the mixolydian scales characteristic tone. MAJOR MIXOLYDIAN

G G

A A

B B

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C C

D D

E E

F#

F

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AEOLIAN - This is simply the natural minor scale we discussed in chapter 7. MINOR AEOLIAN

A A

B B

C C

D D

E E

F F

G G

LOCRIAN - This is like a minor scale with a flatted 2nd and a flatted 5th. Therefore the locrian mode has two characteristic tones. It’s worth noticing that it’s very hard to establish a tonal center with this scale due to the unstable quality of the flatted 5th. MINOR LOCRIAN

B B

C#

C

D D

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E E

F#

F

G G

A A

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Once you feel comfortable with the modes of the major scale, take a look at the modes of the harmonic and melodic minor scales which have some interesting results. Think about which types of chords these scales would fit. MODES OF THE HARMONIC MINOR SCALE C Harmonic Minor R C

2 D

b3 Eb

4 F

5 G

b6 Ab

7 B

b3 F

4 G

b5 Ab

6 B

b7 C

3 G

4 Ab

#5 B

6 C

7 D

b3 Ab

#4 B

5 C

6 D

b7 Eb

b2 Ab

3 B

4 C

5 D

b6 Eb

b7 F

#2 B

3 C

#4 D

5 Eb

6 F

7 G

D Locrian (natural 6) R D

b2 Eb

Eb Ionian Augmented R Eb

2 F

F Romanian (Dorian #4) R F

2 G

G Phrygian Dominant R G Ab Lydian #2 R Ab

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B Ultra-Locrian R B

b2 C

b3 D

Dim4 Eb

b5 F

b6 G

bb7 Ab

MODES OF THE MELODIC MINOR SCALE C Melodic Minor R C

2 D

b3 Eb

4 F

5 G

6 A

7 B

b2 Eb

b3 F

4 G

5 A

6 B

b7 C

2 F

3 G

#4 A

#5 B

6 C

7 D

2 G

3 A

#4 B

5 C

6 D

b7 Eb

3 B

4 C

5 D

b6 Eb

b7 F

D Dorian b2 R D Eb Lydian #5 R Eb F Lydian b7 R F

G Mixolydian b6 R G

2 A

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A Aeolian b5 R A

2 B

b3 C

4 D

b5 Eb

b6 F

b7 G

3 D#

b5 F

b13 G

b7 A

B Altered (Super-Locrian) R B

b9 C

#9 D

Most modal riffs or progressions are rhythmically interesting but suprisingly simple. Often a two-chord progression or a simple bass ostinato will do more to establish a mode than a long drawn-out progression. A good exercise for composing with modes is to create chord progressions, bass riffs, melodies etc which meet three basic criteria: 1. Establish the tonal center by emphasizing the intended root. 2. As a starting point, use only notes/chords contained within the intended mode. 3. Be sure to clearly emphasize the characteristic note of the mode and the 3rd to differentiate your progression or riff from a standard major or minor tonality.

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CHAPTER 11 QUIZ & EXERCISES Define a “mode”. What two modes had we already learned before this chapter ? What does it mean to compare a mode to a relative scale ? What does it mean to compare a mode to a parallel scale ? What is a more common name for the Ionian mode ? What is the characteristic tone of the Dorian mode ? What is the characteristic tone of the Phrygian mode ? What is the characteristic tone of the Lydian mode ? What is the characteristic tone of the Mixolydian mode ? What is a more common name for the Aeolian mode ? What are the characteristic tones of the Locrian mode ? What determines whether a mode is a “major mode” or a “minor mode” ? What is the 5th mode of the G harmonic minor scale ? What is the 3rd mode of the D harmonic minor scale ? What is the 4th mode of the F melodic minor scale ? What is the 7th mode of the Bb harmonic minor scale ? Write a progression using only two chords which clearly defines a G dorian tonality.

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Write a progression using only two chords which clearly defines an A phrygian tonality. Write a progression using only two chords which clearly defines a C mixolydian tonality. Write a two measure bass riff which clearly defines a E dorian tonality. Write a two measure bass riff which clearly defines a Bb lydian tonality.

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CHAPTER 12 “CHORD SCALES” We know what a chord is and what a scale is but now I want to introduce the word “chordscale”. The best definition for a chordscale is “the scale that you would associate with a given chord based on the key it’s functioning in at the moment”. For example, if I just said to play a scale over a D minor 7th chord, you might play a D natural minor scale (aeolian) , a D dorian scale, a D phrygian scale or maybe even something else. Technically, ANY scale that contains the notes D, F, A and C will produce D minor7 chord. But which one really fits ? That question is impossible to answer unless we know the context that this D minor 7th chord is being used in. Is it functioning as a vi- chord? a ii- chord? a iii- chord or something else? Once we know the answer to that question, the solution is straightforward. This would be a good place to reiterate that because we have a clearly defined chordscale which we know fits a chord perfectly, that doesn’t mean that we’re bound by that scale or we’ve made some kind of error if we step out of the “correct” scale intentionally. Obviously, if everyone played in the proper chord scales all the time things could get stale...the secret, I think is understanding and hearing why and how you want to deviate and to deviate with intention. If we look again at the first 8 measures of “All The Things You Are”, we can start the process of defining chordscales by recognizing that the first 5 measures are a diatonic progression in the key of Ab and the last 3 measures are a diatonic progression in the key of C.

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Measure 1: F-7 is the vi- chord, the chordscale is F Aeolian. Measure 2: Bb-7 is the ii- chord so the chordscale is Bb Dorian. Measure 3: Eb7 is the V chord so the chordscale is Eb Mixolydian. Measure 4: Ab Major7 is the I chord so the chordscale is Ab Ionian. Measure 5: Db Major7 is the IV chord so the chordscale is Db Lydian. Notice that all five of these scales are simply modes of the Ab major scale. Measure 6: G7 is the V chord so the chordscale is G Mixolydian. Measure 7 & 8: C Major7 is the I chord so the chordscale is C Ionian. Notice that both of these scales are modes of the C major scale. So are chord scales just simply the major scale mode that fits a chord based on what key it’s being used in ? Many times that is the case but there are plenty of exceptions. Consider a common scenario where you have a V dominant 7th chord in a minor key. For example C7 as the V chord in the key of Fm. You’ll recall from chapter 7 that the most common reason a V chord would be dominant in a minor key is the use of the harmonic minor scale. F

G

Ab

Bb

C

Db

E

The raised 7th degree of this scale is what gives the V chord it’s major 3rd (in this case the “E” in the “C7” chord). So if we created a mode from the 5th degree of this harmonic minor scale, it would look like this: R C

b9 Db

3 E

4 F

5 G

b13 Ab

b7 Bb

This creates a scale called a phrygian dominant scale and it is the most typical scale played over a V chord in a minor key. Notice the essential chord tones of C7 (C,E,G,Bb) are contained within it along with a very colorful b9 and b13 as well as a natural 4.

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And what about some less common chords…Fm(M7), C7#11 or Bbdim7 for example. None of these last three chords can be built from a straightforward major scale mode and therefore each one implies a more exotic chordscale. So what scale could an Fm(M7) come from ? The simple answer is ANY SCALE THAT CONTAINS THE SPECIFIC NOTES OF THAT CHORD which in this case are F, Ab, C and E. So perhaps F harmonic minor: F, G, Ab, Bb, C, Db, E Or maybe F melodic minor: F, G, Ab, Bb, C, D, E How would you know which one fit’s the chord better ? The best ways are to gauge the surrounding harmonic situation and overall key (What chord is this coming from and what chord is this going to?) as well as consider what the melody might imply. So a good way to look at chordscales for some of these more exotic chords would be to start with the chord tones themselves (R,3,5,7) and then “fill in the gaps” (2,4,6) with what are the most logical notes based on the overall situation. Next, lets look at that C7#11 chord and use the process above to come up with some answers. © 2011 Steve Rieck – all rights reserved

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The first thing about this chord is that it’s a C7 chord and is fundamentally a combination of four specific notes (C,E,G,Bb) C

E

G

Bb

The second thing to consider is that it has a tension #11 which is the equivalent of a raised fourth scale degree (F#). C

E

F#

G

Bb

So now we’re getting closer. Only two notes left…the 2nd and the 6th. If we fill in those gaps with the notes from the most obvious C7 scale (C Mixolydian) since there is nothing at this point to suggest that these notes are altered, the notes in question would be D and A. C

D

E

F#

G

A

Bb

So here’s the first scale that should come to mind when considering a C7#11 chord. There are two common names for this particular scale: “lydian b7” or “lydian dominant”. Both mean exactly the same thing – a lydian scale with a flatted 7th scale degree.

Could you call it a mixolydian #4 scale ? Sure. That makes perfect sense too but most people don’t refer to it that way.

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What other scales might fit a C7#11 chord ? How about a “symetrical diminished scale” – also known as a “half-whole” scale because of it’s consecutive order of half-steps and whole-steps. C

Db

D#

E

F#

G

A

Bb

Or maybe even a “Whole-Tone Scale” which is a scale based entirely on whole steps. C

D

E

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F#

Ab

Bb

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But wait, that whole tone scale doesn’t contain a “G” (the 5th). In most cases where a chord contains a #11 (or raised 4th scale degree) the 5th is thrown out of the voicing entirely as it tends to clutter or fight the #11 sound. It’s for this reason that a #11 on such a chord might interchangeably be considered a flatted 5th. In most cases, when using a #11 the idea is to lose the natural 5th altogether. So most of the time one players C7#11 chord might be another players C7b5 chord. The essence of that idea is that neither of those chords will typically have a G in them and therefore it’s subjective as to wether the note is an F# or a Gb. Here are some interesting dominant scales based on various modes of the melodic minor scale. In some cases, the note spellings have been enharmonically shifted to be interpreted as tensions on the C7 chord. Which two of the following scales would fit that C7#11 chord mentioned above ? Which two wouldn’t and why ? C Dorian b2 (2nd Mode of Bb Melodic Minor) R b9 #9 11 C Db D# F

5 G

13 A

b7 Bb

C Lydian Dominant (4th Mode of G Melodic Minor) R 9 3 #11 5 C D E F# G

13 A

b7 Bb

C Mixo b6 (5th Mode of F Melodic Minor) R 9 3 11 C D E F

5 G

b13 Ab

b7 Bb

C Altered (7th Mode of Db Melodic Minor) R b9 #9 3 C Db D# E

b5 Gb

b13 Ab

b7 Bb

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You can see how each one creates different sounds and has different harmonic implications. Next, lets look at that Bb diminished 7th chord. As we know, a diminished 7th chord is a symetrical chord built entirely in minor 3rds. There are two types of symetrical diminished scales that would fit this chord: The Half-Whole Scale Bb

B

Db

D

E

F

G

Ab

Db

Eb

E

Gb

G

A

The Whole-Half Scale Bb

C

In either case, you are building a scale from the consecutive symmetry of whole-steps and half-steps or in reverse order from half-steps and wholesteps.

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CHAPTER 12 QUIZ & EXERCISES Define a “chordscale”. What is the chordscale for Dm7 in the key of C ? What is the chordscale for Dm7 in the key of F ? What is the chordscale for Dm7 in the key of Bb ? What is the chordscale for Ebmaj7 in the key of Bb ? What is the chordscale for Gm7b5 in the key of Ab ? What is the chordscale for Ab7 in the key of Db ? What type of minor scale does a V7 chord in a minor key generally indicate ? What is the chordscale for D7 in the key of Gm ? What is the chordscale for F7 in the key of Bbm ? What are some chordscales for an Am(M7) chord ? What are the best ways to tell which of those scales would truly fit Am(M7) in a specific situation ? What chordscale for F7#11 would be the most obvious ? What are some less obvious chordscales for F7#11 ? What four modes of the melodic minor scale might fit over an Eb7 chord ? What four modes of the melodic minor scale might fit over an B7 chord ? What are the two types of diminished scales ?

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CHAPTER 13 BLUES FORM This chapter contains a lot of information about a topic (blues) that many musicians tend to think of as all about feel. So right out of the gate, this chapter might seem like an over-analyzation. While it’s true that blues is heavily about feel, missing a clear understanding of the more technical aspects tends to have really bad real-world consequences. I won’t pretend that this chapter is going to teach you everything you want to know about blues but I do want to clarify some of the fundamentals about the structure and evolution of this style that some guitarists tend to overlook once they learn that ubiquitous “blues box” scale pattern. Since blues form is such a huge influence on rock, jazz and other styles of music, it’s crucial that any modern guitarist understand the basics regardless of their own style. As far as time feel, blues songs can range from shuffles to straight-feel and be extremely slow, uptempo or anywhere in between but an understanding of the standard “12 bar blues” progression must start by recognizing that this “12 bar” form is really divided more specifically into three 4-measure phrases. The earliest forms of blues were the result of a “question-question-answer” format where the vocalist would sing a lyric during the first four measures (often in the earliest blues songs the exact number of measures in each phrase could be loose) and then repeat the same lyric in the next four measures and finally “answer” the lyric in the last four measures of the form. The opening lyric of Albert King’s “Crosscut Saw” is a good example but there are literally thousands of others. “you know i’m a crosscut saw, baby just drag me cross your log…” “you know i’m a crosscut saw, baby just drag me cross your log…” “I’ll cut your wood so easy for you, you can’t help but say hot dog…”

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This 4 measues + 4 measure + 4measure “question-question-answer” structure is the absolute essence of blues form and the first thing any student of the blues should understand before they even pick up their instrument. That isn’t to say that all blues songs follow this format, some don’t but it is still the foundation. Next, let’s look at the chord changes to a 12 bar blues progression in it’s simplest form. The first thing to notice is that the form uses the I, IV and V chord of whatever key you happen to be playing (G in this case) which seems straightforward enough but oddly all of the chords in a basic blues are dominant 7th chords.

So that definitely wouldn’t fit with the diatonic harmonies we learned in the earlier chapters. In diatonic major scale harmony, the dominant 7th chord only appears as the V chord of a key. In standard blues progressions however, that goes out the window and the I, IV and V chords are all dominant 7th chords. This is a large part of what gives blues it’s characteristic sound.

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Another way to look at it is that each of the three chords in a blues are major chords with flatted 7ths on them. So for a “Blues in G” like the one above, we’d have the following three chords. G7 (I7) C7 (IV7) D7 (V7)

3rd B E F#

ROOT G C D

5th D G A

b7th F Bb C

Something interesting to notice is that all of these chords of course sound like dominant 7th chords (because they are) but they don’t all feel dominant in terms of their harmonic function. The I7 chord in the progression still feels like a point of rest (tonic), the IV7 chord feels like it wants to move somewhere (sub-dominant) and the V7 feels like it wants to resolve to the I7 chord (dominant). It’s also pretty obvious that those three chords can’t all be created from a single scale so one approach to soloing would be to think of each individual chords mixolydian scale (and those notes would certainly “fit”). A simpler and common approach would be to play “the blues scale” (created from scale degrees: R, b3, 4, b5, 5, b7) in the key of the song as well as from the key’s relative minor. In this case, that would mean playing the “G” as well as the “E” blues scale. Here’s why: Notice how each of the notes of the following scales might fit (or not fit) each of the three chords in the progression. G Blues Scale R G

b3 Bb

4 C

b5 Db

5 D

b7 F

All of the notes of a scale are important, but there are three specific notes in the blues scale known as “the blue notes”. Those are the b3, b5 and the b7. Play each of these three notes against the G7 chord and notice the bluesy sound they create. Also, notice that “Bb” and Db” aren’t even part of the chord. © 2011 Steve Rieck – all rights reserved

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Next up is the blues scale from the relative minor key. E Blues Scale E

G

A

Bb

B

D

The truth is when you’re playing this E blues scale in the context of a “blues in G” like the one above, you’re hearing it from a G root (not E) so we can think of this scale as a sort of mode of the E blues scale with the G as the tonal center. G Pentatonic Major (b3) Scale (same notes as the E blues scale) R G

2 A

b3 Bb

3 B

5 D

6 E

Now if we combined the notes of the G blues scale with the G major pentatonic b3 scale (or E blues scale) we’d get a larger combination of notes to potentially use over a “blues in G”. R G

2 A

b3 Bb

3 B

4 C

b5 Db

5 D

6 E

b7 F

Some of these notes are going to work better than others on each of the three chords in the progression. The main one to be really careful of is the major 3rd of the key (“B” in this case) over the IV7 chord (“C7”). That would put a major 7th on the C7 chord and be a really ugly clash.

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Here’s an example of a blues lick that demonstrates this idea of combining the two scales.

Also, intentionally bending micro-tonally (between the half-steps) is a vital part of expressive blues lead guitar. It’s not as simple as just being out of tune by chance. In fact, that’s terrible. Good ears are the key to this and you’ll find the best micro-tonal results are between the b3 and 3rd as well as between the 4th and 5th scale degrees.

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Common Form Variations One of the most common variations of the blues form is to add a IV chord into the second measure.

Sometimes there’s a turnaround V chord in the last measure and in other songs the last measure remains on the I chord.

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Another common variation of the blues form is the “minor blues” which as the name implies uses predominantly minor chords (as opposed to dominant 7th). The classic B.B. King song “The Thrill is Gone” is a great example (and by the way, again notice the lyrical structure) Thrill is gone, the thrill is gone away… Thrill is gone, the thrill is gone away… You know you done me wrong, and you’ll be sorry someday…

Part of the fun of blues form is adding any interesting twist you can imagine into this traditional form. Add some extra chords, extend a phrase, change the groove to an unexpected feel…Almost anything is possible within the basic parameters of this traditional song form. The verse of “Peg” by Steely Dan is actually a twelve bar blues form but you’d hardly know it by the modern chord voicings and feel. Obviously most “Blues” songs obey this form but It’s also hard to overstate the influence of blues form on Jazz and Rock music. The following is just a very short list of songs that are based on blues form.

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ROCK: Johnny B. Goode (Chuck Berry) Birthday (The Beatles) Blue Suede Shoes (Carl Perkins) Hound Dog (Mama Thornton/Elvis) Tutti Frutti (Little Richard) Steamroller (James Taylor) Red House (Jimi Hendrix) Pretzel Logic (Steely Dan) Etc etc… JAZZ: All Blues (Miles Davis) Blue Monk (Thelonius Monk) Straight No Chaser (Thelonius Monk) West Coast Blues (Wes Montgomery) Footprints (Wayne Shorter) Now’s The Time (Charlie Parker) Billie’s Bounce (Charlie Parker) Blues for Alice (Charlie Parker) Etc etc…

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Here’s what a jazz “Blues in Bb” would typically look like:

Notice that there are a lot of extra ii- V I progressions in there, but the fundamental structure remains.

Pentatonic Scales If you remove the b5 from the blues scale (R, b3, 4, b5, 5, b7), you’re left with a very common scale called the pentatonic (five-tone) minor scale (R, b3, 4, 5, b7). Similarly, if you leave the b3 out of the pentatonic major b3 scale, you are obviously left with a standard penatatonic major scale (R, 2, 3, 5, 6). The scale patterns on the next page will get you familiar with all of these scales around the entire fretboard.

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CHAPTER 13 QUIZ & EXERCISES How is the “12 bar blues” form more specifically broken down ? What was the origin of that form ? What is the most common lyrical structure in blues form ? What three chords make up the simplest “12 bar blues” forms ? What is it specifically about these chords that gives the blues a large part of it’s sound ? What are the scale degrees of a blues scale ? What are the “blue notes” ? What is a “major pentatonic (b3)” scale and how does it relate to a blues scale ? When combining these two scales, what note should you be careful of when playing over a IV7 chord ? What variation is common in the second measure of a 12 bar blues form ? What variation is common in the last measure of a 12 bar blues form ? What is a “minor blues” Will the major pentatonic b3 (relative minor blues scale) fit over a minor blues ? Write a song based on blues form but with your own unique twist. What extra chords would a typical “jazz” blues have in it ?

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CHAPTER 14 DROP VOICINGS The concept behind drop voicings is not unique to guitar. It's more of a method of organizing voicings and it's a common tool of arrangers when working with choruses, string and horn sections or any instrumentation using four-part harmony. It's an amazing tool for the guitar fretboard as well. The idea behind four part harmony is that each chord has four notes or "voices". We refer to these voices from high to low as: soprano, alto, tenor and bass. To get started, we need to understand the definition of a "closed voicing". A closed voicing refers to any voicing where all of the notes of a chord are contained within a single octave. Using a C Major 7th chord as an example, we can see that there are only four possible closed voicings.

Notice that within each closed voicing, the notes will by definition have to fall in sequence in order for all four notes to stay within a single octave. (R to 3, 3 to 5, 5 to 7, 7 to R) Closed voicings are inherently problematic on the guitar fretboard because there are several third and second intervals within them and this tends to create voicings which will span many frets and require huge finger stretches. In some cases though, those voicings are accessible and can be excellent. Now that we understand what a closed voicing is, we can begin to talk about drop voicings.

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In the simplest sense, a drop voicing is just taking one or more notes within a closed voicing and dropping them an octave. That's basically all there is to it. Read that last sentence carefully because that really is what 99% of this chapter is about. In order to do this, we need to refer back to the idea of "voices". We mentioned earlier from highest to lowest the voices are: soprano, alto, tenor and bass. If we number each of the voices from high to low, we can call soprano "voice 1", alto "voice 2", tenor "voice 3" and bass "voice 4". It's critical to not confuse this simple numbering system from high to low with anything referring to scale degree or chord tone. These numbers have nothing to do with chord tones or scale degrees. So now if we say we’re going to create a "drop 2" voicing, it simply means we’re taking a closed voicing and dropping the alto voice (number "2" from high to low) down an octave. If we wanted to create a "drop 3" voicing, we'd go back to the original closed voicing and this time drop the tenor voice (number "3" from high to low) down an octave. In a drop 2&4 voicing, we drop the alto and bass voice down an octave. For our purposes, we’re going to use a major 7th chord throughout the chapter. If we start with the first closed voicing which happens to have the 7th in the lead (soprano voice) and then derive a drop 2, drop 3 and drop 2&4 voicing from this closed voicing, the result will be four totally different major 7th voicings all with the 7th in the lead (highest note). We’ll call this first closed voicing “Form 1”. The idea of having four separate voicings of the same chord all with the same note in the lead is in practical terms why drop voicings are so useful. It’s also important to note that I’ve placed everything on the fretboard as a C major 7th (C, E, G, B) chord for simplicity. Some of these voicings are easy and accesible but others can be very awkward. In the case of some of those closed voicings, simply impossible. The point with even the strangest forms is that these can be evolved into © 2011 Steve Rieck – all rights reserved

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more practical chords by transposing, adding tensions or lowering and raising certain notes into different types of chords.

Form 1:

Closed voicing Form 2 will have the 5th in the lead and again we can create four separate voicings using the same method:

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Closed voicing Form 3 will have the 3rd in the lead:

Closed voicing Form 4 will have the Root in the lead:

Notice that in each of the previous sixteen Major 7th voicings above, we happen to have all of them arranged on the fretboard where the top note is on the 1st string. It’s a good idea to look at these exact same sixteen voicings arranged so that the top note is on the 2nd string as the actual fretboard shapes will look very different.

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Closed voicing Form 5 will have the 7th in the lead: (This is exactly the same voicing as Form 1 just set in a different area of the fretboard.)

Closed voicing Form 6 will have the 5th in the lead: (This is exactly the same voicing as Form 2)

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Closed voicing Form 7 will have the 3rd in the lead: (This is exactly the same voicing as Form 3)

Closed voicing Form 8 will have the Root in the lead: (This is exactly the same voicing as Form 4)

Most of those are immediately practical but some of those voicings seem very impractical. In fact, some of those drop 2/4 voicings might have you frustrated. They are worth looking at for two reasons:

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1. They complete the logic of understanding how this concept works. 2. They can usually be modified into more practical and better sounding chords by moving roots to 9’s, dropping 3rds and 7ths into other types of chords etc. Of course, you can transpose these “C” Major 7th chords by sliding them up or down the fretboard based on where the Root happens to be in the particular voicing. Next, think of all the different types of chords you could change these original Major 7th chord voicings into by simple lowering or raising particular notes. Consider the following chord formulas: Major 7th Dominant 7th Minor 7th Minor 7th b5 Minor 7th #5 Diminished 7th

Major 6th Minor 6th Dominant 7th b5 Dominant 7th #5 Dominant 7th Sus

R R R R R R R R R R R

3 3 b3 b3 b3 b3 3 b3 3 3 4

5 5 5 b5 #5 b5 5 5 b5 #5 5

7 b7 b7 b7 b7 bb7 6 6 b7 b7 b7

By moving one or more notes within any of those voicings, thousands of other chords are possible and we haven’t even added any tensions yet! Is that too many chords ? Yes, in practical terms but its not about memorizing all of these chords individually, of course you’ll want to memorize your favorites but it’s really about memorizing and mastering the process of this type of “chord evolution”. One good exercise is to pick a random chord and just let your mind wander with it with no destination in mind…transpose it to some other key, flat © 2011 Steve Rieck – all rights reserved

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the third, lower the seventh down to a sixth, remove the 5th, move the root up to a 9th etc…all the while being absolutely clear about what you are doing to each of the notes and what new chord is being created. If you do this exercise regularly, you’ll be amazed how quickly your knowledge and ears will develop and what interesting chords you’ll discover.

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CHAPTER 14 QUIZ & EXERCISES What are the four “voices” of four-part harmony ? What is a “closed voicing” ? What are the four possible configurations for a closed voicing ? Why are closed voicings inherently problematic on the guitar ? What does the term “drop” refer to ? The highest (soprano) note in the chord is voice # _____. The lowest (bass) note in the chord is voice # _____. It’s critical not to confuse this simple numbering system with ______________. If we take a closed voicing and drop the alto voice down an octave, this results in a ____________ voicing. If we take a closed voicing and drop the tenor voice down an octave, this results in a ____________ voicing. If we take a closed voicing and drop both the alto and bass voices down an octave, this results in a ____________ voicing. If we create drop 2, drop 3 and drop 2&4 voicings for each of the four closed voicings, how many total voicings will this create ? How many will have the root in the lead ? How many will have the 3rd in the lead ? How many will have the 5th in the lead ?

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How many will have the 7th in the lead ? If you took these 16 voicings… • Made 2 different fretboard shapes for each (one with the top note on the first string and the other with the top note on the second string) • Transposed them all to 12 different keys • And evolved each into 11 other types of chords by lowering or raising certain notes (and that’s before you’ve even added any tensions!) How many chords would you have ? 16 x 2 x 12 x 11 = 4,224 You’d be a walking chord encyclopedia. Not some little chart, I mean the giant 600 page book! But you’ll be better than it because you’ll understand how and why it all works. That’s a lot I know. It may even seem absurd. You can take it as far as you want but you should understand it and apply it to really understand harmony and your fretboard. In the meantime, still memorize plenty of shapes but keep looking closely at the individual notes that make up the chord as well.

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CHAPTER 15 QUARTAL VOICINGS Around the late 50’s and early 60’s, a new form of jazz emerged from swing and bebop eras of the 40’s and 50’s. This style was called “modern” jazz or “modal” jazz. The intensity of Bebop was replaced by simpler chord progressions. In some cases, there were only two chords in a song. This left lots of room for players to focus on groove and dynamics but it also spawned an interesting shift of ideas for jazz pianists like McCoy Tyner, Wynton Kelly or Herbie Hancock. For example, how to play a single chord for 16 bars? This much space left lots of room for the pianists to reinterpret what it meant to play a Dm7 chord for example. Rather than using traditional voicings, they could try some more experimental sounds. The fundamental premise of this approach was to get away from the conventional idea of creating a chord by stacking thirds or “tertiary” harmony. After all, that single concept shaped the sound of what we think of as “traditional” harmony and had pretty much been the basis of music in western civilization for hundreds of years. Rather than taking the Dm7 chord and thinking of it in the traditional, expected sense as the notes D, F, A and C, they’d take an entire scale (like a D dorian scale for example) and combine the notes in fourths as opposed to thirds. This created a whole new sound that changed music. their inspiration for this quartal sound may have been from the harmonies of 20th century orchestral composers like Stravinsky, Shoenberg and Bartok. In addition, earlier composers like Chopin and Liszt, Impressionists like Debussy and Ravel and even Wagner and Beethoven (to name just a few) had used elements of this quartal sound to varying degrees. In this chapter, we’re going to look at some quartal voicings as they might be applied to a modal song like “Impressions” as well as a more traditional standard like “All The Things You Are”.

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For the purposes of the next example, I want you to tune your low E string down to “D” (Drop D Tuning). This way we’ll be able to hear each of the voicings against a droning “D” bass note. A practical place to begin is with three note voicings played entirely on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th strings. Most of the quartal voicings guitar players use tend to be in this range. As the guitar strings themselves are tuned almost entirely in fourths, technically, these will be some of the easiest voicings you’ve ever played. Starting with the note “E” on the second fret or the fourth string, we’ll add the note “A” (a fourth above “E” in the D dorian scale) on the 2nd fret of the 3rd string and then the note “D” (a fourth above “A” in the D dorian scale) on the 3rd fret of the second string. Now listen carefully to the sound of this voicing against the open sixth string bass note (tuned down to “D”). The voicing itself is just a little Dsus2 triad but because it’s voiced in fourths, it tends to have a modern, interesting sound. Next let’s move this three note voicing up the fretboard using only the notes of the D dorian scale (which happen to be just the natural notes – no sharps or flats). This means the “E” on the 4th string will move up a half-step to “F”. The “A” on the 3rd string will move up a whole step to “B” and the “D” on the 2nd string will move up a whole-step to “E”. So now we have a voicing going “F,B,E” from low to high. Listen carefully to this chord played against the open sixth string (tuned down to “D”). Notice in the voicing itself that F goes up an augmented 4th to B and then up a perfect 4th to E. Why did we go up an augmented 4th to “B” rather than up a perfect 4th to “Bb” ? Because in this case, we are creating voicings using only the notes of the D dorian scale. So now if we take that concept all the way up the fretboard, we’ll get seven distinct voicings. It’s worth thinking about and listening to how each note in each of the voicings functions against the droning “D” root note on your 6th string. Some contain more of the D minor 7th chord tones (D,F,A,C) and others have more of the tensions (E,G,B). even though the purpose is to feel © 2011 Steve Rieck – all rights reserved

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each of these voicings as fragments of the overall D dorian scale, it can be good exercise to consider an individual chord name that each voicing might imply. For example: Dsus2, Dm6/9, Dm11, Dsus4, Esus/D, Dm7(13), Dm11

Now let’s expand that concept and add another note on the 1st string to each of the seven voicings (each new note will be up a 4th from the note on the 2nd string).

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The last example gave you a good idea of how quartal voicings would sound in a static harmony situation (meaning over one droning chordscale. In this case, D dorian). Now lets go back to the first eight measures of “All The Things You Are” and come up with some quartal voicings to fit each of the chords. The first thing to understand is that each of these quartal voicings will be built by stacking fourths within the chordscale of each individual chord. Notice that the following voicings are just stacked fourths from the same chordscales discussed earlier.

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Using the same quartal voicing with various roots Here’s something I really love, lets look at a few quartal voicings and change the roots underneath them. This should give us a good idea of how a single quartal voicing (or any voicing for that matter) can be used to imply several different chords. Using the Quartal Voicing: E, A, D Depending on the bass note played against it, you might hear it as: Dsus2, E7sus, Fmaj13, F#m7#5, Gsus2(13), Asus4, Bbmaj7#11, Bm11, C6/9, And another example using the Quartal Voicing: F, B, E This could be: Dm6/9, G13, Db7#9, On the next page, I’ve written out the voicings we just discussed but practice that idea with lots of other voicings too!

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CHAPTER 15 QUIZ & EXERCISES What does the term “quartal” mean ? Harmonize the following voicing up the fretboard using only the notes of the G dorian scale in 4ths. A E Bb F Harmonize the following voicing up the fretboard using only the notes of the C dorian scale in 4ths. A Eb Bb F Harmonize the following voicing up the fretboard using only the notes of the F dorian scale in 4ths. Ab Eb Bb F What chords would the following quartal voicing imply against each of these potential bass notes as a root ? (E, F, G, A, Bb, B, C, D , Eb) G D A

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What chords would the following quartal voicing imply against each of these potential bass notes as a root ? (E, F#, C, C#) D# A# E Write quartal voicings for the following progression in Eb major: Cm7 Fm7 Bb7 Ebmaj7 Abmaj7

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CHAPTER 16 NON-TRADITIONAL VOICINGS I think of the voicings in this chapter as somewhat of an extension of the ideas laid out in the last chapter. This time we’ll create a series of interesting chord voicings but won’t limit ourselves to using just fourths. Again using the D dorian scale for the example, I’d like you to tune your open Low “E” 6th string down to “D”. We’re going to choose a random (but interesting) interval combination with which to build our first voicing. For this example, I’ll use - up a 4th, up a 2nd, up a 6th from the starting note. Again, hearing this in relation to the low, droning open 6th string (tuned down to “D”), let’s beginwith the “F” note at the 3rd fret of the 4th string. We’re going to build a chord voicing by going up a 4th from this “F” to “B” then up a second to “C” and then up a 6th to “A”. Notice that we used only the notes of the D dorian scale. The resulting chord should look like this:

Just as we did with the quartal voicings in the last chapter, we can move this entire voicing up the fretboard using only the notes of the D dorian scale (you could do this with any scale but dorian is a nice one to start with). © 2011 Steve Rieck – all rights reserved

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Be sure to notice that all seven of the resulting voicings share the same interval relation (up a 4th up a 2nd up a 6th) as the voicing we started with.

How about a simpler one with only three note voicings like up a 2nd, up a 4th ?

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Obviously, you can experiment with different intervals to form various groups of notes. I just happen to like the ones in these examples but there are many more possibilities. As we did in the last chapter, it’s good practice to listen to and think about each individual note within each voicing and how it relates to the “D”root. The essence of the idea is to create a voicing with an interesting interval structure, a clear representation of the intended chord scale and maybe a somewhat ambiguous overall sound. The term “cluster” voicing refers to a chord that is voiced mostly if not entirely in 2nds. Actually any voicing containing more than two adjacent tones could be refered to as a cluster. These can be fun to experiment with but difficult to play on the guitar. Stacking even two (let alone three or four) 2nd intervals together will usually require the use of large finger stretches or open strings. Experiment with the idea though and see what you can find. Below are a few random examples:

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CHAPTER 16 QUIZ & EXERCISES Starting on F on the 3rd fret of the 4th string, create a 4-note cluster voicing which goes up a 4th, up a 2nd up a 6th. Now move this entire voicing up the fretboard using only the notes of the D dorian scale. (tune your low E to D) Starting on F on the 3rd fret of the 4th string, create a 4-note cluster voicing which goes up a 4th, up a 2nd up a 6th. Now move this entire voicing up the fretboard using only the notes of the C dorian scale. (tune your low E to C) Starting on G on the 5th fret of the 4th string, create a 3-note cluster voicing which goes up a 2nd, up a 4th. Now move this entire voicing up the fretboard using only the notes of the E dorian scale. Starting on G on the 5th fret of the 4th string, create a 3-note cluster voicing which goes up a 2nd, up a 4th. Now move this entire voicing up the fretboard using only the notes of the A dorian scale. What is a “cluster” voicing ? Create three different cluster voicings using a combination of fretted notes and open strings.

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CHAPTER 17 BORROWING, MODAL INTERCHANGE AND PITCH AXIS The concept of chord progressions should be comfortable at this point. If we're in the key of C major for example, we know that F major is the IV chord, Am is the vi- chord etc… If you feel the least bit shaky with diatonic chord progressions, review chapter 10 then write a few of diatonic progressions in the key of C and transpose each of them to three or four different keys. If we were writing a chord progression for a new piece of music and believed that we could or should only use the seven diatonic chords within the key itself, the musical landscape could become very dull and predictable. That’s not to say that there’s anything wrong with a simple song with three or four diatonic chords. To the contrary, some of the best songs ever written have had that kind of simplicity. When the song warrants a simple approach, cluttering it up with extra chords would be a big mistake. We wouldn’t want either approach to be our only option. In circumstances where you want a more sophisticated or complex progression, “borrowing” chords from other scales becomes a way of breaking out of the diatonic monotony. MODAL INTERCHANGE The idea of "modal interchange" is simple. You are borrowing chords from parallel modes, in other words modes which share the same root note. For example, if you were transcribing a piece of music in the key of C, it would be logical to expect to find a Dm chord, or a G chord. Those are diatonic and obvious. They might not be in the song, but it sure wouldn’t be a surprise if they were. But what if, within the same piece of music, you found an Fm chord, a Bbsus4 chord or a D7 chord? Those chords are not created from the C

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major scale but in this case, from scales like C minor, C dorian or C lydian etc... So now imagine you're writing a song and are considering it's verse chord progression. Each potential chord is like a color on your palette. If you only had the seven chords in the key of C on that palette, you'd be missing quite a lot of possibilities. But what if you took each of the seven “parallel” modes where "C" was the root (C ionian, C dorian, C phrygian, C lydian, C mixolydian, C aeolian and C locrian) and considered the chords created from each of these various modes as possible places to take the progression. This would do three things: 1. Make the progression more interesting. 2. Create more possibilities for the melody because these borrowed chords are created from other scales. 3. Maintain a sense of tonal center as each of these chords still feel comfortable resolving to the original key of the song. I’ve written the chords created from the following modes in seventh chords but there’s no reason they couldn’t be used in their simpler triadic form. C IONIAN (The C Major Scale) C Maj7 I Maj7

Dm7 ii-7

Em7 iii-7

F Maj7 IV Maj7

G7 V7

Am7 vi-7

Bm7b5 vii-7b5

F7 IV7

Gm7 v-7

Am7b5 vi-7b5

Bb Maj7

Fm7 iv-7

Gm7b5 v-7b5

Ab Maj7 bVI Maj7

Bbm7 bvii-7

C DORIAN (Relative to Bb Major) Cm7 i-7

Dm7 ii-7

Eb Maj7 bIII Maj7

bVII Maj7

C PHRYGIAN (Relative to Ab Major) Cm7 i-7

Db Maj7 bII Maj7

Eb7 bIII7

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C LYDIAN (Relative to G Major) C Maj7 I Maj7

D7 II7

Em7 iii-7

F#m7b5 #iv-7b5

G Maj7 V Maj7

Am7 vi-7

Bm7 vii-7

F Maj7 IV Maj7

Gm7 v-7

Am7 vi-7

Bb Maj7

Fm7 iv-7

Gm7 v-7

Ab Maj7 bVI Maj7

Bb7 bVII7

Fm7 iv-7

Gb Maj7 bV Maj7

Ab7 bVI7

Bbm7 bvii-7

C MIXOLYDIAN (Relative to F Major) C7 I7

Dm7 ii-7

Em7b5 iii-7b5

bVII Maj7

C AEOLIAN (Relative to Eb Major) Cm7 i-7

Dm7b5 ii-7b5

Eb Maj7 bIII Maj7

C LOCRIAN (Relative to Db Major) Cm7b5 i-7b5

Db Maj7 bII Maj7

Ebm7 biii-7

The secret here, regardless of which chord from which mode you choose, is that any and all of these chords, will have some sense of resolving to a tonal center of C and can therefore be mixed and matched within the confines of good taste (whatever that is). So if a chord progression in the key of C major went from C maj7 to G7sus and then to an Abmaj7 chord, you'd see that it started with a simple I to V progrssion but then "borrowed" the Ab maj7 chord from C aeolian, or maybe the Ab maj7 was borrowed from C phrygian which also contains this suspect bVI maj7 chord. This would allow the melody notes over the Ab maj7 chord to be drawn from C aeolian or C phrygian mode and that opens the door to much more interesting melodic ideas. Again, a really important part about this concept is that these types of progressions with “modal interchange” chords tend to maintain their tonal center at all times. Notice in the following example that at no point does this progression ever feel like it wants to resolve anywhere other than C. We © 2011 Steve Rieck – all rights reserved

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are borrowing chords from other scales but we are not modulating to these new keys.

The huge benefit to this concept isn’t really appreciated until you see what types of possibilities it opens up for not only the chords but the melodies which could be played or sung over a progression containing borrowed chords. As you borrow a chord from another mode, the correlating scale from which melodies could be constructed also changes. This allows you to break out of the diatonic sound and use more interesting note choices. My own opinion is that the concept of modal interchange is best used when it’s done somewhat minimally and for good melodic reasons. Springing one or two cool chords at the end of a verse progression is often all it takes and too many borrowed chords can confuse and cloud an otherwise good composition. As with most things, there are exceptions so experimentation is the only way to really decide for yourself. Just beware of “overdoing” it.

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PITCH AXIS THEORY A closely related topic to modal interchange, Pitch Axis Theory is a concept made popular by Joe Satriani. In pitch axis theory, you can use any combination of scales (regardless of how exotic they might be or their lack of modal relation to the major scale) which share the same common tonal center. The best way to get a sense of this is to use a single droning bass note. For guitar players, our sixth string “E” is convenient. Look at and listen to the example below:

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That ran through a few exotic chords which implied some exotic scales but still at no point did we lose the sense of E as the tonal center. So we’d say the whole thing was simply “in E” regardless of the fact that it went far beyond the E major scale. In a sense it’s very similar to modal interchange, it just incorporates pretty much any scale from the simplest major scale to the most exotic scale of the same root. The idea is to stretch the harmony as far as you want while maintaining the tonal center.

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CHAPTER 17 QUIZ & EXERCISES What does it mean to “borrow a chord” ? What three things do modal interchange progressions accomplish in contrast to diatonic progressions ? If you were writing a song in the key of C and used an F minor chord, what “C” scale might that chord have been borrowed from ? If you were writing a song in the key of G and used an F major chord, what “G” scale might that chord have been borrowed from ? If you were writing a song in the key of E and used an F#7 chord, what “E” scale might that chord have been borrowed from ? What mode would a II7 chord come from ? What two modes could a bVImaj7 chord come from ? Analyze the following modal interchange progression in G: G Em Cm D Analyze the following modal interchange progression in E: E A D B Analyze the following modal interchange progression in F#: F#m D/F# E/F# F#

F#m G#7/F# Bm/F# F#

Write a melody over one of those progressions or one of your own. What is pitch axis theory ?

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Analyze the following pitch-axis progression in A: Dsus4/A C#sus4/A Csus4/A Bsus4/A A˚7 G/A G˚/A D/A Dm/A Analyze the following pitch-axis progression in E: B/E Em(M7)add9 A7sus/E A7/E What are some things to be cautious about when borrowing chords ?

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CHAPTER 18 CHORD SUBSTITUTION Chord Substitution as the name implies is by it’s most obvious definition, using one chord in place of another. You might be writing a song and have a great melody but the chord you have behind it just sounds too bland or maybe you’re reworking the chords to a standard tune. There are a few factors to be considered when swapping out chords, most imortantly - How does this new chord work with the melody of the song ? Does the new chord share the same harmonic function as the one being replaced ? Is it an improvement ? Although that last question can be subjective the first two should have very objective answers and all three questions are worth considering carefully. That said, none of these questions should rigidly make your decisions for you. If it sounds good to you and you understand what you are doing it can only be “correct”. SIMPLE SUBSTITUTION Simple substitution is the most basic (and possibly least exciting) form of substitution. It’s based on dividing each of the seven diatonic chords of a key into the three basic “families” of harmonic function. Those three families are defined as follows: TONIC – These chords share a sense of being resolved. They don’t sound like they need to move on to another chord. The I, iii- and vi- chords are in the TONIC family. SUB-DOMINANT – These chords do not feel fully resolved and have a moderate sense of momentum to other chords. The ii-7 and IV Maj7 chords are in the SUB-DOMINANT family. DOMINANT – These chords sound extremely unresolved and share an urgent sense of wanting to resolve to tonic chords.

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The V7 and vii-7b5 chords are in the DOMINANT family. (There is an exception with the V7sus4 chord which is dominant when it resolves to a chord in the tonic family but tends to sound subdominant if it moves anywhere else.) Notice the common tones shared among the chords within each family. Simple substitution merely means that you can substitute between any of the chords within a family (tonic for tonic, dominant for dominant etc…) There are a couple of important things to consider beyond that: 1) The chosen chord should not clash with the melody (ie: cause minor 9th intervals or use notes which “contradict” the melody”). For example, lets say you we’re playing a song in the key of C and you happened to be on an Am7 chord (vi-7 “tonic family”) where the melody note was a C. Suppose you decided to replace the vi-7 chord with a iii-7 (Em7). Sounds like it should work because the iii-7 chord is from the same “tonic family”. The problem is that there is a B natural (the 5th) in an Em7 chord. Having the “C” melody note played or sung above the B in the chord will create an extreme dissonance because of the minor 9th interval between the “B” in the chord and the “C” melody note above it. Whether or not you want that kind of dissonance is up to you but you should be aware of it’s cause. 2) Any situation where the 4th and 7th degrees of the scale wind up being played together stands a good chance of feeling dominant. For example, lets say you were playing a song in the key of C and were on an F maj7 chord (IV Maj7 Sub-Dominant Family) with a “B” in the melody (tension #11 of the F chord.) If you replaced the IV chord (F maj7) with the ii-7 chord (Dm7), that would seem simple enough but the fact that you not only have a “B” in the melody, © 2011 Steve Rieck – all rights reserved

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an “F” in the chord but now a “D” in the chord as well tends to overwhelm anything subdominant about this chord. It’ll stand a good chance of sounding like a G7(9) and therefore dominant at this point. There is a grey area here and it’s best to use your ears rather than consider this any kind of strict rule. You could also substitute chords by changing the “harmonic rhythm” of a progression. Harmonic rhythm refers to how often the chords are changing in a progression. For example, if you had a chord which originally lasted four beats, you might choose to use it for the first two beats and use a substitute chord on the next two beats etc… The following example applies simple substitution to the the first 8 bars of the Cole Porter song “Could It Be You”. Here are the original chord changes – Notice how the first three measures are in the key of Bb… Bar 4 sets up a modulation to the key of Eb (bars 57) and bar 8 sets up a modulation to the key of F.

Here are the same 8 bars with some substitutions – For the moment, disregard the ones labeled “tritone substitution” which will be explained in the next section:

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Notice in bar 1 that Gm7 was taken from the tonic family in the key of Bb and that by placing it on beat 3 of the measure it increased the harmonic rhythm. Notice in bar 5 that Cm7 was taken from the tonic family in the key of Eb and that by placing it on beat 3 of the measure it also increased the harmonic rhythm. Notice in bar 6 that Abmaj7 was taken from the sub-dominant family in the key of Eb and that by replacing the same two beats as the original Fm7 chord, it did not increase the harmonic rhythm. Notice in bar 8 that Em7b5 was taken from the dominant family in the key of F and that by placing it on beat 4 of the measure it also increased the harmonic rhythm. TRITONE SUBSTITUTION This sounds tricky but it’s really not. Although there are some interesting things to notice after the fact, all tritone substitution means is replacing a dominant chord in a progression with a dominant chord which is a tritone (three whole-steps) away.

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The cool part is understanding why this actually works. Let’s take a simple “ii V I” progression in the key of C. This first example uses some very basic three note chord voicings.

Watch what happens if we move only the Root “G” of the G7 chord a tritone away to “Db”.

The chord progression now goes ii-7 to bII7 to I maj7. Here’s the reason this works as a substitution… Notice that the b7th (F) and the 3rd (B) in the G7 chord didn’t move at all but actually became the 3rd (F) and the b7th (Cb) of the Db7. To think of that note as a b7th on the Db7 chord, we’d have to spell it enharmonically as “Cb”. Remember that the essence of G7 is contained within those important guide tones (3 & 7) and when we shifted the bass note three whole-steps away to Db, those guide tones simply inverted to the 7 & 3 of the new dominant chord.

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Because Db7 shares exactly the same guide tones (reversed) with G7, they BOTH feel like they can resolve to the C chord. For this reason tritone substitutions (shifting the root of the dominant chord a tritone away) can be used pretty much whenever a dominant chord resolves down a fifth. So now let’s add some tensions to the original G7 chord. A tension 13 (E) on the second string and a tension 9 (A) on the 1st string.

In this case, these are natural tensions on the G7 chord but what if these notes remain when the Root switches to Db ?

Now the “E” which was a 13th on the G7 chord becomes a #9 on the Db7 chord. And the “A” which was a 9th on the G7 chord becomes a b13th on the Db7 chord. To think of that note as a b13th on the Db7 chord, we should probably spell it enharmonically as “Bbb”.

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So a great thing about tritone substitutions is the fact that a natural tension (or a root or 5th) on the original V7 chord becomes some sort of interesting altered tension on the new dominant 7th chord. This concept works in reverse as well. Another important thing to notice is that a tritone substitution will always be a half-step above it’s target chord just as a regular dominant 7th chord is always a perfect fifth above it’s target chord. For example: G7 is a perfect 5th above a C chord and Db7 is a half-step above a C chord. D7 is a perfect 5th above a G chord and Ab7 is a half-step above a G chord. A7 is a perfect 5th above a D chord and Eb7 is a half-step above a D chord. The following Blues turnaround in F demonstrates this concept well. The basic chord changes I7, VI7, ii-7, V7, I7:

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The same progression with an added tritone substitution proceeding each chord:

Now let’s look at a few substitutions in the first few bars of the standard “There Is No Greater Love”. The original chord changes:

With a few substitutions:

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CHAPTER 18 QUIZ & EXERCISES What is chord substitution ? What three basic questions are worth considering when substituting chords ? What are the three “families” of harmonic function ? What does the term “simple substitution” refer to ? What sound characterizes chords in the tonic family ? What sound characterizes chords in the sub-dominant family ? What sound characterizes chords in the dominant family ? Which diatonic chords are in the tonic family ? Which diatonic chords are in the sub-dominant family ? Which diatonic chords are in the dominant family ? If you were replacing a “I” chord in the key of G where the note G was in the melody, which other chords would be “simple substitutions” ? Which one of these chords would clash with the melody and why ? If you were replacing a “IV” chord in the key of E where the note D# was in the melody, which other chord would be a “simple substitution” ? What problem might it cause ? If you were replacing a “V” chord in the key of Bb where the note G was in the melody, which other chord would be a “simple substitution” ? Would this cause any problems ? What is “harmonic rhythm” ?

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What is the simplest definition for “tritone substitution” ? In what way do the guide tones “invert” between a dominant 7th chord and it’s tritone substitution. A tension 9 on a dominant 7th chord will become a _____ on it’s tritone substitution. A tension #11 on a dominant 7th chord will become a _____ on it’s tritone substitution. A tension 13 on a dominant 7th chord will become a _____ on it’s tritone substitution. Assuming a target chord a perfect fifth below a dominant 7th chord, how far beneath the tritone substitution will this same target chord always be ?

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CHAPTER 19 IMPLIED HARMONY The old saying "less is more" can sometimes be true when it comes to chords and rhythm guitar. That could mean getting rid of the parts of a chord you don’t need and just getting down to the elements within the chord that make it cool and picking the right part to play based on the size of an ensemble and the range being covered by the other instruments. The concept of implied harmony is basically just playing fragments or parts of a chord rather than the entire chord with all of the notes - leaving the rest to the listener's imagination. It’s sort of like an impressionist painting – you’re not 100% sure of what your looking at. For example, instead of playing a Dm9 chord as D,F,A,C, and E...You might just play a C an E and an F together or maybe even just an E and an F. The root and 5th of a chord tend to be left out most often for two important reasons. 1. In many cases a bass player is providing the roots of the chords. 2. The 5th is considered the most harmonically expendable because provides little color and can sometimes even be heard as an overtone of the root. Beyond that kind of general thinning out a chord, I like to use a few of these concepts as well: OSTINATO OVER MOVING BASS In this concept, the idea is to not really have a “chord” per se being strummed or played by anyone. Rather a short ostinato (repeating pattern) of just a few notes being repeated while the bass notes shift underneath it, implying a new chord each time. As the bass note changes, the notes within the ostinato change their meaning so to speak. They become new chord tones or tensions against each new bass note. The overall effect is one of

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changing chords but with a very smooth feel because of the common tones being repeated. In this first example in Em, The notes of the ostinato actually do complete the notes of each chord leaving no ambiguity at all about the progression.

This second example in Bm creates an interesting but less obvious sound. Notice that some chords don’t contain a 3rd (Em9) and all four of the chords contain various tensions.

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STATIC BASS Now let’s think of that last topic upside down. What if the Bass stayed the same while the chords on top shifted. This would also create a smooth chord progression with a static bass note tying it all together. Great for an effect!

If we thought of each of the 12 major triads for example against a single static bass note, the harmonies implied can get pretty interesting:

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CHORD C/C Db/C D/C Eb/C E/C F/C Gb/C G/C Ab/C A/C Bb/C B/C

CHORD TONES OR TENSIONS R, 3, 5 b9, 11, b13 9, #11, 13 b3, 5, b7 3, #5, 7 4, 6, R b5, b7, b9 5, 7, 9 b13, R, #9 13, b9, 3 b7, 9, 4 7, b3, b5

IMPLIED CHORDS C Major Triad C Phrygian Dominant C Lydian sound Cm7 C Major 7th Augmented C suspended or F major 2nd inv C dominant altered sound C major 9 – no 3rd C dominant altered or Ab 1st inv C13b9 C9sus4 – C Mixolydian sound C Diminished (M7)

What would each of the twelve minor triads as well as the sus4 and sus2 triads create against a static bass note ? And there’s no reason you have to do this only with triads (although the clarity of that sound is nice). Try it with bigger chords as well.

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Here’s another great implied sound using Pentatonic scales. Many of us learn the pentatonic minor scale when we’re learning to solo because it’s simple and sounds great. The obvious association of an A minor pentatonic scale played against an Am or A7 chord is just the tip of the iceberg though. Pentatonic scales can be played over so many different chords and each time you’ll hear them and see them in an entirely new light. Looking at the notes of an A pentatonic minor scale (A, C, D, E, G) against each of the twelve chromatic notes as a potential root, we’d get some really interesting implied harmony. ROOTS Am Pent /A Am Pent /Bb Am Pent /B Am Pent /C Am Pent /Db Am Pent /D Am Pent /Eb Am Pent /E Am Pent /F Am Pent /F# Am Pent /G Am Pent /G#

CHORD TONES OR TENSIONS

R, b3, 4, 5, b7 7, 9, 3, #11, 13 b7, b9, #9, 11, b13 6, R, 2, 3, 5 N/A 5, b7, R, 9, 11 N/A 11, b13, b7, R, b3 3, 5, 13, 7, 9 #9, b5, b13, b7, b9 9, 4, 5, 6, R N/A

IMPLIED CHORDS Am11, A7#9 Bbmaj7#11 B7#9b13 C6, C13 N/A Dm11, D7sus4 N/A E7#9, Em7#5 Fmaj7 F#7 Altered Gsus4, G7sus4 N/A

Anything that says “N/A” has a major7th and a b9 and you really have to be trying to cause trouble with that sound so I left them out. Practice playing an A Pentatonic Minor scale over an F major 7th chord or a Dm7 chord etc…to get the idea. Upper Structure Triads There is a concept used often in soloing where a soloist will pick out the notes of a triad in the “upper structure” (beyond the 5th) of a chord scale. If we extended a C lydian scale for example, out to two octaves, We’ll see that © 2011 Steve Rieck – all rights reserved

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the triads G, Bm and D can all be found in the scale beyond the 5th. So we might choose to play a Cmajor7th chord in this context as a G/C a Bm/C or even a D/C. These chords would be consistent with the intended chordscale (C lydian) but wouldn’t be nearly as direct as a stock C chord.

TWO NOTES Next, see if you can represent some complex chords with just two well chosen notes. Certainly you can’t clearly define the chord but that’s the whole idea. You’re leaving out a lot and letting the listener fill in the gaps. Often it’s a good idea to use a guide tone and a tension but let your ears be the judge. Below are just a few examples. Each of the following two notes could imply so many different chords:

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CHAPTER 19 QUIZ & EXERCISES What is meant by “implied” harmony ? What chords might be implied by an ostinato between the notes “E” and “B” against each of the twelve chromatic bass notes ? What chord tones or tensions would these two notes become against a root of “E”. “F”, “F#”, “G” etc…? If a guitar player was playing an ostinato using only the notes A, C, D and E and a bassist played the notes A, F, D and Bb for two measures each underneath the guitar ostinato, what chords are implied by the sound created (even though no one is actually playing “chords”) ? What more traditional chords might the following “slash chords” imply and to what extent ? G/C F/C Bb/C D/C F#m/B Am/G Dsus4/E Dsus2/B Asus2/F What “upper structure triads” are found in the A Lydian scale ? What “upper structure triads” are found the C Dorian scale ? What “upper structure triads” are found in the F Mixolydian scale ? What “upper structure triads” are found in the C melodic minor scale ? Imply each of the following “expensive” chords with only two notes by choosing a chord tone and a tension. Cmaj7#11 Bb13 E7#9b13 Am9 Ab7#11 Gm11 Db7sus4

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