Music Theory Lesson #3

[FretlessOnly]

Last time we constructed chords in the key of C Major by using the "every other note," or 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th scale degree concept. At the end of lesson #2, I posted a stave showing the seven chords that are diatonic to C Major. Now we need to learn why the chords in C Major are what they are.

By that, I mean: what type of chord is each chord in the key of C Major? To start to answer this, the following is true of the chords that are diatonic to any Major key:

1. There are Major chords;
2. There are minor chords; and
3. There are Dominant chords.

Sticking with the key of C Major (refer to lesson #2 for the written out chords and symbols), the following rules apply (again, this is true for any Major key):

The I chord is Major and is the tonic; as such, it is restful. It is "home."
The II chord is minor and is a bit restless; it suggests movement somewhere else.
The III chord is minor and is a bit restless; it suggests movement somewhere else.
The IV chord is Major and is restful, but not quite as restful as the I chord. It suggests possible movement.
The V chord is Dominant, and demands movement; typically back to the I chord.
The VI chord is minor and is a bit restless; it suggests movement somewhere else. It is also the basis of the relative minor key to the Major key in question.
The VII chord is Dominant, and demands movement; often back to the I chord. The VII chord is an inversion of the V chord; hence the dominance. More later on this. The VII chord is not often used in Rock and Roll, but I will later show you how to use it as a substitution for a more commonly-used chord, thus doubling your repertiore in this context.

To understand why these rules apply, we need to go to the Major key of the root of each chord. We'll do this in the next post.

[FretlessOnly]

To understand the types of chords that are diatonic to a Major key, the notes of each chord have to be compared to the key signature of the root of each chord. The following examples show all the key signatures in Western music. There are keys with sharps and there are keys with flats. Notice, using our intervals presented in Lesson #1, that sharps are added in intervals of a perfect fifth and flats are added in intervals of a perfect fourth. I'm not sure why these came out so small; just click them to see them better.

Major keys with sharps

Starting with C Major, the keys progress in perfect fifths, and the sharps are also added in perfect fifths. After C Major, the next key is G Major, which is a perfect fifth above C Major. The first sharp added, which is in the key of G Major, is F#. This sharp is always the natural 7th scale degree, or one fret below the Major key (F# is one fret below G). THe next ket after G Major, is D Major, which is a fifth above G. The F# is retained and another is added - C#. Notice that the new sharp, C#, is a fifth above the F# and the C# is also the natural 7th scale degree of D Major (C# is one fret below D).

See if you can follow the next several key signatures in the example.

Major keys with flats

Like sharps, flats are added in a pattern, but the pattern is different. Both the new key and the added flats are in intervals of a perfect fourth. After C Major, we go a fourth above and get F Major and we add the first flat. The flat is always a perfect fourth above the key, so we add Bb. The next key signature with flats is a fourth above F Major, which is Bb Major, and we add a flat a perfect fourth above the Bb, which is Eb. See if you can follow the sequence in the second example.


Now, you must have some questions, so I'll wait a bit for Lesson #4.

Let's get to the bottom of things!

[jdogric12]

Protip:
Order of sharps: FCGDAEB (remember Five Cats Got Drowned At East Bay)
Order of flats: the reverse, BEADGCF (remember Bead, Gum, Candy, Fruit)

[8mileshigher]

I guess I am a technically un-savvy person.
I wanted to print those two jpg files of the Sharps and Flats Keys and I went through the whole print command sequence as I normally would, to print a document, but I wasn't able to get it to print.
Anyone know the trick for printing these ?

[FretlessOnly]

Hi RIch: Not sure if you clicked them first to enlarge them, but try to click them, then right click to save as, and save as a .jpeg on your computer. Then open them again and try printing.

[sloop_john_b]

Protip:
Order of sharps: FCGDAEB (remember Five Cats Got Drowned At East Bay)
Order of flats: the reverse, BEADGCF (remember Bead, Gum, Candy, Fruit)

I prefer Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle, as it works the reverse way as well: Battle Ends And Down Goes Charles' Father.

[jdogric12]

I've never heard that before, that is pretty good!

[8mileshigher]

Hi RIch: Not sure if you clicked them first to enlarge them, but try to click them, then right click to save as, and save as a .jpeg on your computer. Then open them again and try printing.

Thanks John !! Your suggested technique worked.

[blueflamerick]

Nice explanation. However, I wouldn't call the VII chord dominant. It's a minor chord, technically diminished, often referred to as the subtonic.

[FretlessOnly]

The VII chord in C Major is constructed thus: B D F A.
The V chord in C Major is constructed thus: G B D F.

Three notes in common.

The two most important notes in establishing desired resolution of a G7 chord to C Major are the B and the F. The B has half-step motion up to the tonic, C and the F has half-step motion in the opposite direction down to the third of C Major, the note E. Very strong movement there.

The VII chord is Bmin7(b5), which is minor-seven-flat-five, not diminished (it is often called half-diminished, but that is a bit of a misnomer in my book). What makes the VII chord dominant are the notes B and F. Depending on how one voices a Bmin7(b5) chord, its sound can be nearly indistinguishable from the G7 chord because of the dominance of the B/F interval.

[jdogric12]

Excellent points. I think you're both right. The seventh "scale degree" is subtonic, and the overall function of the vii(1/2dim)7 chord is a dominant function. See? Cake, and eaten too.

[FretlessOnly]

Excellent points. I think you're both right. The seventh "scale degree" is subtonic, and the overall function of the vii(1/2dim)7 chord is a dominant function. See? Cake, and eaten too.

I'll certainly go along with that, but I prefer pie to cake, if that's possible!

I'm going to have to circle up the concepts we've discussed so far to proceed to lesson #4. I still have yet to explain why the chords in a major key (still sticking with C Major for now as an example of all Major keys) are what they are. Lots of ground covered to get there, but I think proceeding will be worthy of a fresh thread. Stay tuned. Thanks for the input and interest, Erik; I would think these notes would sound great from a blueburst, if you have one!