Music Theory Lesson #2

[FretlessOnly]

OK, it's Friday night, so while I have some extra time, I'll give you all something else to think about. We left off lesson #1 with the concept of how to build chords and the concept of "diatonic." Rather than move onto meter as I thought we might, let's stay with chords in the major key.

Quick recap, still using CMAJ as an example: chords are built using the 1,3,5 and 7 scale degrees, where the 1st scale degree is the root of the chord and the basis for its name. In CMAJ, the chord built on the first scale degree is c, e, g, b, and is called CMAJ7. Now, here is where things get interesting. The next concept is going to introduce a concept that can trip you up, so I'll take it slow:

In CMAJ, as in any Major key, we can build a chord using each scale degree as the root of the chord. Remember, the CMAJ scale is c, d, e, f, g, a, b, c'; and we number each of the chords built on these scale degrees with Roman Numerals. So, the chord built on the 1st scale degree (c) is the I chord of CMAJ; the chord built on the 2nd scale degree (d) is the II chord of CMAJ; the chord built on the 3rd scale degree (e) is the III chord of CMAJ...the chord built on the 7th scale degree (b) is the VII chord of CMAJ. To bring home the concept of "diatonic," these chords are all considered to be diatonic to the key of CMAJ because all of the notes used to construct them come from he CMAJ scale. OK, that was the easy part. Here goes the tougher part:

What are the chords that are diatonic to the key of CMAJ? We know that they are each based on a different scale degree, so the first one is some sort of C chord, the second one is some kind of D chord, the third one is some kind of E chord...but what chords are they? There are two steps to figuring this out: 1) constructing the chord using the 1,3,5,7 formula, and 2) figuring out what chords they form. Let me leave this right here for now, and I'll be back in a bit.

[FretlessOnly]

OK, onto the chords in CMAJ. Yes, we'll use the 1,3,5,7 formula, but the complicating concept is that the 1,3,5 and 7 need to come from the Major key of each root note, but USING ONLY THE NOTES THAT ARE DIATONIC TO CMAJ. So, we have a problem: all of the notes in CMAJ are not in DMAJ or EMAJ or FMAJ or GMAJ or AMAJ or BMAJ. Some of them are and some of them are not. This is the hurdle, and it's a mental one. Here's how to approach it:

To build the chords that are diatonic to CMAJ, lay out the notes of the CMAJ scale like this:
c
d
e
f
g
a
b

Then, use the 1,3,5,7 concept like this: it's the same a skipping one note each time. For example, the I chord in CMAJ is based on c as the root. Using the notes in the CMAJ scale, use 1(c), skip 2(d), use 3(e), skip 4(f), use 5(g), skip 6(a), use 7(b), for c,e,g,b.

The II chord in CMAJ is based on the 2nd scale degree, d. Using the use/skip alternating pattern, we come up with d,f,a,c.

The II chord in CMAJ is based on the 3rd scale degree, e. Using the same use/skip pattern, we come up with e,g,b,d.

Do the same for the IV, V, VI and VII chords, using only the notes in the CMAJ scale. You should get:
c,e,g,b
d,f,a,c
e,g,b,d
f,a,c,e
g,b,d,f
a,c,e,g
b,d,f,a

The next concept is: what chords are these? To figure that out, we need to go to the Major scale of the root of each chord. After we figure that out, we can move onto some musical examples.

[FretlessOnly]

Here's what you get when you construct the chords in CMaj:

Diatonic Chords in CMaj.JPG (11.24 KiB) Viewed 2075 times

Note the stepwise pattern and the "every other note pattern" for each chord.

The next thing we need to figure out is why these chords are named as they are. To do that, we need to go to the Major key of the root of each chord. That will be Lesson #3.

[doctorwho]

The visuals really help ... and I can already see why certain chords appear in songs I've learned.

[ajish4]

Ok,

Printed up....will go to the man cave and read....

[FretlessOnly]

I apologize for my deliquency here. More to come. I've got blisters on me fingers!