Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Sorry gang, I haven't been contributing much (ok, anything) to this topic lately. Been kinda nutty with moving both home and work, plus big changes with the piano gig. I should be all settled in about a week, and plan to cook up some interesting questions for everyone. Cheers, J

"Don't go changing, to try to please ...." We understand piano man. We will patiently wait for your return.

Howdy JDog!

Well, here's my newest breakthrough. I was doing Am to Em and did not like any chord I tried after...

So.....



Using my newly developed chord scale theory, I wrote out all the major chord scales:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Cmaj7 Dm7 Em7 Fmaj7 G7 Am7 Bdim7
Dmaj7 Em7 Fm7 Gmaj7 A7 Bm7 Cdim7
Emaj7 Fm7 Gm7 Amaj7 B7 Cm7 Ddim7
Fmaj7 Gm7 Am7 Bmaj7 C7 Dm7 Edim7
Gmaj7 Am7 Bm7 Cmaj7 D7 Em7 Fdim7
Amaj7 Bm7 Cm7 Dmaj7 E7 Fm7 Gdim7
Bmaj7 Cm7 Dm7 Emaj7 F7 Gm7 Adim7

Notice that I could be in the key of C or G. G is better because it is the 2 to the 6(relative monir) . In C it is the 6 to the 3 and it doesn't work nearly as well.

Big Time GRIN! {:^)

The world holds its collective breath...

Collective Breath? Sounds like a band name. heard once that statistically speaking, everyone has breathed at least one air molecule that was breathed by Julius Caesar. Neat huh?

Let's see, I'm going to try to guess what would come next. If you're in Am, and you go Am Em... maybe next go F? If F sounds too happy, maybe Dm?

I haven't studied the minor keys yet......

I like it better in G too. But don't rule out C. Try A- | E- | F | G || C . That's a decent resolution.

That said, it's kind of like putting the cart before the horse. Decide not what KEY you are going to write it, but what your tonic is, because that will dictate the direction your chords take.

Examples: If you are in G, you could go A- | E- | D | G ||

If you are in C, you could do A- | E- | F | G | C
or maybe A- | E- | D- | G | E- | A- | D- | G || C or.... your turn!

Addendum via edit:

Don't forget to avoid getting bogged down in all this stuff. I can see you've actually made a ton of progress, Charly, but let your content and feelings dictate the direction. Learning the theory simply paves the way to familiarizing yourself with the tools needed to do just that. Excellent work, dude. I'm very proud of you and it makes me feel really good that I could be a small part of all the great stuff you are doing.

Thanks man, and also to JB! Typically what happens to me, is I am fooling around on the guitar and come up with two or three chords and strums that sound good and then don't know where to go. This stuff opens the whole world! And the really cool part is, it is helping with the bass. Although I am getting MUCH better on the guitar now that I play it every day!

But I do get your point about a tonic first being a much better route.

PS - for anyone lurking about, check out ibreathemusic.com I like the articles on chord scales, but there is a TON of other stuff there.

Another quick note in placement of tonic in a progression:

If you start a progression with tonic, it's kind of like putting the most important word at the beginning of a sentence. "APPLES taste really good."

If you start a progression with anything but tonic, it's like putting that word at the end, etc. "I really like the taste of APPLES."

Both are right, it's just a matter of personal TASTE.

I edited my table. I forgot the "maj" portion of the IV chord......

Jason said:

... it's kind of like putting the most important word at the beginning of a sentence. "APPLES taste really good." ...

Correct you are! (voice of Yoda optional!)

Hey gang. I was browsing these old threads trying to come up with something fresh to post, and came across this one.

Charly - Any progress on this song? Is it complete? Have you yet dared to introduce one or two chords that are not in the key?

Everyone feel free to comment on the third query. If this sparks any interest, I will go into a brief discussion of some simple chords you can use that are NOT in the key, without interrupting the harmonic flow of your song. Cheers, J Dog

Okay, J Dog, you've piqued my curiosity! I'm working on a brand new song in the key of E with just 3 chords: E, C, and D in a repeating pattern, with a moving bass part below it... what are some odd chords I can add for some variation that would still sound good?

Yes it is complete.

IT starts with Am - Em for an intro, not in rhythm. arpeggio thingy twice

then Am -em twice with a different faster rhythm then walk up to c, arpeggiate(is that a word?), then to D - Dsus -D(whatever it is) Dsus-D thingy to end (it's in a ton of songs), then back to Am to start again.

Later in the song, I change to strumming as a pick me up kinda thing.

Obviously nothing fancy, but before this theory thingy, I had no idea where to go........

Melissa - E major or minor?

Charly - Very cool. Have you recorded it? Can you post an audio file?