Theory; Beyond the Sound

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15 Comments

Comment by Michael Gurzi on February 2, 2009 at 7:49am

All,

I moved the Q&A explanations to the Discussion Forum to clean up the comment wall and to put titles on the topics.

Mike

Comment by Tim Pulley on January 27, 2009 at 6:48am

Now I remember why I didn't apply to Berkeley!

What an explanation on modes Michael, thanks. I really enjoyed that, but will have to read it several more times to get it to sink in. I am sure I will have questions, or maybe I'll just hold them until after the next installment. I liked the statement of Joe Pass, however I am trying to, like you said, understand. I think that understanding will lead to better pickin' and that's why I'm here.
Thanks again Michael for the time and effort.

Comment by Michael Gurzi on January 26, 2009 at 9:08pm

Chad,

If you review my post from Jan 24, I wrote out the 3 minor scales and the chord progressions from each. Pull the chords from those examples to create a progression. Most of the time the V chord is converted to Dom7 but the I and IV remain minor. Therefore a basic minor progression in Dm would be; Dm - Gm - A7.

The III, VI & VII are flat in a natural minor scale, so those would be F, Bb & C. So try any of those chords too.

Maybe something like: || Dm | C | Bb | Gm - A7 | Dm |

Look up some minor tunes like, Gypsy Swing, House of the Risin Sun, House Carpenter. Or the minor blues where in its basic form, all the chords are minor. In Dm that would be:

||Dm | Gm | Dm | Dm |
|Gm | Gm | Dm | Dm |
|Am | Gm | Dm | Dm ||

Hope this helps,

Mike

Comment by Chad Fette on January 26, 2009 at 7:29pm

Mike,
Okay, I can kind of see a bit of what you are saying. I understand about scales, but if something is in say, the key of Dm, what chords would it require in a basic progression?
Thanks,
Chad

Comment by Chad Fette on January 24, 2009 at 5:15am

Mike,
I love this discussion group. I have a question that I think will be easy to answer. How do I figure out the chords in a minor key? For instance, how do I convert D major to D minor?
Thanks,
Chad

Comment by Tim Pulley on January 23, 2009 at 7:11am

Hello all,
I can tell that I will enjoy this group.
Michael, I read your post of Jan 12, boy you hit the nail on the head with that one. I am guilty as charged, I have been working on approaching songs from different angles, but I think that sometimes at jams, either my body or more likely my mind will get lazy, I guess the path of least resistence. I work on the songs up and down the neck, across and in combinations, but get me to a jam it feels like stay with what you know. Thanks for the post, it will serve as a reminder to me to use different positions.
Also, since this is Theory, I would like to learn more about the different modes. I am not much of a theorist, but would love to learn more and more.

Comment by Mike Bunting on January 22, 2009 at 12:48pm

Good stuff, I love messing with those tritone subs.

Comment by Warren Recoskie on December 31, 2008 at 6:58am

Huh? I need to learn this stuff. I can backup a fiddler pretty well but a friend of mine throws in a ton of changes and fills, much like what you're describing here. It can have a jazzy feel at times. I got some homework to do!!

Comment by Tim McGaughy on December 17, 2008 at 10:35am

I have three key shapes I use for closed minor 7th chords. For example Dm7 x5x565 Dm7 x5443x and Am7 5x555x (these of course are moveable shapes) Anyone else have other chord shapes that you consistently use? Usually if I'm on a min7 chord I will alternate it with the min6 form to keep the changes happening.

Comment by Michael Gurzi on November 29, 2008 at 10:00am

Great points Tim. One thing for all to note, is that if you learn all of your min7 chords and their inversions, you are also learning the relative Maj6 chords and their inversions. There are 4 inversions of each on each 3 string sets: String set 4,3,2,1; 5,4,3,2; 6,5,4,3 - thats 12 chord forms, but since they can function as or sub for each other, thats 24 chords!!

Also, on your Am7 sub for the D7, yes it sounds like a D9, but the bigger idea is that you can always put a minor ii chord in front of a V. This gives you much more harmonic interest. You can always use that walk down too. great stuff. Thanks Tim!!

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