bandcoach / chord progression

[proz9c]

I have a question more for you sir. I've tried to learn the Major/Minor scales as of lately and to the knowledge i have gained i've come this understanding regarding the major scale:

First, you find the keys within the scale using the Tone - Tone - Semitone - Tone - Tone - Tone - Semitone formula - correct ?

(lets say we do C Major)

So we end up with C, D, E, F, G, A, and B

THEN, to find the chords connected to the scale we have to use this formula:

Major, Minor, Minor, Major, Major, Minor, Dim, Major

so the chords would be:

CDE-DEF-EFG... etc. right ?

Now my question is regarding your common chord progression chart - how to read it ?
(Band Coach ~ Common Chord Progressions: Major)

because i understand (i think) that from the first progression in the chart, the 3'rd chord is G-A-B but the first 2 has a b in front of them, like they are flat or something, how is this ? can you out of the scale and still manage to stay in it ? cause to my knowledge (very limited) there are no flats in C Major - but a probally got something wrong ?

 

[bandcoach]

I have a question more for you sir. I've tried to learn the Major/Minor scales as of lately and to the knowledge i have gained i've come this understanding regarding the major scale:

First, you find the keys within the scale using the Tone - Tone - Semitone - Tone - Tone - Tone - Semitone formula - correct ?

(lets say we do C Major)

So we end up with C, D, E, F, G, A, and B

THEN, to find the chords connected to the scale we have to use this formula:

Major, Minor, Minor, Major, Major, Minor, Dim, Major

so the chords would be:

CDE-DEF-EFG... etc. right ?

First up when constructing chords you:

• take a note ~ C
• skip a note ~ D
• take a note ~ E
• skip a note ~ F
• take a note ~ G

So

1st chord is C-E-G
2nd chord is D-F-A
3rd chord is E-G-B
4th chord is F-A-C
5th chord is G-B-D
6th chord is A-C-E
7th chord is B-D-F

Now my question is regarding your common chord progression chart - how to read it ?
(Band Coach ~ Common Chord Progressions: Major)

because i understand (i think) that from the first progression in the chart, the 3'rd chord is G-A-B but the first 2 has a b in front of them, like they are flat or something, how is this ? can you out of the scale and still manage to stay in it ? cause to my knowledge (very limited) there are no flats in C Major - but a probally got something wrong ?

Yes there are no sharps or flats in C major.

However, in pop music we do not necessarily stick to the chords found in the key we decide to work in.

It is common to find chords taken from anywhere simply for colour or flavour or spice or whatever you want to call it.

Interpreting the Progression charts

Ok, the rules for Roman numeral chord progression notation are simple, but not obvious in some cases.

• Chord types
  • Capital letter means a chord with a major 3rd in it (either major or augmented (#5))
  • Lower case letter means a chord with a minor 3rd in it (minor or diminished (b5))
• Semitone adjustments
  • A flat in front says drop the chord, including all notes in the chord type, down 1 black/white key or 1 fret or 1 semitone
  • A sharp in front says raise the chord, including all notes in the chord type, up 1 black/white key or 1 fret or 1 semitone
• Extensions
  • Several numbers and sharps/flats can go after a chord to extend it.
  • A flat after the chord indicates that the interval number following it is altered by 1 semitone down
  • A sharp after the chord indicates that the interval number following it is altered by 1 semitone up
  • Unaltered interval numbers indicate the note that is that number of notes above the naming note be added.
• Bass Notes
  • Sometimes a Roman Numeral will appear with a slash (/) and number,e.g. I/3. This means play chord I but put the 3rd of the chord in the bass.

Taking example 1 we then get:

I / / / | bIII / / / | bVII / / / | IV / / / :||

C / / / | Eb / / / | Bb / / / | F / / / :||

C-E-G | Eb-G-Bb | Bb-D-F | F-A-C :||
​

You might want to look at these tutorials as well:
Bandcoach ~ Keys, Scales, Chords: Intervals
Bandcoach ~ Keys, Scales, Chords: A Key Independent Approach to Chord Building
Band Coach ~ Keys, Scales, Chords: Name that chord

 

[proz9c]

You are the greatest, I now have a better understanding. The reason I wrote the wrong keys on the chords, was because im still quite new at this, and i didnt have a keyboard in front of me atm, so it was just bad guesswork..

New question though..

IF:

A flat in front says drop the chord, including all notes in the chord type, down 1 black/white key or 1 fret or 1 semitone

Should'nt the second chord in the example we used, be:

Eb-F-Bb ? and not Eb-G-Bb as the standard chord is E-G-B and we need to drop all notes in the chord type ?

And the third chord:

Bb-Db-E

Or why do we only change the 1 and 3 note when a b is in front of a roman nr (chord) in the second chord, but only the 1 note changes inthe 3rd chord..

 

[bandcoach]

You are the greatest, I now have a better understanding. The reason I wrote the wrong keys on the chords, was because im still quite new at this, and i didnt have a keyboard in front of me atm, so it was just bad guesswork..

Great, at least we know it was an accident not lack of understanding.

New question though..

IF:

A flat in front says drop the chord, including all notes in the chord type, down 1 black/white key or 1 fret or 1 semitone

Should'nt the second chord in the example we used, be:

Eb-F-Bb ? and not Eb-G-Bb as the standard chord is E-G-B and we need to drop all notes in the chord type ?

Ah, my bad. In trying to make the instruction universal I have made it to flimsy.

The bIII is a Major chord. So we build the major chord on Eb, which is Eb-G-Bb: 1-3-5 in the key of Eb major (this is the test to make sure it is correct).

And the third chord:

Bb-Db-E

The bVII is a Major chord. So we build the major chord on Bb, which is Bb-D-F: 1-3-5 in the key of Bb major (this is the test to make sure it is correct).

Or why do we only change the 1 and 3 note when a b is in front of a roman nr (chord) in the second chord, but only the 1 note changes in the 3rd chord..

As I said above, I made the instruction too flimsy. The test is does it make the naming chord of it's home key signature for a major chord or minor chord. FOr the Augmented and diminished chords there is a little more checking to do.

It is partly for this reason that I recommended the other tutes.

 

[O.T.G.]

looks like bandcoach ate this thread for breakfast haha!

First, you find the keys within the scale using the Tone - Tone - Semitone - Tone - Tone - Tone - Semitone formula - correct ?

anyway, i dont want to confuse you but id like to point out that tone - tone - semitone - tone - tone - tone - semitone is only for the major scale (ionian) which you know. for instance the minor scale follows tone - semitone - tone - tone - semitone - tone - tone.

i took a rather weak piano class at my university and the teacher kept beating into my head to think of it as TTSTTTS (for major) as you are doing now but what really stuck with me is thinking of it as 2.5/3.5.

again, dont want to complicate this but...

thinking this way, a the unit 1 would be a single tone, while .5 (1/2) would be a semitone. so 2.5 means two and one half steps (or tones) up the scale.

tone - tone - semitone = 2.5.......................tone - tone - tone - semitone = 3.5

just wanted to throw that in. that little tiny change in the way of thinking about it helped me immensely for memorizing how diff. scales work.....for some reason.

forming chords is a matter of navigating semitones.

(root is the lowest note of a chord or what the chord is named after. the root for C major or C, E, G is C, the root for A minor or A, C, E is A...so on)

to build a major chord, remember: root + 3 semitones + 4 semitones

to build a minor chord, remember: root + 4 semitones + 3 semitones

when bandcoach says 1, 3, 5 (not 1 + 3 + 5) he is referring to the formation of a major chord within a given scale. what i am saying is you can form a major chord anywhere on the keyboard by picking a root, then going up 3 semitones then 4 semitones. best way to learn it is by doing it.

hope i didnt lose ya!

cheers to music.

 

[bandcoach]

2.5/3.5 is kinda cool

but there is even better symmetry in the major scale: it's called the tetrachord.

Each major scale consists of two tetrachords a tone apart:
CDEF ~ TTS
GABC ~ TTS
F-G ~ T

Put it together you get CDEF-GABC ~ TTS-T-TTS or 2.5/1/2.5

This is a cool idea because if you take the upper or lower tetrachord and add the one above or below, you get a new major scale:

GABC ~ TTS
DEF#G ~ TTS

Notice also that the last note of the original lower tetrachord (CDEF)is now # (F#)

FACBb ~ TTS
CDEF ~ TTS

in this one the second last note of the original upper tetrachord (GABC) has been flattened (Bb) as the last note of the lower tetrachord

etc

You can do this all the way through to get the major scale for every key.