Chord Progressions Within Scale?

InKredibleTracks

InKredibleTracks

Hip-Hop Baby
What's up everybody?

To start with, I'm a novice at music theory. I've played by ear for the longest but find myself playing the same notes / scales over and over again and it's killing my creativity.

I understand how to construct a chord from the root note of a scale, (C Major Scale, I Major chord would be C-E-G) but where do you go from there in building a progression? If you're in a major scale, do all your chords have to be major? I'm super lost. Lol.

Thanks guys!

- J
 
Hello, Theory can be really tricky. lol!! Theres literally hundreds of progressions. And no they don't have to be all major. Seems like you have an understanding of the numbers system. 1-4-5 is a pretty popular one. they are all major. 2-5-1 is pretty popular. Its minor major major. But in every scale 1 is major the 2 is minor 3 is minor 4 i major 5 i major 6 is minor and 7 is dimininshed. I would sugest lookin on Youtube for some progressions. iI also plan on doing som videos on my channel soon. DPHLAT GETEM - YouTube
 
dphlatproductions said:
1-4-5 is a pretty popular one. they are all major. 2-5-1 is pretty popular.
Click to expand...

Well, If were talking progressions then they need to be labeled as such, with roman numerals. In your example, the correct way to write it would be ii-V-i (2,5,1) With lower case being minor and upper case being major. Also I-IV-V is the most common progression, (often used in conjunction with other "blues" prog's) used throughout blues, jazz and rock. You could go as far as calling it the foundation.

dphlatproductions said:
But in every scale 1 is major the 2 is minor 3 is minor 4 i major 5 i major 6 is minor and 7 is dimininshed.
Click to expand...

Actually, thats incorrect. the III chord of A minor is C Major. Also the iv (4) and v (5) chords are minor.
You may wanna go back and brush up on that aspect.

OP, if you google something like "roman numeral chord progressions" google will spit out some stuff for you to chew on.
Just remember- numeral=scale degree, and upper/lower case= major/minor. The progressions will not change when you move keys, but the chord names will.
 
@jgrisly Lets stay on subject here. He is talking about MAJOR scales. Not minor scales. And i know the proper way to write it. But he didn't ask the proper way to write it. It's pretty silly that you came a corrected me and didn't answer his question. Again i say stay on subject.
 
Theres really no need to get offended here, dphlat...
With theory, its vital that you speak the language. I corrected you because you were negligent in your explanation, and its very easy to get confused when dealing with theory. To be clear, I was not attacking you, I was translating your informal terminology.
The subject is theory, and Im talking theory, I fail to see how thats off topic.
But, if you wanna be picky; OP, when playing in a major key your chords dont need to all be major, in fact, it could become akward. The same goes for minor keys.

Hope that helps...
If all else fails, go find bandcoach :cheers:
 
I was just using Major as an example. You guys have helped shed some light on the scenario. Yeah, I'll give bandcoach a PM and see if he can help point me in the right direction with learning theory in general.
 
InKredibleTracks said:
What's up everybody?

To start with, I'm a novice at music theory. I've played by ear for the longest but find myself playing the same notes / scales over and over again and it's killing my creativity.

I understand how to construct a chord from the root note of a scale, (C Major Scale, I Major chord would be C-E-G) but where do you go from there in building a progression? If you're in a major scale, do all your chords have to be major? I'm super lost. Lol.

Thanks guys!

- J
Click to expand...

I think the most important thing to understand about theory, is that it's just a method that allows you to verbalize what you hear in a language others can understand.

So personally, I wouldn't sweat it too much, don't get caught up with "conforming" to the rules. That's not what it's all about. You express yourself in whatever way feels right & sounds right to you. But if you want to explain what you're doing, then that's where "theory" comes in.

So you know how to build the chords of the major scale? I, ii, iii, IV, V, vi, vii dim & understand why a chord is major, then minor, then diminished?

So you know about intervals & a major chord consists of a major third & a perfect fifth. A minor chord is a minor third & a perfect fifth. A diminished chord is a minor third & a diminished fifth.


So to answer your question, no. If you're in a major scale, you don't play all major chords. C, G, Am, C, G, Em is a chord progression in C major.

As a general rule, you only want to use the notes from your scale, so if we're in C major, you should only use C, D, E, F, G, A, & B. So your A chord would be made up of A, C, E...... A to C is a minor third. A to E is a perfect fifth... A, C, E is Aminor. A, C#, E would be A major

Same thing with E, G, B...... E minor. E to G is a minor third, E to B is a perfect fifth.

Going back to what I said in the beginning. Theory is just how we verbalize what we hear. Listen to "When I was your man" by Bruno Mars. Google "chords when I was your man" he modulates between keys, "breaking" the "rules" I just told you about.....

That's because what sounds right, sounds right. It is right. We just need a way to talk about it.

---------- Post added at 07:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:42 PM ----------

PS, if you'd like to know more, google "Music Theory"

The truth is out there.
 
InKredibleTracks said:
I was just using Major as an example. You guys have helped shed some light on the scenario. Yeah, I'll give bandcoach a PM and see if he can help point me in the right direction with learning theory in general.
Click to expand...
Bandcoach will approach the scene like Superman to a crime scene. Just give him err.... time... he might be fighting other crimes aimed towards explaining music theory in a bad way.
Now lets all fire up that beam of light towards the dark sky and wait for him to see it.
I don´t even dream about telling you about my Aminor theories. And yeah I know; it´s A-minor!
Love shine a light!

:cool:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top