How can I study chords better?

[Bob]

Duh on me....

I could write the progressions out too I suppose.

Either in letters (what I was thinking making this post)

Or with full notation.

But writing out letters might not be such a bad idea.

[Bob]

Someone asked about chords, so I decided to post my reply here too.



Um, sure.

I don't know how much you know so...

It's not as difficult as it seems.  There are just a lot of chords.  There are ways to simplify thinking about them.

Learn your major and minor scales.  That's how I think of them.  I would have a lot more difficulty if I didn't know that already.

Basically you're stacking up thirds.  A third is the interval from the starting note on the bottom, up to the next note above.  Not the greatest explanation...  If step 1 is the bottom note and step 3 is the top note, that's a third.  123   

Start with triads.  You stack up two thirds.  135 for the scale steps.


To backstep, there are different qualities of chords.  Usually ones are major, minor, diminished, and augmented.    It helps if you know your intervals before this.  A major triad is a M3 plus a m3 (or 135 of the major scale).  minor is m3+ M3.  A diminished triad is m3 +m3.  An augmented triad is M3 + M3.  Capital M's being major.  lowercase being minor   M3 = major third. etc.

Basically, you can just put the pattern of a third plus a third over the whole major scale and you get chords. 

135
246
357
461 (8 is 1)
572
613
724

Just put your hand over the C Major scale in that 135 pattern form and you'll see how they form. 

That's numbering each step of the major scale.  Step 1 (maybe C in C Major) is 1, etc.

Then you can look at the qualities of those chords...

135... Major
246... minor
357... minor
461 (8 is 1)... Major
572... Major
613... minor
724... diminished

It's that way for every key.  Every major scale has the same pattern.  Every chords over the major scale will have that pattern

You can also call them by their function.  "One chord" or "tonic" for 135

I  tonic
ii  supertonic
iii  mediant
IV  subdominant
V  dominant
vi  submediant
viio  leading tone chord (I forget if there's a better name for it)

The Roman numerals describe the function of the chord -- where that chord wants to go.  They're the same for all the keys.

The most important chords are I IV and V.  I and V if you really want it simple.


You can find lists or music with them all printed out or just figure them out yourself.

There are lots of ways to get spellings of chords.  I'm not thinking too clearly here... Gr...  What I mean is that you could just go over a major scale, or a minor scale, and find chords that way.  Or just make them off each note name.  C, C#, Cb, D, D#, Db, etc.  You never know what will come up in music.  The most basic ones are probably the diatonic ("in the key" no accidentals used), the I ii iii IV V vi and viio.

By the way, viio <-- That o should be superscript, like a degree symbol.


Writing it out, it does seem more complicated, but... Once you get the stuff down a little, the overall patterns are pretty simple.  It's just that there are 12 "sounding keys" and 15 ways to write those out, plus Major (12/15) and minor (12/15)... That's about 30 different "lands" to work in.

What I want is thoughtlessness.  I know this stuff.  I can think about it, or not think about it, and have it in my mind in a second.  I just want it so familar I don't even have to do that.  Something with the keys, that's where I'm working now.  Something like instantly knowing/picturing the viio of Gb major.  Not having to put an ounce of brainpower into that.  And then recognizing it on the score so I can see the broader patterns.

You can also invert the triads.  Inversion is whatever note is on the bottom.  Root note on bottom is root position.  Third on the bottom is 1st inversion.  5th of chord on the bottom is 2nd inverstion.

Those are triads.  You can stack another third on top and you get seventh chords.  I7 ii7 iii7 etc....  With inversions...


I think I'll post this on the chord thinking thread.

Yes, you can figure out the chords for the music you're working on.  That's good.  My problem is I might figure them out, but not have that available in my mind when I'm actually playing.  They become two different things.  That's another reason I want to start thinking in chords more.

Where did I learn this?  Scales in lessons.... Intervals.. I got that from a book by a guy named Clough or Cloud.  It's a programmed text.  Also has a nice explanation of rhythm.  It's called something like "Scales, intervals, triads, and rhythm"  something like that.  Just the first book though.  The second one about part writing I was impressed with -- too detailed.    I went through that book years ago maybe three times.  It presents a concept and then you answer questions right away in the book, answers on the next page.  That's the "programmed" part of the text.  I really liked that book.  After that, writting things out on staff paper.  Playing them on the keyboard.  Theory classes, part writing, etc.  But I didn't consider it such a big deal for what was presented in classes.  It's more about drilling those patterns in, and I really think that type of fluency takes more than one semester.  Much more than one semester.  Haha .

Hope that helps.  For now, I just want fluency with this stuff.  I want to know it in my mind -- know what the chord is, what the members are, picture that chord on the keys, etc.   -- and be able to instantly identify those in music.  In music though, there is a lot more going on than just I ii iii, etc. diatonic chords.  Even in simple music.  But that's just where I've decided to start to get more fluent with this stuff.  So far, so good I think.

[Bob]

Another thought...

I don't know where this person is for studying music.  Since there are a lot of teens and beginners on the site....

Get your major and minor scales down well.

Study intervals.  You can learn major, minor, dim, (and augmented) triads.  Augmented traids don't form naturally with the major scale.  You don't see them quite so much.  At least I don't.  Major and minor, all the time.  Dimished usually -- and dim's can be part of the dominant seventh chord.  viio is the top three notes of 5724.

[Bob]

I'm also noticing....


I went through my chords chormatically.  Up and down.  That does get the physical feeling in the hand.

Then I did the circle of fifths.  That's introducing a little more understanding in it.

Now I'm going through the keys, no flats/sharp, up all the sharps, down all the flats.  That hits all 15 ways of spelling it out.  More understanding.  More use of the mind.  Although I really wonder how often I'm going to see a# minor though.

And then today I've surprised myself by realizing I was doing the same with scales.  Just up/down chromatically.  I don't know whether I'm thinking C# or Db Major.  Probably Db, but that's not the point.  I'm leaving out the other keys.  What was really surprising was doing the minor scales.  a minor, up the sharps, down the flats.  I'm sure I haven't though in those keys for a long time.  Scary.  I need to know the minor scales better, in terms of thinking.  That explains why I would go slower through the minor chords too.  Ouch.  Live and learn.

[Bob]

Another pm reply that might be useful to someone else...


Yeah, chords are limitless.

And it depends what you believe.  Are there really chords?  Are chords and scales really the same thing?  That start to get out there though.

If you've got the triads down in all the keys and seventh chords and those in inversions, I'd say you're doing pretty good.

There are also extended chords.  Just keep stacking thirds.  9th chords, 11th chords, 13th chords.  They call them tall or stacked chords.  Or polychord since you can write them out, or undertsand them more simply, by writing D7/C7 instead of C13#11.  The slash chord writing, D/C, is also more of a pop style short hand.

And quartal and quintal chords.  Stacked fourths or fifths instead of thirds. 

There's no limit. 

And in music there are extra notes and things that hang over so it makes it trickier to read.  Not to mention that the chords aren't always written in close position with the notes right next to each other.  They're usually spread out.

Oh yes...  Beyond the daitonic chord (dicatonic means according to the key), you also have chromatic chords (adding accidentals)  All what that is it just thinking of the dominant of dom7 of a chord in the key.  Like V or V  -- ex.  D Major chord in the key of C Major.  V of something (ii, iii, IV, V, vi to start) and viio's of something and... V7's of something.  That I was really surprised was a big deal and was big bad Theory II or something.  "Advanced"  Just because there are accidentals I guess.


Chords can be created any way you want.  Any combination of notes.  They do keep going higher.  As high as you want.  I think Pershichetti has a piece that ends with a 15th chord or something -- all 12 notes stacked up at once.  I don't hear the difference after some of those get stacked so high.



You can also break the chords up by function.  That's where I mean it gets really simple.  This is on another thread I made somewhere on the student or theory board.  I've heard of the levels described lik being a ladder too.

Chords can progress -- Have a sense of forward motion. 

Tonic chords are home.  They feel stable.  That's the I chord (although sometimes the vi chord can be a little ground.  That's a deceptive cadence)

Dominant chords-- Those want to move to the tonic chord.  That's V and V7.  viio also has that pull, but essentially it's V anyway.

Predominant chords -- build up to domineant.  That's ii and IV

Anything else -- I'm not sure if this is a real category.  Anything else that's kind of meandering around, not really doing anything.  Eventually it will get to a predom or dom chord though.

A lot of phrases are just that.  Start out at home base, go off (tension), and then resolve back the tonic. 

Even with those big bad tall stacked chords, you can group them simply into having certain "base" and function -- Major, pretty stable.  minor, still pretty stable.  Dominant, that's going somewhere.  And then there are dim and half dim sevenths that are probably leading to soemthing else.  But you don't have to understand all the details, even for listening, you can hear the function.  The 9th, 11th, 13th are just color notes.  They don't really affect the function of those tall chords. 


Start simple though.  Don't go off too far into theory land.  Keep it a little practical too.  Apply it to the music you play.  I've wandered off into theory land many times.  Some of the stuff -- like a# minor -- I'm probably not going to see, so all that time might be better spent somewhere else. 

And that's just chords.  There's sight-reading too.  You can not understand what you're looking at, but still play through it.  That's a good skill too.  I just want to have more chords down fluently so I'm not held back by it.

[Petter]

https://www.earmaster.com/

I use that program, you can make your own exercises based on chord progressions or intervalls,  rythm, scales. etc.

[Bob]

It will produce printed music?  Like if I wanted I IV V in all keys with a certain voicing?

[Bob]

That program does look interesting though.  Lots of possibilities.

I suppose though for just tranposing chords with any voicing, I could do that with Finale or Sibelius.  Form the reading side of things.  Make flashcards or something.