MINOR chord progressions, improv question

[youjean88]

hi

i searched other threads and got a vague answer to my question but i wanted a more specific answer

i am relatively new to piano in general and whenever i improvise i have always improvised in a major scale.  i have recently started to improvise in the minor scales and i had a question about the most common chords used in minor improvisation/chord progressions.  do minor keys have different common chord progressions or are they the same as a major key? i also have noticed that minor keys seem to use variations of the III, VI and VII chords alot as opposed to major chords that use alot of I, ii, IV and V. is my observation correct?

thank you for your time

[jgallag]

In general, I guess you could say that they function similarly. Let me try for a starter explanation. Chords come in three functional groups, the tonic, the predominant, and the dominant (This is for a basic idea). Tonic is your home key, your resting point. Dominant are chords that provide a strong desire to return to the tonic. These include your V7 and your viio7. Predominant, like the name suggests, lead to the dominant harmony. These include (in minor) ii(half-diminished)7, iv, and VI. III, in a minor key, is the relative major of i, therefore, it is also very common, and the VII you see would be the dominant of III. See, you can have temporary tonics throughout a chord progression. Take the common progression I-IV in major keys. I happens to be the dominant of IV, and from there you might move to IV's relative minor, ii, which is predominant in both keys, return to V in the original key and then back to I.

However, since you're improvising, the most basic and probably the best rule is: if it sounds good, it's good. It's good to study theory, though. Unfortunately, I was offered theory in high school, and then took a year of theory in college (so far), so I'm not sure where to point you for good resources in theory that are cost-effective (My theory textbook was about $100).

[Bob]

The library.  It's free.

Minor is less stable too.  And has  the upper end of the scale where things sound more correct (in general) if you raise the 6 and 7 steps while going up, lower then while going down.  For melodies.

[jgallag]

If you're going through the library, as Bob suggested, then I would recommend Tonal Harmony by Stefan Kostka and Dorothy Payne. It starts right from the basics and takes you into very advanced material.

Bob is also right in that the minor scale has more than one form. There are the natural, harmonic, and melodic minor scales. In the natural, none of the notes are altered. In the harmonic, the seventh degree of the scale is raised a half step going up and going down. The form Bob mentioned is melodic, where the sixth and seventh degrees of the scale are raised one half step going up, and then returned to their original pitches coming down.

[Bob]

I was wondering if the raised/lowered aspect of steps 6 and 7 applied to chords too.  I think it can on the way down, i bVII bVI V.  V bVI vio i sounds odd and isn't progressing. 

[jgallag]

It applies to the seventh, but not to the sixth. The chord progression you mentioned does not sound too odd to me (as you wrote it, maybe you mistyped). However, I would guess is that you're following a deceptive cadence (V-bVI) with a normal cadence (viio7-i) and this is what is sounding odd. After a deceptive cadence, it's normal for the piece to continue on a little bit and not proceed directly to the final cadence. Also, viio7-i, while a perfectly fine cadence, is not quite as strong as V7-i. You need that V-i motion in the bass to make it sound truly complete. So with the progression V-bVI-viio7-i, you're setting up two weak cadences right after the other, where as with i-bVII-bVI-V sets up a cadence to return to i but there is no cadence inside the progression. Also, your descending pattern sounds fine because it is one of the most common minor progressions there is. I don't think there's any more cliched, not to say that it's not a pleasing progression, but you've heard it before, and that helps. But yes, it does apply to chords. After all, we often use the major five in a minor key, but if the seventh degree were still lowered, it would be a minor five and lose its function.

[Bob]

I was playing up and down the minor scale with traids.  I think it sounds better to have bVI viio on the way up, except that sounds a bit weird with the A2 in there.  On the way down, it's the typical i bVII bVI V sound.

[youjean88]

thanks for your responses