Steve's Spinal Column #7

Often students ask me how to put chords together for a song. Trial and error is just that. An educated musician has a better ear just because they have a musical understanding and anticipation of vocabulary. Knowledge can do wonders.

Here's a simplification of a harmonic concept:

A "C Major" scale we understand to be C D E F G A B C. All natural notes within the Major scale formula. Triads are based on stacked thirds, so if we wanted to build chords based on the scale tones, then here's the results:

Ceg Dfa Egb Fac Gbd Ace Bdf Each is 1,3,5 of the designated scale tone.

Ceg is a C Major chord
Dfa is a D minor chord. We can't play D Major because that would be DF#A and F# is not in the key of "C".
Egb is an E minor chord
Fac is an F Major chord
Gbd is a G Major chord
Ace is an A minor chord
Bdf is a B diminished chord

All these chords are in the key of C because all notes included are natural and comply with the key.

So in the key of C we have:

And we must realize that all Major scales have the same template therefore the order of these chords applies to any key.

I, IV and V= Majors (primary chords)

ii, iii, and vi= minors

vii= diminished

These are your scale tone chords.

To figure these out for any key, first write down the scale.
i.e. D Major scale = D E F# G A B C# D
Now apply our rule and the chords in D Major are:

DMaj Emin F#min GMaj AMaj Bmin C#dim

Once you have your menu of chords like the one above, explore changing the order to where your ear leads you. And of course try all Major keys.

"The Weight" by The Band

l: A l C#min l D l A :l
(l Maj) (iii mi) (IV Maj) (l Maj)

Harmony's a wonderful thing.

Steve Adelson