Just to continue on with Sasha's cool post, I made a little example with an accompanying MIDI file so theory beginners can dissect it. It shows how you can take a basic CP and make it more interesting. I'm not a music teacher and can't read music, this is aimed at beginners (I consider myself intermediate).
DOWNLOAD EXAMPLE (mp3 and MIDI file zipped 1.5mb)
INTRODUCTION:
This example uses the Progression I - VI - II - V, or 1-6-2-5. So it has the strong cadance V - I. It's in the Major key of C, to make things easy. (all the white notes). Have the midi file open so you can follow my commentary.
The first 8 bars of the ex. are simply the block chords of the progression, so you can hear what everything else is based on. It starts with the tonic (C) chord, then descends to a minor chord (the relative minor - Am). next we have a minor lift, to the Dm (II), and finally ending with the Dominant V (G).
Can't get much simpler than that. So now for the fun bit, taking those chords and fleshing it out into a tune. You could take this same progression and make a banging trance tune or an experimental IDM mindwarp for example. I've chosen a happy pop vibe for simplicity. (And to make you feel ill, muhaha!)
PIANO:
As you'll hear in the ex, the piano now plays a staccato rhythm with the chords. They play on the 16th off beat, and you'll notice I've given them some swing, and that adds to the happy-pop vibe of the tune. To add interest some of the stabs land on the on beat too. I've also left a rest at the third beat of the bar, to emphasise the deep kick drum (which only plays on the 3rd beat)
Note how on the final chord I've added a chord to make it sound more interesting. This chord is actually the tonic - but it's inverted. See how the chords both share the same bottom note? And the top two chords are both one tone higher. That means when it changes to the V, the top two notes simply drop into the next chord. (and we have a mini I-V-I)
If we move back one chord, to the II Dm, you'll see that it is inverted as well, to match our new inverted tonic.
BASS:
Next up is the bassline, which plays mostly 3/16th notes that sets up a nice counter rhythm to the insistent 2/16th staccato of the piano.
It plays the 1, 3, and 5th notes of the current chord, always starting with the 1. When a chord change approaches, it plays a series of joining notes that ease the ear into the next chord. Joining notes don't have to play within the scale, but in this case they are. When there's not enough space (tonally) for a nice linear run to the next note, I modulate between a couple of notes.
During our added inverted tonic, it plays V instead of I to emphasise the inversion (and not spoil our resolution to the tonic). It also has an extended run.
During the Mellotron lead (explained in the next section), I've simplified the rhythm of the bass so it takes a back seat and plays more with feel of the Mellotron.
MELLO:
The final melodic element I've included is a Mellotron, which is basically a tape loop piano. (Amazing "pre-digital" sampler from the 60's for those unaware) It plays a monophonic lead melody that could be fleshed out into a vocal, or kept as is.
Can you see how simply it's constructed? On chords 1 and 3, it's playing 1,3,4,5 going up. On chords 2 and 4, it starts with a high interval and jumps down, ending with a rise, that - in the final chord, emphasises the 7th note in C major. This gives us the resolution into the tonic for a nice tidy end.
DRUMS:
I've just added a couple of RMX beats here to hold the rhythm for us. I've taken out the kick drum at the start of the bar and put it on the 3rd note which gives it a bit of character.
CONCLUSION:
So, hopefully I've shown you how you can start with a simple chord progression and turn it into a tune (well, part of one anyway). If a few people find this helpful I'll do a second part, turning our little song into a fully fledged pop song, with verse-chorus-middle 8 sections and maybe "sex it up" a bit to make it sound more current. Have a jam along with it if you like. It would be cool if some of you could contribute to fleshing it out.
cheers.
Some more chord progression stuff
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- KVRist
- 211 posts since 28 Apr, 2009 from Ft. Lauderdale, FL
In jazz, 1 6 2 5 is a very common progression. You can use it as an introduction for your song, or you can use it at the end of the song, to help you get back to the beginning. This is what's known as a "turnaround." In jazz, they often like to make chord substitutions that use altered, extended harmonies.
Let's say we are reading through a jazz standard chord chart in the key of C and we come across the 1 6 2 5 turnaround: Cmaj7 Am7 Dm7 G7. Played exactly as written, it sounds kind of old and corny. We want a more up-to-date sound, like a sophisticated jazz pianist would play. What to do?
I suggest you start thinking in terms of playing one chord over another as a solution the problem. First, on the Cmaj7 chord, let's change it slightly into a Cmaj9 chord. In the left hand, play the root and the 7th (or the 10th if your left hand is large enough). In the right hand, simply play G6 or Em7; they're both all the same notes. Next, for the Am7; let's substitute an A7 for the Am7. This will give us a slightly stronger feeling of movement to the next chord. Also, let's do another substitution on top of that called a flat-5 or tritone substitution. So, essentially, in the left hand we will play the root and the 7th of A7 and in the right hand we will play an Eb7 chord. Then, for the Dm7, we can just leave it alone since it sounds good. Finally, for the G7, we will make another flat-5 substitution and play a Db7 in the right hand.
This is just one of numerous substitutions that can be applied to the 1 6 2 5 progression. I once watched a Joe Pass video that was solely about 1 6 2 5 and he demonstrated at least two dozen unique variations. I have a book (Modern Jazz Piano by Brian Waite) that analyzes just about every type of triad or chord played on top of another triad or chord. I wouldn't say they are all useful, but with info like this available, it should be easy to carve out your own unique sound, regardless of your respective musical genre.
1 6 2 5 is the most common chord progression in popular music also. I think there is a YouTube video out there with about 20 songs in a row that all go 1 6 2 5. Get very familiar with this progression if you aren't already, since you run into it all the time in music. It's kind of almost unavoidable.
Let's say we are reading through a jazz standard chord chart in the key of C and we come across the 1 6 2 5 turnaround: Cmaj7 Am7 Dm7 G7. Played exactly as written, it sounds kind of old and corny. We want a more up-to-date sound, like a sophisticated jazz pianist would play. What to do?
I suggest you start thinking in terms of playing one chord over another as a solution the problem. First, on the Cmaj7 chord, let's change it slightly into a Cmaj9 chord. In the left hand, play the root and the 7th (or the 10th if your left hand is large enough). In the right hand, simply play G6 or Em7; they're both all the same notes. Next, for the Am7; let's substitute an A7 for the Am7. This will give us a slightly stronger feeling of movement to the next chord. Also, let's do another substitution on top of that called a flat-5 or tritone substitution. So, essentially, in the left hand we will play the root and the 7th of A7 and in the right hand we will play an Eb7 chord. Then, for the Dm7, we can just leave it alone since it sounds good. Finally, for the G7, we will make another flat-5 substitution and play a Db7 in the right hand.
This is just one of numerous substitutions that can be applied to the 1 6 2 5 progression. I once watched a Joe Pass video that was solely about 1 6 2 5 and he demonstrated at least two dozen unique variations. I have a book (Modern Jazz Piano by Brian Waite) that analyzes just about every type of triad or chord played on top of another triad or chord. I wouldn't say they are all useful, but with info like this available, it should be easy to carve out your own unique sound, regardless of your respective musical genre.
1 6 2 5 is the most common chord progression in popular music also. I think there is a YouTube video out there with about 20 songs in a row that all go 1 6 2 5. Get very familiar with this progression if you aren't already, since you run into it all the time in music. It's kind of almost unavoidable.
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- KVRian
- Topic Starter
- 797 posts since 23 Apr, 2009
lol, I didn't even realise it was the jazz turnaround! How embarrassing 
Another excellent post from psenior.. cheers mate. I'll have a play around with that. While we're on the subject, are there any other popular jazz progressions I should know about?
I just did a google and I found this site for Jazz beginners: http://www.apassion4jazz.net/turnaround.html
Some good info there for following up on what psenior said.
Another excellent post from psenior.. cheers mate. I'll have a play around with that. While we're on the subject, are there any other popular jazz progressions I should know about?
I just did a google and I found this site for Jazz beginners: http://www.apassion4jazz.net/turnaround.html
Some good info there for following up on what psenior said.
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- KVRist
- 211 posts since 28 Apr, 2009 from Ft. Lauderdale, FL
I suppose there are many other jazz chord progressions. Lately, I have been striving to comprehend the mindset of the late, great Cannonball Adderly, who said "I do not play chord changes, I play chord movements."
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- KVRian
- Topic Starter
- 797 posts since 23 Apr, 2009
Yeah I just read what Ogg said in another post about moving the tonal centre. I think I'm beginning to understand what you mean when you say that.psenior wrote:I suppose there are many other jazz chord progressions. Lately, I have been striving to comprehend the mindset of the late, great Cannonball Adderly, who said "I do not play chord changes, I play chord movements."
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- KVRian
- Topic Starter
- 797 posts since 23 Apr, 2009
For anyone wanting to do a bit of in depth analysis of music, I've found a good collection of beatles MIDI files for you to take apart. It's 100 tunes in one zip file, available here: http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~greci ... s_midi.htm
I'm looking for a J.S.Bach and a jazz classics zip collection too, I'll post them up if I find 'em.
I'm looking for a J.S.Bach and a jazz classics zip collection too, I'll post them up if I find 'em.
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- KVRAF
- 2217 posts since 15 Jul, 2003
I just wanted to check in here and acknoweledge how much I enjoy and appreciate these contributions
I love that Eb7 over the A as a tritone stepdown
on the I vi ii V progression
the G as a G69 is my only contribution
that Brian Waite book is now on my list
I love that Eb7 over the A as a tritone stepdown
on the I vi ii V progression
the G as a G69 is my only contribution
that Brian Waite book is now on my list
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LauraMichelJarre LauraMichelJarre https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=158959
- KVRist
- 437 posts since 1 Sep, 2007 from Oz
Heart and Soul, These Foolish Things, and many other tunes use this chord sequence.
I guess from the angle of jazz harmonizations, you have to understand the nature of 3-, 4- and 5-part harmony.
A 1-6-2-5 in C major could consist of the chords C Am Dm G (meaning C is the 1st note of the C major scale, A is the 6th, D the 2nd and G the 5th).
In three part harmony, (I think of these as basic / diatonic / hymn harmonizations) the chords (also called triads) are voiced
Chord = Notes
C = C,E,G
Am = A,C,E
Dm = D,F,A
G = G,B,D
In four part harmony, (such as in show music or some piano music) the chords are voiced with an additional note. Here is one possibility:
Chord = Notes
C6 = C,E,G,A
Am7 = A,C,E,G
Dm7 = D,F,A,C
G7 = G,B,D,F
In fivepart harmony, (such as in big band or jazz music) the chords are voiced with an additional note, making 5. Here is one possibility:
Chord = Notes
C69 = C,E,G,A,D
Am7sus4 = A,C,E,G,D (sometimes called A11)
Dm9 = D,F,A,C,E
G9 = G,B,D,F,A
One technique might be to first bunch these notes into the tightest/closest group possible under the melody (uppermost) note. Then you have "five voice close" harmony. Say there's a C in the melody harmonized against the C69 chord. Then the tightest voicing is (low pitch to high) D-E-G-A-C. Now drop the 2nd and 4th parts down an octave, giving a spread chord E-A-D-G-C. Notice that this chord is voiced in fourths, and sounds denser and more jazzy than the three-part C chord/triad above. The lowest chord note E is not the tonal centre or root of the scale here (it is implied that the bass note is C). Because the harmonics of each note do not intersect very much with those of the other notes, the sound is denser and more ambiguous with five-part harmony.
So when you see a 1-6-2-5 it may be that the bass notes you or your section plays are not the root notes of the chord progression (C,A,D,G) but perhaps you will play other notes within these chords if you are not assigned to the bassline.
This technique has been used by George Shearing (piano) and big band sax sections (Miller/Dorsey/Basie) and others. It's a distinctively jazzy sound.
Notice too that a C69 chord and the Am7sus4 (your naming conventions may vary) have the same notes in them - the notes of the A minor pentatonic scale.
So to improvise across the first two chords of our 1-6-2-5 progression we can use the same pentatonic scale.
It doesn't stop at 5 part harmonization - you can go to 6 part chords:
Chord = notes
F913 = F,A,C,Eb,G,D
Which can be spread to the notes (high to low):
Eb,A,D,G,C,F
Really jazzy - a good spread of notes (voiced in fourths mostly) and a good voicing to use at the end of a song (in this case the tune would be written in F.)
The terminology or chord symbols may be different from country to country so look more at the notes and their context to the scale and the root of the chord.
I guess from the angle of jazz harmonizations, you have to understand the nature of 3-, 4- and 5-part harmony.
A 1-6-2-5 in C major could consist of the chords C Am Dm G (meaning C is the 1st note of the C major scale, A is the 6th, D the 2nd and G the 5th).
In three part harmony, (I think of these as basic / diatonic / hymn harmonizations) the chords (also called triads) are voiced
Chord = Notes
C = C,E,G
Am = A,C,E
Dm = D,F,A
G = G,B,D
In four part harmony, (such as in show music or some piano music) the chords are voiced with an additional note. Here is one possibility:
Chord = Notes
C6 = C,E,G,A
Am7 = A,C,E,G
Dm7 = D,F,A,C
G7 = G,B,D,F
In fivepart harmony, (such as in big band or jazz music) the chords are voiced with an additional note, making 5. Here is one possibility:
Chord = Notes
C69 = C,E,G,A,D
Am7sus4 = A,C,E,G,D (sometimes called A11)
Dm9 = D,F,A,C,E
G9 = G,B,D,F,A
One technique might be to first bunch these notes into the tightest/closest group possible under the melody (uppermost) note. Then you have "five voice close" harmony. Say there's a C in the melody harmonized against the C69 chord. Then the tightest voicing is (low pitch to high) D-E-G-A-C. Now drop the 2nd and 4th parts down an octave, giving a spread chord E-A-D-G-C. Notice that this chord is voiced in fourths, and sounds denser and more jazzy than the three-part C chord/triad above. The lowest chord note E is not the tonal centre or root of the scale here (it is implied that the bass note is C). Because the harmonics of each note do not intersect very much with those of the other notes, the sound is denser and more ambiguous with five-part harmony.
So when you see a 1-6-2-5 it may be that the bass notes you or your section plays are not the root notes of the chord progression (C,A,D,G) but perhaps you will play other notes within these chords if you are not assigned to the bassline.
This technique has been used by George Shearing (piano) and big band sax sections (Miller/Dorsey/Basie) and others. It's a distinctively jazzy sound.
Notice too that a C69 chord and the Am7sus4 (your naming conventions may vary) have the same notes in them - the notes of the A minor pentatonic scale.
So to improvise across the first two chords of our 1-6-2-5 progression we can use the same pentatonic scale.
It doesn't stop at 5 part harmonization - you can go to 6 part chords:
Chord = notes
F913 = F,A,C,Eb,G,D
Which can be spread to the notes (high to low):
Eb,A,D,G,C,F
Really jazzy - a good spread of notes (voiced in fourths mostly) and a good voicing to use at the end of a song (in this case the tune would be written in F.)
The terminology or chord symbols may be different from country to country so look more at the notes and their context to the scale and the root of the chord.
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- KVRian
- Topic Starter
- 797 posts since 23 Apr, 2009
Thanks for the contributions Laura and Wrench. Laura I've never approached writing a chord sequence like that, thinking of the extension notes as harmony and melody. That's really good stuff. Much obliged.
I've been thinking about voicing of late. You can really spread those notes out! It can bring so much flavour to a sequence. You can give certain weights to different notes by arranging them differently, and repeating some, vertically.
These jazz folk sure know their stuff. My ipod has been transformed! - Ellington, Parker, Miles, Coltrane, Adderley, Monk, Dizzy, Ella, Holiday - the list goes on!
It all started with kvr music theory lessons 
I've been thinking about voicing of late. You can really spread those notes out! It can bring so much flavour to a sequence. You can give certain weights to different notes by arranging them differently, and repeating some, vertically.
These jazz folk sure know their stuff. My ipod has been transformed! - Ellington, Parker, Miles, Coltrane, Adderley, Monk, Dizzy, Ella, Holiday - the list goes on!
It all started with kvr music theory lessons