Questions and Answers
I play keyboard and would like to do some "filling in" between chord changes. I guess there are some standard progressions and I'd love to hear what they are or if you have some really good ones you've made up would you like to share them?
I normally play contemperary Christian music or light rock music.
Thanks in Advance
Andy.
I- V - vi - IV is one that is very often used in rock music
vi - IV - I - V is another one.
I am sure that if you google this, you will get loads more ideas and examples, but these two are very common and are also good to lib on.
[First - please don't just respond telling me to take formal classes. I start classes in July, right now I'm just trying to independently increase my theory.] I was playing around with some chords and played an inversion of a D minor 7th chord and played a jazzy little melody with it. I'd like to take the idea a bit further but I'm not sure where to go. I could mess around and make something I like, but I'd like to increase my knowledge of actual music theory right now. If anyone wants to give me (or link me to) a brief lesson on building progressions when you already have a chord being used, I'd appreciate it. I know I could pick a scale and run through normal progressions like I-V-IV like that, but I prefer playing with chords until one catches my ear. Problem is I'm just not sure how to build on it once I've picked a chord. The chord I have doesn't even need to be the first one, it can just be a part of a bigger progression. I'm not even sure if the D m7 chord means I need to stick in D minor or any other scale that uses it. I'd like to get a better grasp on the circle of fifths as well if anyone has a good resource for that.
It helps to know your circle of fifths. The most common root progressions follow that pattern.
Think about progressions this way: There really are only a few option -- root movment in 5ths (or 4ths, which are simply fifths inverted), root movement in thirds (or sixths), and root movement in 2nds (or sevenths). A special case is movement in tri-tones (dim 5th or aug 4th)
Lets take a look at your d min 7 chord: In a major key, that could either be a ii7 in C, a iii7 in Bb, or a vi7 in F. The next logical chord would likely be a G chord of some sort (circle of 5ths/4ths) ala the old formula iii - vi - ii - V - I.
Experiment with the other types of root movement. Movement in 3rds can be very interesting, expecially if you mix up the modes a bit. Consider the relationship between C major and E major chords -- or C major and A major chords. In each case you have made the key of the progression ambiguous, only to be resolved as you finish out the progression. Add a 7th to each chord and it gets even more colorful and interesting.
Experiment!! Mix and match!
Cheers,
G.
I have a bunch of lyrics written and I just need help getting started in writing guitar music for them. I know that G-D-Em is very very common what else should I try?
Haha hippie i know how to play barre chords but thanks for that info.
If you know the major scale you can plug in chord progressions into it and things will flow out nice (at least to get you started). Really if you're just looking for 3-4 chord progressions I would just sit with the guitar and some lyrics and strum out some 5ths until you hear something that sounds like what you're looking for.
If you're looking for something to start with though, there is a lot of "the box" in modern rock. Which looks like, say you're starting with A. The box would be A, B, D, E (the higher one) if you're playing fifths it includes the fifth of the root, the fifth of the note below it, and the same for the chords up two frets. Those chords are major to each other and will sound good together. Don't do it to death though, your songs will start to sound boring.
Also, I'm a fan of:
G, A, D
E, F#, A, D
C, B, D, A
A, E, G, D
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aww man, they're cookie cutter, but they work. The first two are from good songs that I know. I do get the third one, it's from a song that I wrote a while back (actually it went (in a 12312312 strum pattern) C,B,A,A,C,B,A,B,C,B,D,A,C,B,A it actually went pretty good in context. I guess not so much as a standardized progression though.
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