Courtney
Second Lieutenant   Posts: 90 Registered: 1/23/2004 Status: Offline
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 posted on 1/13/2005 at 12:27 |
Hi everyone!!
I was recently reading an article regarding music theory. This article
stated that in a key, the I, IV and V chords were major, the II, III and VI
chords were minor and the VII chord was diminished.
Is this only true for certain styles of music or is this always true? I was
hoping maybe someone could elaborate on this for me.
Thanks.
____________________
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brian
Moderator   Posts: 1075 Registered: 12/22/2003 Status: Offline |
posted on 1/13/2005 at 16:15, Reply 1 |
Yep this is true. But the 7th chord is actually a minor 7 b5.
This is basic chord theory and is writen in stone for any type of music.
You can expand of this with model interchange chords as used in jazz music.
We have a couple files one this.
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Jack_GVR
First Lieutenant  Posts: 7 Registered: 1/17/2007 Status: Offline |
posted on 12/11/2007 at 03:12, Reply 2 |
"the VII chord was diminished."
Your info refers to the seven triads belonging to a major scale.
A triad is only 3 notes - or rather, it's only 3 note names, because you
can play the same named note on different strings, of course. Major and
minor chords without sevenths are triads. The seventh triad in the series
is diminished. But you can't play a good strummable version of a diminished
triad on the guitar because the fingerings are too awkward, so you have to
add the seventh, and this gives what's classically called the "half
diminished seventh" or "half-diminished" for short, but it's also commonly
called the "minor seventh flat five" chord. (or else you play a diminished
seventh chord, but that comes from a different scale as you'll see
below.)
The series of triads derived from a major scale, then, is:
1. Major
2. Minor
3. Minor
4. Major
5. Major
6. Minor
7. Diminished
but if you add the seventh to each triad then you get this
series of 7th chords:
1. Major 7th
2. Minor 7th
3. Minor 7th
4. Major 7th
5. Dominant 7th (what everybody calls just "7th" like G7)
6. Minor 7th
7. Half Diminished 7th (or minor seventh flat five)
There is a similar series derived from the natural minor scale (same chords
but starting with #6), but two different series may be derived from the
Harmonic Minor and Melodic Minor variants of the minor scale: (I give the
7th chords because they're more interesting):
Harmonic Minor:
1. Minor with Major 7th
2. Half Diminished
3. Augmented with Major 7th
4. Minor Seventh
5. Dominant 7th
6. Major 7th
7. Diminished 7th
Melodic Minor:
1. Minor with Major 7th
2. Minor 7th
3. Augmented with Major 7th
4. Dominant Seventh
5. Dominant Seventh
6. Half Diminished
7. Half Diminished
So you can see that the variants of the minor scales give you a
lot more chords to work with. Some of them make very cool arpeggios even
though there are not easily strummable versions of them unless you damp
some of the strings.
-- Jack ____________________
Jack from Guitar Vacation Retreats
http://www.guitar-vacation-retreats.com
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SixStringer
First Lieutenant Posts: 3 Registered: 2/19/2008 Status: Offline |
 posted on 2/19/2008 at 19:50, Reply 3 |
Hi Courtney,
In response to your question about music theory, you are correct. Each
postion of the Major Scale has a harmonic value. I learned them this way:
Maj-min-min-Maj-Maj-min-min(or dim)-Maj. You will notice that the
pattern shows Major chords (harmony) on the 1, 4, 5, & 8 (a.k.a Ocatve).
All the rest are minor chords.
Be careful to note that this is the foundation on which all other music
theory is built. There are variations to music such as: Various Scales,
Modes, etc. But please don't let those confuse you, as they are all
variations of the Major Scale. To make it more interesting, you can also
change the sound and function of a chord by raising (sharp) or lowering
(flat) the notes found in the chord.
I hope that this helps.
--Reggie
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brian
Moderator Posts: 1075 Registered: 12/22/2003 Status: Offline |
posted on 2/29/2008 at 13:23, Reply 4 |
Jack_GVR
But you can't play a good strummable version of a diminished triad on the
guitar because the fingerings are too awkward
Try drop2 chord voicing.
I always think the 7th is already there especailly when playing model. I
did a 4 part lesson of triad improvisation if anyone wants to check it out.
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tonyj
First Lieutenant  Posts: 10 Registered: 2/17/2008 Status: Offline |
posted on 3/2/2008 at 22:34, Reply 5 |
Maj-min-min-Maj-Maj-min-min(or dim)-Maj
^is this the major scale??
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