November 1, 2024 • 30 mins
Chords and Chord Progressions Part 1 | Music Theory Podcast
Welcome to the Music Theory Podcast! In this episode, we delve into the fascinating world of chords and chord progressions, essential concepts for any music theorist, musician, music educator, or music student. Understanding chords and how they move through progressions is key to mastering harmony, composition, and arranging.
In Chords and Chord Progressions Part 1, we break down the basics of how chords are constructed, from major and minor chords to more complex structures like seventh chords and extended chords. We also explore the role of tonality and key signatures in shaping chord progressions, with a focus on the most common progressions like the I-IV-V and ii-V-I.
This episode is perfect for music educators looking for clear explanations and practical insights to teach their students. We also explore the historical context of chord progressions and how they evolved over time, from classical harmony to modern jazz and pop music.
By the end of this episode, you'll have a deeper understanding of how to analyze and use chords and chord progressions in your own music. Stay tuned for Part 2, where we’ll dive deeper into more advanced harmonic concepts and progression techniques!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_00 (00:43):
Welcome back to The Harmonious Blacksmith.
This is episode four, and I amyour host, Kevin Patrick
Fleming.
Oh, boy.
Thanks, Mom.
I appreciate it.
Thank you for joining me today.
I do appreciate your time.
(01:04):
Let's dive right into today'stopics.
But first, let me remind you,this podcast is linear and
cumulative.
So if this is the first episodethat you're coming across of my
podcast, you're most likelybetter off going back and
starting from the beginning asall the concepts are building on
(01:25):
each other each week.
As a quick recap of the conceptsthat we are building off of from
the previous episode, we learnedabout triads.
We learned how triads...
are similar and also help tobuild bigger chord and chord
structures.
We learned what keys were.
(01:46):
We learned that there were seventriads in a key built off of the
seven scale degrees of a majoror minor scale.
We also learned the skippingprinciples of triads, how
they're formed, and a few otherminor terms like scale degrees
and root notes.
And that leads us to today'stopic, which is all about chords
(02:11):
and chord progressions.
So let's go ahead and start bydefining what a chord
progression is.
A chord progression is asuccession of related or
organized chords that changeover time and serve as the
harmonic foundation for musicthat is composed or created in
(02:34):
the Western tradition.
Most Most of us in our dailylistening of music that we like
to listen to are used to hearingnice, agreeable,
consonant-sounding chordprogressions that are all on the
same key.
An example would sound likethis.
¦Probably sounds like about ahundred songs you've heard
(03:12):
before, right?
Just a nice set of chords thatare agreeable to our ears that
give us a backdrop over which wecan write, you know, a vocal
line or a vocal melody withlyrics.
If you're writing a song likethat, you could insert a solo of
any instrument type, or youcould even write like a rock and
(03:35):
roll riff or a folk riff overthat.
So a chord progression gives usa backdrop of for us to be able
to write melodic lines and evenmore harmonic lines if we want
to.
How do we understand howmusicians choose chords and
therefore chord progressions?
(03:55):
The majority of pop and rockmusicians really are pulling
chord progressions fromstandards that they've heard in
the past, stuff that influencesthem, stuff they've listened to
for years, grew up listening to,things like that, because
they...
You already know those chordswork together, they sound good
(04:15):
together, and so they know theycan use them.
But what if you could have thepower to make the choices on
your own so that you couldcreate...
new and interesting soundingchord progressions, not
necessarily the same old ones wehear over and over.
Just like a lot of things inlife, it goes to learning the
(04:37):
rules and then learning how tobreak them.
So let's start with the rulesthemselves, and it will refer
back to a couple of terms in theprevious episode, triads and
keys.
So from your own understandingup to this point, just think of
about what a key entails in yourmind.
(04:58):
A key essentially comes from theoriginal scale patterns for a
major or minor scale using thewhole steps and half steps.
And then you get the notes of ascale.
And then once you have thescale, we use the skipping
method to get the triads as wasexplained in episode three.
And those triads are the basisfor all the chords within the
(05:22):
key.
And I'm talking specificallyabout what we call diatonic
keys.
So let me go ahead and definethis term diatonic.
Diatonic refers to the sevennote scales in our western
system that are formed usingexactly five whole steps and two
(05:45):
half steps.
A diatonic scale will go throughevery letter in the music
alphabet and it will not skip aletter and it will not repeat a
letter.
Those are important things toremember.
The word diatonic may seem alittle strange to some of you.
It actually comes from ancientGreek.
(06:06):
Let's break it down a littlebit.
This is how I teach it to mystudents.
You have a prefix and you have asuffix.
Let's go to the suffix first,which is tonic.
Think of the word tone.
The modern word tone we use inEnglish, kind of used
interchangeably for a note or asound of a certain kind.
(06:27):
So think of tone and tonic asvery similar.
So the suffix tonic actuallymeans note or tone.
The prefix dia really kind ofmeans across.
Think about the word diagonal.
It means across, all the wayacross.
(06:47):
So in the case of diatonic, itmeans all the way across the
notes or tones.
So in other words, a diatonicscale goes through every single
letter of the music alphabet.
It goes across the notes.
And this is really just a way ofhelping associate it in your
(07:09):
mind, even though it doesn'ttranslate directly.
As previously mentioned, themost common two diatonic scales
that we use in our system arecalled major and minor.
And if you recall theformulas...
Major was whole, whole, half,whole, whole, whole, half.
That's five whole steps and twohalf steps.
(07:31):
And minor was whole, half,whole, whole, half, whole,
whole.
Again, five whole steps and twohalf steps.
There are other diatonic scalesin our system, and we are going
to go through those in a futureepisode of this podcast.
The major diatonic scale is themost popular and most commonly
(07:53):
used diatonic scale for writingand creating music in our
Western system.
So let's start with the diatonicmajor scale.
So let's start in the key of Cmajor with the C major diatonic
scale, which sounds like this.
And then recall that we gottriads from it by skipping
(08:24):
notes, so we would start onscale degree 1, skip 2, take 3,
skip 4, take 5, and when youstack those on top of each other
in harmony, it sounds like this.
UNKNOWN (00:00):
...
SPEAKER_00 (08:37):
And then the last step to get full chords would be
to double and triple those triadnotes, those one, three, and
fives.
So I can just play the octave ofone, for example.
And then I can play the octaveof three.
And then, of course, I run outof strings on a guitar, but when
(08:58):
I stack those together, it wouldsound like this.
And if you remember that we cancreate a triad off of every
scale degree in a diatonicscale, or now you will also know
that you can create a chord offof every scale degree in a key.
(09:19):
So now let's just fill out allthe chords that we can use in
the diatonic key of C major.
So we start with the firstchord, which is C major.
Our second chord becomes Dminor.
Third chord becomes E minor.
Then we have F major.
(09:39):
Fifth chord is G major.
Sixth chord is A minor.
Seventh chord is B diminished.
And then we're back to C majoragain.
I do want to point out that adiatonic key is balanced between
(10:03):
major and minor.
What I mean by that is there areexactly three major triads from
which we build chords andexactly three minor triads.
And then there's the one anomalythat we call diminished.
And I promise I will get to whatthat means soon.
So a major key has three majorchords, three minor chords, and
(10:26):
one diminished chord.
So let me take a second to makea learning connection here.
We just went through a diatonicmajor scale.
We built the triads.
We found out we have three majorand three minor in the key of C
major.
But what that really means isthat we have three major and
three minor in every major scalethat exists.
(10:49):
Yes.
Every single major scale isbuilt off of that same formula,
and therefore the triads allcome out the same.
There always are three majortriads, three minor triads, and
one diminished triad in everysingle major key.
Wait a second, Kevin.
(11:11):
You telling me that I only gotthree major chords and three
minor chords to use to write asong with if I want to stay in a
key?
Yep, that's exactly what I'mtelling you.
But luckily, you're notcompletely limited to that.
There's going to be a lot moreoptions coming up.
(11:31):
There are going to be thingswe're going to go into like key
changes, as well as extendedharmony chords like sevenths and
ninths, as well as suspensions,adds.
Oh boy, okay, so I've opened acan with all those terms, and
I'm going to go into all ofthem, but just wanted to
reassure you that we're notlimited to just those six or
(11:53):
seven triads.
We actually have a plethora ofpossibilities to build on.
So we will certainly get to allthat as we build, but I digress
a little.
Let's come back to chordprogressions.
In general, we have a veryimportant term that we need to
go ahead and learn, which is...
The Roman numeral system.
(12:16):
The ancient Greeks are creditedwith the first concepts of music
theory.
But as time went on, around theearly 15th century, coming out
of the Middle Ages or the DarkAges...
That's when music notationstarted to come around in a
modern sense.
Chord progression started tobecome a thing in music more and
(12:38):
more.
But it really wasn't until late18th century that the Roman
numeral system came about.
SPEAKER_01 (12:46):
The
SPEAKER_00 (12:48):
Roman numeral system creates an easy way to label and
identify scale degrees andtherefore triads and chords,
creating an easy way tocommunicate the harmonies of a
piece of music in a way that'suniversal to all keys and all
instruments.
So recall scale degrees, whichare just modern numbers that we
(13:12):
know, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
But as we build those intotriads and chords, as we've been
talking about, We're going toreplace those scale degrees with
Roman numerals.
So recall that we use the letterI to begin Roman numerals.
So you have a lowercase I or acapital I.
(13:32):
Then two is going to be two I's.
Three is three I's.
When you get to four, it's IV.
Five is V.
Six is VI.
Seven is VII.
And then in our system, we'll beback to one.
So we never actually go toeight.
When you get a chance, just doan internet search of the Roman
numeral system as it relates tomusic theory.
(13:55):
That way you can get the visualaspect of it as well, since this
is just an audio-only podcast atthis point.
You know, pull up some visualsso you can compare and look at
what's going on.
All right, so let's bring itback to the key of C major so
that we can understand how theRoman numeral system works.
(14:15):
And we know there are sevenscale degrees that turn into
seven triads.
And in turn, now you're going tounderstand that there are seven
Roman numerals to go with thosedegrees and triads.
So let's talk about how they layout in a major key.
Quick note, I wanted to let youknow that I know that I repeat
(14:38):
concepts and I tell you thingstwo, three, even four times.
And it's really about learning.
It's about having things sinkin.
If I tell you something once, itvery well could just be gone the
next day.
But if I tell it to you more andmore times as we build, it's a
lot more likely to sink in.
(14:59):
So it really is a learningtechnique to do the repetition.
Just wanted to let you know thatit's by design.
So let's rebuild back to thepoint that we are right now.
We start back with our C majorscale.
Built with the whole, whole,half, whole, whole, whole, half
(15:22):
formula.
Using the skipping technique tocreate triads, we can do every
other note.
and stop at exactly three to geta triad.
The first, then the third, thenthe fifth, and then I can do the
second, the fourth, and thesixth, et cetera, et cetera.
(15:44):
As we know, when I stack them ontop, you get a triad.
And then when I double andtriple those, you get a full
chord.
So now that we're back to thatpoint, let's break down a major
key using the Roman numeralsystem.
Now, let me tell you the powerof this before I break down one
(16:05):
key.
The Roman numerals, again, areused universally for any major
key or any key.
So they become a paradigm, atemplate, as it were, that can
be used in any major key.
I'm just using C major as anexample to be But I will also
(16:27):
give you a couple more exampleson the top of that to make sure
the point is made.
SPEAKER_01 (16:32):
So
SPEAKER_00 (16:34):
in a major key...
Chords 1, 4, and 5 are major andtherefore denoted with uppercase
Roman numerals.
And chords 2, 3, and 6 are minorand therefore denoted with
(16:56):
lowercase Roman numerals.
When you get a chance, do aninterweb search for the Roman
numerals in a major key.
So that way you can see howeverything's laid out.
So now it's time to get to yourvery first chord progression
using the Roman numeral system.
This is the big daddy of Themost popular, the most widely
(17:18):
used, and it's called the 1-4-5progression.
Think about scale degrees andthe corresponding Roman
numerals, 1 through 7 in adiatonic scale or a diatonic
key.
So the 1-4-5 progression isgoing to correspond to those
(17:38):
numbers exactly the way youthink it would.
So the first chord is based on4, first note in the scale or
the first scale degree thesecond chord is based on the
fourth scale degree and thethird chord is based on the
fifth scale degree so the firstscale degree in a c major scale
is a c as you know and thereforethe chord we built off of it or
(18:03):
first the triad then the chordsounds like this It is a C major
chord.
So as we go up the scaledegrees, one, two, three, four.
Four, in this case, in the keyof C major, is an F.
And it creates an F major chord.
(18:23):
And then, of course, at the end,we go to the fifth scale degree,
which is a G.
G.
And that creates a G majorchord.
And then we're back to C again.
So the entire one, four, five,and then back to one progression
sounds like this.
One, four, five, back to one.
(18:51):
Again, I bet that reminds you ofabout 100 or even 1,000 songs
because it's just so widelyused.
So the next question you shouldask is why, right?
Always ask why.
In other words, why are we doingthis?
Why are we talking about the1-4-5 chord progression as the
(19:12):
main or principal chordprogression when it comes to
writing music in the Westernsystem?
Well, I'm so glad you asked sucha fine question.
Number one, we're in the key ofC major, and if you recall, it's
balanced.
We have three major triads andthree minor triads, as well as
(19:33):
the one diminished.
So as it turns out, in a majorkey, one, four, and five are all
three of your major chords.
So that makes sense, right?
Remember the difference betweenmajor and minor.
Major is brighter, happier,energetic, more uplifting.
(19:54):
So it makes sense if you'regoing to write in a major key
that you're going to use thethree major triads as your
primary chord progression.
But that's not the only reasonthat we use them.
The second reason is a veryimportant concept to understand
in chord progressions, which iscalled musical tension.
(20:17):
Musical tension is the creationof a sense of instability unrest
or unresolved conflict in musicthat creates an anticipation for
what we call a resolution.
The two key terms here aretension and resolution.
(20:37):
Tension and resolution in musiccan be related directly to two
of our other favorite art formsin the world, which are
literature and film.
Music, literature, and film allstart with the same paradigm.
They all start about telling astory or a human experience.
(21:00):
It starts somewhere.
It rises to some sort ofconflict or agitation, which
creates excitement andanticipation.
And ultimately, we want reliefwith a resolution in the end
that will create a sense ofending or relaxation.
(21:21):
So back to the key of C majorfor a quick demonstration.
First, listen to the scale sothat you can sort of get the key
in your ear.
That's important.
UNKNOWN (21:36):
So
SPEAKER_00 (21:37):
So you can tell after I play that scale even and
I play the tonic chord or the Ichord, which is a C major, it's
very tranquil, it's very atrest, it's very at ease.
This is a starting point andalso our resolution point from
(21:58):
all our tension in our chordprogression.
So if I start on that restingC...
Then I'm gonna go to a fourchord, which is an F.
You can hear that the, you canhear and feel that the tension
is rising a little bit when wego from one to four.
One is tranquil.
(22:19):
Four is a little more tense.
It builds.
And then five is even moretense.
And it really wants to gosomewhere, which is back to one.
Ah, and when we get back to one,there's a sense of ease, a sense
of home base, a sense ofrelaxation.
So let me do that one more timeall the way through.
(22:40):
One chord.
Four chord.
Five chord.
Back to one.
A good analogy for musicaltension would be a roller
coaster ride.
At the beginning of every rollercoaster, everyone is getting
(23:01):
into the car and basicallyeverything is tranquil.
Nothing is moving yet, butthere's a lot of anticipation.
There's a lot of excitement,maybe even some fear if you're
somebody like me, even though Ireally enjoy roller coasters.
But at the same time, it's agood analogy because basically
(23:22):
Basically, you start at rest.
you start to build towards,like, for example, you
clickety-clack up that first bighill of an old wooden roller
coaster in anticipation of thefall on the next drop after the
hill.
So that is starting at rest,then increasing the tension,
(23:43):
just like a chord progression,going up a hill, then releasing
it down a hill.
And that's obviously not the endof the coaster, right?
We have more hills to climb.
And at a greater speed we alsohave turns we have loops we have
all kinds of stuff and if it's aride you've never ridden before
or a piece of music you've neverheard before you're not sure
(24:06):
exactly what you're getting intobut eventually all of that leads
to the end of the ride or theend of the music where we come
back to a resting point we allare able to relax get out of the
car and reflect on what we justexperienced So relating this
(24:26):
back to the 1-4-5 progression,it's just that the 1-4 and 5
chords in a major key create theperfect rise and fall of musical
tension back to resolution.
It just really is the perfectbackdrop for it.
Thank you very much.
(25:03):
But for now, we're just going tostick with harmonic tension.
So now for a few examples indifferent keys.
We already did C major, but Ijust want to show you that this
kind of musical tension withinthe 1-4-5 progression works in
any major key exactly the sameway.
(25:24):
So for example, if I just takethe arbitrary key of E major...
Again, you can hear thetranquility at rest of that
first chord there.
So here's the I chord.
(25:44):
Then the IV chord is an A.
The V chord is a B.
And you can hear that tensionneeds to be resolved back to I.
So now hear the 1-4-5 in the keyof A major, which sounds like
this.
Nice, tranquil I chord is A.
(26:12):
D is the IV chord, tensionrises.
E is the V chord, tensionheightens even more and needs to
be resolved back to A.
So what if we were to notresolve that tension?
It actually is the kind of thingthat drives people, us, the
(26:36):
royal we, crazy.
So I'll give you an example.
What if I go back to the key ofE major and I play a I chord,
then a IV chord, then a V chord.
There, that's it.
I'm done, right?
No, I'm not, right?
You can hear that that tensionneeds to be resolved.
(26:59):
That musical tension.
And your ear really wants it tohappen.
So stopping on this chord doesnot make us feel at ease.
But when we resolve it backto...
Then we have the relaxation thatwe need.
The final thing I'll point outabout the 1-4-5 progression and
(27:20):
why it's the main setting withina major key for chord
progressions is because the 1,the 4, and the 5 triads include
every single melodic possibilityor harmonic possibility within
the key.
What do I mean by that?
Well, recall triad skipping.
(27:41):
If you start on the 1 chord, youget 1-3-5.
The IV chord is going to haveIV, VI, and I.
The V chord is going to have V,VII, and II.
And if you extract all of those,you get the entire scale.
One, two, three, four, five,six, seven, back to one.
So every note in the key is amelodic possibility that can be
(28:03):
used against just those threechords.
But Kevin, what about the minorchords in a major key?
And what about minor keys ingeneral?
Yes, these are wonderfulquestions.
And these will be answered whenI get to part two of chord
progressions in a later episode.
So let's recap what we learnedin this episode.
(28:29):
We've been learning all aboutchords and chord progressions.
We learned about the Romannumeral system and why we use it
and how we use it to delineateor denote chord progressions.
We learned about the 1-4-5progression and why it is the
(28:53):
most widely and popularprogression there is.
We learned about musical tensionand resolution.
Coming up, we're going to learnmore about common chord
progressions other than just1-4-5.
We're going to learn aboutextended harmony like 7th, 9th,
(29:14):
11th, 13th, etc., We're alsogoing to start our journey on
the idea of intervals.
And, for example, why triadssound major or minor and why we
call them that.
Thanks again for joining me onthe Harmonious Blacksmith.
(29:36):
And I look forward to continuingthis music theory exploration
with all of you.
UNKNOWN (29:54):
Thank you.
Welcome back to The Harmonious Blacksmith.
This is episode four, and I amyour host, Kevin Patrick
Fleming.
Oh, boy.
Thanks, Mom.
I appreciate it.
Thank you for joining me today.
I do appreciate your time.
(01:04):
Let's dive right into today'stopics.
But first, let me remind you,this podcast is linear and
cumulative.
So if this is the first episodethat you're coming across of my
podcast, you're most likelybetter off going back and
starting from the beginning asall the concepts are building on
(01:25):
each other each week.
As a quick recap of the conceptsthat we are building off of from
the previous episode, we learnedabout triads.
We learned how triads...
are similar and also help tobuild bigger chord and chord
structures.
We learned what keys were.
(01:46):
We learned that there were seventriads in a key built off of the
seven scale degrees of a majoror minor scale.
We also learned the skippingprinciples of triads, how
they're formed, and a few otherminor terms like scale degrees
and root notes.
And that leads us to today'stopic, which is all about chords
(02:11):
and chord progressions.
So let's go ahead and start bydefining what a chord
progression is.
A chord progression is asuccession of related or
organized chords that changeover time and serve as the
harmonic foundation for musicthat is composed or created in
(02:34):
the Western tradition.
Most Most of us in our dailylistening of music that we like
to listen to are used to hearingnice, agreeable,
consonant-sounding chordprogressions that are all on the
same key.
An example would sound likethis.
¦Probably sounds like about ahundred songs you've heard
(03:12):
before, right?
Just a nice set of chords thatare agreeable to our ears that
give us a backdrop over which wecan write, you know, a vocal
line or a vocal melody withlyrics.
If you're writing a song likethat, you could insert a solo of
any instrument type, or youcould even write like a rock and
(03:35):
roll riff or a folk riff overthat.
So a chord progression gives usa backdrop of for us to be able
to write melodic lines and evenmore harmonic lines if we want
to.
How do we understand howmusicians choose chords and
therefore chord progressions?
(03:55):
The majority of pop and rockmusicians really are pulling
chord progressions fromstandards that they've heard in
the past, stuff that influencesthem, stuff they've listened to
for years, grew up listening to,things like that, because
they...
You already know those chordswork together, they sound good
(04:15):
together, and so they know theycan use them.
But what if you could have thepower to make the choices on
your own so that you couldcreate...
new and interesting soundingchord progressions, not
necessarily the same old ones wehear over and over.
Just like a lot of things inlife, it goes to learning the
(04:37):
rules and then learning how tobreak them.
So let's start with the rulesthemselves, and it will refer
back to a couple of terms in theprevious episode, triads and
keys.
So from your own understandingup to this point, just think of
about what a key entails in yourmind.
(04:58):
A key essentially comes from theoriginal scale patterns for a
major or minor scale using thewhole steps and half steps.
And then you get the notes of ascale.
And then once you have thescale, we use the skipping
method to get the triads as wasexplained in episode three.
And those triads are the basisfor all the chords within the
(05:22):
key.
And I'm talking specificallyabout what we call diatonic
keys.
So let me go ahead and definethis term diatonic.
Diatonic refers to the sevennote scales in our western
system that are formed usingexactly five whole steps and two
(05:45):
half steps.
A diatonic scale will go throughevery letter in the music
alphabet and it will not skip aletter and it will not repeat a
letter.
Those are important things toremember.
The word diatonic may seem alittle strange to some of you.
It actually comes from ancientGreek.
(06:06):
Let's break it down a littlebit.
This is how I teach it to mystudents.
You have a prefix and you have asuffix.
Let's go to the suffix first,which is tonic.
Think of the word tone.
The modern word tone we use inEnglish, kind of used
interchangeably for a note or asound of a certain kind.
(06:27):
So think of tone and tonic asvery similar.
So the suffix tonic actuallymeans note or tone.
The prefix dia really kind ofmeans across.
Think about the word diagonal.
It means across, all the wayacross.
(06:47):
So in the case of diatonic, itmeans all the way across the
notes or tones.
So in other words, a diatonicscale goes through every single
letter of the music alphabet.
It goes across the notes.
And this is really just a way ofhelping associate it in your
(07:09):
mind, even though it doesn'ttranslate directly.
As previously mentioned, themost common two diatonic scales
that we use in our system arecalled major and minor.
And if you recall theformulas...
Major was whole, whole, half,whole, whole, whole, half.
That's five whole steps and twohalf steps.
(07:31):
And minor was whole, half,whole, whole, half, whole,
whole.
Again, five whole steps and twohalf steps.
There are other diatonic scalesin our system, and we are going
to go through those in a futureepisode of this podcast.
The major diatonic scale is themost popular and most commonly
(07:53):
used diatonic scale for writingand creating music in our
Western system.
So let's start with the diatonicmajor scale.
So let's start in the key of Cmajor with the C major diatonic
scale, which sounds like this.
And then recall that we gottriads from it by skipping
(08:24):
notes, so we would start onscale degree 1, skip 2, take 3,
skip 4, take 5, and when youstack those on top of each other
in harmony, it sounds like this.
UNKNOWN (00:00):
...
SPEAKER_00 (08:37):
And then the last step to get full chords would be
to double and triple those triadnotes, those one, three, and
fives.
So I can just play the octave ofone, for example.
And then I can play the octaveof three.
And then, of course, I run outof strings on a guitar, but when
(08:58):
I stack those together, it wouldsound like this.
And if you remember that we cancreate a triad off of every
scale degree in a diatonicscale, or now you will also know
that you can create a chord offof every scale degree in a key.
(09:19):
So now let's just fill out allthe chords that we can use in
the diatonic key of C major.
So we start with the firstchord, which is C major.
Our second chord becomes Dminor.
Third chord becomes E minor.
Then we have F major.
(09:39):
Fifth chord is G major.
Sixth chord is A minor.
Seventh chord is B diminished.
And then we're back to C majoragain.
I do want to point out that adiatonic key is balanced between
(10:03):
major and minor.
What I mean by that is there areexactly three major triads from
which we build chords andexactly three minor triads.
And then there's the one anomalythat we call diminished.
And I promise I will get to whatthat means soon.
So a major key has three majorchords, three minor chords, and
(10:26):
one diminished chord.
So let me take a second to makea learning connection here.
We just went through a diatonicmajor scale.
We built the triads.
We found out we have three majorand three minor in the key of C
major.
But what that really means isthat we have three major and
three minor in every major scalethat exists.
(10:49):
Yes.
Every single major scale isbuilt off of that same formula,
and therefore the triads allcome out the same.
There always are three majortriads, three minor triads, and
one diminished triad in everysingle major key.
Wait a second, Kevin.
(11:11):
You telling me that I only gotthree major chords and three
minor chords to use to write asong with if I want to stay in a
key?
Yep, that's exactly what I'mtelling you.
But luckily, you're notcompletely limited to that.
There's going to be a lot moreoptions coming up.
(11:31):
There are going to be thingswe're going to go into like key
changes, as well as extendedharmony chords like sevenths and
ninths, as well as suspensions,adds.
Oh boy, okay, so I've opened acan with all those terms, and
I'm going to go into all ofthem, but just wanted to
reassure you that we're notlimited to just those six or
(11:53):
seven triads.
We actually have a plethora ofpossibilities to build on.
So we will certainly get to allthat as we build, but I digress
a little.
Let's come back to chordprogressions.
In general, we have a veryimportant term that we need to
go ahead and learn, which is...
The Roman numeral system.
(12:16):
The ancient Greeks are creditedwith the first concepts of music
theory.
But as time went on, around theearly 15th century, coming out
of the Middle Ages or the DarkAges...
That's when music notationstarted to come around in a
modern sense.
Chord progression started tobecome a thing in music more and
(12:38):
more.
But it really wasn't until late18th century that the Roman
numeral system came about.
SPEAKER_01 (12:46):
The
SPEAKER_00 (12:48):
Roman numeral system creates an easy way to label and
identify scale degrees andtherefore triads and chords,
creating an easy way tocommunicate the harmonies of a
piece of music in a way that'suniversal to all keys and all
instruments.
So recall scale degrees, whichare just modern numbers that we
(13:12):
know, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
But as we build those intotriads and chords, as we've been
talking about, We're going toreplace those scale degrees with
Roman numerals.
So recall that we use the letterI to begin Roman numerals.
So you have a lowercase I or acapital I.
(13:32):
Then two is going to be two I's.
Three is three I's.
When you get to four, it's IV.
Five is V.
Six is VI.
Seven is VII.
And then in our system, we'll beback to one.
So we never actually go toeight.
When you get a chance, just doan internet search of the Roman
numeral system as it relates tomusic theory.
(13:55):
That way you can get the visualaspect of it as well, since this
is just an audio-only podcast atthis point.
You know, pull up some visualsso you can compare and look at
what's going on.
All right, so let's bring itback to the key of C major so
that we can understand how theRoman numeral system works.
(14:15):
And we know there are sevenscale degrees that turn into
seven triads.
And in turn, now you're going tounderstand that there are seven
Roman numerals to go with thosedegrees and triads.
So let's talk about how they layout in a major key.
Quick note, I wanted to let youknow that I know that I repeat
(14:38):
concepts and I tell you thingstwo, three, even four times.
And it's really about learning.
It's about having things sinkin.
If I tell you something once, itvery well could just be gone the
next day.
But if I tell it to you more andmore times as we build, it's a
lot more likely to sink in.
(14:59):
So it really is a learningtechnique to do the repetition.
Just wanted to let you know thatit's by design.
So let's rebuild back to thepoint that we are right now.
We start back with our C majorscale.
Built with the whole, whole,half, whole, whole, whole, half
(15:22):
formula.
Using the skipping technique tocreate triads, we can do every
other note.
and stop at exactly three to geta triad.
The first, then the third, thenthe fifth, and then I can do the
second, the fourth, and thesixth, et cetera, et cetera.
(15:44):
As we know, when I stack them ontop, you get a triad.
And then when I double andtriple those, you get a full
chord.
So now that we're back to thatpoint, let's break down a major
key using the Roman numeralsystem.
Now, let me tell you the powerof this before I break down one
(16:05):
key.
The Roman numerals, again, areused universally for any major
key or any key.
So they become a paradigm, atemplate, as it were, that can
be used in any major key.
I'm just using C major as anexample to be But I will also
(16:27):
give you a couple more exampleson the top of that to make sure
the point is made.
SPEAKER_01 (16:32):
So
SPEAKER_00 (16:34):
in a major key...
Chords 1, 4, and 5 are major andtherefore denoted with uppercase
Roman numerals.
And chords 2, 3, and 6 are minorand therefore denoted with
(16:56):
lowercase Roman numerals.
When you get a chance, do aninterweb search for the Roman
numerals in a major key.
So that way you can see howeverything's laid out.
So now it's time to get to yourvery first chord progression
using the Roman numeral system.
This is the big daddy of Themost popular, the most widely
(17:18):
used, and it's called the 1-4-5progression.
Think about scale degrees andthe corresponding Roman
numerals, 1 through 7 in adiatonic scale or a diatonic
key.
So the 1-4-5 progression isgoing to correspond to those
(17:38):
numbers exactly the way youthink it would.
So the first chord is based on4, first note in the scale or
the first scale degree thesecond chord is based on the
fourth scale degree and thethird chord is based on the
fifth scale degree so the firstscale degree in a c major scale
is a c as you know and thereforethe chord we built off of it or
(18:03):
first the triad then the chordsounds like this It is a C major
chord.
So as we go up the scaledegrees, one, two, three, four.
Four, in this case, in the keyof C major, is an F.
And it creates an F major chord.
(18:23):
And then, of course, at the end,we go to the fifth scale degree,
which is a G.
G.
And that creates a G majorchord.
And then we're back to C again.
So the entire one, four, five,and then back to one progression
sounds like this.
One, four, five, back to one.
(18:51):
Again, I bet that reminds you ofabout 100 or even 1,000 songs
because it's just so widelyused.
So the next question you shouldask is why, right?
Always ask why.
In other words, why are we doingthis?
Why are we talking about the1-4-5 chord progression as the
(19:12):
main or principal chordprogression when it comes to
writing music in the Westernsystem?
Well, I'm so glad you asked sucha fine question.
Number one, we're in the key ofC major, and if you recall, it's
balanced.
We have three major triads andthree minor triads, as well as
(19:33):
the one diminished.
So as it turns out, in a majorkey, one, four, and five are all
three of your major chords.
So that makes sense, right?
Remember the difference betweenmajor and minor.
Major is brighter, happier,energetic, more uplifting.
(19:54):
So it makes sense if you'regoing to write in a major key
that you're going to use thethree major triads as your
primary chord progression.
But that's not the only reasonthat we use them.
The second reason is a veryimportant concept to understand
in chord progressions, which iscalled musical tension.
(20:17):
Musical tension is the creationof a sense of instability unrest
or unresolved conflict in musicthat creates an anticipation for
what we call a resolution.
The two key terms here aretension and resolution.
(20:37):
Tension and resolution in musiccan be related directly to two
of our other favorite art formsin the world, which are
literature and film.
Music, literature, and film allstart with the same paradigm.
They all start about telling astory or a human experience.
(21:00):
It starts somewhere.
It rises to some sort ofconflict or agitation, which
creates excitement andanticipation.
And ultimately, we want reliefwith a resolution in the end
that will create a sense ofending or relaxation.
(21:21):
So back to the key of C majorfor a quick demonstration.
First, listen to the scale sothat you can sort of get the key
in your ear.
That's important.
UNKNOWN (21:36):
So
SPEAKER_00 (21:37):
So you can tell after I play that scale even and
I play the tonic chord or the Ichord, which is a C major, it's
very tranquil, it's very atrest, it's very at ease.
This is a starting point andalso our resolution point from
(21:58):
all our tension in our chordprogression.
So if I start on that restingC...
Then I'm gonna go to a fourchord, which is an F.
You can hear that the, you canhear and feel that the tension
is rising a little bit when wego from one to four.
One is tranquil.
(22:19):
Four is a little more tense.
It builds.
And then five is even moretense.
And it really wants to gosomewhere, which is back to one.
Ah, and when we get back to one,there's a sense of ease, a sense
of home base, a sense ofrelaxation.
So let me do that one more timeall the way through.
(22:40):
One chord.
Four chord.
Five chord.
Back to one.
A good analogy for musicaltension would be a roller
coaster ride.
At the beginning of every rollercoaster, everyone is getting
(23:01):
into the car and basicallyeverything is tranquil.
Nothing is moving yet, butthere's a lot of anticipation.
There's a lot of excitement,maybe even some fear if you're
somebody like me, even though Ireally enjoy roller coasters.
But at the same time, it's agood analogy because basically
(23:22):
Basically, you start at rest.
you start to build towards,like, for example, you
clickety-clack up that first bighill of an old wooden roller
coaster in anticipation of thefall on the next drop after the
hill.
So that is starting at rest,then increasing the tension,
(23:43):
just like a chord progression,going up a hill, then releasing
it down a hill.
And that's obviously not the endof the coaster, right?
We have more hills to climb.
And at a greater speed we alsohave turns we have loops we have
all kinds of stuff and if it's aride you've never ridden before
or a piece of music you've neverheard before you're not sure
(24:06):
exactly what you're getting intobut eventually all of that leads
to the end of the ride or theend of the music where we come
back to a resting point we allare able to relax get out of the
car and reflect on what we justexperienced So relating this
(24:26):
back to the 1-4-5 progression,it's just that the 1-4 and 5
chords in a major key create theperfect rise and fall of musical
tension back to resolution.
It just really is the perfectbackdrop for it.
Thank you very much.
(25:03):
But for now, we're just going tostick with harmonic tension.
So now for a few examples indifferent keys.
We already did C major, but Ijust want to show you that this
kind of musical tension withinthe 1-4-5 progression works in
any major key exactly the sameway.
(25:24):
So for example, if I just takethe arbitrary key of E major...
Again, you can hear thetranquility at rest of that
first chord there.
So here's the I chord.
(25:44):
Then the IV chord is an A.
The V chord is a B.
And you can hear that tensionneeds to be resolved back to I.
So now hear the 1-4-5 in the keyof A major, which sounds like
this.
Nice, tranquil I chord is A.
(26:12):
D is the IV chord, tensionrises.
E is the V chord, tensionheightens even more and needs to
be resolved back to A.
So what if we were to notresolve that tension?
It actually is the kind of thingthat drives people, us, the
(26:36):
royal we, crazy.
So I'll give you an example.
What if I go back to the key ofE major and I play a I chord,
then a IV chord, then a V chord.
There, that's it.
I'm done, right?
No, I'm not, right?
You can hear that that tensionneeds to be resolved.
(26:59):
That musical tension.
And your ear really wants it tohappen.
So stopping on this chord doesnot make us feel at ease.
But when we resolve it backto...
Then we have the relaxation thatwe need.
The final thing I'll point outabout the 1-4-5 progression and
(27:20):
why it's the main setting withina major key for chord
progressions is because the 1,the 4, and the 5 triads include
every single melodic possibilityor harmonic possibility within
the key.
What do I mean by that?
Well, recall triad skipping.
(27:41):
If you start on the 1 chord, youget 1-3-5.
The IV chord is going to haveIV, VI, and I.
The V chord is going to have V,VII, and II.
And if you extract all of those,you get the entire scale.
One, two, three, four, five,six, seven, back to one.
So every note in the key is amelodic possibility that can be
(28:03):
used against just those threechords.
But Kevin, what about the minorchords in a major key?
And what about minor keys ingeneral?
Yes, these are wonderfulquestions.
And these will be answered whenI get to part two of chord
progressions in a later episode.
So let's recap what we learnedin this episode.
(28:29):
We've been learning all aboutchords and chord progressions.
We learned about the Romannumeral system and why we use it
and how we use it to delineateor denote chord progressions.
We learned about the 1-4-5progression and why it is the
(28:53):
most widely and popularprogression there is.
We learned about musical tensionand resolution.
Coming up, we're going to learnmore about common chord
progressions other than just1-4-5.
We're going to learn aboutextended harmony like 7th, 9th,
(29:14):
11th, 13th, etc., We're alsogoing to start our journey on
the idea of intervals.
And, for example, why triadssound major or minor and why we
call them that.
Thanks again for joining me onthe Harmonious Blacksmith.
(29:36):
And I look forward to continuingthis music theory exploration
with all of you.
UNKNOWN (29:54):
Thank you.
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