ii V I Chord Progression Exercise Part 2


Published on 26 January 2016
Arpeggio exercise for guitar. Using arpeggios to understand chords and the Circle of Fourths. From the Secret Guitar Teacher Site: http://www.secretguitarteacher.com/youtube/ssb.php?lp_id=906 Here's the video script: In the last Sound Bite we created what I referred to as a 251 test bed - a sequence of chords rooted on notes from the circle of fourths that changed from minor 7th to dominant 7th to Major 7th. In this lesson I want to start showing you some of the ways we can use this to expand our understanding of, and ability to work with, this the commonest of all chord sequences used in jazz music. Let's start by using what I call simple chord substitutions. This is the idea that any chord can be replaced by any other chord of the same type, or fulfilling the same function. For example, here is a list of minor chords. In the left hand column I have named the chords and, in the right hand column I have tried to include all the different symbols used for these chords on rhythm charts and lead sheets. The principle of simple chord substitution says that wherever one of these chords is used, it could be replaced by any of the others in the list. So, let's test this principle in our 2 5 1 testbed. We'll replace our m7 chordwith a minor 6th chord or something more exotic like a m13 chord. In both cases I want you to hear that although the sound is subtly different, the chord still functions in the same way within the context of the sequence. The 5 chord can be substituted with any other chord of a dominant type. A Dominant chord is really any extension of a dominant 7th chord. So lets hear what happens when we replace our dominant 7 chord with a 7b9 chord for example. Or maybe a 7#9. Again, it's important to hear how this is functionally still the same sequence, but with a different musical flavour. Finally, the Key chord, the 1 chord - can be changed to any of the other chords from the Major list. In this case we can either substitute both bars. For example let's replace our CMaj7 with a CMaj6. Or we could keep the Maj7 for the first of the two bars and shift to say the CMaj9 for the second. This is really a reminder that chord substitution principals are not limited to 1 for 1 substitutions and often, replacing one chord with two closely related chords makes for a smoother result. Once you have selected a particular set of substitutions take them for a few runs round the testbed. Let's use this 251 as an example: a Min6 for our 2 chord, a 7b9 for our 5 and stick with the Maj7 for our Key chord although notice I have changed the voicing slightly to one using a dead fifth string to make a nice descending melody line. Let's take that round the circle of fourths. Let's try one more slightly harder one. A min9 for our 2 chord, 7#9 for the five and a Major sixth for our key chord. There are of course many permutations to try out and a few hours spent working on this will pay dividends in improving your technical ability, your understanding of how these chords work and your ability to hear key centres in music. In the next sound bite, we'll show how we can use the testbed to work with arpeggios and arpeggio- based improvising ideas