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Part 1B:
Using Harmony to Make Melodies
Earlier, Part 1A showed – without much music theory – how you can use colors (red, blue, green) to make harmonious music that is interesting and enjoyable. But even though there isn't much formal theory in 1A, it does emphasize two essential concepts:
• The foundation of Music Theory is the fact that people think the notes of a chord sound harmoniously pleasing (due to interactions between musical physics and human physiology) whether the notes are played sequentially (in a harmonious melody with sequential harmony) or are played simultaneously (to form a harmonious chord with simultaneous harmony).
• The most common melody-making method – it's the favorite of most musicians – is playing melodies that are guided by chord progressions, using (as a foundation for harmony) the three chords – red, blue, green – of my colorized keyboard.
Below, Part 1B shows how musicians describe the logical patterns of music (that form the structure of music) in the language of music theory and how this connects with my language of red, blue, and green. Why does it connect? Because "although my approach is innovative, the educational results are traditional" with colors showing "the mainstream chords that are used most often by musicians," are the solid foundations of playing music and learning music theory. I want to help you combine playing and learning, with...
practical music theory: Here in Part 1B (inside this box-with-borders) my two main goals are to explain how you can use chord progressions — that combine simultaneous harmony (in chords) with sequential harmony (in melodies) — to make harmonious music that is beautifully interesting, and also to learn music theory.
Table of Contents for 1B: You can read the rest of Part 1B in any order, by clicking links for... improving Cognitive-and-Functional Knowledge (to understand music and play music) – the benefits of logically-organized Music Theory – [[ iou – I'll finish this ToC soon, probably in late May. ]]
In this page, Parts 1A & 1B describe (with useful concepts & terms) the benefits of improving cognitive-and-functional knowledge by understanding-and-playing C Major and A Minor and both together in the musical context of chord progressions (the most common way to make music) that – in a variety of ways – guide inventing of harmonious melodies
Part 1A mainly helps a person play musical patterns, and Part 1B helps them also understand musical patterns. But there are overlaps. In both 1A and 1B, playing & understanding occur – with productive interactions between them – and these mutually supportive interactions lead to...
improving Cognitive-and-Functional Knowledge
Making music with a colorized keyboard helps you {or a student} learn, to improve your cognitive knowledge of music theory and your functional knowledge of music theory that is a practical “working knowledge” of using theory to make music. Two kinds of learning occur when you improve your understanding (your cognitive knowledge) and improve your playing (your functional knowledge). These two aspects of overall knowledge (cognitive plus functional) are closely related, and using either can improve the other. Your overall theory-knowledge will improve when both “kinds of knowledge” are developed together and are used together, to form a creatively productive cognitive-and-functional knowledge of music theory.
Here is a summary for the rest of this green box: I'll describe a process of learning that occurs when you combine interactive experiences (to produce interactive memories) that are visual (when you see notes on the keyboard), aural (when you hear notes you've played), mental-and-physical (when you make decisions about which notes to play, and play notes) or just mental (when you think about notes and their musically-logical patterns, without playing notes). The overall result of these interactive memory-producing experiences is to improve your cognitive-and-functional knowledge, your cognitive understanding of music and your functional playing of music. How does this happen? One way to learn about “the process” is to use what we know about...
combining interactive experiences: When a student improvises melodies using a colorized keyboard, their experiences of understanding music theory (forming cognitive knowledge) occur in the practical context of using music theory (with functional knowledge) to make harmonious melodies when they are playing chord notes and non-chord notes. During this active process of using theory while understanding theory, they are “experiencing theory” in many inter-connected ways. They are seeing (the notes of important chords - red,blue,green) and are deciding (to choose the notes they're playing) and are hearing (the melodies and/or chords they're playing). All of these experiences — visual, mental/physical, and aural (while they are seeing, deciding/playing, and hearing) — combine to form a robust cognitive-and-functional knowledge of music theory that is a strong foundation for the growth of their understanding-and-playing in the future. / valuable visual information: When playing a keyboard, vivid visual experiences are produced by color-cues (in the usual white-black plus red-blue-green for three main chords) that show musically logical patterns. These experiences are valuable, both musically & neurologically, and the effectiveness is enhanced by the simple linearity of a keyboard that has note-pitches continually increasing when moving rightward, with white notes being in-scale for C Major and A Minor. / In addition to learning "in the practical context of using music theory... to make harmonious music," three other ways to improve their understandings are the experiences they generate when they think about music theory while not playing, or (with mental rehearsal) imagine playing, and when they learn music theory from others, in person or in a video or web-page.
combining interactive memories: It's useful to view the growth of cognitive-and-functional knowledge as a process that occurs when related kinds of interactive experiences (visual, mental-physical, aural) produce corresponding related kinds of interactive memories. The colors (red blue green) help a student understand the musical patterns of music theory, and remember these logical patterns in their visual memories plus cognitive memories (short-term working & long-term storing). When they play the keyboard, they supplement these memories (visual + cognitive) with muscle memories. While they are playing, all of these “ways to remember” will help them use the musical patterns creatively, to make music that is interesting and enjoyable. / We also can think in terms of “spatial memories” that are one aspect of visual memories (formed when they play while looking at the keys); and are one aspect of cognitive memories (e.g. when they decide, consciously and/or unconsciously, “the note I want to play is higher by an interval of a fourth” and they imagine “where that note is” on the keyboard); and are one aspect of muscle memories (formed when they play while looking at the keys, and while they're not looking).
more: Ideas in this section are illustrated — in the educational context of helping students improve an important improvisational skill — by showing the mutually supportive interactions between functional knowledge and cognitive knowledge that occur when a student mainly uses their functional knowledge, and mainly uses their cognitive knowledge.
terms with different meanings: The system of practical skills that I'm calling Functional Knowledge (it's a Working Knowledge of how to make music by using theory) is not the Functional Harmony that is a prominent perspective on the harmony that is the central core of Music Theory. |
Both aspects of theory knowledge – cognitive and functional – are made easier & better due to...
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the benefits of logically-organized Music Theory
(and the logically-organized Language of Music)
in your music understanding and music playing:
We'll begin by looking at...
the general benefits of logically organizing knowledge: Our modern system of Music Theory, described using The Language of Music, is beautifully elegant. It's complex, with many related aspects, each having many levels that you (and other musicians) can explore, to help you invent music that is interesting and enjoyable. But it's also simple in important ways. Because of music's logic, it will “make sense” when you see how the parts fit together to form a coherent whole, when (in your thinking & playing) you understand how the combining of parts produces a coherent story. When you understand Music Theory at deeper levels with wider vision — when you can see “the big picture” of how it all fits together, and you have internalized “the logic of music” in your own mental models of music — instead of being more complex it can become more simple, easier to understand. / As an illustrative analogy, compare three ways to describe the same mental action of remembering. Quiz 1 asks you to remember 22 letters, t s e k h a u o e n d y g c a l h t e y n m. Quiz 2 is remembering these 22 meaningless letters, but now they're organized into 6 meaningful words, sneaky the lunch dog my ate. Quiz 3 is remembering these 6 words (thus the 22 letters) after they've been logically organized into an interesting story. {can you convert the words into a story? a clue and story}
and will continue by connecting general benefits (of logically-organized knowledge) with...
the specific benefits of logically-organized knowledge in Music Theory: Why can you easily find page 86 of a book, find the
word “grace” in a dictionary, or find a book in a library? It's due to meaningful organization.
Book pages are in numerical order, dictionary words are alphabetical, and library
books are arranged according to a system like Dewey Decimal or Library of Congress. If you understand how a system is organized, you can use the system more effectively. We also can use this principle – that logical organizing makes understanding easier (and better) – for the system of Music Theory. Your process of understanding the following sections — about closely related keys (C Major & A Minor), using Minor within Major, and useful concepts — may not be quick. But I think it will be easy, if you're willing to patiently learn each step. And I'm confident that it will be worthwhile. If you're motivated by wanting to improve, and you patiently persevere, you will be rewarded with more music-knowing and better music-making, because...
after you've learned enough, you'll harvest the abundant benefits of organization: While you're learning about The Key of C you may think “wow, this is a lot, I didn't want to know this much.” But by learning music you'll be earning rewards, with better playing of music. Therefore, helping you "learn enough" – but not too much, too soon – is my goal. This is consistent with Einstein's principle that we should “try to make things as simple as possible (so it's not too much) but no simpler (so it's enough).” When you see how parts of the puzzle fit together to form important parts of a unified whole (in “the big picture” of music) you'll appreciate the wonderful ways that apparent complexity becomes actual simplicity, due to the logical organization of music theory.
music theory is a music language: It's useful to think of Music Theory as a Music Language that helps us think about music (and generate ideas about music) — analogous to the ways our English Language helps us think about (and generate ideas about) all areas of life — and communicate with others.
music theory is useful but isn't necessary: [[ iou – in May, I'll explain why although I recommend learning music theory, it isn't necessary now because you can "play now and learn later" and also it's possible (and it does happen) for a musician to skillfully play music without knowing much about theory. Even though knowing music theory usually is useful, it isn't necessary. / analogy: when each of us was young, we learned how to speak language without knowing all of the principles and guidelines; but eventually most people benefit from learning the principles of language, and their speaking (plus hearing, writing & reading) improve. does not-knowing typically lead to a ceiling? / but don't give up just because it seems difficult - like thinking "the alphabet is too complicated, with 26 letters combined in many ways" so you never learn how to find words alphabetically as in a dictionary. ]] |
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[[ iou – Soon, probably in early April, this “green box” will be a brief explanation of why (quoting from an introduction about music education) "a teacher needs some knowledge of basic music theory — just enough to help a learner recognize the musical patterns, and help them convert their knowledge of music into their making of music — but not a lot." Here I'll describe what a teacher needs to know, and how they can help students learn it. } |
two options: To learn more about the logic-and-language of music, you can play mainly Red Notes and do it now. Or first try a different way of “playing with colors” when you...
play only Black Notes:
Just play any way you want, listen and learn, enjoy. You cannot “make
a melodic mistake” because anything you do will sound fairly good, so just relax and experiment with playing the black notes in
different ways.
But you'll
think some ways-to-play are more enjoyable (for
aesthetic appeal, personal expression,...) so listen for these,
and have fun exploring the melodic & rhythmic possibilities. { pentatonic scales – major & minor – and black notes }
play mainly Red Notes:
Part 1A begins with playing only red and continues on to playing mainly red + mainly blue + mainly green, doing creative experiments "with a variety of harmonies, melodies, and rhythms" when you're “having fun exploring the possibilities, listening and learning.” It's useful to play red-blue-green with a colorized keyboard because this will help you use harmony to make melodies whether there is minimal theory (in 1A) or (here in 1B) with more theory.
three options: You can search for patterns in the red-blue-green, or read about patterns (in the Key of C Major) or learn why...
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I've written more, so (even though you'll have
to read more) it will be easier for you to learn:
what happened: In July 2023, I decided to radically revise the next part of Part 1B — a long set of sections, from here to Using Harmony Changes (in a Chord Progression) to make Harmonious Melodies — because the many changes will help you learn more easily. How? My earlier writing was compact (usually this is good) but (usually not good) this brevity required you to mentally process large chunks of information, to quickly learn a large system of concepts by making large leaps in understanding. By contrast, this new version explains the concepts in smaller steps, making it easier for you to understand because you can learn the large system gradually, one easier step at a time. Basically, the old version had brevity but was difficult, while the new version is less brief but is less difficult and this will help you learn more easily. { analogy – This way of learning music theory is like learning how to juggle by doing easy steps instead of tough leaps. }
an option if you're feeling TMI: While you're reading this long set of sections, if you're ever feeling “this is Too Much Information, it's more than I want to know,” you can skip ahead to Making Melodies by Using a Chord Progression with less theory, or even minimal theory (just enough, only what's required) when you simply play along with Backing Tracks by using your musical intuition, guided by the keyboard's colors. / In the long run, eventually you probably will be motivated to learn Music Theory. When this happens you won't think “it's TMI,” you'll think “it's TLI, MIiB” (Too Little Information because More Information is Better) and you're wanting to learn more. But probably you will find it fascinating NOW, when you're learning Music Theory by... |
 learning Musical Patterns: Basically, music theory is a logical organization of musical patterns. When you know the patterns, your knowledge will help you make harmonious music. How? Basically there are...
two ways to learn Musical Patterns: You can learn with discoveries (by you) and explanations (from me, or another teacher). Both ways to learn can be satisfying & effective. But if you want to do more self-discovering, you should do this now — by searching for the logical patterns (in red-blue-green) that are the foundation of music theory, perhaps repeating what you already did with Step 0 (Search for Patterns) in Part 1A — before you read my explanations in the next section, for the Key of C Major. And before you read these...
hints for discovering: First study the red notes, and search for patterns. You also can find patterns in the blue notes, and in the green notes. {maybe it will be easier if – as in these color-isolating diagrams – you look at only red notes, and only blue notes, and only green notes.} Then compare patterns in the red notes with those in the blue notes and green notes. Are the patterns similar? are they identical in all ways? { answers for "...similar?" and "...identical?" }
also: You can search for additional patterns in my fully-colorized keyboard that has twice as many colored labels.
the Key of C Major:
When you understand the logical patterns of C Major, you'll know the foundations of Music Theory.* And knowing Theory will help you make Music. Or you can think of Music Theory as Music Language that helps us think about music and generate ideas about it, in the same way that our English Language helps us think about all areas of life, and communicate with others. / * Then when you add the patterns of A Minor and Minor-within-Major your foundations will become deeper & wider.
In the sections below, my goal is to help you develop a deep understanding of C Major, so – by using logical analogy – you then can transfer your knowledge to all other keys, and you also will understand them. { To increase your motivation for learning theory in Parts 1A & 1B, I recommend appreciating the benefits of logically organized Music Theory and – if you haven't already done this – studying the colorized keyboard and searching for patterns, so you can learn from your own discoveries. }
 forming Red C-Chords: When you study this diagram and you focus on the notes that have a bottom-row red bar (they're labeled with "1" and "C") you'll see that the notes in a Red-Chord (it's a C-Chord) are every other white note of the C-Scale — with Scale-Notes labeled as both numbers (1234567) and letters (CDEFGA) — beginning with C as the 1-Note. These Chord-Notes (C, E, and G) are the 1st, 3rd, and 5th notes of the C-Scale, in the Key of C, aka the Key of C Major. You can understand the every-other-note spacing by “thinking” with written symbols – with numbers (1 2 3 4 5 6 7) and letters (C D E F G, i.e. CdEfG) – and also with spatial relationships on the keyboard, by seeing with your eyes (which is transformed into visualizing with your visual memory) and by knowing with your muscle memory. { Interactions between these “ways to know” — using numbers & letters, and spatial relationships by seeing & visualizing, plus muscle memories — help you develop your cognitive-and-functional knowledge of music. }
I distinguish between the two meanings of scale by using colors: • a scale is a group of scale-notes (e.g. C,D,E,F,G,A,B) that can be played in any way; • a scale is playing a consecutive sequence of scale-notes, as in a full-octave scale of CDEFGABC or CBAGFEDC or in mini-scales that are less than an octave.
a viewing tip: It will be easier to see-and-understand these three “color-isolation diagrams” if you view them on a large-screen monitor with a computer. On a medium-screen laptop (or tablet) or small-screen phone, enlarge a diagram by “spreading it out” and then do sideways scrolling.
top row: notes (1 3 5) in C-Chords,
middle: notes (CDE...) in C-Scale,
bars: red notes in C-Chords.
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top row: notes (1 3 5) in F-Chords,
middle: notes (FGA...) in F-Scale,
bars: blue notes in F-Chords.
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top row: notes (1 3 5) in G-Chords,
middle: notes (GAB...) in G-Scale,
bars: green notes in G-Chords.
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forming red Chords: The left-side diagram shows that a C-Chord is formed by playing every other note (1,3,5) of the C-Scale (in the Key of C) that begins with C as the 1-Note, so a C-Chord is C D E F G (i.e. CdEfG), is C E G, is 1 3 5. / other chords: In addition to 135 (with C as the lowest note), inversions of C-Chords have different low notes, as with 351 or 513 and many others. And we can form many other F-Chords & G-Chords.
forming Blue Chords: Study the center diagram , and you'll see the same pattern. An F-Chord is formed by playing every other note (1,3,5) of the F-Scale (in the Key of F) that begins with F as the 1-Note, so an F-Chord is F G A B C (i.e. FgAbC), is F A C, is 1 3 5. {and as with C-Chords, F-Chords include 1,3,5 arranged in different orders.}
forming Green Chords: The right-side diagram also shows this pattern. A G-Chord is formed by playing every other note (1,3,5) of the G-Scale (in the Key of G) beginning with G as the 1-Note, so a G-Chord is G A B C D (i.e. GaBcD), is G B D, is 1 3 5. {and it's 351,...}
options: [[ iou – I'll describe your options-for-reading later, maybe in July. ]]
Chord Names
In this set of sections about C Major, so far the focus has been forming chords. Now we'll shift to naming chords, because it's an important part of “the language of music” used by musicians, especially for describing chord progressions.
In the Key of C, three main chords (C,F,G) are “musically special” — due to harmonies that we enjoy for physiological reasons and artistic reasons — so they're used in my keyboard colorizing. In fact, these chords are the foundation for almost all of the music we hear.
Earlier you saw, in three one-color diagrams* – each with a single color of red OR blue OR green – how each main chord (it's C or F or G, in the Key of C) is formed with the 1st & 3rd & 5th Notes of its own Scale (of the C-Scale, or F-Scale, or G-Scale); the letter-name of each Chord is the 1-Note of its own Scale, so a C-Chord has a 1-Note (in the C-Scale) that is C, and an F-Chord has a 1-Note (in the F-Scale) of F, and a G-Chord has a 1-Note (in the G-Scale) of G.
* Unlike the three one-color diagrams, below all three colors are together in one diagram, showing the way you actually see the colors on a colorized keyboard, with red-AND-blue-AND-green.
There are two kinds of chord names, using letters (like C,F,G) and roman numerals (like I,IV,V). As described above, "the letter-name of each Chord is the 1-Note of its own Scale," which could be a C-Scale, F-scale, or G-Scale. Another way to name these three chords uses only the C-Scale, plus the Roman Numerals of I (= 1) and IV (= 4) and V (= 5). In the Key of C, the C-Scale (it's C D E F G A B, and also is 1 2 3 4 5 6 7), C is the 1st Note so the C-Chord is also called the I Chord, and F is the 4th Note so the F-Chord is also known as the IV Chord, and G is the 5th Note so the G-Chord is aka the V Chord.
Here are summaries for the two naming systems.
names with letters: The three one-color diagrams show how we form chords from the 1-3-5 Notes in the Scale of each Chord, so... a C-Chord is formed by the 1,3,5 Notes of its C-Scale, and it's called a C-Chord because its 1-Note is C; an F-Chord is formed by the 1,3,5 of its F-Scale, and it's called an F-Chord because its 1-Note is F; a G-Chord is formed by the 1,3,5 of its G-Scale, and it's called a G-Chord because its 1-Note is G. Therefore, the Chord-Notes you see on a colorized keyboard are 1,3,5 or 1,3,5 or 1,3,5.
names with roman numerals: The three-color diagram puts chords into a musical context (it's the Scale of C in the Key of C), showing why the “C and F and G” also are called “I and IV and V” because the 1-Note of each Chord (C or F or G) is the 1st Note (the I) or 4th Note (the IV) or 5th Note (the V) in the Scale of C.
Do you see the connections between two sets of numbers – 1,3,5 and I,IV,V – that are commonly used in Music Theory?
And here are details for the two naming systems.
two kinds of numbers: Musicians typically use regular numbers for Scale-Notes (1 2 3 4 5 6 7), and use Roman numerals for Chords ( I ii iii IV V vi )* with capitalized Major Chords ( I, IV, V ) and uncapitalized minor chords ( ii, iii, vi ). The two kinds of numerals are used in this way because it's part of the “language of music” in the logical system of music theory that helps us make music, understand it, think about it, and discuss it. / * For familiar convenience – because in everyday life we rarely use Roman numerals – sometimes a musician will write “1” (or 4,5) instead of “I” (or IV,V) if the context makes it clear that they're talking about Chords, not Notes. { And sometimes a minor chord is just given a number – as in "1645" when a reader knows this is the common 50s Progression.}
key-specific terms and key-general terms: When a chord progression (CP) is described using letters {like C-F-G-C} this is useful only for one key (in this case, the Key of C) so these key-specific terms. But the Roman Numerals for this progression { I-IV-V-I } can be used correctly for any key, for all keys, so they are key-general terms for chords. For example, this CP is {C-F-G-C} only in the Key of C, and is {G-C-D-G} only in the Key of G, but calling it { I-IV-V-I } is correct in all keys.
practical utility: The key-general terms are useful in many ways, as when we discuss chord functions or chord progressions. For example, the 50s Progression is typically described as “I-vi-IV-V” because this communicates “the kind of progression it is,” including the important presence of a minor chord (the uncapitalized “vi”) and lets a musician think “C-Am-F-G” for playing in the Key of C, but for Key of G it's “G-Em-C-D”, and so on. This generalizing lets us “think in all keys” with flexibility.
assumptions about major & minor: When a musician says “C” they implicitly mean “C Major” whether it's the Key of C, Scale of C, or a C Chord. If they mean “C Minor” they will explicitly state that it's Minor. For example, the 50s Progression can be described as “C-Am-F-G” (in the Key of C) where three chords are implicitly assumed to be major, and Am is explicitly defined to be A Minor. Or the meaning can be clarified with Roman Numerals (“I-vi-IV-V”) because capitalized chords (I,IV,V) are always Major, while an uncapitalized chord (vi) is Minor.
the key of A Minor:
This fully-colorized keyboard shows chord-notes for the main chords of C Major (in two lower rows) and A Minor (in two upper rows) because both keys – major & minor – are musically important. And because the chords of A Minor can be musically useful when playing in the key of C Major.
Compared with C Major, in A Minor all patterns are similar (they're analogous) except they are shifted to the left by 2 notes, from C down to A; or we can view the shift as 5 notes rightward, from C up to A. Both keys use only white notes for their Scale and their three main Chords; this is useful for my keyboard-colorizing and your keyboard-playing. In each key, the three main chords (red, blue, green) are formed with a spacing of “every other white note.”
terms: A Minor is the relative minor of C Major; and C Major is the relative major of A Minor. We call them relative because they're related, because both keys use the same set of scale notes; the same scale notes (all of the 7 white notes) are just arranged in a different order, as either CDEFGAB or ABCDEFG.
Because the two keys are so similar, I won't describe the details of A Minor, like I did for C Major. Instead you can use the logic-of-analogy to convert your knowledge of C Major into analogous knowledge of A Minor.
The two keys are similar in some ways, but there is a very important difference in their Scales, because A Minor has three flatted notes - b3, b6, and b7. This produces a difference in Chords (and thus Melodies) because in C Major the three main Chords have a 1-to-3 interval of 4 semitones (defined as a Major Third); but in A Minor each of its three main Chords has a 1-to-3 interval of only 3 semitones (so it's a Minor Third) due to the three flatted-notes in its Minor Scale. This difference – hearing a Major Third or a Minor Third – produces an important difference in the sounds of Chords and Melodies, because the “major sounds” & “minor sounds” are different, and both are musically useful. { similarities & differences between Major Chords (I,IV,V) and Minor Chords (i,iv,v) }
In the Other Page you can see more details for A Minor, how its main chords — the (i, iv, v) of (A Minor, D Minor, E Minor) aka (Am, Dm, Em) — are formed from "every other white note," as with C Major.
Below is a photo for part of a colorized keyboard. It has a low-and-high system – with major chords low, minor chords high – so the notes of major chords will be easier to see (and thus to use for playing) because the major chords are used more often. But the notes of minor chords are available, are clearly marked, and with practice they also can be easily used. { And there is a practical reason for moving minor chords to the top. }
Major plus Minor
A fully-colorized keyboard shows the notes of major chords and minor chords, because both are musically important. In each kind of key – major and minor – we can make music that is wonderfully interesting and enjoyable. Overall, I prefer Major – and when playing a keyboard my favorite key is C Major – but Minor also can be beautiful. So we should think Major-plus-Minor instead of Major-versus-Minor. Both modes of music are wonderful. Each is an essential part of fully appreciating our human possibilities for making music and hearing music, when they are separate, are Major OR Minor. And they can be very good together, with Major-AND-Minor, when we...
play Minor-within-Major in two ways, by...
1) using Minor Notes within a Major Chord:
During a Major Chord, you can play Minor Notes (as in a chromatic scale-melody) to produce a “blues” sound-and-feeling or to achieve other musical goals.
2) using Minor Chords within a Major Key:
Many popular songs use a chord progression that combines Major Chords with Minor Chords, in the context of a Major Key. We hear this combination often, in a wide variety of music. Four examples are the 50s Progression and I-V-vi-IV and ii-V-I and Pachelbel's Progression. These are 4 of 7 Common Chord Progressions You’ll Instantly Recognize; and a 5th Common Progression (but with no minor chords, using only Major Chords within a Major Key) is 12-Bar Blues with melodies that often (as in "1" above) play Minor Notes within Major Chords. You can play these more easily on a fully-colorized keyboard because it has two sets of colors, for Notes of Major Chords (in red, blue, green), and for Notes of Minor Chords (in red, blue, green).
When playing in a major key, musicians mainly use major chords, but also some minor chords. Similarly, in a minor key we mainly play minor chords, but also some major chords.
terms: Earlier, our logical system for naming chords – with letters & roman numerals – is explained and summarized. Using this system, the Key of C Major has Major Chords (“C, F, G” that are “I, IV, V”) and Minor Chords (“Am, Dm, Em” that are “vi, ii, iii”). In this “major context” the minor chord Am is labeled vi because A is the 6th note in a Scale of C Major, CDEFGAB. For the same reasons – due to their positions in the Scale of C Major – Dm is ii, and Em is iii.
Below are two ways to visualize Minor Chords within a Major Key, in the Key of C Major.
In the first diagram, the two kinds of chords (Minor & Major) are on separate rows, with Minor Chords below the Minor Note-Bars, and Major Chords below the Major Note-Bars, followed by two ways to describe a C-Scale, with numbers (1 2 3 4 5...) and letters (C D E F G...). / related diagrams: The bottom five rows (with note-bars, note-bars, chord-numbers, scale-numbers, scale-letters) contain the same information that's in an earlier diagram for C Major but here the info is rearranged.
Below in another view of these chords, both kinds – Major & Minor – are on the same line. In some ways this view is more simple, but in other ways is more complex. Basically, it's just a different perspective, which can be mentally stimulating and musically useful.
Here you see all three Minor Chords, but in most chord progressions that use Minor within Major only one minor chord is used; it's the vi in a 50s Progression (I-vi-IV-V) or a popular cousin (I-V-vi-IV), and is ii for a jazz progression (like ii-V-I-I). Or two minor chords are used, as in Pachelbel's Canon Progression with vi and iii.
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some useful concepts-and-terms
Before we move on to Strategies for Making Music, here are descriptions of some useful terms — they're just words we use to represent useful concepts — in the language of music.
rhythm, beats & bars, tempo: The basic unit of rhythm is a beat – you “tap your foot” with each beat – and a bar (aka measure) typically has 4 beats; but it's 3 beats-per-bar for a waltz. The “speed” of a song – the tempo of its beats – can be slow or (with a higher rate of beats-per-minute) faster.
rhythmic phrases and melodic phrases: A phrase is defined as "a series of notes that sounds complete, even when played apart from the main song." We can think about (and hear/feel) similarities & differences between rhythmic phrases and melodic phrases ... [[ to be completed after I learn more, iou. ]]
pitches – intervals of semitones & tones: The pitch of a note is “how high it sounds.” On a keyboard, pitches are lowest for notes on the left side, and the pitch steadily increases when moving rightward. An interval is the difference in pitch between two notes. The smallest interval – a semitone – is the interval between any two adjacent notes. If the interval is two semitones, it's called a tone. { intervals used in major chords & minor chords and names of intervals }
flats and sharps: The black note between D and E can be called E flat (typically written E♭, or Eb) because it's one semitone “flatter” than E); but it's also D sharp (written D#) because it's one semitone “sharper” than D. Both terms – Eb and D# – have the same meaning; they are equivalent ways to specify the same note, to define it. Each term can be useful, in different musical contexts. For example, usually we say that the Key of F includes Bb (we don't say A#), and the Key of G has F# (not Gb) — as explained in playing melodies during an F-Chord or G-Chord (it's "flats and sharps, Part 2") — even though Bb is the same note as A#, and F# is Gb. / terms: When we describe a flat-note, the position of b matches the way we speak. Thus, for “E flat” the b is placed after the E, so this note is Eb. Similarly, 3b is “3 flat”. But for a “flatted third” the b is spoken before 3, so it's b3.
scales and scales: Yes, scale is a term with two meanings. It's either a group of scale-notes (e.g. C,D,E,F,G,A,B) that can be played in any way, or (with a more-restrictive meaning) is playing scale-notes in consecutive sequence without skipping any, sometimes beginning & ending on a home-note, as in CDEFGABC ascending or (less commonly used) CBAGFEDC descending. In this page I'll use two colors — scale (for a group of notes that can be played in any way) and scale (for scale-notes played in consecutive sequence) — to clarify my meaning; but most writers don't do this, so to understand their intended meaning you must be aware of the context. { there are many scales: minor & minor, diatonic & chromatic, blues,... }
scales and octaves: If you “play a scale” with only the 7 scale-notes (1234567, in C Major it's CDEFGAB) this will sound strangely unfinished, because it “feels more natural” (it “sounds more musical”) to end with C, as in (12345671) where 1 is an octave above 1. / partial equivalence: Wikipedia says "the human ear tends to hear both notes [1 and 1] as being essentially ‘the same’, due to closely related harmonics," and describes "octave equivalence, the assumption that pitches one or more octaves apart are musically equivalent in many ways," but not in all ways.
One kind of octave equivalence is the musical utility of thinking about a home-note(s) and the ways you can musically emphasize it (or them), with me using language that is singular-yet-plural, which is grammatically illogical but is musically logical.
One kind of octave non-equivalence occurs because we "tend to hear both notes [1 and 1] as being essentially ‘the same’" only when we hear them as two isolated notes, rather than in the musical context of other notes. As a simple example, compare the sounds of "13451" with "13451" and you'll hear a distinctive difference. With a skillful use of this difference between octave-notes, a musician can produce very different sounds-and-feelings in the music.
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Strategies for Making Music
For most musicians the main music-making strategy — so it's what I'm teaching in this page, and is the main reason that a colorized keyboard will be musically useful for you — is...
Using Harmony to Make Melodies with
Harmony Changes in a Chord Progression:
What? Every chord has harmony. During a chord progression – it's a sequence of chords – we hear changes in harmony. Using a chord progression is the most common way to make music, whether it's classical, popular (in all areas), or jazz. / This is "the most common way" in our modern western culture. I think it's the best way, and I won't wander away into descriptions of music in other modern cultures or in the past.
Why? Because we enjoy hearing two kinds of harmony, when the harmony either is only-simultaneous (in a chord) OR is only-sequential (in a melody). We also enjoy BOTH together, and this happy combination occurs when musicians are playing Harmonious Melodies that “fit well” with the Harmonious Chords in a progression. In this way, we enjoy harmonies that are simultaneous-AND-sequential, with Harmonious Chords AND Harmonious Melodies. Using a chord progression is an effective way to combine harmonies-and-melodies, to make music that is enjoyable (because people enjoy hearing harmonious chords plus harmonious melodies) and is interesting due to the harmony changes (when chords change during the progression), and because both parts of the music (chords & melodies) can be played in a wide variety of ways.
What? Most of the songs we hear use a chord progression with three main chords that are the “red chord” and “blue chord” and “green chord” on my colorized keyboard. In most music, harmonious melodies are created by playing mainly red notes during the time when a red chord is being played, and playing mainly blue notes {or mainly green notes} while a blue chord {or green chord} is being played.
How? Part 1A outlines one process for developing skill, in two stages. During Stage 1 "you begin with the simplicity of only red notes" and "everything you do — whether you move upward (rightward) or downward (leftward), play only consecutive red notes or skip some — will be a harmonious melody that sounds harmoniously pleasant." But "while playing only red notes, your musical adventures will be limited. You'll have more fun when you... play mainly red notes but also some non-red notes for variety,... to explore a wider variety of possibilities" so you are "making music that still is pleasant, but now is more interesting." / Then during Stage 2 you improvise melodies that are guided by chord progressions, when you alternate time-periods of only red and only blue and only green. Then begin mixing mainly red with mainly blue and mainly green,... improvising melodies that harmonize with each chord in the chord progression." / This basic outline also is used in Part 1B, which just describes ways to "explore a wide variety of possibilities."
How? As explained in Part 2 (Strategies for Improvising), "the main way to improve your improvising is to learn by doing, when you do musical experiments (you try new musical ideas) to produce new musical experiences so you can listen-and-learn."
Below you'll find some "new musical ideas" you can try.
Strategies for Making Melodies
Skilled musicians use these melody-making strategies during chord progressions. This context-of-use makes them more valuable because almost all musicians (including me) think that using chord progressions is the best music-making strategy.
 Here you see notes (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,1) in a Scale. {it's the Scale of C Major, but you don't need to know this, instead just think of the notes as 12345671.} The non-chord notes (2,4,6,7) are gray, to highlight the chord notes (1,3,5) that usually are featured when improvising melodies during a Red Chord when you're playing a mainly-red melody. To make it mainly-red instead of only-red, you can supplement chord-melodies (using only chord notes) with scale-melodies (using some non-chord notes). We'll look at each “kind of melody” before combining them. Your music will sound harmonious when you...
play chord-melodies: During a red chord, when you play only red notes everything you do will sound harmonious and pleasant. In Stage 1 of Part 1A, I recommend doing creative experiments, "trying different ways to play only-red, by changing directions (go up for awhile, then back down, and up,...) and skipping some red notes." That's the process I've used to compose my melodies that are educational examples. When you use the process — by "doing creative experiments" for awhile, before you play my melody-examples — I think your experiences will be more enjoyable and educational. How? As usual, free-and-slow playing allows creativity in your exploring, when you're playing notes in different sequences and with different rhythms.  / What? Using ten scale-notes (here I'm labeling them 0123456789), my melodies – 1358, 3531, 3153, 3558 – probably are similar to what you've been playing. Longer chord-melodies can be simple, as in 1358531_ , where "_" shows that the final note lasts two beats instead of the one beat used for the other notes, to make the 7-note melody last 8 beats. And melodies can be a little more complex, as in 1358351_ , 31538531 , or 1355358_ . You can invent a wide variety of chord-melodies, especially when you also use chord-notes that are lower than 0 and higher than 9. Other melodies I've composed are in an examples-page. And you can...
play scale-melodies: By using non-chord passing notes (both white and black) you can move between chord notes that are target notes — so you're passing from one chord note to another chord note (it's a target note) — in ways that are smooth and musical. This is a common way to play brief mini-scales (they're partial scales, are less than a full scale of 12345678) that I call scale-melodies, as in 345, 345432121, 34, 56787676, or 21012345. / terms: Early in this section, I'm using colors to distinguish between two kinds of scales; a scale is a group of scale-notes (1,2,3,4,5,6,7, e.g. C,D,E,F,G,A,B) that can be played in any way; a scale is playing a consecutive sequence of scale-notes, as in 345. But later, sometimes I just say "scale" with no color, so you'll have to get the meaning from context.
mix chord-melodies with scale-melodies: When you do this, making music will be more interesting and more fun. In fact, this combining (of chords with scales) is the main way that experts make melodies. As usual, you can do experimenting for awhile before you continue reading. / [[ In early April, I stopped working on this but will return to it in June. ]]
[[ iou – Sometime soon, this paragraph will be used somewhere in the early part of this section about melody-making strategies. ]]
melodies for goal-directed education: These melody-making strategies – and others – are illustrated in my example melodies that are intended for teaching, to help you convert abstract ideas (in your thinking) into concrete reality (in your playing); i.e. I'm not trying to compose “hit songs”, 🙂. Instead my objective is educational, to show you how melody-making strategies can be used to make mainly-red melodies; or to make melodies that are mainly-blue or mainly-green. Each melody is a goal-directed Aesop's Activity that (analogous to an Aesop's Fable) is designed to illustrate a specific strategy you can use to improvise your own melodies. To learn more effectively, you can use stop-and-go reading, by stopping to play-and-hear each example melody, and then continuing to read.
defining a skip-melody: Another useful melody-making strategy is what I call a skip-melody.* When defining terms, it's useful to think about two kinds of difference. First, re: “the kinds of notes,” a chord-melody has only chord notes (as in "135"), but a scale-melody also includes at least one non-chord note (as in "345" or "123456"). Second, re: “playing notes consecutively or skipping,” a scale-melody has consecutive scale-notes, but a “skip melody” uses non-consecutive scale-notes. A “skip melody” can be made in two ways, with a chord-melody (as in "15") that technically this is a “skip melody” but I call it a scale-melody and thus limit skip-melody to cases when one of the two notes (first or second, being skipped-from or skipped-to) is a non-chord note, which occurs in a sequence of "14" or "24" or "25", but not in "35".
two kinds of scales: Yes, this term has two common meanings. Therefore, to reduce confusion I'm using colors to distinguish between a scale that is a group of scale-notes (1,2,3,4,5,6,7, e.g. C,D,E,F,G,A,B) that can be played in any way; a scale is playing a consecutive sequence of scale-notes, as in 345.
two scales: My examples of mixing chord-melodies with scale-melodies use only white notes that are in the diatonic scale (it's C D E F G A B, with only 7 notes) of C Major. But this limitation isn't necessary. You can use some non-chord notes (only white) to form diatonic scale-melodies; AND you can use all non-chord notes (both white & black) to form chromatic scale-melodies, using any notes from a chromatic scale (it's C Db D Eb E F Gb G Ab A Bb B, with all 12 notes) of C Major. { flats and sharps }
two kinds of scale-melodies: While you're inventing scale-melodies, both scales are useful. Each kind of scale-melody, using only consecutive white notes (in a diatonic scale) or using all consecutive notes (in a chromatic scale) can be useful in different ways, because each produces distinctive “sounds and feelings” in melodies.*
many kinds of scales: When musicians are making melodies — by mixing chord-melodies, scale-melodies, and skip-melodies — we can use diatonic scales (major & 3 kinds of minor) and chromatic scale, and pentatonic scales (major & minor) and related blues scales (major & minor & hybrid), plus 7 modes.
* I enjoy improvising with both kinds of melodies, so I sometimes “think classical” or “think blues” to inspire different ways of playing. While “thinking classical” I play mostly in-scale notes (white), and “thinking blues” is useful when I want to include more out-of-scale notes (black). { more about different ways to “think ____” while playing, by filling the blank with classical or blues, or with jazz, rock, or popular. }
With both scales – diatonic or chromatic – almost all scale-melodies are mini-scales, are partial scales, not full scales. Now you can freely experiment — by including any kind of melodies (using chords or skips, plus scales) — in two ways, by continuing to play diatonic scale-melodies (as you did earlier) or beginning to play chromatic scale-melodies. / tips: While you're exploring possibilities for chromatic scale-melodies, in addition to creative slow playing – so you'll have time to try new note-sequences & note-rhythms – you may find it useful (as I do) to play self-limiting games. For example, limit the range of your melodies (chord + skip + scale) by using only the notes from 0 to 5, i.e. using 0 1 2b 2 3b 3 4 5b 5 , or limit the range so it's 1-to-3, or is 3-to-5 or 1-to-5. Or explore the octave's upper end with 5-to-8, or 5-to-9, 5 or 1-to-5.
[[ iou – In August the paragraph above will have a little more content – but not much – and some examples. For now I'll just include a section that's fairly recent about playing blues. But here is an option to consider:
playing “classical” with chromatic: Before you read the next section about “blues” melodies, for awhile (if you want) try finding ways to “think classical” while playing more black notes, so you can find melodies with “more black notes” while you're “thinking classical” instead of “thinking blues”. ]]
[[ iou – Later, maybe... I'll re-locate (to another location) the "technical" aspects of the first paragraph – re: "two scales" and their term-names, because you don't need to know these terms for scales, you just need to know how to use the scale-notes for making melodies. I want this long section about "Strategies for Making Melodies" to be useful for players who do know some theory, or don't know much theory; therefore I should remove these terms here, and just provide a link to where the terms are explained. ]]
play “blues melodies” by using
“blues notes” and blues scales:
How? You can...
use blues notes:
When playing “blues melodies” (during 12-Bar Blues, including “jazz blues” and “blues rock”) a common melody-making strategy is to use “blues notes”. Two of these are minor notes from a minor key — a flatted-third (b3) and flatted-seventh (b7), aka 3-flat (3b) and 7-flat (7b) — while playing major chords in a major key; this is one of two ways to play Minor-within-Major. Another useful “blues note” is the flatted 5th (b5, aka 5b) because even though this note isn't in the Minor Scale, it lets you play melodies with a pair of minor-sounding “flatted chord notes,” with a flatted-E (the Eb that is 3b, is the b3) plus flatted-G (it's Gb, 5b, is the b5). And the flatted 7th (b7) actually IS a chord-note in the 7th chords (1,3,5,b7 - aka 1,3,5,7b) that usually are played in Blues Progressions. These three notes – 3b, 5b, 7b – are useful for playing chord-based melodies (mainly-red, mainly-blue, mainly-green) with a “blues” sound-and-feeling.
How do you adjust when the chord changes? During a C Chord you can play chord notes (C,E,G) and also non-chord notes with blues-notes (b3,b5,b7 - 3b,5b,7b - Eb,Gb,Bb) featured; during an F-Chord you play chord notes (F,A,C) and also non-chord notes with blues-notes featured (these are the b3,b5,b7 notes of an F-Scale, are Ab,Cb=B,Eb, which are 6b,7,3b when described on a C-Scale of 1-2-3-4-5-6-7);* during a G-Chord, play its chord notes (G,B,D) plus non-chord notes that feature the blues-notes (3b,5b,7b) of a G-Scale (they're Bb,Db,F, are 7b,2b,4). / * For me it's useful to think "6b,7,3b" (the notes in a C-Scale) because I usually “think in a C-Scale” that uses its note-numbers, even when I'm playing an F-Melody (during an F-Chord) or G-Melody (during a G-Chord) with these melodies being played temporarily in the permanent context of C when a song is in the key of C. But I'm also aware of note-locations within the F-Scale, e.g. I know that 7b (Bb) is the flatted-third of an F-Scale, and thus is a commonly used blues note. } { melody-examples that use blues notes } { another approach to adjusting when the chord changes }
Another way of thinking about “playing blues melodies” is to...
use blues scales: Musicians think about “playing blues” in many ways. One common way, described above, is to play melodies that include notes with a “minor sound” (b3,b5,b7) in the scale of each chord (I,IV,V - C,F,G). Another common way that also is popular among musicians (especially guitarists) is to “play blues” by using a Blues Scale. The most common – so it's often called “the Blues Scale” – is a Minor Blues Scale (1-b3-4-b5-5-b7) that is a Minor Pentatonic Scale with b5 added;* it includes b3,b5,b7 but excludes four notes (2,3,6,7) that are in the Scale of C Major, and some of the black notes. Or they use a Major Blues Scale (1-2-b3-3-5-6) that is a Major Pentatonic Scale with b3 added. Or they use both scales, alternating between them. Or the two scales can be combined into a Hybrid Blues Scale (1-2-b3-3-4-b5-5-6-b7) with all 9 notes that are included in either of the two Blues Scales; it's a Minor Blues Scale plus extra notes (2,3,6, from the Major Blues Scale) that give a player more flexibility, making this a useful scale for improvising melodies; and it's a Major Blues Scale plus extra notes (4,b5,b7, from the Minor Blues Scale) for extra flexibility. { note: The term scale has two meanings so it's important to recognize that a blues scale is "a group of scale-notes that can be played in any way [with creative flexibility]" and is not the rigidity of always "playing some [or all] notes of a scale-group in consecutive sequence without skipping any." } {* Minor Pentatonic Scale and Major Pentatonic Scale }
[[ iou – in September, with more depth I'll compare these two approaches, with blues notes and blues scales. • A "blues notes" approach begins with a diatonic scale (only white notes) and encourages you to add black notes (especially 3 "blues notes" but also others) in any ways you want. • A "blues scale" approach begins with a limited number of notes (6 in either Blues Scale, 9 in a Hybrid Blues Scale) and typically a player uses only these notes (6 or 9), which include the 3 black notes that are blues notes. Although my teaching & playing is a "blues notes" approach, I think both approaches can be useful in different ways for players in different learning-situations and playing-situations. And I'll describe what I'm now viewing as a semi-mystery when some musicians play the same blues scale throughout a progression, for all chords. ]]
[[ The sections below — about "thinking ___" and "the benefits of playing slow" (but I've changed this term to playing free) — are copied from an earlier version that will be revised in small ways. But the major ideas will remain as-they-are now. ]]
How? Below are three “ways to think” while using non-chord notes as passing notes — as in the improvising strategies of "mixing scale-melodies with chord-melodies" or "using black notes to make chromatic scale-melodies" — and this thinking may inspire you to creatively invent melodies during a chord progression of I-IV-V-I (sometimes used in classical), 12-Bar Blues (the standard for blues), ii-V-I-I (often used in jazz), or another progression:
• sometimes I'm thinking “classical” while playing mainly red {or mainly blue, mainly green} plus some non-red {or non-blue, non-green} that are mostly white (in scale) and occasionally black (out of scale), because my melodies are focusing on white notes that are in the scale.
• sometimes I'm thinking “blues” and – during mainly red {or mainly blue, mainly green} – my non-chord notes include more black notes (than in “classical”) so the melody has more of a “blues” sound-and-feeling. { strategies for improvising blues-melodies }
• sometimes I'm thinking “jazz” while playing along with the common jazz progression of ii-V-I. If you do this, an adventurous attitude — so "you'll feel more free to do the creatively-risky experimenting that produces new experiences and new learning" — will help you you have fun while improvising jazz melodies. { excellent explanations-and-music are in videos (38 minutes total) about Jazz Theory & Jazz Improvisation by Julian Bradley for his Jazz Tutorial. These are two of my favorite teaching videos. / Along with many other useful tips, he recommends beginning with simplicity by playing in one key, [[ iou – I'll fix the rest of this paragraph soon, during May 7-9. ]] this is one of two valuable benefits (re: effective time-use and instantly recognizing chord-notes)* of a colorized keyboard — "for anything composition-related," which includes improvisation. [plus * 70% of improvs involve chord notes]
While you're thinking “classical” and/or “blues” and/or “jazz” (or “rock”,...) you also can be thinking “popular” with the goal of inventing beautiful melodies of the kind that you (and others) will enjoy, like the melodies in songs that become popular. { For this, a great video is Maybe 4 Notes is All You Need from Aimee Nolte. }
Of course, during any chord progression you can do all modes-of-playing by alternating time periods (that can be short or long) of “thinking classical” and “thinking blues” or “thinking jazz” (or “thinking rock” or “thinking ? ”). And instead of either “classical” OR “blues” you can “think classical-AND-blues” or “think blues-AND-jazz” (or other combos) so you're playing in a wider variety of ways, to expand the range of possibilities you're exploring.
new melodies plus old melodies: You'll add interesting ingredients to your musical mix when, in addition to the new melodies you're inventing, your improvising also includes old melodies that already exist in a familiar song. This blending of old with new is a popular way to improvise, because it works well. How? By alternating times of old with new, and retaining some connection(s) with the old song. When you're “doing old” you can alternate times of using old melodies as-is, and modified to form semi-old melodies that are slightly-unfamiliar (with some unpredictable Musical Mystery but not too much) so your variations can be recognized as variations of the old melody, but are not totally different. And when you're “doing new” you CAN be totally different in the new melodies you're inventing — perhaps by alternating times when the focus is chord-notes (in chord-melodies) and is scale-notes (in scale-melodies) — IF your new melodies “fit well” with chords in the chord progression of the old song. In these ways you always can retain some connection with the old song, either with similarity that is only-harmonic (if your new melodies are totally unrelated to the old melody) or is harmonic-and-melodic (if your new melodies are closely related to the old melody); when doing this the strategy is to sometimes play new melodies (with only harmonic) and sometimes play old melodies (with harmonic plus melodic).
the benefits of playing slow: During your improvising — whether you're thinking “classical” or “blues” or “jazz” or “rock” or “popular” or “ ? ” or you're using another type of strategy (e.g. with imagery for thinking-and-feeling)* to stimulate creativity — you may find (as I have) that slow experimenting often is productive. Your slow playing can help you break out of familiar habit-ruts, because you have more time to intentionally try unfamiliar sequences-of-notes (by playing-with-thinking and also playing-without-thinking, because both ways to play can be productive) so you're using the notes in new ways, and this makes it more likely that you'll discover new ways to make music. And playing slowly can help you convert your understanding (of theory-principles) into your playing (with theory-principles).
the benefits of playing faster: But you shouldn't play only slowly, instead alternate between slow playing and faster playing, perhaps while using a metronome (or a backing-track video) that motivates you to make quick improv-decisions so your playing stays in-tempo and in-rhythm. [[ iou – Soon (in early May) this paragraph will be longer, and both paragraphs – for slow & faster – will be revised. ]]
[[ now there is a newly-condensed version -- and later, when this version is revised it will use some of these ideas: regarding terms, I need to find a better term (and better way to describe) the "rhythmic accountability" that is much more important than just playing faster, and hopefully I'll soon find it. [update: slow playing & faster playing have been changed to free playing & playing along] / I also need better terms for the following concepts: a skillful rhythmic melody will "fit into the available time" smoothly, in ways that produce an effective cooperation between melody & rhythm; rhythmic continuity (or maybe consistent rhythmic accuracy?) occurs when your "playing along" cooperates with an external source of rhythm, e.g. a metronome or video, or other musicians in a jam session. ]] [[ also, I'll connect these "speeds" (or "rhythmic accountabilities") with other ideas, like metacognition (tends to be easier with slow), flow (can occur in both, but especially in faster), rhythmic skills (occur in both, but better learned in faster), learning and/or performing with learning in both but performance more-emphasized in faster, using single-chord videos (with rhythm, i.e. for faster) vs drones (with no rhythm, for slow with no rhythmic accountability); and more. / This entire section – slow plus faster – will be important, with plenty of useful ideas. ]]
[[ the next paragraph will be radically condensed-and-revised, probably eliminating most links ]]
links & ideas: You can learn more – and improve more – by alternating between playing slow and fast, by thinking and not-thinking, while seeking new adventures, and aiming for high quality of learning and/or performing. There are connections between improvising and composing when we view the skill of composing as slow-motion improvising with a preserving of results that can be easier when you play slowly and record your improvisations so you can listen-and-preserve later. { synonyms: This page is about improvising melodies, but verbs that usually have similar meanings are composing, inventing, making, creating, and playing melodies. }
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The Circle of Fifths
iou – in mid-September 2024, I'll develop clear summaries of the following ideas, with links to places where you can learn more.
In familiar music (classical, jazz, popular) there are three major chords – I,IV,V – that are C,F,G (red,blue,green) in C Major. { starting a “135 chord” on any other note – on ii, iii, vi, or vii – doesn't produce a major chord }
Why does this happen? Three reasons (• • •) are logically related.
• The three interconnected reasons are based on physics-and-physiology, because the pitch-ratios of overtones for F/C (4/3 = 1.33) and G/C (3/2 = 1.50) are the lowest whole-number ratios for any note-pairs involving C, and when either pair (F+C or G+C) is played together we think the sound is pleasantly harmonious.
• Due to physics/physiology and Western Culture, during history this pleasant harmony led to our inventing (and widespread using) of a logical system in Western Music; it's built on a foundation of 12 notes, organized in two diatonic scales (major & minor) with 7 notes, because this lets us make artistic music that we think is interesting and enjoyable.
• The mathematics of our scales (invented by culture, based on physics & physiology) causes the scales of these chords (I,IV,V) to be closely related, so the 12 keys (for each of the 12 notes) can be organized into a Circle of Fifths in which neighboring keys differ by only one note, as you'll see when we examine...
Flats & Sharps in Keys of C-F-G
The diatonic Key of C Major has only white notes, with no flats or sharps. Below, the table shows that to play a correct-sounding Major Scale in the Key of F Major, the F-Scale must have Bb (it's called B-flat because it's “flatter” than B, by one semitone) instead of B. Similarly, in the Key of G Major the G-Scale must have an F# that is F-sharp, is “sharper” than F. { flats and sharps }
| C-Scale: |
C |
C# |
D |
D# |
E |
F |
F# |
G |
G# |
A |
A# |
B |
C |
| F-Scale: |
F |
Gb |
G |
Ab |
A |
Bb |
B |
C |
Db |
D |
Eb |
E |
F |
| G-Scale: |
G |
G# |
A |
A# |
B |
C |
C# |
D |
D# |
E |
F |
F# |
G |
If you play a melody in the Key of F, this F-Melody usually will sound musically strange if you use B as a passing note (between A and C) instead of Bb. For the same reason, when playing a song in the Key of C an F-Melody (that's played during an F-Chord) almost always sounds better when Bb (not B) is used as a passing note.
But if you play a G-Melody (in the Key of G, or during a G-Chord in the Key of C) and use F instead of F#, this usually will sound less strange, compared with the strangeness of an F-Melody that uses B instead of Bb. And in some musical situations, you may think the F sounds better than F#. In fact, a basic G Chord (playing GBD) often is supplemented to form a G7 Chord (playing GBDF in a 7th chord) so F becomes a Chord Note, instead of being a Non-Chord Note that also is a Non-Scale Note.
This sub-section is limited to The Key of C Major. More generally, in all other keys a Major Scale requires playing one or more flat-notes or sharp-notes. If you want to know the what-and-why, you can learn how The Circle of Fifths is constructed by using The Logic of Scales. |
From a Detailed Table of Contents in my Other Big Page,
Musical Imagery: While
you're playing or singing, feel (for yourself) or communicate (for others) your musically-metaphorical “imagery” for the atmosphere-character-flavor-mood of the music, for the ways you're thinking & feeling. { full section }
Musical Mystery: Usually, music that is interesting and enjoyable is semi-predictable, with some surprises. Why? Because when we hear music, we intuitively follow the flow of what has been happening, and “predict” what will happen. If there is too much sameness, we become bored. But we get frustrated if the music is too difficult to predict. We tend to enjoy an in-between mix, with frequent confirmation of expectations along with some surprises, in a blend that is interesting rather than boring or frustrating. { full section }
Musical Tension: In the music we enjoy, one aspect of artistic semi-mystery arises from creatively mixing consonance (sometimes) and dissonance (other times). To do this, a common strategy is moving away from the home-chord (or home-note) of a key, and then returning to it. In this way and others, musicians can produce tension (in their chords and/or melodies) and then resolve the tension. { full section } { using home-chords in a progression } { using home-notes in a melody }
[[ I'll continue by summarizing principles from the full section along with saying "Usually a listener won't consciously interpret this music as dissonant tension, but they will subconsciously sense it with their musical intuitions. This strategy for making artistic melodies — by using artistic mystery, with some surprising unpredictability but not too much, with cycles of producing tension and resolving tension" plus other ideas, and links to the awesome videos – with brilliant explanations, examples, and audio-video production, editing cuts, with segments assembled seamlessly – by David Bennett, plus one-minute description, and more ]]
[[ iou – I'll continue writing the rest of this section in late-August. It used to be extremely long, but soon the rest of this new version (condensed & revised) will be here. ]]
four popular Chord Progressions
Musicians almost always use a Chord Progression because it's useful for creating music that is interesting (due to the chord changes) and is enjoyable (with harmonious chords & melodies). Although you can improvise while using a chord progression invented by yourself it's much more common to use a chord progression invented by others, as in these Four Popular Chord Progressions:
12-Bar Blues — in the Key of C, it's CCCCFFCCGFCC or (with a common turnaround) CCCCFFCCGFCG or other variations, and generalized (for all keys) it's I-I-I-I-IV-IV-I-I-V-IV-I-I or is I-I-I-I-IV-IV-I-I-V-IV-I-V — uses only the three main major chords. So does a simple progression (I-IV-V-I, C-F-G-C) that is commonly used in music (especially classical) and is examined in Stage 2b of Part 1. { In all chord progressions, musicians often add “extra notes” to the basic 3-note triads, especially with 7th chords. }
Adding a minor chord (vi) expands the range of possibilities, with the 50s Progression (I-vi-IV-V, it's C-Am-F-G in the Key of C) and – by changing the sequence of chords – a popular cousin, 1564 (I-V-vi-IV, C-G-Am-F). Another minor chord (ii) is used in the common jazz progression of ii-V-I (aka 2-5-1 or 251) as in ii-V-I-I, Dm-G-C-C. Of course, a CP in a major key can have two (or more) minor chords, as in this progression (or another you can hear) and in Pachelbel's Canon.
also: Instead of playing in a major key, some chord progressions (those with only major chords) can be directly adapted for a minor key, as in 12-Bar Minor Blues or by modifying the major chords in “I-IV-V-I” to get the analogous “i-iv-v-i” (e.g. Am-Dm-Em-Am) with minor chords. And we can invent-and-use other progressions in a minor key.
In this page you can learn more about 12-Bar Blues – simple I-IV-V-I – 50s Progression & a popular cousin – jazz progressions.
You can learn more about (and hear) a much wider variety of chord progressions in 26 videos that are excellent — with clear explanations of “why” and many musical examples, produced with high quality — from David Bennett Piano.
You can hear and play along with “backing track” videos in YouTube (a few tips & many links) for all of these chord progressions, and others, so you can hear the CP's and improvise.
50s Progression: Why is it popular? A simple reason is the smooth blending of minor and major (with its minor chord and three major chords) while playing in a major key, and this blend adds interesting variety to the music. A complex reason is why the blending is smooth, due to a sharing-of-notes in its chords (and thus in its chord changes), as explained in the 1B-Appendix. { The 50s Progression and variations }
1564 (a popular cousin): A very common progression (used in many songs) rearranges these four chords from I-vi-IV-V (50s) into I-V-vi-IV (cousin) and it “works well” for harmonic reasons. {these four chords are analyzed and enjoyed in pages & videos & forums}
changing the rate of change: For any progression, you can adjust the rate of chord-changing to make it faster or slower, by playing each chord for a time that is shorter or longer – e.g. for 4 beats (1 bar) or 8 beats (2 bars) – and by making the tempo (in beats/minute) faster or slower.
a wide variety of chords: Although I say "all changes" many other changes are possible, when other chords (not just I and IV and V) are used. This page emphasizes ways to make music by using basic chord-notes (formed from the 1,3,5 chord-notes) in the main major chords (I, IV, V) and playing melodies that focus on chord-notes. But creative musicians often make music in a wider variety of ways. During a song that's in a major key, they sometimes play minor chords (as in a 50s Progression), plus complex chords that supplement the chord's basic triad-notes (1,3,5) with other notes, as in 7th chords.
Why do musicians use chord progressions? Because we enjoy hearing two kinds of harmony, when the harmony either is only-simultaneous (in chords) OR is only-sequential (in melodies). We also enjoy BOTH together, and this combination happens when musicians are playing melodies that “fit well” with each chord in a progression, so we can enjoy harmonies that are simultaneous-AND-sequential, with Harmonious Chords AND Harmonious Melodies. During a chord progression, we hear many kinds of harmonious interactions, of Chords with Chords, and Chords with Melodies, and Melodies with Melodies. Using a chord progression is an effective way to combine harmonies-and-melodies, to make music that is enjoyable (because people enjoy hearing harmonious chords and harmonious melodies) and is interesting (due to the harmony-changes when chords change, and when chord-based melodies include some non-chord notes instead of only chord notes).
12-Bar Blues
Why? It's a chord progression that provides a useful structure for improvising. And it has been influential in modern music. New World Encyclopedia and Wikipedia both say "blues musical styles, [and] forms (12-bar blues), [and] melodies, and the blues scale have influenced many other genres of music, such as rock and roll, jazz, and popular music."
How? A first step in making it "a useful structure" is understanding the chord progression. You can do this by reading (in this section) and hearing (in videos). You can hear examples of 12 Bar Blues with youtube videos and in other ways. Listen (and maybe play along) so you can learn.
What? When you carefully listen to a song with a Chord Progression (CP) of 12-Bar Blues, you will hear chord changes (harmony changes) occurring in a time-pattern that repeats every 12 bars of music, which usually (with 4 beats per bar) is every 48 beats. In the key of C-Major, for 12-Bar Blues the basic CP is 4 bars with C-Chords (CEG), 2 with F-Chords (FAC), 2 with C-Chords (CEG), 1 with G-Chords (GBD), 1 with F-Chords (FAC), and 2 with C-Chords (CEG). Written in condensed form, it's CCCCFFCCGFCC in the Key of C, or more generally (in any key) is I-I-I-I-IV-IV-I-I-V-IV-I-I. Usually each 12-bar pattern (it's the CP pattern of 12-Bar Blues) is followed by another 12-bar pattern until the song ends.
blues without colors: Here I'm usually showing Blues-CPs with red-blue-green, in the Key of C. But elsewhere you'll see CPs without colors, and you'll hear CPs in other keys – especially G, D, A, E (useful for guitar) but also F, Bb, Eb (for wind instruments like saxophone or trumpet).
7th chords: During a progression of 12-Bar Blues in the most common genres (for blues, blues rock, jazz blues), musicians typically use 7th Chords for all chords (not just for G7, as is common in non-blues music) to form C7, F7, and G7. These chords have an extra note (the chord-scale's flatted seventh, b7) and this is important when you're improvising chord-based “blues” melodies because when you play “mainly chord notes” these include the usual 1 & 3 & 5, plus b7. Occasionally the chords also are modified in other ways, especially for jazz blues.
turnaround endings: Usually instead of a simple CCCCFFCCGFCC.... the progression is CCCCFFCCGFCG.... with the final C (a C-Chord) replaced by G (a G-Chord) to form a “turnaround” that helps to distinguish the ending of one 12-bar progression (CC) from the beginning (CCCC) of the next 12-bar progression, so instead of CCCCCC it's CGCCCC. This leads to a sense of “coming home” when the next 12-bar CP begins with the home-chord of C. But the turnaround is used only until the song ends, so the final 12-Bar CP can end with CC (instead of CG) because this ending produces “a satisfying conclusion” by finishing on the CC that is the home-chord in the Key of C. / The title is "endings" because although “CG” is the most common turnaround, sometimes other versions are used. { more about turnarounds }
a quick-change beginning: Another common variation is a “quick change” with one C (of CCCC) quickly changing to F (in the 2nd measure) to convert (CCCC) into (CFCC) so the 12 Bars become CFCCFFCCGFCG.
many variations: In these videos you can see (in charts) and hear (in music) a variety of “jazz blues” variations on basic 12-Bar Blues.
hear the progression: The best way to “know the progression” is to hear it many times, while playing chord-based melodies. You will be actively learning-by-doing, and your activity will help you learn how to intuitively know all of the chord changes. Due to the complexity – usually with 7 chord changes in every 12 bars – I recommend starting with melodies that use only chord-notes before moving on to using mainly chord-notes. But it also can be useful to...
see the progression: Most videos have a chart showing the 12 chords in a pattern of basic 12 Bar Blues. This adds visual information, in a chart with 12 chord-terms that are static (this is OK) or (even better for a beginner) that also highlight each chord when it's being played. This info is useful because it helps you learn the 12-bar structure, and recognize the chord changes by comparing what you're hearing (in the music) with what you're seeing (in the chart).
minor blues progressions: [[ iou – I think "minor blues" uses other chords in progressions, not just simple analogy-replacement of major chords with minor chords, as I'm describing here; during July 2024, I'll be fact-finding & revising. ]] By replacing each major chord ( I, IV, V ) with a minor chord ( i, iv, v ), you can play Minor Blues with a CP of ( i-i-i-i-iv-iv-i-i-v-iv-i-v ) instead of ( I-I-I-I-IV-IV-I-I-V-IV-I-V ). My colorized keyboard shows chord-notes for C Major (in the two lower-rows of colors) and A Minor (in the higher-rows). When you shift the blues progression from C Major into A Minor, it becomes Am-Am-Am-Am-Dm-Dm-Am-Am-Em-Dm-Am-Em. Musicians also use modified versions of this basic progression. { more about minor blues }
minor-sounding melodies: Even in the usual “major blues” most melodies have a “minor sound” by including flatted notes, with b3, b5, and b7.
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four simple progressions:
[[ iou – I'm discovering that although each of my three "first-half progressions" is included in the videos of David Bennett, the "second half" isn't, and no 8-bar combinations are included. But... I've found several backing-track videos for the second-half CP, they're very rare for the first-half CP's. Soon, during Summer 2024, I'll be checking on this, to learn more, the will revise this section. ]]
The main major chords are “I, IV, V” that in C Major are “C, F, G” or (using my color-terms) are “C, F, G” or “red, blue, green”. Together, these three chords are “special” due to musical patterns (described in music theory as a Circle of Fifths) that occur for physical reasons – due to interactions of musical physics with human physiology – and artistic reasons.
We can use these three chords (red, blue, green) to form simple harmonic structures that let us creatively invent complex melodies, or simple melodies that are beautiful and artistically satisfying. Some of the best music is created by using only these chords, I and IV and V.
These four progressions can be musically useful:
• red-blue-green-red is C-F-G-C in the Key of C where it's I-IV-V-I, and generally (in any key) is I-IV-V-I. This common progression – that sounds better with some inversions of the chords – is “musically conclusive” (and therefore “musically satisfying”) because its final two chords {V-I} end with the home-chord {the I-chord} so it has a useful musical function. It's useful as a standalone 4-chord progression, and it works well as the second half of an 8-chord progression. Why? Because the two 4-chord halves produce interesting variety, and also because its “conclusive conclusion” will be more dramatically satisfying when it's preceded by a 4-chord sequence that – as in each CP below — is musically “non-conclusive” because it ends with a green-G (V) or blue-F (IV) instead of red-C-I. For example, here are CP's with 4 chords and 8 chords:
AB – red-blue-red-green-red-blue-green-red
AB – red-blue-red-green-red-blue-green-red
AB – red-blue-red-green-red-blue-green-red
Maybe... the 8-bar CP isn't used for songs because it's "too conclusive" when many 8-bar CP's are connected together in succession, so a songwriter wants to have a non-conclusion (at the end of each 4 bars) that is "concluded" when the next 4 bars begin. {answering this "maybe" is part of my iou for this section}
• red-blue-red-green-red-blue-green-red (C-F-C-G-C-F-G-C) or (I-IV-I-V-I-IV-V-I).
Among these three 8-bar sequences, this one (above) is my favorite, but you also can try...
• red-blue-green-blue-red-blue-green-red (C-F-G-F-C-F-G-C) or (I-IV-V-IV-I-IV-V-I),
• red-green-blue-green-red-blue-green-red (C-G-F-G-C-F-G-C) or (I-V-IV-V-I-IV-V-I).
Of course, you can use each 4-chord progression as a standalone CP (and some videos do this), although I've shown only the “conclusive” I-IV-V-I while the others — I-IV-I-V and I-IV-V-IV and I-V-IV-V — are shown only as the first half of an 8-chord progression.
practicing all changes: When you play any of the 8-chord progressions for awhile, and then play any other, you'll be practicing all of the 6 possible chord-changes. You will be moving from I (to IV & V) and also from IV (to I & V) and from V (to I & IV), so you can improve your skills with playing all changes that use the 3 main chords of C Major. |
practice “jamming with CP's”
by playing along with videos:
Below are links to videos with backing tracks — that provide rhythm-and-harmony (with chords or bass lines, or simple melodies) — so you can play along by improvising your own harmonious melodies that “fit well” with the harmony. For some common chord progressions — currently for 12 Bar Blues and 50s Progression plus a popular cousin and later for others — you can choose from the many available videos and play along, to enjoy the music you're making and improve your skills.
[[ iou – During July 2024, I'll revise this section so it's shorter. Before then, I strongly recommend that you go to another page for links to videos, because currently its links are more up-to-date (re: what I've found) than in this section. But for info-about-videos, like the section below about "change...", this section is useful, is worth reading. ]]
Before the links to videos, here are some video-features you can adjust. You can...
change the length (of video): If you want to practice over-and-over with a certain video, to “loop it” just right-click on the video, then click "Loop" so it's checked. {but... this may not be possible with a tablet or phone, or at least it's more difficult.}
change the speed (of video): a video doesn't need to have a specific “tempo you want” because YouTube lets you change speeds (click the “gear” icon, choose .25 .50 .75 1.00 1.25 1.50 1.75 2.00) without changing the note-pitches, so the key remains the same. This lets you enjoy the benefits of playing slow and playing fast. / But you can change your keyboard's note-pitches when you...
change the key (of keyboard): How? All of my links are to backing tracks in the Key of C (because that's best with red-blue-green colorizing) but this doesn't matter much because you can use a video that isn't “in C” by adjusting, by having your keyboard automatically transpose. For example, if a video is “in the key of E” just continue pressing the transpose-button until it's +4, and every note you play will sound 4 semitones higher, so when you “play in key of C” (easy for you) it “sounds like key of E” (in-tune with the video). / Why? A keyboard's auto-transposing feature is useful for playing along with a video. But it's even more useful when you want to jam with musicians who play an instrument that cannot auto-transpose. For example, with my trombone other keys (especially F & Bb) are easier and I can play better; but for valve trombone (similar to trumpet) I like Eb. Guitar players usually prefer keys-with-sharps, like G, D, A, and E. And other instruments have their own favorites. Or maybe you like the music in a backing track that's not in the key of C, so you play this non-C video and change your keyboard-key to match it. And when you want to play along with a song you like, usually it won't be in C, but you can “play in C” and do key-matching by transposing into the song's key. {a keyboard feature that would make key-matching easier}
playing a CP without a Backing Track: You also can play a CP by just alternating times of playing red-notes and blue-notes and green-notes in the sequence of a CP you like.
videos for Chord Progressions:
As explained in the earlier iou, I recommend using another page for links to videos.
Two kinds of common Chord Progressions use only the main major chords — I,IV,V as in C,F,G (with red,blue,green chord-notes) — and these are easier to “play along with” until you also develop skills with the main minor chords. These two types of CP's are 12-Bar Blues and I-IV-V-I.
Until I revise this section and update its links, currently (February 12) you may find it better to use a page for chord progressions to find videos that let you "practice jamming-with-others."
12 Bar Blues Progression: You can choose your personal favorites (you'll like some better) from among these videos and the many others you can find. Most videos show the chord progression (CP) they're playing; it can be the simplest basic CP (CCCCFFCCGFCC) but more often it ends with a modified turnaround (CCCCFFCCGFCG) or has another variation (like CFCCFFCCGFCG or ...). They often use “7th chords” and you can ignore these (by just treating C7,F7,G7 as if they're C,F,G) or use them by also including b7 in your chord-melodies or scale-melodies. / [[ iou – Now these are just links, but later there will be comments. ]] from Marc Guitars, Blues Shuffle – Slow Blues; by AUsher Tracks, Fast Rock n Roll – Rockin' Shuffle – Rock n Roll – Classic – Smooth Slow; by Cliff Smith, Medium Tempo – Slow; by Randy Soller, Blues Shuffle and Slow Blues Shuffle.
I-IV-V-I — For this common simple-but-useful progression, the videos are fewer, and generally (in what I've found so far) they have less musical sophistication: Improvising Harpist – Applied Theory – Chuan Music – vocal harmony – simple keyboard – simple piano.
This 4-chord progression can be used as the “second half” of an 8-chord-progression. Earlier I describe four simple progressions – one with 4 chords, and three with 8 chords. I found videos for the 4-chord CP (they're linked-to in the paragraph above), and the first half of each 8-chord CP, for I-IV-I-V and I-IV-V-IV and I-V-IV-V. iou – Soon (maybe January 13-15) I'll link to these videos for these “first half” CP's.
My description of five Popular CP's includes two (with videos above) that have only major chords, plus three (videos below) that also include a minor chord.
50s Progression, I-vi-IV-V (C-Am-F-G): [[ iou – Later, I'll develop-and-revise this paragraph, but for now it will just have the links. ]] - [130 bpm & other] by John Alex --- (20:22) [animated to show - during the CP - each chord] --- (4:08) --- (9:43) [iou - I'll get the link] --- (3:30) by Frank Carr ---
50s rearranged, I-V-vi-IV (C-G-Am-F) to form a popular cousin: ChussMusic - basicRock - basic - and [iou] other links soon.
jazz progression, ii-V-I, as in ii-V-I-I (Dm-G-C-C) plus other versions: It's the most common CP in jazz. [ iou – soon there will be links.]
[[ iou – The rest of this section is rough draft that will be fixed soon, maybe in very-late May. ]]
YouTube-Channels have many BT's, with variety: My Backing Track e.g. -- Russell Nolen Music (with nature art) don't show chords (intentionally - why? they explain, 5:57-6:53) -- C - simple guitar strumming that shows Chords as they're being played -- in 2020, I used Backing Tracks (BTs) for 12-Bar Blues to "play along" using my trombone, and --- CGFG (5:14) - instead of the CFGF in my 4-chord progression (Part A of 8-chord CP) --- [iou] i'll find-and-select some of the many that exist, as you can see in the "lots of ideas" linked-to above.
tips: why use BTs for stage-performing & then how to use BTs (18:53) by Scott Uhl.
[[ iou – I'll continue making this section later, with descriptions & links to help you find videos in YouTube for 12-Bar Blues and the other chord progressions, so you can hear the CP's and play along. ]]
[[ for now, lots of ideas are in one section of my Other Page.
strategies for using Instructional Videos and Pages
iou – Soon (in July) I'll begin linking to – and briefly describing – some of the many excellent videos and web-pages I've been discovering.
APPENDIX for Part 1B
These sections originally were in the main flow of Part 1B. I think some parts will be fascinating for some readers, but “too much” for others. Therefore they've been moved into this appendix or into an appendix-page so they're out of the mainstream, and you can decide. For a particular section, maybe you'll be fascinated and the ideas will help you understand and will stimulate your own explorations. Or maybe not, and you can ignore them.
the mental benefits of organization: Earlier (in the benefits of logically organizing Music Theory) I describe two easier ways to remember 22 letters – when they're organized into 6 words, or 1 story – and ask you to arrange the words (sneaky the lunch dog my ate) into a story. If you haven't yet done this, ask yourself “what happens?” and probably you'll get this story.
The 50s Progression: This is a popular chord progression. Why? A simple reason is the smooth blending of minor and major (with its minor chord and three major chords) that adds interesting variety to the music. A complex reason is why its blending is smooth, due to a sharing-of-notes in 3 of its 4 chords, and thus in 2 of its 4 chord-changes. How? In the main 50s Progression — it's ( I-vi-IV-V ), and specifically is ( C-Am-F-G ) in the key of C Major — the vi-chord (A,C,E) shares two notes (C,E) with the I-chord (C,E,G) it follows, and it shares two notes (A,C) with the next chord, IV-chord (F,A,C); and all three chords have C, which is the most important note of C Major, is the key's 1-note, its root note. These multiple note-sharings provide two “smooth-sounding transitions” for the first two chord changes – from C to Am, and Am to F – in the Chord Progression (CP). But although the two changes are smooth (due to the shared notes), the chords are shifting from major to minor, then back to major; this combination of smooth transitions (with shared notes) and shifting tonality (major to minor to major) produces a progression that sounds beautiful, is musically interesting. / Then the CP ends with a V-chord (G,B,D) that shares only one note (its G that also is in a C-Chord) with the other three chords. In the context of any chord progression, the chords have musical functions, and for various reasons this V-chord produces “musical tension” that can be resolved in the next bar, at the start of the next repetition of the CP ( I-vi-IV-V ), with a I-chord that is the home-chord in C Major. { wikipedia's explanation of why “50s” is popular } { For similar reasons, the order-of-chords can be rearranged to form other popular chord progressions like I-V-vi-IV or I-IV-vi-V,... }
also: The common progression of I-IV-V-I can be slightly modified to form the functionally-similar vi-IV-V-I that, when it's repeated, is a time-shifted 50s Progression of “I-vi-IV-V”.
[[ iou – in mid-August, I'll combine-and-revise the next two paragraphs into one new paragraph. ]]
old version ---- The 50s Progression has a smooth flow during its first three chord changes due to a sharing of common notes in its first three chords — from C (C-E-G) to Am (A-C-E), and from Am (A-C-E) to F (F-A-C) — followed by two big changes (with no shared notes, and one shared note) — from F (F-A-C) to G (G-B-D), and from G back to C. When going from G (G-B-D) back to C (C-E-G), there are two “neighbor note” shifts in G when B moves up to C, and D moves up to E, while G is in both chords. And if the G is a G7 (G-B-D-F) you also get a neighbor-note shift (from F down to E, or F up to G) and elimination of the dissonant tritone (of B-with-F).
semi-new version ---- The simple I-I-IV-V is functionally similar to the 50s Progression (I-vi-IV-V) — because I-I and I-vi both have two tonic chords — but “50s” is more interesting due to the minor chord of vi. This produces a smooth blending of minor and major, while playing in a major key. The blending is "smooth" due to a sharing of common notes in its first three chords, and thus in its first two chord changes that – in the key of C – are from C (C-E-G) to Am (A-C-E), and from Am (A-C-E) to F (F-A-C). This is followed by a change from F (F-A-C) to G (G-B-D) with no common notes; instead each chord-note moves upward by two semitones, with parallel movements. Finally a harmonic resolution occurs when (to begin the next 4-chord cycle) the G (G-B-D) goes back to C (C-E-G), with two “neighbor-note shifts” when B moves up to C (1 semitone), and D moves up to E (2 semitones), while G is a common note in both chords. / In many CP's, including 50s, musicians often modify the V so it becomes a 7th chord. Why? Because this makes a resolution of V-to-I more dramatic; with G7 (G-B-D-F) you get two additional neighbor-note shifts (from F down to E, and from F up to G); you also eliminate the dissonant tritone (of B-with-F) in G7.
comparing major chords with minor chords: What are the similarities & differences? The basic chords of C Major and A Minor are similar — each is every other white note (the 1-3-5 notes of the chord's key-scale) and maybe an octave note — but are not identical, so they have different “musical sounds.” Why? We can understand the chords more deeply by looking at their intervals. In a chord of C Major, the 1-to-3 interval (C-to-E) is 4 semitones (it's defined as a major third by musicians), and its 3-to-5 interval (E-to-G) is only 3 semitones (a minor third). A chord of A Minor has the same two intervals, but in reversed order; its 1-to-3 (A-to-C) is 3 semitones (minor third), and its 3-to-5 (C-to-E) is 4 semitones (major third). Both chords have the same intervals of 1-to-5 (C-to-G or A-to-E) with 7 semitones (defined as a perfect fifth), and 5-to-8 (G-to-C or E-to-A) with 5 semitones (perfect fourth), and 1-to-8 (C-to-C or A-to-A) with 12 semitones (octave). / a summary: In a major chord & minor chord, the third-intervals (1-to-3, 3-to-5) are identical but with reversed order, are major-then-minor in a major chord, but minor-then-major in a minor chord. All other intervals — the fifth-interval (1-to-5), fourth-interval (5-to-8), octave-interval (1-to-8) — are identical.
intervals: The interval between two notes is defined by the number of semitones between them. An interval of 2 semitones (e.g. between C and D) is called a second, 3 semitones is a minor third, 4 is a major third (aka a third), 5 is a fourth, 7 is a fifth, 9 is a sixth, 10 is a flatted seventh, 11 is a seventh, 12 is an octave. The italicized intervals occur in triad chords, in both major and minor.
chords – triad and extended
a triad (aka triad chord) contains only three kinds of scale-notes – the 1st & 3rd & 5th – in any inversion or combination. / a major triad-chord has “intervals of a third” with 4 semitones (a Major Third, M3) from 1 to 3, then 3 semitones (a Minor Third, m3) from 3 to 5. The order of intervals is reversed in a minor triad-chord, with m3 then M3. Here are the kinds of third-intervals in triads of four kinds: a major triad is M3 + m3 (as in 1-3-5), minor triad is m3 + M3 (1-b3-5), diminished triad is m3 + m3 (1-b3-b5), augmented triad is M3 + M3 (1-3-#5, aka 1-3-b6). { b3 is a flatted third }
extended chords are formed by adding one or more extra notes to a triad chord. The most common kind of extension is used to form...
7th Chords: When playing blues (and other kinds of music) in C Major, often some basic chords (especially G, but also sometimes C and F) are converted into dominant 7th chords (aka as 7th chords or seventh chords) like G7 and/or C7, F7. For example, a G7 chord is formed by supplementing G,B,D (the 1,3,5 notes of the G-Scale that is used to define a G-Chord) with F (which is the flatted-seventh in a G-Scale, is the b7); this G7 (with G,B,D plus F) can replace a basic G (with G,B,D) that uses only triad-notes. What is the musical reason for using G7? One reason is because in G7 a dissonant tritone — it's the interval of 6 semitones from B to F, or from F to B, i.e. between the scale-notes of 3 and b7 — produces “musical tension” (for “musical drama” with artistic mystery) that is useful when playing in any style, including a “blues” style. { resolving tension with neighbor-tones in G7-to-C } { other kinds of 7th chords }
diminished chords: A totally different kind of “7th Chord” isn't even called a 7th Chord. This chord — it's B,D,F with every other white note, starting on B — isn't included in my diagrams (like the “Minor within Major” that has “I ii iii IV V vi” in the same row) because this chord isn't Major and isn't Minor, instead it's a Diminished Chord that is rarely used in music.
chords with 7,9,11,13: To further supplement a b7 chord, musicians sometimes add additional notes like the 9th, 11th, and 13th. You can hear clear explanations (plus beautiful results) in the first part of a 20-minute video about Jazz Theory by Julian Bradley for his Jazz Tutorial. Wikipedia describes jazz chords that include 9th chords (also used in classical & 11th chords & 13th chords. / terms and intervals: a 9th (aka ninth) is 14 semitones (an octave plus a second); an 11th is 17 semitones (an octave plus a fourth); a 13th is 21 semitones (an octave plus a sixth); each interval can be made “minor” by “flatting a note” by decreasing the interval one semitone. {supplemented chords - including Dominant 7ths and others – jazz chords often include other notes, e.g. a 7th chord (adds b7), 9th chord (adds b7 & 9), 11th chord (e.g. adding b7 & 9 & 11, or with fewer additions), 13th chord (e.g. adding b7 & 9 & 11 & 13, or with fewer additions). }
chord inversions: When using these notes (CDEFGABcdefg) a basic three-note C Chord (with C,E,G) has three different inversions (i.e. with three different lowest notes) when it's played as CEG or ceg (with C being the lowest note), or EGc (with E lowest), or Gce (with G lowest). These are called the Root Position (CEG or ceg), First Inversion (E-G-c), and Second Inversion (G-c-e). { is there a better set of terms? } If we use note-numbers for the triad chord (1,3,5), 1 is lowest in the Root Position, 3 is lowest in First Inversion, 5 is lowest in Second Inversion.
chord voicings & combinations: A triad chord can have gaps that “spread the notes apart” instead of being close; e.g. instead of C-E-G, E-G-c, G-c-e (above) the voicing could be C-G-e, E-c-g, G-e-c, or other possibilities. And a chord may not have all of the triad-notes, as in C-E-c-e (only C & E, without G), or C-G-c (only C & G, without E), or even E-G-e (only E & G, without C) to produce different “combinations” of triad-notes. { more, with many examples of different inversions and voicings & combinations }
a dog story: It's easier to remember the 22 letters when they're organized into a story, The sneaky dog ate my lunch.
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In this page the color-diagrams also will help you learn-and-play, no matter what instrument(s) you play, whether you're seeing, finding, or translating. But there is a difference in the pages. Here I'm strongly recommending that you {and others, especially students} do play a colorized keyboard, because 
