Okay, I have to admit, at times I have fallen victim to the
babel-like confusion of the chord substitution world of seemingly
unending maze of linguistic jabber. Even when reading through material
by the great chord guru Ted Greene I still feel like I'm being
hypnotized by Count Dracula, and it is six hours past my bedtime, and my
eyes are glazing over into a sluggish haze. Now I admit part of this is
my own fault. I should work harder at this. This material does have
value. Here comes the 'but'. It does seem like the topic of chord
substitution is made harder than it should be.
Part of this comes from my background. For my day job, I have been a mathematical
statistician for over 10 years, and I program on a mainframe computer nearly every day. I think of things in code language. Look at the statement if x then y. This kind of logic is often used in computer code and is also an example of a simple function. This mindset has led me to create what I think is the ultimate substitution chord function.
Before I share it, I should give a short illustration. If I gave you a recipe for chocolate chip cookies, you could start making some great chocolate chip cookies. Or, you could get sidetracked and start wondering why all the specific things in the recipe work together so well to make great chocolate chip cookies. You could go so far as to start analyzing the chemistry of the butter, flour, chocolate chips, etc. Hopefully you get the point. A discussion about why the recipe works would be great, in the proper time and place. However, it can also be very valuable to accept the recipe by faith and just start making and enjoying some great chocolate chip cookies.
Okay that is enough fanfare. Here is my ultimate substitution chord function. This may be an overstatement, but I believe this will take you about 70% down the path of utilizing and applying chord substitutions. The diagram below shows an example for root note 'C'. The C-chord could be major or minor. The following diagram shows all of the chords that will work as 'dominant' chords resolving to either a C major or a C minor chord. The first column is the interval direction from the root note. The next column is the interval. The first two columns stay the same for whatever note you want to find substitutions for. The third column is the dominant chord. So the first row has the interval of a fifth going up from the root note 'C' which is 'G'. Any dominant 'G' chord can be used (theoretically) to resolve to the C major or C minor chord. This includes all of the 'altered' dominant chords. I said theoretically because you will still need to use your own ears and apply your own taste and judgment as you choose what chords to play.
Up 5 G F°7
Down 1 B-flat D°7
Up ½ D-flat B°7
Up 3 E A-flat°7
So using the above diagram, another dominant substitution for a C minor triad would be an E dominant chord. Try this C minor chord progression - Fm9 E9 Cm9. Well, we are out of time for this week. This is still more ground to cover here. I am sure you have notice the diminished seventh chords. They fit nicely into the existing substitution function with one slight twist. Do you see what it is? If you don't, I will share it (and more) with you next time.
Part of this comes from my background. For my day job, I have been a mathematical
statistician for over 10 years, and I program on a mainframe computer nearly every day. I think of things in code language. Look at the statement if x then y. This kind of logic is often used in computer code and is also an example of a simple function. This mindset has led me to create what I think is the ultimate substitution chord function.
Before I share it, I should give a short illustration. If I gave you a recipe for chocolate chip cookies, you could start making some great chocolate chip cookies. Or, you could get sidetracked and start wondering why all the specific things in the recipe work together so well to make great chocolate chip cookies. You could go so far as to start analyzing the chemistry of the butter, flour, chocolate chips, etc. Hopefully you get the point. A discussion about why the recipe works would be great, in the proper time and place. However, it can also be very valuable to accept the recipe by faith and just start making and enjoying some great chocolate chip cookies.
Okay that is enough fanfare. Here is my ultimate substitution chord function. This may be an overstatement, but I believe this will take you about 70% down the path of utilizing and applying chord substitutions. The diagram below shows an example for root note 'C'. The C-chord could be major or minor. The following diagram shows all of the chords that will work as 'dominant' chords resolving to either a C major or a C minor chord. The first column is the interval direction from the root note. The next column is the interval. The first two columns stay the same for whatever note you want to find substitutions for. The third column is the dominant chord. So the first row has the interval of a fifth going up from the root note 'C' which is 'G'. Any dominant 'G' chord can be used (theoretically) to resolve to the C major or C minor chord. This includes all of the 'altered' dominant chords. I said theoretically because you will still need to use your own ears and apply your own taste and judgment as you choose what chords to play.
Up 5 G F°7
Down 1 B-flat D°7
Up ½ D-flat B°7
Up 3 E A-flat°7
So using the above diagram, another dominant substitution for a C minor triad would be an E dominant chord. Try this C minor chord progression - Fm9 E9 Cm9. Well, we are out of time for this week. This is still more ground to cover here. I am sure you have notice the diminished seventh chords. They fit nicely into the existing substitution function with one slight twist. Do you see what it is? If you don't, I will share it (and more) with you next time.
You can find free chord fingerings, and chord progression examples at http://www.LouisGuitar.com. You can also find my music on YouTube and SoundCloud.
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