This question comes from Gospel Music Training Center member Larressa:

Hi Jermaine, my name is Larressa. I go by mrslsj in GMTC.

I am a beginner. I am taking on the challenge of transforming the song “I Give Myself Away”-Take 1. However, after listening to JP I decided as a learning experience to transpose the chords to all 12 keys, which has been great. I have done this but I have a few questions. I hope this is clear.

1. From previous study in GMTC I understand that the VII is usually diminished or half diminished. Here is the 7 chord in this song “FGAC/A” (KEY Bb) which is listed as a F Major Add 9. Can you tell me why this chord does not follow that rule? What type of chord would go on the 7?

2. Here is the 7 chord in this song “FGBbEb/C” which is listed as an “Eb Major Add 9 / C.” Can you tell me why this is a major chord on the 3 and not a minor chord as I thought it should be?

3. The passing chord in the song is on the 3 which is D “GbBbCF/D’. It is listed as a D7 #9#5 chord. When are these types of chords used? Is the 3 not always minor as I thought.

Thank you for your help. GMTC has been great for me and a few thinks are starting to click for me thanks to you guys. Larressa

Larressa,

These are great questions.

And you are correct, the 7th tone is usually diminished or half-diminished 7 when looking at the diatonic chords.

But let’s keep in mind that the 1, 4, and 5 are the primary chords of the key and will occur the most.

The first chord you are referring to is really a 5-chord, not a 7-chord. Because you’re in the key of Bb, F major is the chord naturally created on the 5. All we’re doing in this song is inverting that 5 chord so that A is on the bottom… and adding the “9″ (G) for some flavor… that’s all.

We’ve chosen the 1st inversion of F major because it puts A on the bottom.

So in this case, you want to analyze the “WHOLE” chord and label it according to the true scale degree of the chord. The bass in this case is a little misleading only because it is inverted. If you can’t truly call this some type of “A” chord, then it is another chord simply “rearranged” so that A is on the bottom.

Not to confuse you but you will hear musicians still calling this the 7th tone because of the bass, “A.” And that’s fine as the bass usually establishes the patterns of the song. But when it comes to really analyzing what’s going on (as I suspect you’re doing), this is a 5 chord.

As for the second chord, this is really a minor chord. Sometimes chords are listed as split chords but when you truly analyze them, you find out they can be labeled something else:

FGBbEb/C (a.k.a – Eb major add 9 “over” C)

Is really:

C + Eb + G + Bb + F (when you lay it all out)

That’s “C minor 7 add 11″ if I’ve ever seen one.

*Note: The reason we said “add 11″ and not just “C minor 11″ is because the “9th” degree (D) is not present. If this chord had a “D,” then we could flat out call it C minor 11. But in order for it to be a true 11th chord, it must have a 9th. And say it were just a 9th chord… it would need a 7th. It’s like building blocks — one thing stacks on top of another.

The third chord (dominant 7 #9#5) is a perfect example of “alterations.” If all songs only followed the “rules,” we’d have a lot of same-sounding stuff out there. So at some point, you will introduce altered chords that add flavor to the regular diatonic chords you’re used to hearing. In this case, the dom7 #9#5 works great as a substitute for minor chords on the 3rd (especially), 6th, 2nd, and even “flatted 5″ tone (to lead to the 7).

But even if you analyze this chord, the #9 creates the same sound as the minor 3rd so it’s really not that “far” away from a minor chord. Just also has the major third in it, which is why we label it this way.

#9 in C, for example is, D#
b3 in C (which creates C minor chord) is Eb.

Eb and D# are enharmonic (make same sound, spelled differently). That’s why these altered chords work so great.

So “learn the rules” for majority of songs, but also be prepared to break them because after all, this is music. :-)

I hope this clarifies things.

I find it surprising the number of musicians who don’t understand or haven’t mastered the number system.

It is one of the single, most important elements of playing by ear.

On a grander level, it allows musicians to speak on a “universal level.” We can describe what we’re doing in a song without relying solely on letters. It’s not, “D minor to G dominant 7 to C major 7″ anymore. Now it’s, “2-5-1″ in C!

Better yet, because we’re using numbers to describe a string of chords (aka – “chord progression”), we can take this same progression to ANY key by simply “recalibrating” our numbers to the new key.

In other words, sure, in C major, a 2-5-1 is a chord on D moving to a chord on G, ending with a chord on C.

(Taking this further, we even know what chords are most likely to be played because each tone naturally creates a particular chord. In this case, the 2nd tone of the scale [D] is usually minor, the 5th tone [G] is usually dominant, and the 1st tone [C] is usually major).

To take this to a new key if you understand numbers is pretty simple.

In F major, this same progression is:

G minor 7
C dominant 7
F major 7

In Bb major, it’s:

C minor 7
F dominant 7
Bb major 7

How did I do this?

By simply numbering the major scales of each of these keys.

For example, the C major scale is: C D E F G A B C.

But I don’t stop there. I simply number this scale starting at 1.

C is 1
D is 2
E is 3
F is 4
G is 5
A is 6
B is 7.

That’s it. Pretty simple.

The more difficult part is doing this in all 12 keys and memorizing each tone.

Luckily, you’ve got me!

I’ve created a free video tutorial emphasizing the importance of numbers. It’s the second video in a free series I’m giving away.

Simply sign up at this link and go through each of the videos.

While I haven’t talked about “finding the key of a song,” that’s what you’ll be studying first and foremost since that’s the MOST important skill you’ll need as an ear musician.

Then once you finish that video, the next video on the number system will be unlocked.

As a free bonus, I also throw in flash cards to help you study the number system. Lots of people have marveled over this method.

So sign up at this link to get started.

Until next time -

After reviewing older posts on the blog, I’ve decided to bring back the “What Key Am I In” lessons.

If you understand major scales, the number system, and which chords fall on each tone of the scale (aka – “diatonic chords”), you have what it takes to crack the “What Key Am I In” code (at least analytically in these blog posts… for details on how to do it solely by ear, click here).

But just in case, let’s review.

1) Take all your major scales and number each tone from 1 to 7.

2) Next, simply apply these chords to the appropriate tones:

1st tone = major
2nd tone = minor
3rd tone = minor
4th tone = major
5th tone = major
6th tone = minor
7th tone = diminished

Let’s try one:

Bb major scale = Bb C D Eb F G A Bb

Number the scale from 1 to 7:

Bb is 1, C is 2, D is 3, Eb is 4, F is 5, G is 6, A is 7

Now apply the chords to each tone:

1 – Bb major
2 – C minor
3 – D minor
4 – Eb major
5 – F major
6 – G minor
7 – A diminished

That’s basically the name of the game.

The only difference below is that I’m giving you a few chords and you’re trying to figure out which major key contains those chords.

Every key is unique. For example, if you see the chords D minor, C minor, and G minor together, there’s only ONE key that has this unique combination – Bb.

There are no other keys that will have this unique combination of diatonic chords.

Eb major comes close because it has C minor as its 6th tone and G minor as its 3rd tone.

F also comes close with D minor as its 6th tone and G minor as its 2nd tone.

But only Bb major has C minor, D minor, and G minor… all in one key.

So that’s what you’re looking for below.

=========
QUESTION
=========

What Major Key Am I In If I Have These Chords?

B minor
C# minor
E major

.
.
.
.
.
.
.

=========
ANSWER
=========

“A major”

Why?

Look at the diatonic chords of A major:

1 – A major
2 – B minor
3 – C# minor
4 – D major
5 – E major
6 – F# minor
7 – G# diminished

They match up.

You’ll be hard-pressed to find another key that has all 3 chords. Maybe 2 of the 3 but only A major has all 3 diatonic chords in its key.

(Of course that doesn’t mean other keys can’t substitute and use chords outside of the key. This happens all the time. Of course you can use chords from anywhere you want or else music would sound boring with only 7 “diatonic” chords to choose from in every key. All we’re doing with this game is finding the chords that NATURALLY occur in each key. The foundation. What happens before any alterations, substitutions, or additions. The chords naturally created by only using tones of the scale.)

I hope this helps.

This week’s question comes from Michelle S in Oregon:

“Jermaine, I’m enjoying your material immensely. I have a fun question for you that I’m just curious of. If you had to start all over, looking back, what one thing would you learn first to make you excel the fastest?”

My Answer:

Hi Michelle,

This is a unique question… and a very good one.

If starting all over, knowing what I know now, I would start with focusing my attention on the circle of fifths chart.

It really encapsulates the flow of music in one graphic.

(Remember to look at the circle in a counter-clockwise fashion from C to F to Bb to Eb and so on. While the other direction is important, the counter-clockwise direction is infinitely more popular).

When you sit down and analyze songs, you’ll find majority of them have “circular movement” in them. Not all of them and not all the time but you’ll find most move like this.

If you can memorize this, you’ll have more knowledge than 70% of musicians:

C F Bb Eb Ab Db Gb B E A D G

Here’s an exercise to help you:

Just fill in the blank:

1) C –> F –> ______ –> Eb

2) D –> ______ –> C –> F

3) A –> D –> ______ –> C –> F

4) ______ –> Db –> Gb

5) D –> _______

6) _______ –> A –> D –> _______ –> C

Answers:

1) C –> F –> Bb –> Eb

2) D –> G –> C –> F

3) A –> D –> G –> C –> F

4) Ab –> Db –> Gb

5) D –> G

6) E –> A –> D –> G –> C

I hope this helps —

I’m often asked the best way to learn all 12 keys and while I’ve advocated many methods in the past, the most practical way is to adapt my “3 x 12″ rule.

Simply put: Take 3 songs you know and learn them in all 12 keys.

It helps if they are songs that utilize a variety of different chords. That’s why picking 3 is important because between them, you should get a good mix of chords off every tone of the scale.

And since most songs follow the same patterns, you’d be surprised how few chords you really need to know to play in all 12 keys. Taking 3 different styled songs and learning them in all 12 keys usually gives you plenty.

The easiest way is to simply start at the original key of the song and move every note up a half step.

So if a song is in Eb major, you’ll attack E major next by literally taking every note in every chord and moving it up a half step.

Transposing a song to a new key is no more than moving every note up the appropriate amount of notes.

If the next key is a half step up, every note of every chord simply moves a half step up.

However, if you’re trying to move to a new key 4 half steps up, then you need to move every note of every chord 4 half steps up. As long as you move the same distance for every note in every chord, the end result will be the same song in a new key.

Exercise:

Move these chords in F major to Gb major.

Hint: Gb major is a half step higher than F major. That means every note is moved up a half step.

F major 7: F + A + C + E

D minor 7: D + F + A + C

G minor 7: G + Bb + D + F

C 7: C + E + G + Bb

F major 7: F + A + C + E

To move this to Gb major, just take every note up a half step, thus giving you the equivalent chords in Gb major:

Gb major 7: Gb + Bb + Db + F

Eb minor 7: Eb + Gb + Bb + Db

Ab minor 7: Ab + Cb + Eb + Gb

Db 7: Db + F + Ab + Cb

Gb major 7: Gb + Bb + Db + F

Is it hard work in the beginning? Sure it is.

Does it get easier over time? Definitely.

Because songs repeat the same chords and patterns over and over so as you start seeing the same chords and memorizing them in all 12 keys, you need not work out the transposition from scratch each time; rather, you’ll pull from your memory bank.

So make this your next goal: 3 x 12

3 songs in 12 keys.

It seems simple but it’s quite a hard thing to do. If you can master this, you’ll get to pro status in no time.

Until next time —

This week’s question comes from Bob Myers in Alabama.

“Jermaine, I’m loving your lessons but I have one question that’s been on my mind for a while. When are you supposed to use sharps or flats? Sometimes I see flats, other times I see sharps. Thank you in advance for your answer.”

My answer:

Hey Bob, this is a great question and there are different layers to it.

First, it depends on the key you’re in.

If you’re in Eb major, your scale is:

Eb F G Ab Bb C D Eb

So when you see musicians referencing the key of Eb, but calling the “4,” G#, that is incorrect.

And to be honest, a lot of “ear musicians” do this out of habit. They usually stick with how they first learned the notes. They are hardly thinking about scales and being enharmonically correct (especially in gospel… most musicians got used to saying C# instead of Db in the beginning… yet they’ll say Eb for the second tone of the scale).

On the other hand, if you want to be in C# major, that’s fine but you need to be consistent. The C# major scale is:

C# D# E# F# G# A# B# C#

7 sharps!

You can’t cheat! You can’t say C# Eb F F# Ab Bb C C#… totally incorrect.

So, knowing your scale answers 80% of this question.

But we all know songs don’t just stay within the confines of the major scale. They go outside the scale all the time (for variety) and you get things like “b3” or “b5″ or “b7.” That’s “flat 3,” “flat 5,” and “flat 7″ respectively. These are tones outside the scale. You’re literally taking the 7th tone and lowering it a half step.

This is where people really mess up.

Instead of literally flatting the 7th tone, they just use whatever note they like the best (which is fine if you’re being informal but since your question specifically asked when to use one over the other, I’ll point out the difference).

If you’re going to say “flat 7,” and you’re in C major, your B must become Bb.

It can’t be A# (which makes the same sound), because “A” is the 6th tone of C major. And by calling this A#, you’d be playing the sharp 6 rather than the flat 7. That distinction is important.

So to recap, the first thing to identify is what scale you’re going to use (Db vs C#). Next, just make sure you stay consistent with the tones of the scale (even if you flat or sharp various degrees).

Hope this helps Bob.

Yesterday, we briefly introduced modes.

We learned that although they have fancy greek names and sound all intricate, they are no more than individual scales that simply start and end on a different tone of the major scale.

So you literally play ONE scale but you start and end on different notes of that scale, depending on the mode you want to play. It’s that simple.

What I’ll show you now isn’t quite as simple as yesterday’s concept, but still easy to grasp.

Consider the single note, “F.”

As we learned yesterday, F is the 4th tone of C major and thus creates the lydian mode.

Playing a simple C major scale starting and ending on “F” is known as F Lydian.

Say you’re on an F chord (in the key of C major), this mode would definitely be something to try.

But guess what? You don’t have to be confined to F Lydian. And you don’t have to be confined to one key. ANY time you go to any F chord in ANY key, you can think of the various modes with F as starting note.

Sure, F is the 4th tone of C major and the Lydian mode but what if you got a little creative and incorporated other modes with F as starting note?

That means, you ask yourself:

1) In what key is F the first tone of the scale?

Answer: F major

Play F major from F to F and you get F Ionian (pretty simple because all Ionian modes are essentially major scales since they start and end on FIRST TONE).

So F Ionian (a.k.a – “F major scale”) would be one option to try whenever I’m on an F chord.

Again, I may be in C major (or maybe in any other key) but that doesn’t stop me from venturing outside and playing other F modes.

2) In what key is F the 2nd tone?

Answer: Eb

That means, you could play an Eb major scale starting and ending on F.

Pop quiz? What’s this called?

Answer: Whenever you play a scale starting and ending on the 2nd tone of the scale, you’re playing the DORIAN mode. (We learned this yesterday!)

Now just add “F” to the front of that name and you’d call this “F Dorian.”

F Dorian is simply playing Eb major from F to F.

Note: You have to know your modes very well and be able to think backwards a little bit. If the dorian mode is ALWAYS the 2nd tone of the scale and you want to play F dorian, you basically do what we did above and ask yourself, “In what key is F the 2nd tone of the scale?”

3) In what key is F the 3rd tone?

Answer: Db major

That means, you can play F Phrygian by playing the Db major scale from F to F.

This might also be something you try when on F.

Note: Each mode carries a different feeling. Some are more associated with major scales. Others are more minor.

4) In what key is F the 4th tone?

Answer: C major

We already know this mode. It’s the first one we did above where we played C major scale from F to F. This is the F Lydian mode.

5) In what key is F the 5th tone?

Answer: Bb major

So you’d simply play a Bb major scale but starting and ending on F. That gives you the F Mixolydian mode.

6) In what key is F the 6th tone?

Answer: Ab major

By now, you should have it. Play an Ab major scale starting and ending on F and you’ve got yourself an F Aeolian scale.

7) Lastly, in what key is F the 7th tone?

Answer: Gb major

Simply play Gb major scale starting and ending on F, the 7th tone of that scale, and you’ve got yourself the F Locrian scale.

—–

Wow, you’ve just now learned 7 possibilities. Keep in mind, not all will work. Some are associated with major, some minor, some diminished. They all have alterations that should hint you at what chords they work best with. But at the end of the day, use trial and error and let your ear be the final judge.

I won’t kid you… this takes some work to get used to.

#1 – You’ve got to memorize your modes and what scale degrees they fall on.

#2 – You’ve got to be good at knowing each major scale as numbers (i.e. – “what is the 2nd tone of the scale?”)

#3 – You’ve got to be able to quickly recall the major scale and play it starting on the appropriate tone.

This should keep you busy for a while. :-)

Until next time -

In your playing, there comes a time when you start getting into soloing and improvisation… and one place to start is “modes.”

Every major scale comes with 7 modes. At first glance, they can appear intimidating:

Ionian
Dorian
Phrygian
Lydian
Mixolydian
Aeolian
Locrian

These are greek names to describe each mode of the scale. They sound harder than they are to play, trust me!

The concept is very simple.

Take any major scale and play the SAME notes of the scale starting and ending on a tone of your choice.

In fact, you may already know one of the modes if you’ve been following me for a while.

The AEOLIAN MODE (a.k.a. – “minor scale”) is created by playing a major scale starting and ending on the 6th tone.

So, in C major, since the 6th tone is A, you’d simply play the same notes of the C major scale but starting and ending on “A.”

This is the concept of modes in a nutshell.

Ionian – Starting and ending on the 1st tone
Dorian – Starting and ending on the 2nd tone
Phrygian – Starting and ending on the 3rd tone
Lydian – Starting and ending on the 4th tone
Mixolydian – Starting and ending on the 5th tone
Aeolian – Starting and ending on the 6th tone
Locrian – Starting and ending on the 7th tone

“Ionian” and “Aeolian” tend to be the most commonly played modes since they are essentially the major and minor scale.

Think about it… playing C major from the 1st tone of the scale to the 1st tone of the scale is the same old regular major scale you’ve always played! No changes needed! We’re just calling it something different here (Ionian mode).

Same with the 6th tone — it’s a regular minor scale but now we’re calling it the aeolian mode.

The others are not so known but carry the same easy concept.

Dorian – Simply start on 2nd tone of scale. In C major, that’s D E F G A B C D.

Phrygian – Simply start on 3rd tone of scale. In C major, that’s E F G A B C D E

Lydian – Simply start on 4th tone of scale. In C major, that’s F G A B C D E F

Mixolydian – Simply start on 5th tone of scale. In C major, that’s G A B C D E F G

Aeolian – As you know, start on 6th tone of scale. In C major, that’s A B C D E F G A

Locrian – Simply start on last tone of scale (7th tone). In C major, B C D E F G A B

Later, we’ll talk about how and where to use them.

But for now, just remember each mode can be played with each diatonic chord of the scale.

C major 7 – Play C Ionian

D minor 7 – Play D Dorian

E minor 7 – Play E Phrygian

F major 7 – Play F Lydian

G dom 7 – Play G Mixolydian

A minor 7 – Play A Aeolian

B half-dim 7 – Play B Locrian

Just by understanding modes, you’ll develop tons of things to do off every tone of the scale.

Let’s not kid ourselves.

The whole point of learning all these theories, principles, and shortcuts isn’t because we’re in love with this stuff (well, some of us are). But for most, learning this stuff is a means to an end.

And without a doubt, the ultimate “end” (at our website at least) is to hear a song and in a matter of minutes, be able to play it.

There’s a lot that goes into it, don’t get me wrong. But here, I want to give you a really concise blueprint… a series of steps that, if followed, can produce you results very quickly.

I call it the “GO-TO CHORDS” principle.

These are chords you can always rely on when you’re on certain tones of the scale. Many of you know them as diatonic chords.

In this post, I’m going to show you how they fit into my quick system.

But first, let me give you all the steps to playing a song or pattern quickly.

GOAL #1 – Be able to find the key quickly

When you’re an ear-player, everything starts here.

You don’t have sheet music in front of you.
You have no grand staff with a key signature telling you the key.

You must rely on your ear.

Luckily, I’ve done a 30-minute free video lesson on this topic that has helped tens of thousands. And if you’re really serious, you’ll invest a few bucks in the 80-minute audio course I put together on this same subject.

GOAL #2 – Know your scales & numbers

Finding your key puts you on the right planet.

Now you must speak the language of the planet you’re on.

The major scale (and minor for that matter) is the language. Not only must you know your scales but you must know them as numbers.

C major: C D E F G A B C.

C is 1, D is 2, E is 3, F is 4, G is 5, A is 6, B is 7.

Luckily, I made a free guide that helps you with this as well. Click here to check it out.

GOAL #3 – Master the “go-to chords”

Once you know your scales as numbers, there are certain chords that happen naturally on certain numbers. If you’re on the 1st tone of the scale, there’s a “GO-TO chord” you can almost always rely on. Same with every other tone of the scale.

Here’s a quick list of them but check out this free guide I created on chords. It will break all of this down in all 12 keys.

1st tone = Major Chord
2nd tone = Minor Chord
3rd tone = Minor Chord
4th tone = Major Chord
5th tone = Major Chord
6th tone = Minor Chord
7th tone = Diminished Chord

Goal #4 – Learn to pick out bass notes

Once you come into a world (by determining the key in step #1), you automatically have 7 notes before you that will occur most often.

When you’re trying to pick out bass notes, you’re not being random. You’re relying on what you know about the major scale to guide you. Those 7 notes are key.

And to take it just a step further — even within those 7 notes are keys that occur most often. The first, fourth, and fifth tones are what we call “primary.” Out of the 7 notes that make up the scale, look for these 3 to occur most often. The others (aka “secondary”) support the primary ones.

Newbies: When I say bass notes, I mean the root of the chords. Most likely, you’ll be listening to a band playing. The bass player is holding down the root note while everyone else is playing chords, melodies, licks, and patterns. You’re really trying to key in on what the bass player is doing.

Having bass boost headphones can help. Turning up the bass may also help.

But from experience, it’s not really ONLY what the bass is doing but when you get good, you can just hear overall what’s going on. Your excuse will never be “the bass isn’t loud” because even if you can’t hear the bass itself, you can hear everything else and that should still hint you in the right direction.

Say you hear these 5 bass notes in the key of C major:

C >>> A >>> D >>> G >>> C

Good job, you picked them out!

Now all you gotta do is put this system all together:

Goal #5 – Put it all together

If you’ve picked out these notes in the bass:

C >>> A >>> D >>> G >>> C

…all you do now is backtrack.

You’ve already used step 1 to tell you the key (hopefully).

If you’ve listened to me, you’ve also used step 2 to key in on the major scale and limit your choices to the 7 notes of the scale (which will occur majority of the time; outside notes can occur too but they are not the norm).

Now you’ll use step 2 to also make sure you know your numbers for these bass notes:

C is 1
A is 6
D is 2
G is 5
C is 1

Now that you have the numbers, you can use the “go-to chords” in step 3.

I’m not saying these will always be your final chords. But they should always be your “GO-TO CHORDS.” The only exception to this rule is when you’ve developed your ears so well that you know without a doubt what chords are occurring.

If not, start with your go-to chords. And at least, if one or two don’t work, you can try other chords on those tones (like if one tone usually has a minor chord, try a major chord).

If your go-to chords sound right, then you focus on finding the right voicings or inversions.

Sure, you may be correct in knowing that C major is played off the 1st tone of the scale. But which C major?

C + E + G (root position)?

E + G + C (first inversion)?

G + C + E (second inversion)?

And if you’ve gotten the right inversion, have you got the right voicing?

Maybe the composer put two “E’s” in the chord (e.g. – E + G + C + E). It doesn’t change the fact that it’s a C major chord but it definitely accentuates the E’s (aka – “3rd tone”)… which sounds very good by the way when playing major 7 chords (E + G + B + E over “C” bass).

That’s basically the system.

Find key >>> identify major scale and numbers >>> determine bass >>> put correct go-to chords on each bass tone >>> tweak.

It seems long but each step is pretty short. And you get better and better over time.

For me, this all happens in about 20 seconds after turning a song off. For a beginner, it may take several hours. That’s ok. It’s better than sheet music because you’re FREE and liberated with this method. And as you get better and better, you’ll add stuff to the song. As Paula Abdul on American Idol used to say, “you’ll make it your own.”

Well, I’m done for today. This lesson has quite a few gems in it. Save it, print it, read and re-read it. Tack it up on your wall.

This is it right here. Follow it, hone it, and you’ll do really well.

Until next time.

When it comes to learning all 12 keys, there’s a few ways to do it.

You can use the number system and chord approach.

In this approach, you simply ask yourself two questions:

1) What number of the scale am I on (aka “scale degree”)?
2) What kind of chord am I playing?

If you were in C major, and you happened to be playing an F major chord, the answers to those questions are:

1) Fourth tone because F is the 4th tone (or degree) of the scale.
2) Major chord

You can take this chord to any key if you know the 4th tone of that key and how to form a major chord on that tone.

So that’s one way to do things.

You can also use the intervallic approach.

You simply count up the number of half steps in between your current key and the key you want to go to.

So if your current key is C major and you want to play the same chord in Ab major, you ask yourself how many half steps separate C and Ab.

Answer is 8 half steps if counting from C “UP” to Ab.

4 half steps, if counting from C “DOWN” to Ab.

That means any chord you play in C major… if you simply move up every note 8 times (or down 4) you’ll arrive at the equivalent chord in Ab major.

This is cool if you really need to take something from one key to another specific key. But it’s not the easiest.

If you really want to learn in all 12 keys, do it 1 half step at a time.

If you’ve learned a string of 5 chords in the key of C, all you have to do is write out each chord:

C major – C E G
D minor – D F A
G7 – G B D F
C major – C E G
F major – F A C

And since we’re doing this thing half step by half step, our very next key to learn is Db.

All you have to do is move every finger up one single note. That’s right, simply move every finger up a half step.

Side note: I got a comment from someone saying they didn’t understand how to move every finger up one note. Yes, music can be difficult but some things are to be understood at face value. No hidden secret or technique here. When I say move every finger up one note, that’s exactly what I mean.

C becomes Db
E becomes F
G becomes Ab

Old Key | New Key
C E G | Db F Ab

D becomes Eb
F becomes Gb
A becomes Bb

Old Key | New Key
D F A | Eb Gb Bb

G becomes Ab
B becomes C
D becomes Eb
F becomes Gb

Old Key | New Key
G B D F | Ab C Eb Gb

F becomes Gb
A becomes Bb
C becomes Db

Old Key | New Key
F A C | Gb Bb Db

Same progression in Db major:

Db major – Db F Ab
Eb minor – Eb Gb Bb
Ab7 – Ab C Eb Gb
Db major – Db F Ab
Gb major – Gb Bb Db

Now the real question is… who’s serious enough to take what they know in one key, invest the time to take it to all keys — half step by half step — practice those new keys til’ tired, and “wash, rinse, and repeat” for every new thing they learn? Now that’s what separates the pros from the novices.

Until next time.

When it comes to chord voicings and inversions, you have many options to explore.

And as your chords gets bigger, the possibilities only expand!

Remember my simple definition of an inversion…

It’s simply a different way to order the notes in a chord. More specifically, every note gets its turn on the bottom.

If you remember that, you’ll never go wrong.

When the root note is on the bottom, we call that root position.

For example: C major

“C” is the root note so if it’s on the bottom, the chord is said to be in root position.

In the same chord, “E” is the third (if you don’t understand intervals, click here). When the third is on the bottom, we call that FIRST INVERSION.

“G” is the fifth of the chord and when it’s on the bottom, we call this SECOND INVERSION.

If you know your numbers and understand your major chords as “1 + 3 + 5,” then determining inversions will be simple.

If the 1 is on bottom, root position. If the 3 is on bottom, first inversion. If the 5 is on bottom, second inversion. BAM!

As your chords get bigger, though, we introduce more inversions.

So for a C major 7, the first three still apply but we add another:

C on bottom = root position
E on bottom = first inversion
G on bottom = second inversion

New one…

If B is on bottom, the chord is in “THIRD INVERSION.”

And this is my favorite inversion! I love the sound of the seventh on bottom.

Granted, you’ll want to take the C from the right hand and put it in your bass. It sounds much better.

C major 7

I also prefer this inversion for major 9 chords. Even though we’ve added another note (which introduces the term, “4th inversion” — if the 9th were the lowest note), I still prefer the 7th on bottom of right-hand chord:

C major 9

I love this inversion for minor 7 and minor 9 chords as well:

C minor 7:

C minor 9:

Note: The clustered sound between “D” and “Eb” in this minor 9 chord gives it the sound you want whereas in major 7 chords, we got rid of the sound created by the “B” and “C” in our first example above by putting C in our left hand bass. You’ll develop these preferences all the time. You may do things in minor chords that you don’t do in major chords, vise versa. As I always say, your ear is the final judge.

Just for fun, to make any of these chords 4th inversion, what would you do?

Answer, put the 9th degree on the bottom. In the example above, the 9th degree is D.

(C is 1, D is 2, E is 3, F is 4, G is 5, A is 6, B is 7, C is 8, D is 9… SHORTCUT: Same letter as the second tone of scale).

C minor 9 (right hand in 4th inversion):

There’s a lot to think about here.

Enjoy and see ya next time -

Today, let’s talk about borrowed chords.

They are chords literally borrowed from what we call the “parallel” minor or major key.

Let’s not mix up “parallel” with “relative.”

If we were in the key of C, as we’ve learned in other lessons, A, the 6th degree of C, is the relative minor of C. Likewise, C is the relative major of A. That’s not what we’re talking about here.

Parallel keys have the same tonic note… or home base. That means, the starting note of their scales are the same.

So the parallel minor of C major is — you guessed it — C minor!

The parallel minor of A major is — yup, A minor!

So parallel keys have the same first note and understanding this allows you to start using borrowed chords almost immediately.

Borrowed Chords Explained

To really understand borrowed chords, let’s compare the diatonic chords of C major to C minor:

C major or C major 7

D minor or D minor 7

E minor or E minor 7

F major or F major 7

G major or G7

A minor or A minor 7

B diminished or B half-diminished 7

Vs. C minor:

C minor or C minor 7

D diminished or D half-diminished7

Eb major or Eb major 7

F minor or F minor 7

G minor or G minor 7

Ab major or Ab major 7

Bb major or Bb7

Borrowed Chords – Continued

So when you employ borrowed chords, you simply take chords from the parallel minor and play them in your major key. Or vise versa… if the song was in C minor, you could take chords from C major.

Some common borrowed chords in C major:

1) On the 2nd tone of the scale, instead of playing your normal D minor (or 2-minor), you could play D half-diminished 7. Sounds great leading to a 5-chord.

2) Instead of going to the 5-chord to end a song or half-cadence, you can go to Bb major (the “b7″). Sounds great and you hear it in a lot of contemporary music.

3) If you want to change the mood of your song, change your 4-chord — which is normally F major — to an F minor.

4) Use Ab major (the b6) to come down to your 5-chord (Gdom7)

5) Even though this chord isn’t technically in C natural minor (it’s in C harmonic minor), use Bdim7 (B+D+F+Ab) on the 7th degree. It’s a great leading tone back home to any C chord.

6) Use Eb major (b3 tone) in certain spots… like to lead to the 4-chord… or to lead to the b6 (Ab), which can come down to the 5-chord (G), which leads back home to C. See how these things are chained together?

Well, that’s all I have for today. It’s Saturday at about 6am so everyone’s sleep. I thought I’d add another content lesson but don’t get used to Saturdays… this is an anomaly! :-)

These borrowed chords should give you a lot to work on.

Every other Monday night, we hold a live “Question & Answer” session in our Gospel Music Training Center and last night we got a great question from Miriam Tierno in NY: “What is the difference between Transposition and Modulation?”

So I’m going to repeat my answer concerning transposition and modulation here on the blog for everyone to see.

The Difference Between Transposition and Modulation

When it comes to transposition and modulation, they are very similar… yet different.

Transposition (or the commonly known verb, “transposing“) is the act of learning a song or chord progression in a new key. For example, if a song is in the key of C but you want to play it in the key of Eb, you’d have to “transpose” it to the key of Eb using one of the strategies below.

It’s useful in church when a singer wants you to take the original key of a song down a few half steps… or if you’re playing an instrument that is tuned differently so you may have to adjust by transposing up or down. Or perhaps, you’re a 12′er (my own term) and find pride in learning everything you know in all 12 keys — transposition is helpful for you too.

Here are a few links to past posts that’ll show you how to transpose:

How to Transpose Stuff

How to Effectively Master Every Key

How to Transpose Songs

4 Tips For Getting to the Next Level

Transposition and Modulation Continued

Modulating, on the other hands, is the process of moving to another key while playing. While transposition is literally taking what you know in one key to another, modulation is like the actual act of going there.

So if you’re in the key of C and you want to take the song up to the key of Db, you can get to the new key by modulating there, on the spot.

There are many ways to modulate to a new key. The most common is to simply play the “5-chord” of the new key.

So you’d act like you’re about to end your progression in the current key (by typically using a 2-5-1 progression) but instead of coming back to the 1, you’d go from the 5-chord of the current key to the 5-chord of the new key, which provides resolution to the new 1-chord.

Let me give you an example:

Say, we’re at the end of a verse in the key of C. A typical 2-5-1 progression would be:

Dminor9 – D on left /// F A C E

G9sus – G on left /// F A C

Cmaj – C on left /// E G C

When we’re ready to modulate, instead of coming home to the C chord displayed above, you’d take the G9sus (which is the 5-chord in the key of C) and simply take it up a half step, giving you Ab9sus. This is now the 5-chord in Db major and will bring you beautifully home to Db major just like the G9sus brought you home to the C major.

G9sus – G on left /// F A C

Absus – Ab on left /// Gb Bb Db

Dbmaj – Db on left /// F Ab Db

The process we just took to move from C to Db is called a modulation.

Transposition and Modulation Review

So again, transposition is basically saying: “I live in California and now I want to live in Florida” (thus studying where you want to live in Florida, where everything is, how to get around, etc.) Modulation is the actual road trip you take to get from California to Florida.

I hope this helps to clarify transposition and modulation.

The other day, I answered a question regarding popular gospel scales one can play — and the diminished scale was on my list.

But it haunted me because this is a pretty big scale… 8 notes to be exact. It’s what we call an octatonic scale. Octa = 8.

(Incidentally, there’s such a thing as pentatonic scales, which have 5 notes. Hexatonic scales have 6 (like blues scales). Heptatonic scales have 7 (like major scales). And here we are at a diminished scale, which has 8).

I knew many wouldn’t even try to learn the diminished scale in all 12 keys because it simply has too many notes. (Well, I take that back… 80% wouldn’t try but there are those “dedicated few” — the 20% — who make an effort tackle stuff like this).

How to play any diminished scale in seconds

So here’s what you do to play any diminished scale. The ONLY prerequisite is that you know your diminished 7 chords, which are pretty easy because there’s only really 3 of them.

C Diminished 7 (C + Eb + Gb + A) — The “A” should really be named “Bbb” but let’s keep it simple.

C# Diminished 7 (C# + E + G + Bb) — Yes, you can mix sharps and flats. See these two lessons here and here.

D Diminished 7 (D + F + Ab + B) — The “B” should really be named “Cb” but again, let’s keep it simple here.

If you learn these 3, you can play all the other diminished chords. In other words, you can transform the D Diminished 7 chord above into an F diminished 7 chord by simply taking the D off the bottom and putting it on the top:

F diminished 7 (F + Ab + B + D) — again, written in slang or else it’d be F + Ab + Cb + Ebb

So basically, the D diminished 7 has the same notes as the F diminished 7, which has the same notes as the B diminished 7, which has the same notes as the Ab diminished 7. All the notes in the chord share the same notes in their own respective chords. That’s why you only need to know 3 distinct sets of diminished chords.

One Step To Master The Diminished Scale

Now that you know your chords, this is the only step you have to do.

Remember, half steps are from key to key with no keys in between. Whole steps always skip a key with one key in between.

Now, you’d skip the first note but don’t worry, we’ll get back to it at the END of our scale since scales start and end on the same note.

And I’m not too concerned with the spelling here… just the quick concept. So pick sharp or flat… your call.

If we were to do this with the D diminished 7:

First, we identify the regular notes of this chord:

D + F + Ab + B

Now, just slide in half step notes between each tone. Remember, we’re slipping notes half-steps BEFORE so notice how we slip an “E” before the “F”… a “G” before the “Ab”… a “Bb” before the “B”… and “Db” before the “D.”

D + (E) + F + (G) + Ab + (Bb) + B + (Db) + D

(Notice, we didn’t put a half step in front of the first D because it started our scale… but we did insert a half-step note prior to the last “D.” That’s how it works).

So you have 4 notes in your regular chord… and 4 “inserted” notes which happen to be half steps before your original notes. Pretty simple!

Another Diminished Scale Revelation

Notice anything interesting about the notes we inserted: E + G + Bb + Db?

Maybe not in that order. How about in this order and alternate spelling:

C# Diminished 7 (C# + E + G + Bb)

(This is the same chord ordered differently and with C# instead of Db).

So the half-step notes you added also form a diminished chord of their own!

That means the diminished scale is nothing more than two diminished chords superimposed on top of each other.

But for now, I think the easiest way to think about the diminished scale is to take one diminished chord and basically fill in the notes a half-step before each note of your chord.

I know my promise was big in the title of this lesson but didn’t I deliver?

That’s my philosophy — to take the complicated and make it drop dead simple. Elsewhere, the name of the game is to sound the smartest… I guess to compete with other professions like doctors and lawyers. “Music has terminology and theory too!” they must say. Well, I don’t care for all that. I just want you to play!

If you haven’t invested in one or more of my courses to keep this cause going, check out my selection.

Well, there you have it. A simple 2-second method to play any diminished scale you want.

Thanks to Miriam Tierno for making this “Number System” chart. She wanted me to pass this on to other members.

If you’re not familiar with the importance of the number system, see this report.

Number System

You can use the number system to:

By Miriam Tierno, (c) 2010

(Click the picture to get the full-size version).

Enjoy.

Happy New Year!

Yup, it’s been that long since I’ve written in my blog… but for good reason…

You’ll probably remember I promised I’d go on vacation after the launch of my latest 12-disc “Musician Transformation” & Gospel Music Training Center resources in December 2009 (which sold out, btw).

But that’s not the only reason I’ve been gone…

On December 15, 2009 at 3:41 a.m. (just a lil over 3 hours after my wife’s birthday ended on the 14th), God blessed us with another little angel, Layla Ann Griggs… 8lbs, 11oz, 20 inches.

Here’s a pic of her and my wife:

If you remember the birth of my first daughter, Jadyn Olivia Griggs, on June 8, 2006, you’ll know they practically look like twins!

I never thought I’d be one of those types that forget the names of my kids… “Now take this bottle Jadyn… I mean LAYLA!!!” (And I’m only 26…!!!)

I’m also so proud of my beautiful wife Sarah because just some weeks after giving birth to Layla, she was back up and glamorous! Here’s a pic I snapped of her just before our “date night” to a nearby comedy show.

And since I’m revealing pics, I guess I’m next…

NOT!

You’ll have to wait to see my transformation! I’ll reveal myself in June (maybe on my birthday????)…

Let’s just say JP (from GospelKeys Urban Pro 600) and I have been working out every morning at 6am… yup 6am! (If you got a goal or dream, GO GET IT! And go STRONG! Will Smith says it best here)

With that said, I want to reintroduce you to over 2 hours of free video content and over 50 pages of written material I created early in 2009. I realize that a lot of people have joined the hear & play family since then and have never seen these free resources.

Others have been on board a while and still missed these.

And the rest clicked the links when I originally posted them but FAILED to do anything with the information. So here’s another opportunity!

(If you did make good with this information, congrats… you’re in the top 10% of action-takers! Take this time to review…)

This is a series. They all go together.

VIDEO LESSON #1 – “Finding the key to any song”

If you ask any ear-musician, this skill will be at the center (or maybe the “center” of the “center” like in hit movie, Slumdog Millionaire).

If you can’t determine what key a song is being performed in just by listening, you’ll have many problems down the road (at least when it comes to playing by EAR in situations where you need to “think on your feet.”)

This is the most “intuitive” of all the skills and knowledge you’ll attain. It’s not like reading sheet music where you look at the grand staff and determine what key the piece is in by the number of flats or sharps that appear at the beginning of the music.

YOU DON’T HAVE MUSIC IN FRONT OF YOU.

No reference.

Just your ear.

This video will make it plain…

Note: If you really like what I talked about, I have an 80-minute course that covers finding the key to any song. You can find it here.

VIDEO LESSON #2 – “The KEY to getting to the next level in your piano”

This next lesson reveals a very important STRATEGY you MUST have as an ear-musician.

Again, if you’re reading sheet music, this probably isn’t emphasized as much… but when it comes to playing by ear, “NUMBERS” rule.

And your ability to know your numbers “inside” and “out” will determine how far you get… and how fast you get there.

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, check out the next lesson below. There is also a 28-pg report that goes along with it.

(You may also find my “core fundamentals” courses helpful)

RESOURCE: Click here to download the free 29-pg report that goes along with this video lesson.

VIDEO LESSON #3 – “The SECRET to playing ANY and EVERY chord you want in SECONDS”

This next lesson will take you even further…

It borrows a very familiar concept from the car industry (popularized by Henry Ford in the early 1900′s) and adapts it to music!

It’s the very next logical step in the process and you’ll get it laid out for you plainly in this video…

(there is a 14 page report included at the bottom of the video)

If this topic interests you, then you may like my “hear & play chords” series.

RESOURCE: Click here to download the free 14-pg report that goes along with this video lesson.

VIDEO LESSON #4 – “The MISSING PIECE OF THE PUZZLE to playing almost any song out there”

This last video could arguably be the MOST IMPORTANT part when it comes to learning real songs and understanding just how closely related songs are (yes… all songs follow the same general patterns and principles — this video will reveal all of this to you…)

There’s also a 12-pg report that goes along with it…

RESOURCE: Click here to download the free 12-pg report that goes along with this video lesson.

(If you’re into gospel music, GospelKeys 202 really breaks down the idea of “patterns.” 70 to 80% of songs have the same common movements in them. This course is revolutionary in that it breaks down all these patterns and covers the “how,” “what,” and “why.” Click here for more information)

————

Wow, so there you have it! A good way to start off the year!

I look forward to your comments about our new addition and/or the videos above. I read each and every one of them.

(My last blog post got over 750 comments when I was giving away my FREE 12-disc “Musician Transformation” course … which will be back in a couple of months, don’t worry!)

Take care,

Jermaine Griggs
Founder

>NOTE: To learn ALL the techniques and strategies to take your playing to the next level, go here:

http://www.hearandplay.com/products

Wow, what can I say…

I think I’ve started something here…

The last few weeks, I’ve been trying out a new format by taking really good questions from students and not only answering them personally, but sending them to our entire mailing list.

This has resulted in a lot of love — and even MORE questions from dedicated students all around the world. I’ve received at least a good couple hundred questions that could easily keep me busy sending responses like this for years…

But here’s one that made the top of the list. I think you’ll really be helped by my reply to Tyler. It’s long but packed with details. About 5 lessons in one.

PRINT THIS OUT because it really is *that* important.

——————–

***Comment From Tyler N***

Hi Jermaine,

Dude, you are incredible. Your knowledge of theory is on another planet. Thanks for what you do man, for real.

I’m trying to learn all 12 keys and I happen to be a member of the Gospel Music Training Center where you talked about using the circle of fifths to learn every key.

I do know the circle of fifths but I don’t think I totally understand how to use it to learn every key. Do you mind shedding some light on this in the next Q&A teleclass?

Again, thanks man. Tell JP and all the staff they are doing an awesome job.

Tyler

——————–

>>> My Comments and explanations to Tyler (Lots of good info… read carefully)

Yo Tyler!

Thanks for the e-mail! Glad to hear you’re enjoying the material!

I believe you’re referring to our last Gospel Music Training Call that just past, where Jon and I talked about the circle of fifths and how it can help you to learn any song in all 12 keys…

I can definitely help you with that.

But before we delve in, let’s back up a bit and talk about the ‘circle of fifths’ concept itself.

The circle of fifths is a very powerful discovery in music because it pretty much describes HOW MUSIC WORKS in one simple chart.

If you want to see an example of the circle, here’s an example: http://www.musiccirclechart.com

You see, music moves in fifths and fourths. And if you really think about it, there’s a fine line between “fifths” and “fourths.” (that’s why you hear some people calling it the “circle of fifths” and other folks calling it the “circle of fourths.” Let me demystify this first.

Both names are correct. Here’s why:

If I ask you to go up a fourth interval, that essentially means to move up 5 half steps from whatever note you’re on. (There are many ways to think about it but this is the most straightforward…)

And for folks that don’t know what half steps are, remember this poem:

“Half steps are from key to key with no keys in between, Whole steps always skip a key with one key in between.”

So basically, if you’re going from one key directly up or down to the key directly next door, that’s a half step. Doesn’t matter if it’s a white key, a black key, a purple key, a broken key (some of you haven’t fixed your piano in years)… if it goes from one key right next door, it’s a half step. [C to C#], [E to F], [G to Ab], [Bb to B]… all of these pairs are half steps. [C to D], [E to F#], [Ab to Bb]… these are whole steps because they are skipping one key. Easy.

Back to fourths. So if I start on C and want to go up a fourth, I simply count 5 half steps up…

C to Db is 1 half step… Db to D is another… D to Eb is the 3rd half step, Eb to E is 4, and finally E to F. So “C” to “F” is a fourth.

Now, on the other hand, a fifth uses 7 half steps. So if you do the same thing starting at C — except, this time using 7 half steps — you’ll arrive at G.

So “C” to “G” is a fifth.

“C” UP to “F” is a fourth. “C” UP to “G” is a fifth.

Here’s the tricky part. Notice I used the word “UP” because if you count the same number of half steps down, you’ll get different answers.

If you count 5 half steps DOWN from C, you’ll get G. And if you count 7 half steps DOWN from the same C, you’ll get F.

In other words, C up to F is a fourth. C down to F is a fifth.

And in the same way, C up to G is a fifth but C down to G is a fourth.

Basically, they are ‘inverses’ of each other. Opposites. One does one thing going up and another going down. The other does the exact opposite.

Any time you take a fourth interval and “flip” it, you’ll get a fifth. If you do the same to a fifth, you’ll get a fourth.

Try it. Hold down C and the higher G together. That’s a fifth. C is the lowest note and there are 7 half steps between C and G. But if you take the C off the bottom and put it on the top (and now “G” on the bottom), now you’ve got yourself a fourth interval. Just that easy.

Oh and I should add… these are called “PERFECT 4ths” and “PERFECT 5ths.” Sometimes, for short, folks leave off the “perfect” part but if you want to be very specific, add that.

Why did I choose to tell you all this?

Because, there are two ways to look at the circle of fifths chart. Go to http://www.circlemusicchart.com and print it out…

If you thought of this circle as a clock, “C” would be at 12 o’ clock.

G is at 1 o’ clock. D is at 2 o’ clock.

Get it?

That means on the other side, F is at 11 o’ clock, Bb is at 10 o’ clock, Eb is at 9 o’ clock and so forth…

And like I said, there are 2 ways to look at this circle. You can look at it going clockwise from C to G to D to A… and so forth.

Or you can look at this chart going counter-clockwise, from C to F to Bb to Eb… and so forth.

Some people say when you go counter-clockwise from C to F to Bb to Eb… that you’re going in “fourths.” But, of course, now you know better. You’re going in fourths only if you’re looking at this as going UP from C to F. And UP from F to Bb… and UP from Bb to Eb.

But as you just learned, going from C down to F is a fifth too! That’s why some people still choose to look at this WHOLE circle as a relationship of fifths because if you go clockwise, C up to G is a fifth. And if you go counter-clockwise, C down to F is also a fifth.

Put another way, “G” is the fifth of C. And “C” is the fifth of “F” — and so on.

But either way, here’s the golden nugget.

Go counter-clockwise! This is the flow of music. This is how 80% of songs move.

What do I mean?

THAT’S WHAT I MEAN!

If you analyze the chord patterns of songs, you’ll find them moving like this:

Some kinda “C” chord to some kinda “F” chord to some kinda “Bb” chord to some kinda “Eb” chord, depending on the key you’re in.

If you’re in a key like “G” major, you’ll find the same counter-clockwise movement at work — just at the other end of the circle with chords moving from some kind of “A” chord to some kind of “D” chord to some kind of “G” chord to some kind of “C” chord (just to give an example).

I say “some kind of chord” because depending on your key, some chords will be major, some minor, some dominant, some diminished, etc… and we really don’t have time to talk about that right here. Easily another 5 pages if I go there.

So the circle really explains the flow of music.

Ever heard of a “2-5-1″ progression? Guess what? Highlight any 3 notes on the circle that are neighbors and there are the keynotes of your “2-5-1″ progression! BAM!

Don’t believe me? What’s a 2-5-1 progression in the key of C? Well, the 2 is “D”… the 5 is “G” and the 1 is “C.” Where do those notes just “happen” to appear on the circle of fifths chart?

D is at 2 o clock. G is at 1 o clock. C is at 12 o clock. Counter-clockwise! Neighbors too!

Like pulling back time (ever wish you could pull back time, counter-clockwise???) Lol, get out of the past!!!!!!!!!!!! Except in music, that is! Cuz moving against the clock, when it comes to the circle, is how you will find most of your songs arranged. Counter-clockwise…

EXERCISE: Take songs you already know and compare them to the circle of fifths. For example, if the song you know goes from C major to A minor to D minor to G major to C major, then compare where those notes C, A, D, G, C appear on the circle and the type of movement you notice.

So, here’s the entire circle but in a counter-clockwise arrangement:

C > F > Bb > Eb > Ab > Db > Gb > B > E > A > D > G (repeat)

WHATEVER YOU HAVE TO DO TO LEARN THIS, DO IT!

Memorize it, chunk it, tape it to your dashboard. If you can say this in one breath really fast, you won’t believe how helpful it can be to you.

Why? Because all songs move in this direction. You can literally highlight any 3 or 4 notes straight off this circle and find many chord progressions that use those same exact notes in the same exact order. You can find entire songs using this order of notes… and just repeating over and over. Wash, rinse, repeat.

And since chords and patterns move like this, it makes sense to learn and practice chords in this same order. When you learn chords in this order, you further reinforce the circle.

Plus, when it comes time to play real songs that move in fourths anyway, you’ve already done it so much in your own practicing so it’s not that hard to apply it when needed.

(Oh, by the way, I’ve been saying ‘circle of fifths’ AND ‘circle of fourths’ up until this point. But now, I’m going to choose to call this “fourths” since most people consider C to F a fourth, unless you tell them C “DOWN” to F. But from now on, to keep things consistent, I will mainly say FOURTHS to represent the counter-clockwise direction of the circle.)

I realize this could still be over some folks’ head so let me break it down. (My fingers are getting tired but I’ll keep going, as long as you’ll keep reading)…

You can either learn chords by fourths like I’m advocating, or you can learn them chromatically in half steps.

Let’s talk about the latter method first.

To learn chords chromatically means to master chords one half-step at a time. In other words, you learn a “C” major chord first, then you take every note up a half step to learn the “C#” or “Db” major chord. Then once you learn that chord, you take every note of your chord up another half step to learn the “D” major chord. And so on…

In real life, this looks like this:

CHORD = G + B + C + E (which is a C major 7 chord in 2nd inversion by the way).

Say I wanted to learn this chord chromatically. All I gotta do is take every finger up a half step and that will give me the SAME chord in the next key up.

A half step up from C is Db so by taking EVERY tone of the chord up a half step, I’m essentially learning that SAME chord in the key a half step up. Looks like a duck, quacks like a duck… it’s a duck.

So let’s do it…

G + B + C + E.

Move G up a half step to Ab.

Move B up a half step to C.

Move C up a half step up to Db.

Move E a half step up to F.

The new chord is Ab + C + Db + F. And since the old chord was a “major 7″ chord in 2nd inversion, that means THIS IS ALSO A MAJOR 7 CHORD IN 2ND INVERSION.

Nothing changes about the quality or quantity of the chord. If it’s major, the quality will be the same. If it’s a seventh, the quantity will also be the same. So, if the first chord was a C major 7, this new chord up a half step is simply a Db major 7. Got it?

So you could essentially learn every chord this way. It’s the easiest because it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to move every finger up one note. But it’s limiting because music doesn’t move chromatically like that. I mean it CAN, but it isn’t commonplace like fourths and fifths.

FOURTHS and FIFTHS are everywhere. They are the most common movement.

So remember the circle of fifths order I told you to memorize?

C > F > Bb > Eb > Ab > Db > Gb > B > E > A > D > G (repeat)

If you want to really get the “flow of music,” learn chords in fourths and also practice them in fourths.

Let’s take this same example:

G + B + C + E.

This is a C major 7 chord in 2nd inversion. If I were taking my own advice and learning this same chord in fourths, I would seek to learn an “F major 7″ chord next…

Why? Because it’s a fourth up from C when using the circle order above.

So it’s simple… let’s take each of these notes and determine what’s a fourth up from each one.

G + B + C + E.

This is easy because a fourth up is whatever note is “NEXT” in the circle. Just do this with EACH note.

A fourth up from “G” is “C” A fourth up from “B” is “E” A fourth up from “C” is “F” A fourth up from “E” is “A”

We’ve just learned the F major 7 chord by taking each note up a fourth.

So essentially, the same circle we use to play chord patterns is the same circle we use to learn CHORDS. That’s why I said to do whatever it takes to memorize the circle. These shortcuts are everywhere.

C + E + F + A is an F major 7 chord in 2nd inversion.

(for my beginners, yes, I know C is on the bottom but when you invert a chord, you basically change the order of notes.)

This same chord is F + A + C + E in the normal “root” inversion. If you take the “F” off the bottom and put it on the top, you get “A + C + E + F,” which is 1st inversion. If you then take the “A” off the bottom and put it on the top, you get “C + E + F + A,” which is 2nd inversion — the one we just learned.

So here’s your homework.

Take these chords below and learn them in fourths using the same steps I took above. You can also start all over and learn them chromatically too but the real “connection” comes in learning them in fourths.

C major = C + E + G

C major 7 = C + E + G + B

C minor = C + Eb + G

C minor 7 = C + Eb + G + Bb

EXTRA CREDIT: Invert the chords by taking the current note off the bottom and putting it on the top. Do this again to get the next inversion. If the chord has 4 notes, do this AGAIN to get the final inversion.

Post your answers below as a comment.

Again, you’re taking all 4 chords above and learning each one in all 12 keys USING the circle I talked about above. If you can’t do this, you need to print out this lesson and re-read it. This will result in you knowing 48 chords by the end of this exercise. If you’re serious, you’ll do it. If you get this one concept, you’ll skip at least 6-8 months worth of lessons… and that’s only if your teacher knows how important the circle is to playing BY EAR. Sight readers use this to figure out key signatures and ‘sharps & flats’ but all that stuff is NOTHING compared to the real value of the circle. The real value of the circle involves patterns, song movement, and stuff like that, if you’re an “ear” player.

If you want to get a real good introduction to all this, my $17 course is a steal. If you’re a reader, you have everything here. I sure didn’t hold back. If I wanted to hold back, I would have stopped 4 pages ago. The $17 starter course just takes it further by giving you 2 hours of instruction in my own voice with live demonstrations and examples.

So if my written words are cool for you, then I can promise you my voice is easily 3 times better. And at $17, you have nothing to lose. Check it out at:

http://www.hearandplay.com/17dollarcourse

If you were a bit helped by the words I’ve written here, then this audio course will REALLY be helpful because you’ll hear me talking about all this stuff for 2 whole hours, reinforcing every little concept over and over. You’ll like it.

Go to:

http://www.hearandplay.com/17dollarcourse

(You can even get the downloadable digital version and start learning right away).

Talk soon,

Jermaine

P.S. – Got questions? Comment below and I’ll answer right away:

P.P.S – If your budget allows, my 300pg course is your next best bet. It has 20 chapters, tons of exercises, and covers everything, step by step:

http://www.hearandplay.com/core

>NOTE: To learn ALL the techniques and strategies that you’ll need to start playing songs on your own – in all 12 keys – and sounding like you’ve been playing for years, go here:

http://www.hearandplay.com/products

After last week’s e-mail, I received a host of replies. Here’s one that I think will really help you (VERY IMPORTANT STRATEGIES).

***Comment From Kelly W.***

Hi Jermaine,

Thanks for sending such an informative e-mail. I feel like you give so much through your website, blog, and e-mails (maybe too much). Do you ever sleep?

Well, here’s another e-mail to add to your insomnia. :-)

You mentioned the number system and how it is key when it comes to playing music by ear. I totally get that now. But towards the end, you started talking about numbers and patterns but you quickly ended. Kinda left me hanging as I was hanging on your every word up until that point and didn’t want the e-mail to end.

Do you mind expounding on how the number system works with patterns?

A passionate fan, Kelly W.

>>> My Comments (and explanations):

Kelly, first off, thanks so much for your kind words. Yes, I DO sleep (but not nearly as much as I should). My wife says I should be getting in as much sleep as possible RIGHT NOW before our 2nd daughter is born in December. But I’m hard-headed. So enjoy these personal replies while they last :-)!

To recap, YES, the number system is absolutely pivitol in playing music by ear without sheet music. There’s just so much you can do with it. (And it’s so easy to grasp — you just take every major scale you know and NUMBER each of them from 1 to 7… BAMMM! There’s the number system).

But let’s talk about chord patterns for a second…

In playing by ear, you’ll notice that a lot of songs use the same chord patterns over and over again. One popular chord pattern is the 1-4-5 chord progression. (Let me stop — for my beginners, “chord patterns,” “chord progressions,” “chord changes,” “chord ___whatever___” pretty much all mean the same thing).

When I say “1-4-5″ in this sense, I’m literally talking about a chord built off the first tone of the scale “moving” (or progressing) to a chord off the fourth tone of the scale… and finally to a chord off the fifth tone of the scale. There are countless possibilities.

In the key of C (ahhhh, amazing how the number system stands on its own two feet… but now let’s move into a specific key)…

In the key of C, a 1-4-5 chord pattern would be some kind of chord on C moving to some kind of chord on F, and finally ending on some type of chord on G. Those notes – C, F, & G – are the 1st, 4th, and 5th degrees of the scale, respectively. In other words, the “root” or “bass” of the chord will determine the number that gets attached to it.

C major. Root (or bass) is C. And C is the first tone of the scale. Therefore, C major is on “the 1.”

Now the reason NUMBERS are important is that I can express tons of patterns like this without being in any particular key. That is why I made the statement above about “coming” into a specific key. See, numbers are like a universal language. I can sit here and chat with a fellow musician all day long and if he or she knows about numbers, our conversation could actually make sense just saying stuff like “1-4-5″ or “6-2-5-1″ or “2-5-1″ or “b5-7-3″ (b5 = “flatted 5″ and you get it by literally taking the 5th tone of the scale and flatting it a half step).

So that’s why I mentioned how important numbers are when it comes to chord patterns.

Here’s my advice to any musician who wants to get the most out of NUMBERS…

First, master your scales as numbers and be able to call out any number fast. Like if I asked you, “what is the 2nd tone of F,” you should answer within seconds, “G.” If I say “the 7th tone of B,” you should answer “A#” within seconds. I’ve created a free 28-pg report about this very strategy and you can download at: http://www.hearandplay.com/numbers (Enjoy!)

Second, once you’ve mastered numbers and they are second nature to you, start “THINKING” about them as you play songs. For example, if someone taught you these chords in the key of C:

C major > F major > G7 > G/F > E minor > A7 > D minor > G7 > C major

(Believe it or not, this is a very common string of chords). Oh yeah, since I hate for people to be lost, the “G7″ is the quick way to write “G dominant 7.” The “G/F” is what we call a slash chord. It means play a G major chord over F bass. Whenever you see a letter without “major” or “minor” or something like that, assume “major.” And if you see a slash, the note on the right of the slash is to be played on your left hand as the bass.

I get carried away, excuse me! :-)

So back to this chord pattern. Once you’ve mastered numbers, you need to be thinking “NUMBERS.” See, if you’re just playing this progression and thinking these are random chords, you’re cheating yourself. But if you think of this string of chords as numbers progressing from one to the other, then you’ll be opened up to a whole new world. Let me explain…

Because there are 12 distinct keys that you can possibly be playing a song in, most people don’t know they are playing the SAME exact thing in other keys. I mean, how can you? Everything feels different. The notes are different, the letters are different, the titles are different. The chords feel different to your hands. etc…

Numbers standardize everything. There can only be a single number per chord. So it doesn’t matter what key you’re in, if you’re thinking in terms of numbers, you have just brought that key into a neutral world.

Example:

F major: ———–

F major > Bb major > C7 > C/Bb > A minor > D7 > G minor > C7 > F major

Did you realize right off the bat that this was the same exact pattern I displayed above in C? Most WOULDN’T because the notes are different. It throws most people off so they continue playing these two separate chord progressions in different keys NOT KNOWING they are playing the same thing!

Let’s analyze:

C major ———–

C major > F major > G7 > G/F > E minor > A7 > D minor > G7 > C major

1 > 4 > 5 > 4 > 3 > 6 > 2 > 5 > 1

(I just took the keynotes of each chord and figured out their “numbers.”)

For example, in the C major chord, C is the keynote (the title). It is the first tone of C major (duhh!). F major is the next chord. It’s the 4th tone of C major. G7 is the next chord. It’s the 5th tone of C major. (You just keep doing this until you’ve analyzed each chord). At the end, you have this chord pattern in numbers:

1 > 4 > 5 > 4 > 3 > 6 > 2 > 5 > 1

Now, if you do the same thing to the “F major” chord progression I posted above, you’ll get these numbers:

F major: ———–

F major > Bb major > C7 > C/Bb > A minor > D7 > G minor > C7 > F major

1 > 4 > 5 > 4 > 3 > 6 > 2 > 5 > 1

Lightbulb yet?

It’s the SAME pattern but you probably didn’t know that if you don’t already think in terms of numbers. Most musicians would have treated these progressions as two separate “things” because they look different.

But at the core, when you strip all the letters away, they are the same. Hmmm, “MESSAGE!” Everyone comes in different shapes, colors, and sizes. But when you strip all that away, we are all the same! :-)

The third thing to do is to just get fast at being able to figure this out WHILE you’re playing. That’s all. After you do it so much, you’ll just ‘think’ that way. It’s a paradigm shift from the standard way of playing. You’ll be there soon.

So, we’re full circle. Back to numbers and their importance.

You may be thinking, “Jermaine! How do I ‘think’ in terms of numbers?”

Well, it’s not something you overdo. It’s just something you’re “aware” of. As you’re playing, you force yourself to think: “Ok, I’m on the ____ tone of the scale.” That’s it! It’s simple! Over time, it will become second nature.

Then, you’ll see just how EVERYTHING YOU PLAY (or 80% of it) boils down to the same exact patterns. You can’t see it now because you’re thinking in terms of letters. “Letters” are sort of the enemy of playing in all 12 keys. Just two hard to memorize all the letters. But if you get good at memorizing the universal numbers for all the patterns and chords you play, you won’t go wrong.

To learn other unique techniques and strategies you can use to master the number system and take your playing to the next level, go to the link below. I recommend either my 300-pg course or my Starter 702 audio course (or BOTH). The Starter 702 course is cheap… a steal… $17 bucks and covers much of what I’ve talked about here… but with my VOICE and piano explaining everything. If you’re serious, check it out:

http://www.hearandplay.com/products

(It’s in the CORE ESSENTIALS section).

Talk soon,

Jermaine

P.S. – This old video I did several months ago will really help you with numbers as well…

>NOTE: To learn ALL the techniques and strategies that you’ll need to start learning songs on your own, sounding flavorful, and being comfortable playing anything you want, go here:

http://www.hearandplay.com/products

In reading through some of my recent e-mails, I found a message from someone who REALLY gets it.

***Comment From A Reader Who GETS IT***

Jermaine, doc, where have you been all my life? Since I purchased your GospelKeys 202 and have been reading through your online blog lessons and resources, they have really opened my mind up to the whole world of “numbers.”

I was one of those folks who thought music was about letters. I thought chords used letters. UNTIL God led me to your website. And now everything I thought I knew about music has been challenged and I’ve gotten to the next level because now I know how to think in terms of numbers.

I don’t think about a C major 7 chord going to an F major 7 chord anymore (well I still do but it’s not the dominant thought like it used to be). Now I think about the 1st tone of the scale going to the 4th tone of the scale if I’m in the key of C or the 5th tone of the scale going to the 1st tone of the scale if I’m in the key of F major.

And when I do this, I find that I can take the same patterns to basically any major key because I’m not stuck thinking about C going to F liked I used to be. Now I’m thinking a totally different way and with the numbers I can just fill in the blank as the cliche goes and be free to play anywhere I want. It’s really changed the way I do “thangs” and I gotta give you the credit for it.

Keep it up man. I’ll see you at the top.

Terrell S.

>>> My Comments (and explanations):

Well Terrell, it looks like you TRULY get it.

You’ve stumbled on to one of the greatest secrets of “playing by ear.” It’s numbers.

When most people think about music, they think about “creative” stuff like notes and letters and sharp “(#)” signs and flat “(b)” signs. But music is highly mathematical too.

NUMBERS rule in music and when a musician truly “GETS” this, their playing explodes.

I remember one of my earlier students – Royzell – and how fast it took him to start learning real songs on his own. I mean this guy was up and playing in like 6 weeks. He was hungry for it, YES, but one thing I made sure he understood out the gate was the number system (i.e. – taking every major scale and learning each tone as numbers… “C” is 1, “D” is 2, “E” is 3… and so on).

Then I taught him how to play chords using the same numbers (i.e. – “combine tones ’7′ + ’3′ + ’5′ to play a nice-sounding major 7 chord in ANY key”). No, that isn’t the “regular” default way to play a major 7 chord. We were killing two birds with one stone by learning nicer voicings of the chords using the numbers so that we could literally take the same voicing to all 12 keys in minutes.

Then we naturally did patterns and chord progressions next (i.e. – “6-2-5-1 chord pattern” … very common pattern). It’s the same numbers at work but this time entire chords are moving from one to the other using the numbers. Songs came easy after that.

Fast forward several years and let’s just say he’s passed me up! And I don’t mind. He realized just how IMPORTANT numbers were in the beginning and now there’s virtually nothing he can’t pick up in minutes (and take to a new key without practicing). He’s even played for celebrities and filled in at West Angeles, the mega church where the hit producers and musicians, Jason White and Michael Bereal, play. And to think, it all started with NUMBERS (I don’t want to discount him either because he had a lot of drive and passion and was serious about his craft).

>REMEMBER – You can do almost anything by understanding the number system. And most importantly, it’ll allow you to play in any key because you’re essentially not memorizing any of the specific chords of a song… you’re not really memorizing ANYTHING. You simply understand that a pattern, for example, is a chord off the 1st tone of the scale moving to a chord off the 3rd tone of the scale… then to the 6th tone, then 2nd tone, then 5th tone, then back home to the 1st tone again.

AND GET THIS — once you realize that about 1 in 3 songs have that same pattern occuring in some way, shape, or form, then it really gets easy to learn and play songs off the top of your head because they all use the same patterns. Numbers allow you to do all this… and “then some” as mom would say.

To learn other unique techniques and strategies you can use to take your playing to the next level, go here:

http://www.hearandplay.com/products

Talk soon,

Jermaine

Here is a question that came in from Chris Myhre:

Flat 9, flat 5, flat 7th… this stuff is confusing — and for that matter the ADD 9, ADD 5, ADD 6, and the #9, #5 as well.  I guess I should also throw in the half-diminished chords, whatever those are.  I’m still trying to figure it out.  It all sounds beautiful but it seems that a #9 would be a minor note and a flat 7th is still just a regular 7th.  It’s hard to understand why the notation has to be so complicated.  Maybe things will become more apparent as I go along and learn more.

Anyway, I hope to understand more of this as I go along and I appreciate what you have done.  God bless,

—————–

Hi Chris,

Thanks for your question.

It is understandable why you would be confused as some of the upper level courses just tell you what they are rather than covering their construction from the beginning (that’s for the 300pg course and the starter stuff to cover, which do a fine job btw).

But just to answer some of your questions.

Flat 7th just let’s you know to take the natural 7th (which is B in the key of C) and flat it one half step. If I just said “7,” you should automatically think B, not B flat. But the minute we say “flat 7th” then that means take the 7 and flat it (lower it) a half step… aka, “dominant 7th” or “minor 7th.”

Knowing numbers is crucial. It’s probably the best thing you can learn. Knowing your scales as numbers.

9 is basically the 2nd tone of the scale
11 is basically the 4th tone of the scale
13 is basically the 6th tone of the scale

How are they determined?

Just number your scale up two octaves

C = 1
D = 2
E = 3
F = 4
G = 5
A = 6
B = 7
C = 8
D = 9
E = 10
F = 11
G = 12
A = 13
B = 14

But if you think about it, D is 9 (sure enough when playing extended chords) but the shortcut is to just immediately think “2″ (but up an octave usually). Same with the 11th, which is the 4th, and the 13th which is essentially the 6th.

When you’re instructed to “add 9,” that’s basically what you’re doing. You’re taking the original chord and adding whatever the 9th tone of the scale is. That’s it. Same with 13 or 6 or 2.

As for the “alterations,” (b9, #5, etc)… just like you flat the 7th tone (per the instructions above), you do the same with the 9th and other extended tones. Very simple. So if I’m in the key of C and instructed to play a b9 (aka – “flat 9″), I would first determine my 9th tone (D), and then lower it one-half step to Db. NEVER CHANGE THE ALPHABET LETTER when you’re doing this. For example, if I used C#, I would no longer be flatting the “9th tone” — instead I’d be raising the 8th tone (C) to C#, and that’s not what the instructions call for. So keep that in mind.

Also, yes, sharping the 9th tone is like playing a minor chord. But the big difference is that you cannot call it a minor chord because it still may be a major or dominant chord. In other words, a C7 #9#5 may still have an “E” in there (which makes this chord either major or dominant). What we are doing is essentially adding the 9 and then sharping it. So it’s giving you a chord with both a major third “E” and a “D#” (which isn’t quite a minor third because if you understand theory, that would be called an augmented second if it were played in the lower octave). So that’s why you need the alterations. Sometimes, though, you can just say “augmented” instead of #5… this is a case where sometimes they are pretty much synonyms. But be careful.

Let’s move on to your question about the “half diminished seventh” chord. But first, let’s back up and cover a more common chord first. This will help us to lead to the construction of the half-diminished seventh chord.

A diminished seventh chord is basically constructed of 3 minor third intervals.

It is important to note that:

Major third intervals have 4 half steps (like from C to E)
Minor third intervals, on the other hand, have 3 half steps (like from C to Eb)

You basically construct a diminished 7th chord by taking 3 minor thirds and piling them on top of each other…

C# to E is a minor third.
E to G is another minor third.
G to Bb is another minor third.

C# E G Bb would be a C# diminished 7 chord, for example.

For a lesson on why I used the notes above to name this chord, visit this link (you will use a mixture of sharps and flats for chord like this… see details at the link above).

Now, this leads me to the half diminished 7th chord.

The only difference is that you are taking the last “minor third” in the equation and making it a major third (which means you need to make it bigger by one half step since major thirds have 4 half steps in them). So instead of playing Bb, you’ll be playing “B.” Thus – C# E G B.

A half-diminished 7 chord is basically the same as a minor 7th chords with a flat 5 (aka – “min7 b5″). This is another way to look at half diminished 7th chords — just take a regular minor 7th chord, locate the 5th tone of the scale and lower that tone a half step.

Whewww! My fingers are tired.

I hope this answers all your questions!

Yes, I’m back! (I’ll explain why I’ve been gone so long in a subsequent post but please come through and comment to let me know you’re still anxious about hearing from me… even though I’ve been gone for a couple of months. I apologize.)

(By the way, thanks for all your support. You have been tremendously supportive on our radio show, the new gospel music training center, our various product launches, etc. I appreciate you).

Well, since I’ve been helping out with e-mails lately (to make sure we keep response times under 1 day), I’ve had an epiphany. Why not take a question a day from the REAL e-mails that come in and elaborate on them? It makes it easier on me because I’m answering that e-mail anyway — now I can simply format it, expand it a little further, and post it on the blog for all to see. Works for you?

(Granny calls that “killing two birds with one stone.)

And I won’t always limit it to one question per day either. If another good question comes in, I’ll post it too. You might end up with a bunch of smaller posts rather than one big long post, like in the past. I’ll see how this works.

Submit your questions at: blogquestion@hearandplay.com (you may not get a personalized reply but they will queue up for future posts).

So here’s today’s question submitted by Judy:

***********
Question
***********
“Hey, I don’t know what you mean by things with a “b” in FRONT of a scale number, such as “b3″ Whattup?”

***********
Answer
***********

Great question!

So we all know that I’m a big advocate for numbering your scale.

In other words, just don’t think of the C major scale as:

C D E F G A B C

Think of it as:

C is 1.
D is 2.
E is 3.
F is 4.
G is 5.
A is 6.
B is 7.

So if I ask you, “what is the 7th tone of C?” you should know it right away. These “numbered” degrees are what we call scale tones (or you can call them “scale degrees,” whatever you want frankly).

Now, let’s cover our little friends called “sharps” and “flats.”

A sharp is not a black key.
A flat is not a black key.

Rather, to “sharp” something means to raise it.
To “flat” something means to lower it.

(I guess I should define another term… a “half step” is from key to key with absolutely NO keys in between. A “whole step” ALWAYS skips a key with one key always in between).

Plain and simple.

When you see a “flat” sign (b) in front of a scale tone, that means to lower that tone one half step.

So if I say “the 3rd tone of C,” I’m referring to E because E is, indeed, the third tone of C.

C D (E) F G A B C = C major scale

If I say the b3 (“flat third” or “flatted third”) of C, then it would be E flat (Eb).

I simply take the same third tone and lower it a half step.

C D (Eb) F G A B C (believe it or not, this is actually the C melodic minor scale.)

I hope this helps!

***********************
Judy’s Follow Up Question
***********************

“Thank you for your help. Curious why it wouldn’t be written 3b for i.e. ‘Eb’
instead of b3?”

***********************
My Follow Up Answer
***********************

Well, because we say “flat 3″ or the “sharp 5,” instead of “3 flat” or “5 sharp,” it transposes the sign in FRONT of the note rather than after. That’s just how the terminology works.

Like the chord “C7 #9#5″

Pronounced: “C Seventh Sharp 9, Sharp 5″ or “C Seventh Sharped 9, Sharped 5″

I wish I knew more of the history but it’s like they say: “That’s just how it is…” :-)

I hope this helps.

——————

Until next time.

Welcome to another edition of “What Key Am I In?”

If you haven’t seen my past ones, click here to check them out.

Ok… here we go:

What minor key am I in if I have these chords:

F major
Bb major
C major

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Answer:

D minor

Explanation:

D is the relative minor of F major, so had you used these clues to figure out the “major” side of things (which would have been “F” had I asked for the major key), then the minor key would be a piece of cake.

Why? Because relative major and minor keys share the same key signature, scale tones, and chords.

So if you take the chords associated with the F major scale and simply “shift” them over so that “D” starts and ends the series of chords, you’re good to go! It’s that simple.

1st tone – F major (F A C)
2nd tone – G minor (G Bb D)
3rd tone – A minor (A C E)
4th tone – Bb major (Bb D F)
5th tone – C major (C E G)
6th tone – D minor (D F A)
7th tone – E diminished (E G Bb)
1st tone – F major (F A C)
2nd tone – G minor (G Bb D)
3rd tone – A minor (A C E)
4th tone – Bb major (Bb D F)
5th tone – C major (C E G)
6th tone – D minor (D F A)
7th tone – E diminished (E G Bb)

See the chords I’ve bold? Those are the same exact chords but instead of thinking of them in terms of “F major” (that is, with “F” as the starting and ending tone), I’ve emphasized them so that you can see how it works when you’re looking at the relative minor of the key. Same notes, same chords — DIFFERENT reference points… starting and ending notes. That’s it.

So when someone asks you to play in a minor key, if you know how to play in the relative major key, you should be fine!

(Oh, and just in case… you find the relative minor of any major key by going to the 6th tone. “D” is the 6th tone of “F major.” If you’re in a minor key and want to find the relative major, just go to the third tone of the minor scale. “F” is the 3rd tone of “D minor.” So that’s how all this works).

Here are all the relative major/minor relationships:

Relative Major / Relative Minor

C major / A minor
Db major / Bb minor
D major / B minor
Eb major / C minor
E major / C# minor
F major / D minor
F# major / D# minor
G major / E minor
Ab major / F minor
A major / F# minor
Bb major / G minor
B major / G# minor

I hope this helps.

Until next time —

Welcome to another edition of “What Key Am I In?”

If you haven’t seen my past ones, click here to check them out.

Ok… here we go:

What major key am I in if I have these chords:

A# minor
D# minor
G# minor

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Answer:

F# major

Explanation:

Remember this chart from other posts?

There’s only one key that has a G#, A# and D# as minor chords… and that key is F# major!

Let’s take a look at the F# major scale:

F# G# A# B C# D# E# F#

Now, if we apply the rules from above, we’ll be able to figure out which tones are minor:

F# – major chord
G# – minor chord
A# – minor chord
B – major chord
C# – major chord
D# – minor chord
E# – diminished chord

So if you got this one right, way 2 go! :-)

Until next time —

I’ve gotten a lot of e-mails about primary and secondary chords so I wanted to take this time to explain them.

Every key has what we call “primary” chords and “secondary” chords.

You may already know the primary chords…

They’re simply the 1, 4, and 5 tones of any scale.

For example, in the key of C major:

• The first tone of the scale is C
• The fourth tone of the scale is F
• The fifth tone of the scale is G

We simply play major chords on each of these tones. Bam! There’s your primary chords.

The secondary chords are all the other ones.

That leaves the 2nd, 3rd, 6th, and 7th tones of the scale.

(This post can technically be over but I want to go a little further in explaining secondary chords).

Every major key has a relative minor key. I talk about relative minors in this past post.

Like in C major, the relative minor is “A.” It’s basically the 6th tone of the scale (or you can count backwards two scale tones… “C > B > A”).

I said all that to say this…

3 of the 4 secondary chords are basically relative minors of the primary chords. Let me break it down…

We already know that “A” is the relative minor (6th tone) of C major so that takes care of the C major primary chord.

What is the relative minor of F major? It’s D!

And the relative minor of G major? It’s E!

C > A
F > D
G > E

Like I said above, you can think of this as basically 2 scale tones down from any primary chord.

Take C major for example…

1. Go down two scale tones — B is one, A is two.
2. “A” is the relative minor.

F major…

1. Go down two scale tones — E is one, D is two.
2. “D” is the relative minor.

G major…

1. Go down two scale tones (and I’m still referring to the C major scale since we’re talking about primary chords from the C major scale but even if you used the G major scale, you’d arrive at the same tone).
2. “E” is the relative minor.

Why is this important?

Relative minors and majors have a very strong connection. They share the same key signature. They have the same notes in their scales. Heck, their chords are pretty much the same.

Want me to prove it to you?

So what does all this mean?

Simply put, whenever you want to make things more interesting, throw in the right secondary chords!

Yes, most songs can be played with just primary chords (the “1,” “4,” and “5″). That’s true!

But if you want to get more interesting, you start throwing in these secondary chords.

And now that you know how the secondary chords relate to the primary chords, you can start substituting certain chords for others (***hint hint***).

Until next time —

Here it is…

The famous circle!

Some people call it the “circle of fifths.”

Others call it the “circle of fourths.”

Who’s right… who’s wrong?

Everyone’s right! You can use “fourths,” “fifths,” “circle,” “cycle” — it’s all the same thing!

Why?

Hint: Inversions

Tell me, what’s a fourth up from C?

(The easiest way to answer this is to go four notes up in the C major scale.)

The answer is “F.”

Now, tell me, what’s a fifth down from C?

(The easiest way to answer this is to start at the first tone of the C major scale, “C,” and go down 5 scale notes).

The answer is “F.”

So F is both a fourth and a fifth away from C… it just depends on what direction you’re looking at.

If you take “F+C” (which is a fifth in that order, F is lowest note) and invert it to “C+F,” now you’ve got yourself a fourth. The same thing happens if you take a fourth “G+C” and invert it. “C+G” is a fifth when played in this order. So fourths and fifths are inverses of each other. It’s a fine line!

So if you think of the circle as “fifths,” then going clockwise (from C to G to D and so forth) is like going up 5 notes in the major scale to get to the next note on the circle. Likewise, going counter-clockwise (from C to F to Bb and so on) is like going down 5 notes in the major scale.

If you think of the circle as “fourths,” it’s the opposite. Going clockwise (from C to G to D) is like going down 4 notes in the major scale to get to the next note on the circle. And going counter-clockwise (from C to F to Bb) is like going up 4 notes in the major scale.

Or you can do like most people and look at the circle in a “hybrid” type of way… that is, combining the concepts.

That is to say, “going clockwise is fifths and going counter clockwise is fourths.”

Either way, it all works!

Here’s the important part to remember…

Understanding the circle in the counter clockwise direction will be way more beneficial when it comes to understanding how music flows. Music uses fourths and fifths more commonly than any other interval… yup I said it! Fourths and fifths dominate, hands down!

I say fourths and fifths because, again, “C to F” could be looked at as a fourth… or a fifth (depending on the what? —- yup, the direction you’re going in!)

For your reference, the same thing happens for:

• 3rds and 6ths (going down from C to A is a third but going up from C to A is a sixth).
• 2nds and 7ths (going down from C to B is a second but going up from C to B is a seventh).

These are all inverses of each other.

I hope this post clears the whole “circle” thing up for ya… and then some! :-)

Until next time —

Welcome to another edition of “What Key Am I In?”

If you haven’t seen my past ones, click here to check them out.

Ok… here we go:

What major key am I in if I have these chords:

A minor
B minor
E minor

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Answer:

G major

Explanation:

Remember this chart from other posts?

There’s only one key that has A, B and E as minor chords… and that key is G major!

Let’s take a look at the G major scale:

G A B C D E F# G

Now, if we apply the rules from above, we’ll be able to figure out which tones are minor:

G – major chord
A – minor chord
B – minor chord
C – major chord
D – major chord
E – minor chord
F# – diminished chord

So if you got this one right, good job! :-)

Until next time —

Today’s lesson is real important because it puts together all the stuff we’ve learned in the past few posts. If you haven’t read them, now may be a good time…

Today’s lesson (in audio!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) gives you a nice little recap and method to apply this altered scale to real chord progressions and songs! Check it out…

Until next time —

For the past two posts, we’ve been talking about the altered scale.

Now I want to teach you a trick that will have you playing ANY altered scale you want in 3 seconds… that is, if you know your major scales!

Here’s the ONE and only rule you need to know:

1) Take any major scale and sharp the first and last note. Bam! That’s it!

Yup! I taught you all that other stuff so that you’d understand it… but this is the shortcut I use to play the altered scale!

Of course, it can still be thought of as the ascending melodic minor scale, starting and ending on its seventh note. It can still be thought of as the super locrian mode. All that stuff remains the same.

But what I’m saying is when it’s time to play and you need to think of an altered scale really fast (…because you’re playing some type of dominant chord with a b9 or #9 or b5 or #5… or combination thereof) — this trick will do the job!

But let me make it even plainer for you…

1) If you want to play a particular altered scale, go down a half step. That will be the major scale you’ll need to know…

2) Then basically raise the FIRST and LAST notes of that major scale to get your altered scale. The first and last note will be the same note.

So if I want to play a C altered scale, what do I do?

1) I go down a half step to “B” and determine its major scale.

2) Now I change the “Bs” to “Cs” and I’m ready to go! I’m basically playing a B major scale but replacing the B with C. “B major” just got carjacked! :-)

Here’s the correct way to spell the C altered scale (the notes will essentially sound the same as the ones above… just spelled to take into account the “Db melodic minor” scale, ascending). Remember, that’s the other way you can think of the C altered scale — as the Db melodic scale from “C” to “C.” But to me, this “major scale” shortcut is a lot easier…

C Db Eb Fb Gb Ab Bb C

(I would use my piano graphic here but it doesn’t do Fb yet, darn).

This altered scale will work perfectly over any chord that has the following alterations:

C7 #9#5
C7 b9 #5
C7 b9
C7 #9
C7 #5

These chords are commonly found on 2nd, 3rd and 6th degrees of a scale. They substitute perfectly for minor chords when you need to pull strongly to another minor chord of the scale. I guess you can say they operate as secondary dominant chords… just altered.

I know, I know! Another big one to digest!

Take it slowly and let me know what you think.

Until next time —