Popularity: 95% [?]

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If you frequent forums or message boards and chat with other musicians, you’ll love this new tool I’ve built.

(Actually, I’ve had this tool for a while but today marks the release of the actual generator tool… that makes it easy for you to create chord graphics on the fly).

You’ll have to see it for yourself. It’s still in beta testing but check it out…

Click here to try it

Enjoy —

Popularity: 85% [?]

By now, you should know your major scales. If you don’t, there’s plenty of lessons on here to get you up to speed.

But that’s not what I want to talk about today.

I want to talk about an entirely different way to look at scales. A way that will help you to learn and understand chord progressions a lot faster! (Isn’t that what we all want? Chord progressions create SONGS!)

Don’t get me wrong… scales are great. I’m a great advocate of learning scales in the beginning.

I just don’t like when people get wrapped up into playing them just to “warm up” (and stuff like that). I think they are much more important than that.

They define the major keys you’ll play in. Understanding them is the key to playing smoothly in all 12 keys.

So I want to give you the “CIRCULAR” way to understand major scales. Yes, “circular!”

By now, you know that I’m infatuated by the circle of fifths. I think it’s a wonderful way to teach music. I think it cuts through all the baloney and if you really understand it, you can get really far… really quickly.

Take the C major scale for example:

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

Here’s how you would look at it circularly:

C major (circularly)

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

I bet you’ve never seen the C major scale like that before.

And the thing is…

All the notes that would normally be in the scale are represented. Nothing has changed in that regard. Just the order of notes. We’ve rearranged them into a different pattern.

A pattern you’ll run across time and time again in song after song (if you haven’t already).

And this, my friend, is the secret.

Think about songs you’ve played in the key of C major.

Did they move from keynote to keynote like this: C D E F G A B C?

Or did you see a lot of chords flowing like this: “D - G - C” or “C - F” or “G - C - F” or “A - D - G” or “E - A - D - G.”

And notice, I got those all from the circular scale above.

This is how music flows.

So to understand the pattern, “7 - 3 - 6 - 2 - 5 - 1 - 4″ is extremely important. In fact, there are entire songs that use this whole stretch of tones, all in a row.

For now, just ponder this. Try to learn this order of things in all 12 keys.

Hint: Soon you’ll find much overlap. In other words, the order you see here will NEVER change in another key. If the new key you’re learning has a “B” in it, for example, it will always be followed by an “E.”

That is the cool thing… you don’t have to learn all 12 keys from scratch… as long as you start getting the pattern.

This will be key to playing REAL chord progressions in ALL 12 keys… in REAL songs!

Until next time —

Popularity: 57% [?]

In yesterday’s lesson, I talked about couples.

The premise was basically to look at chord progressions as small little “couples.”

(When I say “couple,” I’m specifically talking about a pair of chords… just two.)

When you think in terms of “couples,” you focus on two things:

1) What chord does this current one strongly pull to?

2) What chord pulls strongly to this current one?

This understanding is based on the circle of fifths.

Every chord has a chord that leads strongly to it (a fourth down) —or— a chord that it strongly leads to (a fourth up).

In other words, either something is coming at it or it’s going somewhere! I hope you get that…

If you look at the circle above, focus on going counter-clockwise — that is, from C to F to Bb and so on. If this were a clock, you’d focus on going the direction of “12 o clock” to “11 o clock” to “10 o clock” and so on.

This is the direction music commonly flows in! Understand this and you understand music!

So if you look at “C,” ask yourself two questions:

1) What does C pull strongly to?

and…

2) What pulls strongly to C?

That is the idea of “coupling.” It’s my “micro” way of understanding bigger chord progression. (I actually introduced this little concept several years ago in my GospelKeys 202 course. I just thought I’d revisit it.)

Now the answer to the above questions are found right on the circle…

If you’re going counter-clockwise, then the answer to the question, “what does C lead to” is simple… “F” because that’s the next key on the circle. In fact, if you compare the major scales of C and F, you’ll notice only a single note difference. That’s right, they share all the same notes except for one. So the first answer is “F.” That is the key most C chords will lead to.

To answer the second question, just look on the other side of “C.” That is the key that most likely leads to C. So the answer is G.

Just like C has a huge tendency to lead to F — G has a strong tendency to lead to C (and if you compare their major scales, they also share all but one note).

So here’s what I’ve done. I’ve created this little exercise below. It quizzes you on all the different keys and helps you to become quicker at answering these two “magic” questions. I’ve done the first one for you. Just put your cursor in each box and type in what you think the answer is. Once you’re done, scroll down and compare your answers with mine.

(It’s much easier to press the “tab” button in between questions. This will make your cursor automatically go to the next box).

Also, try using this stopwatch tool to see how long it takes you. Post your time in the comments area!

chronme

The "What leads to" Game
What leads to G?	What leads to Db?	What leads to C?
What leads to A?	What leads to A#?	What leads to C#?
What leads to D?	What leads to B?	What leads to E?
What leads to F?	What leads to F#?	What leads to Gb?
What leads to Ab?	What leads to Bb?	What leads to Eb?
What leads to D#?	What leads to G#?	What leads to B#?
What leads to Cb?	What leads to D?	What leads to E?
The "What it leads to" Game
What does D lead to?	What does A lead to?	What does C lead to?
What does Bb lead to?	What does Db lead to?	What does E lead to?
What does F# lead to?	What does Ab lead to?	What does Db lead to?
What does E lead to?	What does F lead to?	What does G lead to?
What does B lead to?	What does C# lead to?	What does G# lead to?
What does E# lead to?	What does Eb lead to?	What does C lead to?
What does E lead to?	What does F lead to?	What does G lead to?

————–

I will post the answers in the comment section.

Hope this exercise helps!

Time for some rest! I’ve only had 4 hours of sleep today due to our latest launch…

Until next time —

Popularity: 39% [?]

I’m off to support my grandma as she has surgery today in Long Beach but I wanted to post this short lesson before I leave.

I just posted a mega 33-minute video so this lesson will just give you an abbreviated version of the video. What I really encourage you to do is stop what you’re doing and head over to view the entire lesson. Dozens of comments have already come in about it since i posted it last night (…don’t forget to leave me one as well!)

The tutorial teaches you how to play a popular song with just 4 chords! And they’re all seventh chords too (major, dominant).

I’ll use my new piano tool I announced yesterday to show you the chords below. But visit the 33-minute video to get the full scoop!

Here’s the four chords…

Dmin7

G7

Cmaj7

Fmaj7

Notice the stepwise motion between tones. That’s what makes it sound so good!

This is what we call a 2-5-1-4 chord progression.

“2-5-1-4?”

“huh?”

Don’t worry. It’s simple. The number just come from the major scale:

C major

Just number each tone of the scale:

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

The “2nd” tone is D.
The “5th” tone is G.
The “1st” tone is obviously C.
The “4th” tone is F.

If you look at the root of the progression, it’s moving from D to G to C to F. Thus, a “2-5-1-4″ progression.

Check out the 33-minute video lesson for details! I hope you like it! :-)

Until next time —

Popularity: 29% [?]

When it comes to playing songs, there are tons of progressions to learn.

But I want to focus on what I think are the 3 most commonly used types.

And even among this group, I think the “Pareto principle” or “80-20 rule” would apply — meaning just the 1st type will probably be responsible for majority of chord progressions out there in songs (or as they put it, 20% of something will generally be responsible for 80% of a result).

For the purposes of this lesson, let’s label each type of progression as “A,” “B,” and “C.” Others have named them “alpha,” “beta,” and “gamma” but I want to keep things simple around here (like we also do).

Most Common Progressions:

1. Progressions that rise by fourths (or fall by fifths)
2. Progressions that fall by thirds (or rise by sixths)
3. Progression that rise by seconds (or fall by sevenths)

*Don’t be confused by what’s written in parentheses. They are essentially the same thing! For example, if you rise by a fourth from “C,” you’ll arrive at “F” (C - D - E - F). If you fall by a fifth from “C,” you’ll arrive at “F” as well (C - B - A - G - F). Yes, it’s a lower “F” but it’s “F!”

 

Progressions that rise by fourths / fall by fifths

These will dominate most popular songs.

If you’ve been an avid reader of this blog, you know how much I talk about circular progressions and the circle of fifths chart. Most music moves in fourths and fifths. If you just mastered progressions like this, you’d probably be able to play like 80% of songs (…or more, but don’t quote me on the exact figure. I’m just “guesstimating” here).

These are 2-5-1 chord progressions like “D minor - G7 - C major.” Notice they all moved in fourths. I honestly can’t think of very many popular songs that don’t use fourth and fifth progressions.

 

Progressions that fall by thirds / rise by sixths

Not as common as the fourth and fifth interval progressions above, these come in close though!

You’ve undoubtedly seen progressions like “C major - A minor - F major - G major.”

The C major to A minor to F major all move in falling thirds.

C to B to A = minor third
A to G to F = major third

C down to A is a minor third.
A down to F is a major third.

(Oh yeah, notice the mixing and matching. That’s because it doesn’t matter what kind of third. It can fall by a major third or a minor third — as long as they are thirds. That goes for any of these progression types.)

Particularly in C major, we know that going from C major to A minor is very common. “A” is the relative minor of “C.”

In fact, “A minor” can outright replace “C major” in certain progressions since they are tightly related.

 

Progressions that rise by seconds / fall by sevenths

These come in at third place.

You’ll find this among primary chords of a major key.

For example, in C major, the primary chords are C major, F major, and G major.

As you know, C to F is a fourth so that gets taken care of by the TOP progression above. But the F to G — that falls under this category. It’s rises by a second.

A note about intervals:

You may want to look at this lesson on how to correctly name intervals.

Basically, if you’re going to call an interval a “second,” it needs to encompass 2 letter names. F to G passes that test. F is one letter name, G is the other.

Same goes for thirds. C to E passes because C is the first letter name, D is the second (it isn’t played but it is “inside” the interval), E is third.

Some people accidentally call Ab to B a third. Sure enough, it makes the same sound as a minor third and if you played Ab and B, it would surely sound like a minor third. But it’s considered a second because it only encompasses two letter names in its interval.

So just remember that when you’re using these progression types.

Ok, let me summarize.

There are three common chord progression types.

Type A progressions rise by fourths or falls by fifths.

Type B progressions fall by thirds or rise by sixths.

Type C progressions rise by seconds or fall by sevenths.

*If you just want to think of “type A” as rising by fourths, that’s fine. You don’t have to necessarily remember the other half (i.e. - “fall by fifths”). They essentially both take you to the same note.

Hope you enjoyed this lesson!

Until next time —

Popularity: 17% [?]

Ok, so you’ve probably heard terms like “2-5-1 chord progression,” “2-5-1 progression,” or just “2-5-1″ for short.

These are just ways to describe chords going from one to the other… simple!

Here’s a little poem I made up.

Notes create scales,
scales create chords,
chords create progressions,
progressions create songs.

I know, I know… it doesn’t rhyme but it explains music in 4 lines.

Basically, what it’s saying is the 12 unique tones on the piano create organized scales (there’s 12 of them, too, for every tone of the piano).

These scales define “major keys.” When you hear someone singing, they HAVE to be singing in one of these 12 keys.

If they are like some of the rejects on early American Idol episodes, they may be in two major keys, wavering from one to the other without knowing it (…that’s why they are rejects). At any given time, though, you can only be in one key… if the singer is legit.

Once you know scales, there are easy formulas to play chords. I’ve made tons of prior posts on chords.

While scales are tones played one after the other, chords are three or more tones sounded at the same time.

One leads to the next as chord progressions are basically a series of chords going from one to the other… basically what you hear when you’re listening to your favorite band. You’re hearing chords organized into progressions.

And that’s what this post talks about… the third line in my little poem:

Notes create scales,
scales create chords,
chords create progressions,
progressions create songs.

So where do the numbers come from?

Good question.

They actually come from scales.

Every scale can be thought of in terms of numbers.

Like this, a “C major” scale:

C D E F G A B C

If you want to be really good at understanding all 12 keys (so that you’re not one of those musicians who can only play in one key), then you’ll want to think of this same scale in terms of numbers:

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

Not only do these numbers let you create chords immediately (”scales create chords”), but they also allow you to play progressions pretty easily.

First, the chords.

If you want to play a major chord, here’s the formula:

1 + 3 + 5

Bam! Easy! You don’t have to know all that deep theory or even about intervals to create chords from scales. You just need to know the formula. Take any 1st tone, 3rd tone, and 5th tone — and play them together and there’s your major chord.

In C major, for example, the 1, 3, and 5 are “C,” “E,” and “G.” Just play them together and that’s a C major chord. (All I did was take the 1st, 3rd, and the 5th tones of the C major scale above and play them together… it’s that simple!)

The good news is that there are easy formulas like that for just about every type of chord, but that’s not what I want to talk about. I want to talk about progressions.

“2-5-1″

Basically, the “2″ is the second tone of the scale. The “5″ is the fifth tone of the scale. And the “1″ is ________________ (well, you know the rest).

But the only difference is, unlike the chords where you would take the 2, 5, and 1 — and play them together… this time, you’re actually forming separate chords on each one of those tones and leading from one to the other.

So some kind of chord built on the second tone of the scale “PROGRESSES” to some type of chord built on the 5th tone of the scale, which ends by progressing to some type of chord that’s built on the 1st tone of the scale.

That’s how progressions work.

Now, I could get deeper but I won’t. There’s plenty of lessons on the chords that go with every tone of the scale. But just know this… every tone has a “favorite” chord that usually goes with it.

The first tone is usually a major chord. It CAN be something different but usually it’s some kind of major chord (I say “some kind” because you can have a very basic major chord all the way up to a fancy “major 13″ chord).

The second tone of the scale is usually a minor chord. So that “2″ in the “2-5-1″ is usually minor.

The fifth tone of the scale is usually a major chord as well. Now, as we get more fancy, it can also be a dominant chord but let’s keep it simple.

So we have a major chord on the 1st tone, a minor chord on the 2nd tone, and a major chord on the 5th tone.

That means our 2-5-1 looks something like this:

2minor > 5major > 1major

You get that?

So now… because we’re dealing with numbers (the universal language), we can apply this chord progression to any key.

If we want to play this in C major, we just figure out the 2nd, 5th, and 1st tone of C major and we’re ready to fill in the gaps:

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

The 2nd tone is: ___________
The 5th tone is: ___________
The 1st tone is: ___________

Therefore, the 2-5-1 progression in C major is:

___minor > ___major > ___major

You should have:

Dminor > Gmajor > Cmajor

Putting it all together

Ok, so how can I get really good at playing in all 12 keys without even having to think about it? How can I just play that same 2-5-1 chord progression in any key I want? Whether C major, or F major or Ab major… how can I get to that level Jermaine?

Good questions…

The answer is…

MASTERING THE NUMBERS.

See, the chord part is easy. If you know the “2″ will always have a minor chord, the “5″ will always have a major chord, and the “1″ will always have a major chord, then all you have to know is all 12 major and minor chords and you’re good to go.

The hard part is knowing what the 2 of Ab major is without even having to think about it. Or the 5 of B major without blinking an eye. Or the 1 of C major (…now you have to be pretty slow not to know the “1″ because the “1″ is the first tone of the scale… in other words the title of the scale you’re playing… hehe). C major scale… the 1 is “C,” which is in the title.

So with that said, your biggest battles are going to be knowing the “2s” and “5s” of every key.

The best thing to do is to follow this circle of fifths pattern below, calling out the 2 of every key as you move clockwise (or counter-clockwise) around the circle.

I personally like to move counter-clockwise because that is the direction music moves in. In fact, moving counter-clockwise gives you a 2-5-1 chord progression. Check out this chart below:

Notice that C is at the top (12 o clock). And if you move to where 11 o clock would be, which is F, and then move again to Bb… and stop for a moment to think about it, you’ll notice that “C > F > Bb” is a “2-5-1″ in the key of Bb major.

So every 3 neighboring notes on the circle of fifths chart going counter-clockwise is a 2-5-1 in the last key of the group.

(If you study the circle of fifths, you’ll be blown away at how much there is to learn from this simple little circle.)

But that’s a lesson in and of itself.

Here’s the exercise I want you to do though:

1) First you’ll start off by trying to master your “2s” of every key.
2) Starting at C, call out the “2nd” tone of C as fast as you can.
3) You can either go clockwise or counter-clockwise. If you go my direction (counter-clockwise), then the next key will be F. Call out the 2nd tone of F as fast as you can.
4) Proceed to do this around the entire circle.
5) Use a stopwatch to figure out how long it took you to call out the “2s” of all 12 keys. If you don’t have one, check out my online stopwatch tool.

Then start all over and do the same thing for the “5s” of every key.

To be honest, you should be doing it for every tone of the scale. You should be doing it for 2 thru 7. Don’t worry about doing it for the 1st tone of the scale as you have to be pretty slow not to know that C is the first tone of the C major scale, lol.

So that’s how you get good at knowing what a “2-5-1″ is in the key of “B” without thinking about it. It comes down to knowing the numbers.

But you don’t have to be a math whiz! You just have to be committed to knowing your keys and doing these exercises will have you on your way!

If you’re really serious, check out my home study course. It covers this kind of stuff in depth.

Use the comment form below to talk back to me. If you reading this post via e-mail or rss reader, click on to the site to leave a comment below.

How long did it take you to call out your “2s” and “5s” in each key?

What do you find most challenging about mastering each key?

Do you like to go clockwise around the circle or counter-clockwise?

Hate numbers? lol

Like this lesson? Hate this lesson?

See ya next time!

Popularity: 16% [?]

If you’ve been following me for some time, you know that I love to teach students how to master systems and patterns.

This lesson is no different.

We’re going to explore various chords from my newest GospelKeys^TM 202 course (…don’t worry if you don’t have this course yet — I’ll post the chords I want to use below).

But first, let me recap what you need to know to understand this lesson.

I believe that “repetition is the mother of skill” and that if you repeatedly hear the same thing over and over, you’ll begin to act on it! So if you’ve heard me discuss the number system in the past, just think of this as a refresher.

I’ll use the key of Db major simply because that’s the major key I focus on in the GospelKeys^TM 202 course:

When I say “number system,” that is simply understanding a major scale like this:

Db major:

Db — Eb — F — Gb — Ab — Bb — C — Db

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

These are also known as “tones” or “scale degrees.”

Basically, the idea is to be able to recall, for example, the “7th scale degree” of Db major in a few seconds! Yes, you want to be that fast with all your major scales.

You don’t want to have to recite your entire scale just to know that the 7th tone of Db is “C.” You should know that without having to remember what comes before or after “C” in the scale. Still following me?

It’s a mind game.

At least if you want to be a fast-learner of songs! You see, like I’ve always said, “learning songs occurs in the mind” and then you just transfer what you’re already thinking to the piano.”

Now, I could go deep into “melodic” and “harmonic” intervals but I won’t cover that here. You can find that in my 300pg home study course or in my newsletter archives at http://www.pianoweekly.com.

Now, that you understand the basics of this numbering system and how to apply numbers to every major scale, we can move on…

Basically, the first disc (1 hour, 25 min) of the worship course covers dozens of chords to play on each tone of the major scale. Since the major scale we are learning in is Db major, the chords taught in this newsletter all center around these seven tones:

Db — Eb — F — Gb — Ab — Bb — C

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Why not 8 tones? Because the eighth tone is Db and those chords are basically the same as the 1st tone of the scale (also “Db”).

So the idea is to be able to take chords from tone #1 and play them with chords from tone #4.

…Or chords from tone (or set) #2 and play them with chords from set #5. Or chords from the 3-group and play them with chords from the 6-group.

Notice that I phrased each example a different way (…”tone,” “set,” “group”). They all mean the same thing in this lesson.

So obviously, in order to make this happen, you have to have knowledge of the chords in each group. That is what I’m going to help you with below.

Traditionally, each tone of the major scale is associated with a certain type of chord.

For example, the 1st tone of the scale is usually associated with the major seventh chord while the 6th tone, for example, is associated with the minor seventh chord.

That is not to say you’ll always play a Dbmaj7 chord and never play a Dbmin7 chord in the key of Db major. You have several options to choose from, depending on the mood and feel of the song.

 

Below, I’ll list potential chords for each tone of the scale just like I teach it in the GospelKeys^TM 202 course. After that, I’ll show you how to group these chords together to make full sounding progressions (or “chord changes”).

 

 

Format: (Chord *right hand* / Bass *left hand*)

 

 

1st tone of the scale: Db

Potential chords to play:

 

 

Dbmaj triad: Db + F + Ab / Db

 

Dbmaj7: C + F + Ab / Db

 

Dbmaj (add 9): Db + Eb + F + Ab / Db

 

Dbmaj9: C + Eb + F + Ab / Db * more info

 

 

2nd tone of the scale: Eb

Potential chords to play:

 

 

Ebmin triad: Eb + Gb + Bb / Eb

 

Ebmin7: Bb + Db + Gb / Eb

 

Ebmin9: Gb + Bb + Db + F / Eb

 

Eb9: G Bb Db F / Eb * more info

 

 

 

3rd tone of the scale: F

Potential chords to play:

 

 

Fmin triad: F + Ab + C / F

 

Fmin7: Eb + Ab + C / F

 

Fmin7 (b5): Ab + B + Eb / F

 

F7 (#9#5): A + Db + Eb + Ab / F * more info

 

F7 (b9#5): A + Db + Eb + Gb / F * more info

 

 

 

4th tone of the scale: Gb

Potential chords to play:

 

 

Gbmaj triad: Gb + Bb + Db / Gb

 

Gbmaj7: Gb + Bb + Db + F / Gb

 

Gbmaj7: Db + F + Gb + Bb / Gb

 

Gbmaj (add 9): Gb + Ab + Bb + Db / Gb

 

 

 

5th tone of the scale: Ab

Potential chords to play:

 

 

Abmaj triad: Ab + C + Eb / Ab

 

Ab7: Ab + C + Eb + Gb / Ab

 

Abmin9: Gb + Bb + B + Eb / Ab

 

Ab13: Gb + Bb + Db + F + Ab / Ab * more info

 

 

 

6th tone of the scale: Bb

Potential chords to play:

 

 

Bbmin triad: Bb + Db + F / Bb

 

Bbmin7: Db + F + Ab / Bb

 

Bbmin9: Ab + C + Db + F / Bb

 

Gb maj / Bb: Db + Gb + Bb / Bb * more info

 

 

 

7th tone of the scale: C

Potential chords to play:

 

 

Cmin7 (b5): Bb C Eb Gb / C

 

Cmin11: Eb + G + Bb + D + F / C

 

Ab maj / C: Eb + Ab + C / C * more info

 

 

 

 

Moving on…

 

 

Now, that you have just a sample of chords to play on each tone of the scale, we can move on to making chord progressions.

 

Note: If you want ALL the chords for each tone along with 4 more hours of instruction, check out my worship course.

 

 

 

Now, all you have to do is mix and match chords from each group. I’ll demonstrate to you the groups that work best together but feel free to use your practice time to explore this technique!

 

Did you know that by making different combinations among the chords above, that you have literally hundreds of possibilities?

 

Let me explain:

 

What if you took the the first chord from the “Db” group and played it before a chord from the “Ab” group. There’s a combination right there! (… and believe it or not, this progressions is heard in thousands of songs from every genre of music)!!!

 

 

Here are the groups that work best together.

 

===> Try mix and matching chords from group #1 with chords from group #4 and #5. Actually, any group works well with group #1 because of the “home” feeling you get from the 1st group. It’s generally the group of chords that begin and end songs so that’s why it works well with just about any other group. But like I said, the 4th and 5th groups will sound very good played after a chord from the first group.

 

===> Try mix and matching chords from group #2 with chords from group #5. You’ll get a very good connection with chords from these two groups.

 

===> Once you’ve mastered the 1-4, 1-5, and 2-5 group connections, try combining more than one pair. That means, play a chord from group #1 going to a chord from group number 4 — then right after that, play a chord from group #2 going to a chord from group number 5. See how many possibilities can be created? This is just how music works!

 

===> Try mix and matching chords from group #3 with chords from group #6. This creates a very smooth sounding progression.

 

===> Once you’ve mastered the 3-6 combination, try combining a 2-5 pair with a 3-6. For example, play a chord from group #2 to a chord from group #5. Then immediately after that, play a chord from group #3 to a chord from group #6. Then, do it backwards. Play a 3-6 pair immediately followed by a 2-5 pair. Now you’ve created a 3-6-2-5 progression!

===> And the list goes on…

I really wish I had enough time and space to keep going. For those of you who have GospelKeys^TM 202, just pop in disc #1 and you’ll get this entire lecture right on your television. Disc 2 focuses more on where we just left off. It actually demonstrates to you how to combine these chords and what types of sounds various chords make.

 

 

If you don’t have this course yet and you’re serious about learning these concepts, I highly recommend that you check it out at http://www.gospelkeys202.com. It is perfect for gospel musicians wanting to learn slower, worshipful music in the process described above!

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“What are chord progressions” is a commonly asked question.

A chord progression is simply a series of chords played in order. As you play more songs, you’ll see more and more chord progressions and patterns used over and over again in your favorite tunes.

For example, a “2-5-1″ is a very popular chord progression that is commonly used, among many things, to end songs. You’ll find it at the end of an overwhelming amount of songs in all genres.

In our courses, we cover several chord progressions as these are what make of everyday songs.

In closing, remember these very easy set of rules:

Notes create scales (major scales, minor scales, etc)

Scales allow us to create chords (major chords, minor chords, diminished chords, augmented chords, etc)

Chords played one after the other in various sequences create chord progressions (”2-5-1″ chord progressions, “6-2-5-1″ turnaround, etc)

Chord progressions played in various sequences create the songs we hear everyday!

I hope this helps.

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If you listen to music, you’ve definitely heard a “2-5-1″ progression. They are found in just about any type of music — regardless of style, genre, or rhythmical pattern. It is commonly the series of chords that end a song or phrase. However, it can be used in several situations (I can only go over a few in this lesson but encourage you to check out my course for further instruction).

In this chord progression, the 2 chord (you’ll learn what this is later on in this lesson) leads to the 5 chord which in turns, produces a strong pull towards the ending chord (which is usually the 1st major chord of the scale).

First, let me start by showing you what chords correspond to each tone of a major scale:

1 tone - Major
2 tone - Minor
3 tone - Minor
4 tone - Major
5 tone - Major (dominant)
6 tone - Minor
7 tone - Half Diminished

To understand the chart above, you must understand that each tone of a major scale has a chord which goes along with it. For example, the following is a C major scale:

(C — D — E — F — G — A — B — C)

Each tone above has a matching chord. Simply add the endings of the chart above to the scale as shown below:

>C MAJOR<
>D MINOR<
>E MINOR<
>F MAJOR<
>G MAJOR / DOM<
>A MINOR<
>B HALF-DIMINISHED<

To further understand progressions, lets number each chord:

1 = C major
2 = D minor
3 = E minor
4 = F major
5 = G dominant
6 = A minor
7 = B half - diminished
8 = C major

Now, to create a “2-5-1″ chord progression (or any numbered chord progression), simply take the 2, 5, and 1 chord out of the entire series of chords above. That is, we would not use the 3,4, 6, or 7 chord.

The 2 chord is D minor; the 5 chord is G dominant; and the 1 chord is C major.

This right here is the most basic “2-5-1″ chord progression you’ll ever see:

Dmin — Gdom — Cmaj

min = minor
dom = dominant
maj = major

REFERENCE 1A:

D minor chord = (D) + (F) + (A)
G dominant chord = (G) + (B) + (D) + (F)
C major chord = (C) + (E) + (G)

Example: To play a Dminor chord simply play all three of the notes shown above at the same time (D+F+A)

Moving on…

Now that we have covered some theory (I’m glad that’s out of the way), let me just show you a few chords that I love to play. I will try not to be as theoretic … I will simply give you the chord changes and you’ll have to apply them to your understanding of chords and alterations. All of these progression will be shown in the key of C major…

(For more chord progressions, check out our 300-pg course! It is currently on special.)

1) “Churchy 2-5-1 Chord Progression” Style #1

D7 (b9) — G13 —- Cmaj (pronounced “D seven, flat nine —– G thirteenth — C major”)

D7 (b9) = Bass * Play “D” ——— F# + A + C + D#
G13 = Bass * Play “G” ———- F + A + C + E
Cmaj = Bass * Play “C” ———– E + G + C (1st inversion)

Example: For D7 (b9), we would play F# + A + C + D# with “D” on the bass (left hand).

Inversion just refers to the way the chord is played. Since “C” is the highest note, it is said to be played in its “first inversion”

Note: I love playing this chord progression in gospel music. You try playing it and let me know what you come up with!

(For more chord progressions, check out our 300-pg course! It is currently on special.)

2) “Churchy 2-5-1 Chord Progression” Style #2

For this progression, every chord will be the same except for the D7 (b9). We will simply play a regular D9 chord.

D9 = F# + A + C + “E” (not D#)

Notice: The only difference in a D9 and a D7 (b9) is the difference in the “ninth” tone. Since we are not flatting the 9th tone, we use “E” instead of “D#.”

D9 = Bass * Play “D” ——— F# + A + C + E
G13 = Bass * Play “G” ———- F + A + C + E
Cmaj = Bass * Play “C” ———– E + G + C

3). “Contemporary 2-5-1 Chord Progression” Style #1

For this progression, we are going to use:

D9 add 6 —> G13 —> Cmaj

D9 add 6 = Bass * Play “D” ——— F# + B + C + E
G13 = Bass * Play “G” ———- F + A + C + E
Cmaj = Bass * Play “C” ———– E + G + C

4.) “Contemporary 2-5-1 Chord Progression” Style #2

This progression will follow the same exact pattern as #3 with the following chord alteration:

D9 b5 —> G13 —-> Cmaj

*** You are going to have to extend your fingers for this one!

D9 b5 = Bass * Play “D” ——— F# + B + C + E + A#
G13 = Bass * Play “G” ———- F + A + C + E
Cmaj = Bass * Play “C” ———– E + G + C

Well, that’s it for this lesson. See ya next time!

(Leave your comments about this lesson below. Did you like the chords I shared? Have you tried them out? Have your own 2-5-1’s to share?)

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