It is important to be able to recognize chords in songs and progressions.
For example, a major chord is associated with the following moods:
-happy
-glad
-funny
-exciting
-day
-sunlight
-nursery rhymes
The minor chord is commonly associated with:
-sad
-horror
-sneaky
-night
-dark
The seventh/dominant chord is commonly associated with:
-blues
-gospel
Play a (C major) Chord: (C) (E) (G)
What things come to mind when you play this chord?
Now play a (C minor) Chord: (C) (Eb) (G)
What things now come to mind?
Play a (C7) Chord: (C) (E) (G) (Bb)
What things come to mind when you play a C7?
*******************
Listen to a few songs and record what type of chords you hear. Your chart should look like this:
——————
Major Chords
——————
iiiiii (heard a major chord six times)
——————
Minor Chords
——————
iiiiiiiii (heard a minor chord nine times)
——————
Seventh Chords
——————
ii (heard a seventh chord two times)
From this diagram, we can see that this song is mostly minor, which means that it will sound sad most of the time. But since we heard six major chords, it is surrounded by happiness. We also heard a dominant chord twice, so this song has a mixture of all three chords. In addition to chords, rhythm is a huge factor when dealing with different types of music. Even though a song has mostly minor chords, if it has a fast rhythm, sometimes the mood of the song is easily covered up.
When you practice more and more, you will be able to immediately recognize chords and progressions!
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Keep practicing!
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