Re: [Harp-L] Making the Move to Chromatic - cycle of thirds

[Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

One way to make learning chords a little easier - and applies to many of the complex "extended" chords:

==>>  LEARN THE CYCLE OF THIRDS

You've heard of the circle of 5ths, and probably seen the clock face diagram that goes around all 12 notes of the chromatic scale.

The cycle of thirds is similar, but has a different purpose.

For starters, it has only 7 notes, A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Sharps and flats are added only as needed.


If you start the cycle on C, it goes like this in a clockwise direction: 


C E G B D F A C (at this point you've moved all the way around the cycle).

If you compare this with moving up the C scale, you're just going 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15 (15 being C again). You use all the notes in the scale, just in order of thirds instead of seconds (you could view an ascending scale as simply a circle of seconds.)


You build a chord by starting on the root, then adding the notes you encounter as you move clockwise. Call you root note "1" and recite "1, 3, 5," etc., as you add each new note to the chord. This counting just helps you memorize what scale degrees are used in the chord.

A basic three-note triad has just 1, 3, and 5 - the root and the next two notes clockwise.


For a 7th chord, you do the next three clockwise notes: 1, 3, 5, 7.

For a 9th chord, you go 1, 3, 5, 7, 9.

Note that the highest note in the chord is the one that names the chord type.

But wait, you say, there are all different types of chords, major minor, augmented, diminshed, and the 7th and 9th and so on can also be major, minor, augmented and diminished.

That's where the sharps and flats come in, and where you really need to start learning more about theory.

The beauty of the cycle of thirds is that the circle doesn't change, you just add sharps and/or flats as needed.

For instance, a C minor 7th has C, E-flat, G, and B-flat. It's the same cycle. but no you have E-flat instead of E and B-flat instead of B.

Gee, which scale has two flats in the key signature? It must be that the C minor 7th chord occurs in the Bb major scale. But if I add more flats, as long as C and G aren't affected, that chord occurs in those scales as well, right? So C minor 7th also occurs in the keys of Eb and Ab, but not in Db (which has a G-flat).

I think you can already tell that the cycle of thirds all by itself won;t teach you everything you need to know to easily construct chords. You still need to know the qualities of all the intervals, what qualities of intervals make up which chords, and which scales have which sharps or flats.


What the cycle of thirds does do is to help you figure out which note names occur in any type of chord. You can actually memorize the cycle and then apply it as needed.


But let's say you constructed a circle of thirds for all the common scales, adding the sharps and flats from the key signature, and then looking to see what chords

 
Winslow Yerxa
Author, Harmonica For Dummies ISBN 978-0-470-33729-5
Harmonica instructor, The Jazzschool for Music Study and Performance
Resident expert, bluesharmonica.com
Columnist, harmonicasessions.com


________________________________
From: John F. Potts <hvyj@xxxxxxx>
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Wednesday, September 21, 2011 9:16 AM
Subject: [Harp-L] Making the Move to Chromatic

Great suggestions.

Actually, i'm pretty comfortable with modes.  i sort of lump them in with scales.  I've also got a little Yamaha electric piano i got on sale a couple of years ago for $99 and a keyboard chord book which i've misplaced.  Haven't misplaced the piano--just haven't been using it to figure stuff out like i should.

i've pretty much figured out the dominant 7th chord intervals and the major 7th chord intervals  and the minor 7th chord intervals.  It's the structure of the myriad of other chords that I don't know off the top of my head. I mean, I suppose i could add a 9th without too much trouble, but beyond that, I have stop and think or refer to a reference of some kind.

Yeah, it takes a lot of practice.

Again, i appreciate the very useful suggestions.

JP