Suspension (part 3)

Remember Sus4? Check out my previous posts on ‘Suspension (part 2)’ and ‘Improvising Sus4’ if necessary. Now, Sus4 is often applied to the II, III and VI major chords, particularly in the ‘Chord Association’ context. Let’s use the following notation for the Sus4 of these 3 chords:

· Let the Sus4 of the II major chord be II4

· Let the Sus4 of the III major chord be III4

· Let the Sus4 of the VI major chord be VI4

The following lists how the II, III and VI major chords associated with other chords from the previous post:

· Chord III –> Chord VIm (i.e., III major chord usually leads to VI minor chord)

· Chord VI –> Chord IIm

· Chord II –> Chord V

Often, however, Sus4 is used before each of the above pairs. For example, Chord III4 –> Chord III/M –> Chord VIm. In the key of C, that means:

· Esus4 –> E/G# –> Am

(That is because Esus4 is the III4 chord in the C key, G# is the M bass of E major chord, and A minor is the VIm chord in the C key)

Therefore you will often encounter such progressions as below in a lot of songs:

· III4 –> III/M –> VIm

· VI4 –> VI/M –> IIm

· II4 –> II/M –> V

Let’s go back to the examples in C. In the C key, the above progressions are translated as:

· Esus4 –> E/G# –> Am

· Asus4 –> A/C# –> Dm

· Dsus4 –> D/F# –> G

I will illustrate this using a song (and to include a video) on my next post. The following shows how to play E4, A4 and D4:

Figure 1: Esus4

Figure 2: Asus4

Figure 3: Dsus4

Read Full Post »

Chord Association (part 2)

Let’s recap the chords in ‘Chord Association (part 1)’ post:

· Chord IIIm usually leads to Chord VIm

· Chord VIm usually leads to Chord IIm

· Chord IIm usually leads to Chord V

· Chord V usually leads to Chord I

· Chord I usually leads to Chord IV

The following are often associated with one another in the same way (You will see from here the reason to be familiar with II, III, and VI major chords):

· Chord III usually leads to Chord VIm

· Chord VI usually leads to Chord IIm

· Chord II usually leads to Chord V

In the key of C, that means:

· E usually leads to Am (i.e., E –> Am)

· A usually leads to Dm (i.e., A –> Dm)

· D usually leads to G (i.e., D –> G)

Before I proceed with video illustration of these associations, let’s revisit Suspension (Sus4).

Read Full Post »

Love Song by Sara Bareilles

There are 5 parts in this song.

First, the intro, which is the same as the verse, is made up of the following progression:

IIm –> (I/3) –> (V) –> VIm –> (V/7) –> I –> (VI/M)

The chords in brackets ( ) are transition chords, i.e., they are very short. In this case, they appear on the 4th beat of a bar. For example, Chord IIm is played 3 times, then Chord I/3 is played once (together they make up 4 counts of a bar), before move on to Chord IV (the next bar).

An important thing you should take note of in the above progression is the way that the bass notes progress, i.e., they go like this…

2 –> (3) –> 4 –> (5) –> 6 –> (7) –> 1 –> (1#)

The above chord progression repeats itself until the song reaches the pre-chorus which goes like this:

IIm –> I/3 –> IV –> V

Then the chorus goes like this:

IIm –> V –> IIIm –> IV

The pattern repeats itself throughout the chorus until the last line. The ending goes like this…

IIm –> I/3 –> VIm –> II/M –> IV –> V

There is also a bridge that goes like this…

VIm –> IIIm –> IV –> V

Th progression for the bridge repeats until the song returns to the chorus.

This song is in the key of F. So, the 5 different types of chord progressions above are translated as the following:

Intro/Verse: Gm –> (F/A) –> Bb –> (C) –> Dm –> (C/E) –> F –> (D/F#)

Pre-chorus: Gm –> F/A –> Bb –> C

Chorus: Gm –> C –> Am –> Bb

Ending: Gm –> F/A –> Dm –> G/B –> Bb –> C

Bridge: Dm –> Am –> Bb –> C

Take note of the way the bass notes move, especially in the intro/verse and pre-chorus. Can you see a clear pattern there?

I have said earlier that when II, III and V major chords appear in a song, they often do so with their ‘M basses’. For this song, D/F# is the VI major chord with its M bass (F# being the middle note of the D major triad), and G/B is the II major chord with its M bass (B being the middle note of the G major triad).

Here is the illustration on video…

Notice that my right hand doesn’t need to move much. That’s the beauty of improvising the 3 minor chords using the 3 basic chords! 🙂

Read Full Post »

The M Bass

There is no such chord as an M Chord. The ‘M’ here actually stands for “the middle note”. And it’s not new. In fact, we have used that before in Chord I, IV and V. Let’s see:

The middle note of a C major chord is the E note, because the E note is the middle note of the C-E-G triad. Therefore E is the ‘M bass’ of the C major chord. On a chord chart, it’s usually written as C/E (read ‘C on E’).

Similarly, F/A is F major on its M bass, or F/M in my own notation. You probably don’t see this notation anywhere else. But I have a reason to use this notation. We will talk about this later.

G/B (read ‘G on B’) is therefore G/M in my notation.

C, F and G major chords are Chord I, IV and V of the C key.

Now, let’s go back to the II, III and VI major chords (my last post). What I want to tell you is: these 3 chords are usually played with their middle basses.

Back to the example in the C key…

D major chord (i.e., Chord II) is often (though not always) played as D/F#, i.e., D major on the right hand, and F# (i.e., its M bass) note on the left hand.

Similarly, E major (i.e., Chord III) is often played as E/G# (G# being the middle bass note of the E major triad), and A major (i.e., Chord VI) as A/C# (C# being the middle note of the A major triad).

Learn this well. II, III, VI major chords, each on its ‘M bass’, will be very useful. Believe me.

When you are familiar with these 3 chords and their associated M basses, you won’t be troubled by the apparently complicated chords on your music sheets or chord charts when such monsters appear: F/A, E/G#, G/B, D/F#, B/D#, etc. 🙂

I am going to illustrate the above using “Love Song” by Sara Bareilles. Watch out for my next post.

Read Full Post »

Chord Association (part 1)

Very often, a certain chord would naturally lead to another chord. You can find this in many songs. I call this ‘Chord Association’, i.e., associating one chord with another. The following are some examples:

· Chord IIIm usually leads to Chord VIm

· Chord VIm usually leads to Chord IIm

· Chord IIm usually leads to Chord V

· Chord V usually leads to Chord I

· Chord I usually leads to Chord IV

You must have noticed that the above makes use of pretty much all “the 3 basic chords” and “the 3 minor chords”. In the key of C, the above translates to:

· Em usually leads to Am

· Am usually leads to Dm

· Dm usually leads to G

· G usually leads to C

· C usually leads to F

They don’t happen all the time, of course, but they do occur often enough that I feel it a useful tip to know.

I have entitled this post as ‘part 1’. There is a ‘part 2’ to come but before that, we will have to shift to the ‘Advanced’ gear. Please buckle up. 🙂

Read Full Post »

How Great Is Our God

This song by Chris Tomlin is a good example to illustrate our Chord Mixing trick (See “Chord Mixing (part 1)” and “Chord Mixing (part 2)” posts).

The whole song can be simplified to the following chord pattern:

I –> VIm –> IV –> V

That is, Chord I followed by Chord VIm, followed by Chord IV, and then by Chord V.

In the C key, that means:

C –> Am –> F –> G

To make the progression above interesting, however, let’s play the 4 chords by mixing them with their corresponding chord pairs that we have learned in the “Chord Mixing” posts.

That means, we will play (I hope you already know what chords to mix them with in your head straightaway, as that familiarity will help you A LOT!) the following:

C (+G) –> Am (+G) –> F (+C) –> G (+F)

Here is the illustration on video…

If that chord mixing skill does not come automatically to you, then you will have to learn it the hard way, by following your music score or chord chart strictly, which will probably read something like this…

C2 C C2 C G/A Am G/A Am F2 F F2 F F/G G F/G G

Doesn’t that look very complicated? But really, let me say it again, you only need to know the 3 basic chords! 🙂

Read Full Post »

Chord Mixing (part 2)

If you remember “the 3 minor chords”, and how we play them by substituting them with the 3 basic chords, and simply combining each of these 3 basic chords with a different bass note, then the summary is as below:

Chord VI m = Chord I (right hand) + Bass 6 (left hand), i.e., the “la” note

Chord II m = Chord IV (right hand) + Bass 2 (left hand)

Chord III m = Chord V (right hand) + Bass 3 (left hand)

To recap the chord mixing from part 1, see the summary below:

Chord I + Chord V

Chord IV + Chord I

Chord V + Chord IV

Now, since the 3 minor chords are made up of the 3 basic chords, we can actually mix them with the same chords as above too. I.e.,

Chord VI m + Chord V

i.e., Chord VIm can be mixed with Chord V. Afterall, to start with, we actually play Chord I on the right hand with a different bass note (the 6^th note, i.e., “la”) to implement Chord VIm. In the key of C, that means the Am chord can be mixed with a G chord.

Similarly,

Chord II m + Chord I

i.e., Chord IIm can be mixed with Chord I. Afterall, to start with, we actually play Chord IV on the right hand with a different bass note (the 2^nd note, i.e., “re”) to implement Chord IIm. In the key of C, that means a Dm chord can be mixed with a C chord.

However, here is the exception. We can’t exactly mix Chord IIIm with Chord IV. You can try. I have tried it, but I don’t like the resulting sound. 🙂 That means, in the key of C, I usually do NOT mix Em with an F chord.

I will show an example of chord mixing as soon as I can with the song “How Great Is Our God” by Chris Tomlin using a video.

Read Full Post »

Chord Mixing (part 1)

This is about playing 2 different chords alternately while playing the same bass note(s). And the technique comes in very handy quite often.

In general, this is how I mix chords…

When the chord you are supposed to play is Chord I, you may mix Chord V to it, i.e.,

Chord I ( + Chord V )

Similarly, you may mix Chord I to Chord IV, i.e.,

Chord IV ( + Chord I )

And to Chord V, you may mix Chord IV, i.e.,

Chord V ( + Chord IV )

Let’s use the C key as an example again. It’s always easier to use the C key. 🙂

If you are supposed to play C (Chord I of C key), then try playing two chords instead, i.e., first play C (Chord I), and followed by G (Chord V), while the bass continues to stay on C. In terms of sequence, you may also do it the other way round, that is, to play G first, and followed by C. (That depends on the melody that is supposed to go with the chords. Use you own discretion.)

Similarly, if you are supposed to play F (Chord IV of C key), then try playing F (Chord IV) and C (Chord I) alternately instead.

As for G (Chord V), try playing the two chords: G (Chord V) and F (Chord IV) alternately instead.

Here is an illustration on video…

In fact, if you haven’t noticed, what we are doing to Chord I by mixing it with Chord V is essentially producing a Chord I2 (i.e., Sus2 of Chord I) sound.

That’s what we have done to Chord IV as well. That is, by mixing Chord IV with Chord I, we have produced Chord IV2.

Well, they are indeed the Sus2 chords that we have learned in my “Improvising Sus2” post. The point, however, that I would like to make here is, whenever you see a Chord I and Chord IV on your music score or chord chart, try to have it in your mind that you can always mix those chords with their corresponding “pairs” above. You will be surprised how much enhancement you can make to the music by doing so (appropriately, of course).

As for Chord V, by mixing it with Chord IV does NOT give you a Chord V2. So, this is slightly different. However, the same point needs to be made, i.e., whenever you see a Chord V on your music score or chord chart (especially if the chord following it is Chord I), do remember that you can mix that Chord V with a Chord IV. You will like the sound! 🙂

Read Full Post »

Improvising Sus2

Sus2 are usually used only on Chord I and Chord IV, so there is no need to learn Sus2 for other chords in a scale.

So if you play in the C scale, all the sus2 chords you need to know are only C2 and F2.

And this is how you can play C2 and F2 with the 3 basic chords, without having to learn C2 and F2 from scratch.

For C2, play C as your bass note with the left hand, accompanied by a G chord with your right hand. That resulting sound is very much like C2. (This combination is also referred to as G/C, read “G on C”)

Figure 1: C2

For F2, play F as your bass note with the left hand, accompanied by a C chord with your right hand. That resulting sound is very much like F2. (This combination is also referred to as C/F, read “C on F”)

Figure 2: F2

In general, in any key, you can do the same thing. That is, to implement Chord I2 (i.e., sus2 of Chord I), simply play note 1 (the “doe” note) as your bass and accompany it with Chord V on your right hand.

And to implement Chord IV2 (i.e., sus2 of chord IV), simply play note 4 (the “fa” note) as your bass and accompany it with Chord I on your right hand.

See? Most songs can be played using the 3 basic chords!

Read Full Post »

Suspension (part 2)

I have talked about Sus4 and how to improvise it with the 3 basic chords earlier. Sus2 is another form of suspension that can also be improvised with the 3 basic chords.

Let’s take a C chord (C Major chord) as example. A C-Sus2 chord is usually written as C2.

For a C chord, we play the 1, 3 and 5 notes (i.e., C, E, G notes) simultaneously.

For a C4 chord, we play the 1, 4 and 5 notes (i.e., C, F and G notes) simultaneously.

For a C2 chord, we play the 1, 2 and 5 notes (i.e., C, D and G notes) simultaneously.

The Sus2 chords are use very often in place of the Chord I and Chord IV. That means, in the C scale, instead of playing C (Chord I), I often play C2 instead simply because it gives a more modern sound. The same goes for the
F chord in the C scale. That is, instead of playing an F (Chord IV), I often replace it with an F2.

Figure 1: C2

Figure 2: F2

I shall talk about the improvisation of Sus2 using the 3 basic chords on my next post.

Read Full Post »