Copyright (c) 1995 by Grant D. Green | Last Modified: Oct 25, 1995 |
This lesson originally appeared on
StickWire
- the Official Chapman Stick Mailing List. Reproduced here by permission. This article can be reprinted only in its entirety. |
Theory On Tap
by: Grant D. Green
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I. The Natural Minor Chords![]()
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A B C D E F G A \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / w h w w h w w (where w= whole step and h= half step) |
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A. The triads![]()
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For example, in F minor (four flats): | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
F Ab C \ / \ / m3 M3 (m3= minor third, M3= major third) |
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The root triad is *always* a minor triad in a minor key: you could say
that this is what *defines* the key as minor. Each of the minor key
scales provides a minor root triad, because all of the minor key scales
have a lowered (minor) third.
In the key of A minor (to keep it simple), the triads are as follows: |
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Notice that some of the triads are indicated with lower case characters:
it is traditional to indicate minor (and diminished) triads in lower case,
and major in upper case. More importantly, notice that the v chord (the
dominant V) is now minor. As was pointed out in part
1 of this lesson, having a minor chord for the dominant just doesn't
work as well. This is why you're not very likely to see a "pure" natural
minor harmonic progression.
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minor triad (i, iv, v in natural minor):
|---|---|---|---|---|---| |---|---|m3-|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---|-5-|---| |---|---|-R-|---|---|---| ========================== |---|---|---|---|---|---| |---|-R-|---|---|---|---| |---|-5-|---|---|---|---| |---|---|m3-|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---|---|---| |
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diminished triad (ii in natural minor):
|---|---|---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|m3-|---|---| |---|---|---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---|d5-|---| |---|---|---|-R-|---|---| ========================= |---|---|---|---|---|---| |---|---|-R-|---|---|---| |---|d5-|---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|m3-|---|---| |---|---|---|---|---|---| |
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major (III, VI, VII in natural minor):
|---|---|---|---|---|M3-|---|---| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---|---|---|-5-|---| |---|---|---|---|-R-|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| ================================= |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |---|-R-|---|---|---|---|---|---| |---|-5-|---|---|---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|M3-|---|---|---|---| |
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C. The Seventh ChordsIf we look at the seventh chords: |
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we see that the v is still a minor 7 chord. There *is* a dominant 7 (the
VII7), but this is really the V7 of C, and would not resolve correctly to
A minor.
OK, so what do they sound like?
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the ii7, a half-diminished 7 (min7b5):
|---|---|---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|m3-|---|---| |---|---|---|-7-|---|---| |---|---|---|---|d5-|---| |---|---|---|-R-|---|---| ========================= |---|---|---|---|---|---| |---|---|-R-|---|---|---| |---|d5-|---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|m3-|---|---| |---|---|---|-7-|---|---| |
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the iv7, your typical minor 7 (m7 or -7):
|---|---|---|---|---|---| |---|---|m3-|---|---|---| |---|---|-7-|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---|(5)|---| |---|---|-R-|---|---|---| ========================= |---|---|---|---|---|---| |---|-R-|---|---|---|---| |---|(5)|---|---|---|---| |---|---|m3-|---|---|---| |---|---|-7-|---|---|---| |
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the V7, dominant seventh (7):
|---|---|---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---|-7-|---| |---|---|---|M3-|---|---| |---|---|---|---|-R-|---| |---|---|---|---|(5)|---| ========================= |---|---|---|(R)|---|---| |---|---|---|---|---|---| |---|-R-|---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---|-7-|---| |---|---|---|M3-|---|---| |
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the VI7, a Maj7:
|---|---|---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---|M7-|---| |---|---|M3-|---|---|---| |---|---|---|-R-|---|---| |---|---|---|(5)|---|---| ========================= |---|---|-R-|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---|M7-|---| |---|---|-M3|---|---|---| |
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II. The Harmonic Minor![]()
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A B C D E F G# A \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / w h w w h w+ h (where w+ is an augmented second) |
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A. The triads![]() |
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Notice that the V triad is now major. Its that raised G# that makes
the V triad major when it would otherwise be minor in the natural minor.
This also preserves the strong cadence that results in a V-I progression
(or V-i in minor keys): in classical voice leading (which we may revisit
later on), the third of V (which is the leading tone) always resolves
to the root of I (or i). The III chord has been stretched (augmented),
by increasing the interval between its root and fifth (the 3 and 7 of the
scale). In contrast, the vii chord is now compressed (diminished), by
decreasing the interval between its root and fifth (the 7 and 4 of the
scale).
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C E G# G# B D \ / \ / \ / \ / M3 M3 m3 m3 |
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The aug chord is built on a stack of two major thirds, while the dim
chord is a stack of two minor thirds. Now, between major, minor,
augmented, and diminished triads, we have every possible combination
of major and minor thirds (taken in pairs).
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The augmented triad is the only new chord here, so let's hear how it
sounds:
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augmented (iii in harmonic minor):
|---|---|---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---|---|---| |---|a5-|---|---|---|---| |---|---|M3-|---|---|---| |---|---|---|-R-|---|---| ========================= |---|---|---|---|---|---| |---|---|-R-|---|---|---| |---|---|---|a5-|---|---| |---|---|---|---|M3-|---| |---|---|---|---|---|---| |
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B. The Seventh ChordsIf we look at the seventh chords: |
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we see that the dominant seventh (V7) chord is preserved unchanged as well. The V7 resolves to I (or i) with the leading tone (G#) resolving to A, and the seventh (D) resolving to the third of i, or C. When you take it apart, you can hear the seventh of V7 as a suspension that naturally resolves to the third of the root triad (its even easier to hear with the major progres- sions). The third and the seventh provide nearly all the energy and motion contained in the V7 chord: that's why you can omit the fifth of a dominant seventh chord without changing the character of the chord. Note: DON'T leave out the fifth in a diminished or augmented chord. That's where ALL of the character for those chords comes from. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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First, the i7, a minor-Major7 (min-Maj7: rare!):
|---|---|---|---|---|---| |---|---|m3-|---|---|---| |---|---|---|-7-|---|---| |---|---|---|---|-5-|---| |---|---|-R-|---|---|---| ========================= |---|---|---|---|---|---| |---|-R-|---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---|---|---| |---|---|m3-|---|---|---| |---|---|---|-7-|---|---| |
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vii7, a diminished 7 (dim7, o7):
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |---|---|d5-|---|---|---|---| |---|-R-|---|---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|m7-|---|---|---| |---|---|m3-|---|---|---|---| ============================= |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---|d5-|---|---| |---|---|---|-R-|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---|---|m7-|---| |---|---|---|---|m3-|---|---|BTW, in "o7", the "o" is supposed to be a small circle, not the letter "o."
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the iii7 augmented7 (+7):
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|M3-|---|---|---| |---|---|---|-7-|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---|---|a5-|---| |---|---|-R-|---|---|---|---| ============================== |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |---|-R-|---|---|---|---|---| |---|---|a5-|---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|M3-|---|---|---| |---|---|---|-7-|---|---|---| |
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III. The Melodic Minor![]()
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A B C D E F# G# A G F E D C B A \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / w h w w w w h w w h w w h w |----ascending------------->|----------descending-------> |
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A. The Triads![]()
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We haven't changed the most important chords, V and I, but we've converted
II from diminished to minor, IV from minor to major, and VI from major to
diminished. No new types of chord, just minors and majors in different
places.
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B. The Seventh ChordsIf we look at the seventh chords: |
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we see that we've picked up a second dominant 7 chord (the IV), and a half- diminished for VI. We've already covered these chords as well. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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III. All Together Now![]() |
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where: |
N = natural minor H = harmonic minor M = ascending melodic minor
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C. The Diminished Seventh Chord![]() |
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G# B D F \ / \ / \ / m3 m3 m3 |
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Grant D. Green
grant_green@cc.chiron.com