Can someone share with me how do you experiment with chords such that you would integrate them to elements such as:
a) Zip chord (7-3-6-2-5-1-4)
b) secondary dominants (more info here please) not yet fully grasped the concept though much interested
c) chromatic progression
Yes I've heard much of "use what sounds good to you" and now my question now is: What sounds good to anybody based on the examples above and may be beyond.
Due to time constraints I'll attempt to answer whatever I can now and I know someone will complete whatever I am not able to answer.
a)
on the circle: there are many posts here which cover the various things you can do with various chords. Please look up posts by DaNatiMaestro to see practical examples.
Here is one of the many examples I am talking about and I have directly benefited from:
http://www.learngospelmusic.com/forums/index.php/topic,78650.0.htmlI am reluctant to start new threads on the circle because there are so many and I would not want them to be forgotten just because they are old.
I have my own way of experimenting with various chords in the circle [ if you search for some of my really old posts on progressions, you will see that I used to assign numbers and name the chords in the progressions- that was my way of analysing how and where each chord can be used
An example of one of my all time favourites is the minor 9th chord, as below [just an extract]:
Circle of 4ths I like he grand piano voice on this. It sounds great with many voices though
Key of Cb7- Bb/ Ab-C-Db-F [Bbm9]
3- Eb/ G-C-Db-F [just drop the thumb from the Ab to the G]
6- Ab/ Gb-Bb-Cb-Eb [Abm9]
2- Db/ F-Bb-Cb-Eb
5- Gb/Fb-Ab-Bb-Db [notice how this becomes a DOM9 -GbDom9]
1- Cb/Gb-Bb-Db-Eb [Cbmaj9] or Cb/ Ab-Db-Gb
from here you have many options:
You can swipe your RH across all the black notes and hit the Gb note to end; or/ and
You can play the 4th.
Again, there are tons of things you can do with the 4th [I'll list those I can think from the top of my head]:
1) Play a quartal that will lead you to a specific song or to continue the circle.
so in this specific key, the quartal would be:
4- Fb/ Ab-Db-Gb or Fb/ Bb-Eb-Ab or Fb/Db-Gb-Cb
2) if you want to continue with the 4th, you can explore with other chords, eg
Fb/ C-Fb-Ab [or Caug with 3 bass], if the C note sounds off to you, you can lower it to the Cb to make it an E triad
from there you can continue with the circle and play something like
A/B-C#-E-A# and so on...
I have not mentioned trying out a variation of inversions of the same chords here- so it's literally impossible to say you have mastered this progression until you can pull off a couple of the tricks I've just brushed on.
About chromatic progressions:Again, I can only give one example. I know chromatic progressions are on top of my favorites list as well.
Nowadays, you will come many gospel songs that use a chromatic progression- i assign you the task to go and find some of those songs.
For example, you will find the song uses a descending bass from the
1 to the 5. a
1 to the 2 ascending is also nice. a
4 to the 5 is common. a
6 to the 5 sounds great.
You will pick up the examples I've given by listening to the bass [99% of the time].
Why do I say 99% of the time?
because if you look at the 7-3-6-2... example I just gave above, you will notice that the RH thumb moved chromatically from Ab to Fb
I would like you to play that progression again now and listen for the descending chromatic progression produced by the thumb alone- do you hear now that the 7-3-6... is given it's rich qualities [as opposed to the mere bass note
], one of those qualities in this particular example is the chromatic descending.
Just like the circle of 4th, I would encourage you to search for "chromatic" because I know I have posted several examples of chromatic progressions.
I just sat down to come up with this one.
Something to note about chromatic progressions:
The effectiveness will be determined by the voice you use, for example, I used strings to come up with the progression I'm about to share below. I don't know how it will sound with other voices- it's up to you to explore:
[Brackets mean the note is optional]
Gb/ Db-Gb-Bb
F/ Db-F-(Ab)-Bb
E-Ab/ Db-E-Gb-Bb
Eb/Cb-Eb-Gb-Bb
D/ Eb-Gb-Ab-Db
Db-Ab-Cb/ Eb-Gb-Ab-Db
C-Ab-Bb/ Eb-Gb-Bb
Cb/ Bb-Eb-Ab
Bb/ Ab-Db-Gb
A/ G-Db-Eb-Gb
Ab/ Db-F-Gb-Cb
G-Db-F/ Ab-C-F
Gb-(Ab)/ Db-F-Bb
(repeat)
That sounds like something I would like to play during intercession, preaching of a "serious" message or altar call. I would play my RH from centre of the keyboard and my LH just above.
I hope his helps a bit.