Need advice for new chords

Hi guys,

I arrived at a point when I feel a little bored and limited by the chords I am using in my songs.
I am referring here at the chords I am using the most (chords with 7ths, 4ths and the occasional 9ths, of course beside the normal ones).

What would you advice me in order to learn more chords and situations where they will fit?

I am aware that I can learn the occasional 'new' chord from various songs but I'm looking for something more focused on this matter.

I have a decent knowledge of musical theory so I can start building on top of that.

Thank you!

Learn to harmonize the major scale.

When you say you are familiar with 4ths and 7ths and the occasional 9th, what do you mean? Do you know what a 4th, 7th or 9th is used for most times? Do you know why those chords are called by those names? If so, use other scale degrees and make new chords. You ought to be able to come up with 6ths, and various 5ths such as flat five, sharp five and so on. Do you know when a diminished sounds good? How about an augmented? Do you know what "number" name applies to an augmented chord? If you aren't sure of the answers to these questions you probably could use a little bit more theory.

Mjark,

Thanks for the quick feedback!

If you are referring to the example below I am well familiar with harmonizing the major scale.

I - C
II - Dm
III - Em
IV - F
V - G
VI - Am
VII - Bdim

What I am looking for is how to make some variation with some more exotic chords.

Thanks!

You ought to be able to come up with 6ths, and various 5ths such as flat five, sharp five and so on. Do you know when a diminished sounds good? How about an augmented? Do you know what "number" name applies to an augmented chord? If you aren't sure of the answers to these questions you probably could use a little bit more theory.


Hey Jbmando,

This is exactly the stuff I want to learn more about!

When I am finding out about this new stuff I like to see how it is applied in real songs.

Please can you indicate me a good starting point? Like an artist that uses often these chords, or a good tutorial.

Thank you!

Well, jazz artists use those chords all the time. Do you want to get into jazz? There are ways to use "exotic" chords in pop or rock, too, however. You know Eddie Money's "Baby, Hold Onto Me?" That second chord is an augmented. The opening chord of "School Daze" by Chuck Berry is an augmented. Same thing with "Please Come Home for Christmas" the way the Eagles do it at the end of the verse, and the fourth chord in the song is a diminished. You can use a diminished chord as a passing chord between two main diatonic chords. Try this: C C#dim Dm7 G9. Or do this in a blues in C, for a bridge: F F#dim C C7 F D7 G Gaug; back to the verse.

Harmonize it in four parts, then do the same with the natural minor scale.

I think I know what you might be getting at. What about trying to harmonize say... the lydian mode in triads in the key of A (and against an A pedal tone).
So we would just be using the D, G and B strings in this case.
First shape would be a D# on the 1st fret of the D string, a G# on the 1st fret of the G string and a C# on the second fret of the B string.
Now move the triad up the neck using only the notes of the scale until you reach the octave shape past the 12th fret.

The great songwriter, Jimmy Webb, encourages musicians to try different bass notes below standard chords. For example, one might play a F Major triad (F, A, C) then try EVERY available bass note along with it. There are some real juicy sounds, some sounds which are dubious, and some that sound typical. Check out his book, "Tunesmith" in which he describes several very cool chord development techniques.

Thank you for the ideas and suggestions!

Above I listed the chords used in C major scale.

Basically I was wondering how can I enrich chordwise a song played in C major beside the usual chords.

I will try to follow the advices mentioned above but if if you have anything else to point out I would love to hear it.

I don't want to play Jazz, I am interested in pop and rock music, bands like The Beatles, Radiohead and REM being some of my big influences.

Thanks!

http://www.tdpri.com/forum/tab-tips-theory-technique/304397-chord-progression-day.html

Here's a thread which was fun right here on favorite chord progressions. The first one is really cool in its chromatic descent.


You don't necessarily have to confine yourself to the chords within a key signature.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSfzKflDoLI

Check out Rolly Brown's chord tutorial.

Ed

I have noticed that if you play any three notes across any three strings, it forms a chord.
Of course if you're playing jazz that would have to be four notes and four strings.
I generally discover these new chords by mistake.
Problem is working out what they are called afterwards

I would also recommend experimenting with voicing and doubling notes in the triads, and also dominant seventh chords. This would give you more colors in rock/pop styles. Once you use other types of seventh chords, as well as 9ths and altered chords, you are in jazz world. Nothing wrong with that at all, but I think it is important to see the differences in the chords that are used in different styles.

Harmonize it in four parts, then do the same with the natural minor scale.

Harmonic minor scale?

A number of my "new chords by mistake" are where my ears tell me to move my fingers to drop or raise a note or notes of a chord in passing to the next one. I simply don't have time for the brain to actively engage to tell me what they are all called, however when I do bother to look them up they turn out to be legitimate, and usually found in properly scored pieces. Yet scored music doesn't always write the obscure chord name over the bunch of dots.

Has anyone invented a reverse chord dictionary where you put in the fret positions and it tells you the chord names? - once you get the hang of it and you know what key you are in it is not too difficult to work out, but I mostly get it wrong. And jazz chords are not the exclusive property of jazz.

Has anyone invented a reverse chord dictionary where you put in the fret positions and it tells you the chord names? - once you get the hang of it and you know what key you are in it is not too difficult to work out, but I mostly get it wrong. And jazz chords are not the exclusive property of jazz.

The trouble with that is once you get past cowboy chords, there are several different names for the same group of notes -- chords are ambiguous and the best name is determined by context.

And I think it's a good exercise to try to figure it out yourself, anyway.

There is one! (http://www.chorderator.com/cgi-bin/designer.py)

There is one! (http://www.chorderator.com/cgi-bin/designer.py)

Hmm... I entered a test:

x56563

And it gave me:

1. Dm11b5
2. Fm6/9/D
3. G#Maj7b5add6/D

It's missing some, including an obvious one, Bb13.

That generator is limited to naming chords by the notes within them. A rootless chord doesn't seem to show up.

That generator is limited to naming chords by the notes within them. A rootless chord doesn't seem to show up.

Too bad. Rootless chords are common in jazz.

Harmonic minor scale?

Any scale

Above I listed the chords used in C major scale.

Basically I was wondering how can I enrich chordwise a song played in C major beside the usual chords.

It depends on the style of the song. You could use a jazz style harmony to Clapton's Wonderful Tonight, but it wouldn't sound right.

Learning all of the inversions for the chords will give you more options, and make it possible for you to make chord sequences that move up and down the neck.

But for C major, here are some of the possibilities:

I - C, Cmaj7, C6, C7 if the next chord is F
ii - Dm, Dm6, Dm7, Dm9, D7 if the next chord is a G chord
iii - Em, Em6, Em7, Em9, E7 if the next chord is an Am or A chord
IV - F, Fmaj7, F6, Fm
V7 - G, G7, G9, G7b9, G+7, G13
vi - Am, Am7, Am9, A7 if the next chord is a Dm or D7 chord
viidim7 - Bdim7 - yes, use the Ab = V7 in function, B7 if the next chord is Em or E7

Remember, from C major, a brief detour into Abmajor can add an interesting twist. :wink:

Also, a dim7 a half step below the following chord can be used as a dominant, i.e., F#dim7 can go to G. This is because F#dim7 is the same thing as a D7b9 with the root omitted.

Again, you need to stay within the style of the song, unless you are deliberately changing the style; in which case, you need to be good at it, or it won't "work".

Get this book:

The Jazz Guitar Workbook by Marty Crum.

http://www.martyworldmusic.com/Order.htm

Buy a computer program called Chord Wizard Gold 2. It's far better than any chord book or online chord generator. You can randomly design chords (and it will name them). You can put in a selection of chords and it will show the key(s) they fit in. It will show any kind of scale you can think of in any position. And it does much more than that...

Also, you can use it for other instruments or alternate tunings, even ones you've made up.


Here's a link to a page with several demo videos.

http://www.chordwizard.com/video_cwfg.aspx#cwfOverview

* Note, in the demo video, the program only shows basic chord types, but on the actual program you can select the advanced view to show crazy esoteric chords and scales.

Buy a computer program called Chord Wizard Gold 2. It's far better than any chord book or online chord generator.

Better still, learn how to spell chords and how they are constructed. Once you know it, it's far faster and more portable than any computer. :wink:

Better still, learn how to spell chords and how they are constructed. Once you know it, it's far faster and more portable than any computer. :wink:

The program facilitates learning chords, scales, keys arpeggios etc... and experimenting with novel ones. The information is simply in a more efficient form. I'd have thought that obvious.

Better still, learn how to spell chords and how they are constructed. Once you know it, it's far faster and more portable than any computer. :wink:

+1

That's what the Jazz Guitar Chord Workbook teaches. It has worksheets and his approach is very easy to understand.

There is one! (http://www.chorderator.com/cgi-bin/designer.py)

I like the "listen to this chord feature" to play with at work, but for some reason it refuses to play for me x34331. I can alter any note in that and it will play, but not that specific chord?!

I like the "listen to this chord feature" to play with at work, but for some reason it refuses to play for me x34331. I can alter any note in that and it will play, but not that specific chord?!

This one (http://jguitar.com/chordname) works.

This one (http://jguitar.com/chordname) works.

Not in Firefox for me. It does in IE.

minor 7 flat five chords (aka 'half diminished' chords) are pretty cool too

Thank you all for the tips!

All these suggestions are a good kick to start using some new chords in my playing.

Now I have to start working on this stuff. :)

I like the "listen to this chord feature" to play with at work, but for some reason it refuses to play for me x34331. I can alter any note in that and it will play, but not that specific chord?!

The Chord Designer works for me in Firefox
But no, it will not play x34331 although it gives it a bunch of complicated names, probably because it requires more than the normal compliment of human fingers. I can't play that one, although X3443X or 3344XX works