DulciTheory #10
jerry@jcrmusic.com
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DulciTheory Newsletter -- Issue #10: Chord Progressions in the
Key of G and A: Wrapping Up
publisher: Jerry Rockwell
email: jcrockwell@gmail.com
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INTRO
In the last few issues we have been dealing with playing in the
Key of G while tuned D-A-D. This time we'll throw some chord
progressions in G at you, so you can apply your newfound
knowledge.
And while we're at it, we might as well do the same for the Key
of A, right? Once you get used to porting chord structures
lock-stock-and-barrel all around the place -- or just up a whole
step in this case -- it will be like second nature to play in
several different keys without re-tuning.
The other tidbit I'll leave you with is a brief list of exercises
and activities to test your knowledge and make sure that you
understand this stuff well enough to really *use* it and apply it
in real life.
This issue will wrap up the first year of DulciTheory, and we've
come to the end of the "Playing in G and A While Tuned D-A-D"
series of articles. I hope you have found these articles helpful
and practical in your everyday playing and jamming.
To begin the second year of DulciTheory, we are going to focus on
the modes. I had planned a multi-issue series on the modes
anyway, but now I'm delighted to announce that I'll be getting
some help with this series from Bill Collins, who is a superb
player, teacher, and author of several books of beautifully
arranged tablature and music for the mountain dulcimer.
In addition to Bill, there are some other fine teachers who may
be able to help me in future issues of DulciTheory as well: we
are in the earliest stages of forming a little web community of
mountain dulcimer teachers and serious-minded students. With any
luck, we may even have some sort of webZINE to document our
activities! I'll be sure to keep you posted as our community
begins to take shape.
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CONTENTS:
1.) CHORD PROGRESSIONS IN G
2.) CHORD PROGRESSIONS IN A
3.) EXERCISES AND ACTIVITIES
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CHORD PROGRESSIONS IN G
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One of the best projects for you at this point is simply to play
many of the tunes your are familiar with in D -- up in G while
you are tuned D-A-D. This is great practice, because it
reinforces the structural integrity of the whole I-IV-V7 thing,
and gets you thinking in chord shapes.
--> Start out with simple tunes with two or three chords and
progress onward to tunes with minor chords and secondary
dominants.
--> It might help you to keep the CONSTANT I-IV-V7 in mind along
with the VARIABLE chord names for a particular key. I will give
some hints at this in the examples to remind you.
--> If you've already put some time and effort into these
transposing ativities, you might as well go the extra mile and
find out what is *unique* to G. In other words, I'll bet you can
find some cool things to do working out of G while tuned D-A-D --
that you cannot do in the familiar key of D.
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Skip To My Lou
I V7
G / / / |/ / / / |D7 / / / |/ / / / |
I V7 I
G / / / |/ / / / |D7 / / / |G / / / ||
hint: if you're on the same chord for a bunch of measures,
there's no reason why you have to use the same chord voicing for
the whole time, right? Wouldn't it be neat to use your
fingerboard surveys that you've worked so hard to build... to
pull out alternative voicings of the same chord?
Bile Dem Cabbage
I IV I V7
G / / / |C / / / |G / / / |D7 / / / |
I IV I V7 I
G / / / |C / / / |G / D7 / |G / / / ||
Bile Dem Cabbage: some cool ideas unique to G:
I IV I V7 **
G / / / C* / / / G / / / D7 / / /
5-----------|6-----8-----|7-----------|6--5--4--2--|
6-----------|4-----6-----|8-----------|7--6--5--3--|
0-----------|0-----0-----|0-----------|0--0--0--0--|
I IV I V7 I
G / / / C / / / G / D7 / G / / /
3--------5--|6-----6-----|5-----6-5-4--|3-----------||
3--------6--|6-----4-----|6----(0->)---|3-----------||
0--------0--|0-----0-----|0----(0->)---|0-----------||
* since we're leaving the melody string D open throughout this
exercise, we run into some colorful chords like this "Cadd9"
chord. This is just like adding a D or 9th to a C Major Triad:
C - E - G - D
1 - 3 - 5 - 9
This chord is different than C9, which is a "dominant 9th" chord,
built on the foundation of a domininant 7th:
C7
C - E - G - Bb
1 - 3 - 5 - b7
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C9
C - E - G - Bb - D
1 - 3 - 5 - b7 - 9
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** this is a G chord used as a passing chord to get from the D7
on beat 1 to the D on beat 3 of the measure. I didn't label it as
a G chord above the measure, because it doesn't CHANGE the
overall harmony to G: it is used on a weak beat of the measure to
simply pass between two voicings of the main harmony in this
measure (D7 or V7). This comes under the heading of HARMONIC
RHYTHM, and you should try to wrap your brain around it some.
Hymns have a *fast* harmonic rhythm, as do jazz versions of
12-bar blues: there are sometimes as many as 4 changes to the
measure! OUCH!! Most folk music has a very slow harmonic rhythm,
with the same chord lasting for 2, 3, or 4 measures.
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The Ash Grove
A PART
I vi ii V7
G / / Em / / Am / / D7 / /
3-----------|1-----------|4-----------|0-----------|
3-----------|1-----------|4-----------|5-----------|
3-----------|3-----------|6-----------|6-----------|
I IV V I
G / / C / / D / / G / /
3-----------|6-----------|0-----------|3-----------|
3-----------|4-----------|0-----------|1-----------|
5-----------|3-----------|0-----------|0-----------|
B PART
I V
G / / / / / D / / / / /
3-----------|------------|0-----------|------------|
3-----------|------------|5-----------|------------|
5-----------|------------|4-----------|------------|
vi V7/V* V V7
Em / / / / / A7 / / D / D7
5-----------|------------|4-----------|0-------6---|
4-----------|------------|4-----------|--5---5-----|
3-----------|------------|3-----------|----4-----0-|
* yup! A secondary dominant -- You might want to go back to
DulciTheory #1 through #3 for some more explanation on these, and
how knowing what accidentals you're up against will help you
situate a tune in the best place on the fingerboard and Key. If
you get even more curious about these critters, you might try
taking some of my theory-on-the-web links I had in one of the
issues from last year.
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CHORD PROGRESSIONS IN A
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Bile Dem Cabbage
I IV I V7
A / / / |D / / / |A / / / |E7 / / / |
I IV I V7 I
A / / / |D / / / |A / E7 / |A / / / ||
Now....I could just paste all the TAB from G above to A here, and
simply change the TAB and chord shapes, but that would deprive
YOU of a valuable learning opportunity.
So, to get the most out of this exercise, keep in mind the cool
things you can do in A that are *unique* to the "Key of A out of
D-A-D tuning" situation. They will be different than the ones I
found in G, but they will still be cool.
hint-hint: How many amazing and "different" A chords can you find
by leaving the middle string A open, while fretting the melody
and bass strings?
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EXERCISES, ACTIVITIES, AND QUESTIONS
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EXERCISES
Try playing the following chord progressions in the Keys of D, G,
and A while tuned D-A-D:
1.) I - vi - IV - V7
2.) I - vi - ii - V7
3.) iii - vi - ii - V7
4.) I - V7 - vi - ii - iii - vi
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(i - iv - v - i) = the new minor key if you let
vi = i
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ACTIVITIES
1.) Try to think of a tune that you arranged in the Key of D for
D-A-D tuning. Can you think of any chords you had trouble
finding, or voicings that you didn't like? Try this tune in G or
A out of D-A-D, and see what happens -- you might be amazed.
2.) Try a standard 12-bar blues in D -- using D7, G, and A7 for
the basic chords. Then try the same progression in A -- using A7,
D7, and E7. (maybe you can infer from these chords alone the
extra possibilities available in A?)
3.) If you go to folk music jams and sing-alongs, you've probably
noticed that they play a lot in G, and probably some in A too. Of
course you can always use your trusty capo to get to these keys,
but you'll probably have to retune slightly if you do --
something there's never really time for in a jam. So try chording
these tunes directly in D-A-D as we've been doing here.
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Well I guess that's about it for the first year of DulciTheory.
Thanks for bearing with me, and I hope that you will continue to
get some value out of these newsletters. As always, let me know
what you think:
jcrockwell@gmail.com
Thanks!
Jerry
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