31 1 4MB
1. Cycling on the Suspension ................................................................................................................. 5 1.1
Cycles - Passing Chords............................................................................................................ 6
2. Master the (V) as the Suspension ...................................................................................................... 7 3. A Note on Alternate Keys and Transposing ....................................................................................... 8 4. The Harmonization Process and Required Reference Volumes ...................................................... 10 5. Harmonize - What a Friend We Have in Jesus ................................................................................. 11 5.1
The word - ”What” ................................................................................................................ 13
5.1.1
The Complicated Traditional Key Shift............................................................................... 16
5.1.2
Example – Understanding the Base Tone .......................................................................... 16
5.1.3
Example – Using the Numbers ........................................................................................... 17
5.1.4
Example – Shifting an Entire Cycle..................................................................................... 19
5.1.5
Example – The Cycle .......................................................................................................... 21
5.1.6
Example – The Cycle – An Application ............................................................................... 28
5.2
Harmonization of the word – a ............................................................................................. 29
5.2.1
An Alternate Cycle ............................................................................................................. 30
5.2.2
Chords on out of Scale Tones ............................................................................................ 33
5.2.3
A cycle moving in Fourths .................................................................................................. 36
5.2.4
Additional Chords .............................................................................................................. 38
5.2.5
Out of Scale Sequences...................................................................................................... 39
6. A Chord on Every Tone................................................................................................................. 43 7. Summary .......................................................................................................................................... 44 8. What a friend we have in Jesus........................................................................................................ 46 8.1
Harmonization of the words “What a” ..................................................................................... 46
8.1.1
More Possibilities .................................................................................................................. 48
8.1.2
Personal Tip ........................................................................................................................... 49
8.2
Harmonization of the Word “Friend” ....................................................................................... 50
8.3
Harmonization of the word “We” ............................................................................................. 51
8.4
Harmonization of the word “Have” .......................................................................................... 52
8.4.1 8.5
Harmonization of the word “In” ............................................................................................ 53 Harmonization of the partial word “Je” .................................................................................... 55
Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions 8.6
Harmonization of the partial word “sus” .................................................................................. 56
9. Completed Harmonization “What a Friend” .................................................................................... 58 10. Never Transpose Again .................................................................................................................. 61 10.1
The Lazy Slide ........................................................................................................................ 63
10.2
Memorize the Chords in Every Key ....................................................................................... 64
10.3
Use the Number System ........................................................................................................ 66
10.4
The Old Result of Transposing ............................................................................................... 71
10.5
The New Method ................................................................................................................... 74
11. The Completed Harmonization in (Eb) – Using Chords on Db ....................................................... 83 11.1
A Closer Look ......................................................................................................................... 85
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions
1. Cycling on the Suspension In this volume we are going to focus on one method of how to create and make beautiful chord transitions and movements in your favorite songs. We are going to use the technique described in the Adventures in Harmony Handbook of Harmony where we harmonize on the melody note. This technique was initially introduced using the voicings contained in the volume – Advanced Voicings for Melody and Suspension Harmonization. We are going to take a detailed look at one method of melody harmonization called cycling on the suspension. The suspension is the topmost note of any given chord. When we do melody harmonization, this topmost note corresponds to the melody note of your song. Cycling on the suspension is where you play many chord transitions for that single melody note almost as if you were playing chords in a cycle. Every chord that you play when you make a chord change must have the same melody note on top. For example, suppose the melody note is a (Bb), and you wanted to play a four chord cycle. You would play four different chords in sequence, and each chord would have the (Bb) as the top most note; but the chord tone (bass), could be any of the twelve possible notes. This could be an (Ab) chord followed by a (C) chord, (Gb) chord, and then a (D) chord, and each one of those chords, have the (Bb) as the topmost note. By using the technique of cycling on the suspension, you will see that one can easily create beautiful chord transitions for your favorite song. Here is a sample three chord cycle with the note (Gb) as the suspension.
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions
1.1 Cycles - Passing Chords Cycling on the suspension is one method of adding beautiful passing chords to your favorite song. Passing chords are additional chords that are played in between two existing chords. Adding these additional chords will give your music much color and flavor.
Insert Chords between (Ab) and (Bb)
If we cycle on the (Ab) suspension (in the figure above) any additional chords between the (Ab) and (Bb), would all have (Ab) as the suspension. These additional chords can be considered passing chords. When we are done with our cycle on the (Ab), we would move to the next note (Bb).
Move to the next suspension (Bb)
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions We would repeat this process and cycle on the (Bb) suspension and add additional chords between the (Bb) and (Ab) (in the figure above). If we repeat this process for our entire song, moving from note to note, we will end up with a beautiful harmonization filled with passing chords. Please note, the passing chords that are created by cycling on the suspension, all have the same melody note. It is also possible to have passing chords that do not have the same melody note as the suspension, but that technique will not be addressed in this volume.
2. Master the (V) as the Suspension There are twelve tones on the keyboard (C, Db, D, Eb, E, F, Gb, G, Ab, A, Bb and B). Each one of those tones can function as the melody note (suspension) in some song. You need to master the chords that go with each one of the twelve suspensions. Once you know chords for each suspension, you can then immediately harmonize any song. It will no longer be important what key the song is in. You will no longer care what key the song is in. The whole concept of song key will become less important and you will look at it in an entirely different way. In this volume, as an exercise, we will completely master cycling on the suspension for a single tone. We are going to master the (Ab). You will need to repeat this process for the other eleven tones. The song that we are going to use in our example is written in the key of (Db). You can see in the following table that the (Ab), is a (V) in the key of (Db). The tones in any scaled are numbered with Roman Numbers (I) through (VII). Db Scale Db
Eb
F
Gb Ab
I
II
III
IV
Number 1
2
3
4
Note
Bb
C
Db
Eb
F
Gb
Ab
Bb
C
Db
V
VI
VII
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
I
5
6
M7
8
9
10
11
12
13
M14 15
Therefore we are going to master the (V) as the suspension. The information in this volume will work with a song in any key as long as you are working with the (V) in that key. You will then have to transpose all the chords to the key that you are working with. I recommend that you do not do that right now, because I will introduce you to a concept that makes transposing a thing of the past. So for now, our example song will be in the key of (Db) which makes the (V) equivalent to the (Ab) note. U.S. Patent Pending @ Copyright 2010 - All Rights Reserved - 7.31.2010 Page 7 The information contained within is copyrighted and is not to be reproduced or transmitted written consent of Creative Music LLC.
Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions
3. A Note on Alternate Keys and Transposing The technique described in this volume will work on any song in any key. If you have a song that is in a different key, I strongly recommend that you DO NOT transpose this information to an alternate key. For example, if your song is in the key of (C), the (V) of (C) is a (G), DO NOT transpose everything in Adventures in Harmony reference manuals, down ½ step down from the key of (Db) to the key of (C) in attempt to transpose the chords to match your song. You may have heard in other courses, or in your musical career that once you learn a chord in one key, learn it in every key. DO NOT DO THIS! IT NOT NECESSARY!!!! If you did do that, you will find yourself in a slump of sounding boring in your playing. This is because all you have done by transposing is changing the pitch of what you are playing. You will end up playing the song exactly the same way, with the same chords, but only in a different pitch.
It is also a very long process to learn every chord in every key, and it’s not worth the time invested if the only result is you playing a song the same exact way, but in a different pitch. Instead of transposing the (G) (V in the key of (C)), to the new key of (Db), I would rather you treat the (G) as a new suspension, relative the key of (Db). This would make (G) a (bV), now pick completely new chords to harmonize on the (bV). In short: 1) You have a song in the key of (C) or some other key that is not (Db). 2) You have only learned or are familiar with chords relative to the key of (Db). 3) In the key of (C) the chord or tone is a (V) (G). 4) We are asking you not to transpose this (G) in the key of (C) to the key that you are familiar with. Don’t transpose this (G) to an (Ab) so that you are in a familiar key (Db). 5) Simply treat the chord or tone on the (V) (G), as if it was in the key that you are familiar with.
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions 6) Therefore this (G) in now treated as a (bV) relative to the key that you are familiar with (Db). In the key of (Db), the note (G) is a (bV). The main point I am trying to get across to you is DO NOT TRANSPOSE. Look at this information in the Adventures in Harmony chord reference volumes as being key non-specific. For example, look at the information in this volume with regard to mastering the (Ab) suspension. I want you to look at it as if you are mastering the (Ab) note and forget about the key. I want you to make believe that the name of this volume is really called Mastering the (Ab) note. Then carry the ideas presented in this volume to the other 12 tones. The applications for this will be discussed later with examples. Please follow along and you will learn a big secret with regard to this concept. The secret is that it is not necessary to transpose ever again. I will show you how to immediately play in any key even though you have never played in that key before. For example if you learn a chord in one key, you do not have to learn it in the other eleven keys. I know that is a very hard one to swallow, but after you finish this volume, you might be able to see this. If not, just hold on for more details later. If you feel the need to transpose, feel free to do so ~ but you will find out later that it was a waste of time after you discover and understand this unspoken secret.
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions
4. The Harmonization Process and Required Reference Volumes In this volume, we are going to use the Hymn “What a friend we have in Jesus” to demonstrate the harmonization process of cycling on the suspension. This course does not focus on timing, therefore all the notes are quarter notes. The purpose is simply to indicate the notes, not the timing. Here are the notes in the first phrase of that song:
In going through this harmonization process, you will also see our technique of harmonizing on the melody. The technique of harmonizing on the melody was first introduced in the Handbook of Harmony Tutorial Volume - Introduction to the Play by Number System. The original reference volume containing voicings for that technique was in the Volume – Advanced Voicings for Melody and Suspension Harmonization. You may still use the chord voicings in that volume to create cycles on the suspension. However, the examples in this volume are going to use the voicings from the volume: 1) Black Gospel Chords. It does not matter which chord voicing reference you use, the process is still the same.
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions
5. Harmonize - What a Friend We Have in Jesus In this example, we will harmonize on every single note in the melody. This is going to give your music the most color and flavor and result in very interesting harmonic changes and progressions. Below is the first line of the hymn, “What a friend we have in Jesus.”
This melody line is in the key of (Db). The first step in this process is to write down the tone number in the scale that corresponds to each melody note. We discussed this process in detail in the Introductory volume.
I have done this with the Roman Numbers above. The first phrase of this song is written in the key of (Db), so the (Ab) is the fifth note in the (Db) scale hence the Roman Number V. The (Bb) is the 6th note in the Db scale, hence the Roman Number (VI); the (F) is the 3rd note in the (Db) scale, hence the Roman Number (III), etc.
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions The following table should assist you in identifying the numeric representation for each tone.
Db Scale Db
Eb
F
Gb Ab
Bb
C
Db
Eb
F
Gb
Ab
Bb
C
Db
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
I
Number 1
2
3
4
5
6
M7
8
9
10
11
12
13
M14 15
Note
Be sure to use the scale that corresponds to the key that you song is in. We are using the (Db) scale because our song “What a Friend We Have In Jesus,” is in the key of (Db). You may use the process we are about to describe to harmonize any song. We have identified the tone for every single melody note because we are going to harmonize every single melody note with a different chord. If you are unable to identify the numbers that correspond to each of the notes in the melody, please refer to the beginner material in the introductory volume. The introductory volume contains all of the instructional material for the entire Adventures in Harmony Series. If you are using this volume alone and have not purchased any of our other introductory materials, it will be assumed that you are a very advanced player and that information contained within is sufficient. By harmonizing on every single melody note, you are going to give your song the most color and flavor. It is not necessary to harmonize on every single note, the choice is yours. Identifying the tone number for each melody note in your song is the first step in this process.
Identify Tones for each Melody Note
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions In the figure above, we have identified the tone numbers for each note in the first phrase of the hymn “What A friend We Have In Jesus.” After writing down all of the tone numbers that correspond to each one of the melody notes in your song, the next step will be to harmonize each one of the melody notes. We do this by referring to the appropriate chapter in the either of the reference manuals 1) Melody Harmonization - Advanced Voicings for Harmonization 2) Melody Harmonization - Black Gospel Chords
Melody and
Suspension
The examples in the volume use the voicings in the volume Black Gospel Chords. Each one of the Roman Numbers on the notes that you have labeled will correspond to a chapter in the reference volume. We will simply turn to that chapter in the reference, and pick one of the many voicings that are available to harmonize that melody note. The following pages contain an example of our harmonization of the first line of “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.” Remember this is our harmonization. In using this course, you may come up with a completely different harmonization, and that’s what I expect. I want you to create and explore. We will do this step-by-step and harmonize each note of the first phrase of this song. This is just an example of how I would approach this. You may have a different technique in choosing chords or deciding which notes get harmonized on. That is totally up to you, the artist. I am simply going to present you with my way of thinking going through this process.
5.1 The word - ”What”
We see that this first note of this song is an (Ab), and (Ab) is a (V) in the key of (Db). We need to select a chord that will be played to harmonize on this (V). If you have had enough experience with this course, you may already know a chord that you can play to harmonize on this (Ab). Feel free to play that chord that you already know. If you already know a chord, try it out and see if you like it, otherwise we can pick another one. U.S. Patent Pending @ Copyright 2010 - All Rights Reserved - 7.31.2010 Page 13 The information contained within is copyrighted and is not to be reproduced or transmitted written consent of Creative Music LLC.
Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions In choosing this chord, you should not have any preconception about which tone the chord should be based on. The chord could be any of 12 possibilities; it could be an F chord, a G chord, a Bb chord, etc. Do not make the mistake of restricting yourself to any particular set of tones, they are all good possibilities. It does not matter that the chord tone that you choose is not in the key the song is written in. In this case we are in the key of (Db), we could even play some kind of (E) chord to harmonize one of the melody notes, even though there is no (E) in the key of (Db). If you have had enough experience with this course, you will have discovered that it is preferred that at times you choose tones that are not in the key that the song is written in. By doing this, you are giving your harmonization that color that is part of those beautiful chord transitions that you like to hear. It is totally up to the artist to determine what sounds pleasing. We have removed the complicated rules of harmony, and you the artist are free to choose any chord tone at any time to harmonize a particular melody note. You no longer have to worry about what chord is next, because the answer is whatever one you want. You simply have to know the chord voicing after you have selected the tone. Let’s examine some of the possibilities that I would consider in harmonizing on this (Ab) (V) note. Open up any one of your books in this course on Melody Harmonization and turn to the chapter on harmonizing on the (V). You may even want to try every single chord and see what one appeals to you ~ remember, there is no wrong answer. Another possibility is that you already decided that you want a particular chord tone; for example you want the first chord to be some type of (Eb) chord. It’s also fine to make that determination ahead of time; that of which tone you desire to base a chord on for each melody note. Here are a few of my favorite selections for harmonizing on the first note of this song. All of these voicings have the (Ab) melody note on top and sound pleasing to me as a choice as the first chord to harmonize this song. When you try out a chord, what I would like you to do is play the entire melody line, but substitute the chord in for the melody note that you are trying to harmonize. Therefore, you would play the chord chosen to harmonize for the word “What” (Ab), and then play the rest of the single notes for the remainder of the phrase, and hear how it sounds.
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions In this instance, since the (Ab) is repeated twice in the song; once for the word “What,” and again for the word “a”; play the chosen chord twice, and then, the remaining notes for the song. So you would play the following sequence:
What
CHORD
a
Friend
we
have
in
CHORD
Note
Note
Note
Note Note Not e
Bb
Ab
F
Eb
Db
Bb
Bb
Ab
F
Eb
Db
Bb
Bb
Ab
F
Eb
Db
Bb
Bb
Ab
F
Eb
Db
Bb
Repeat
Je
sus
Previous chord
Repeat Previous chord
Repeat Previous chord
Repeat Previous chord
Try each one of these chords above one at a time and you will see that they are all good possibilities.
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions
5.1.1 The Complicated Traditional Key Shift The chord choices above were obtained by opening up the book on melody harmonization, and turning to the chapter on harmonizing on the (V). All of the example chord pictures represent the chord possibilities for a song that is written in the key of (Db). You will see that our example song “What a friend we have in Jesus,” is written in the key of (Db). If your song is in the key of (Db), you can simply look at the picture to determine the correct chord. All of the chord pictures in the chapter on harmonizing on the (V) have an (Ab) as the top melody note; and (Ab) is the (V) in the key of (Db). If your song is not in the key of (Db), you cannot look at the picture to determine the proper chord; the example picture is an example only for the key of (Db). If your song is not in the key of (Db), you need to use the numbers on the bottom of the page to create the chord in the key that corresponds to your song.
5.1.2 Example – Understanding the Base Tone The first chord possibility that was selected is an Eb min 11, chord (119). This chord appears in the chapter on harmonizing on the (V) as follows:
The picture is the chord that should be played if the song is in the key of (Db). The picture represents an Eb min 11. The general name of the chord that should be played when the melody note is a (V) is a (II) minor 11. This general name is indicated in the title. This general name is a (II) minor 11. This name is very important. The (II) indicates that the chord is based on the second tone of the scale. The second tone of the Db scale is (Eb), hence this chord being called an Eb min 11.
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions If your song was in the key of (Ab), the chord that you would play would still be a (II) min 11, but do not use the picture to determine the chord to play. The (II) in the key of (Ab) would be a (Bb), therefore the chord that you would play, would be a Bb min 11. Another example would be if your song as in the key of (G), the chord to play would be an (A) min 11, because (A) is the (II) in the key of (G). Now that we know the bass (tone) of the chord if your song was in another key, the next step is to create the chord for that different key.
5.1.3 Example – Using the Numbers When your song is not in the key of (Db), you need to use the numbers and not the chord picture to create the chord. Here is the table for the minor 11. The first row of numbers indicates the note numbers to create the minor 11 in any key. Here we see that the minor 11 is created by playing the 1, -3, 5, 7, 9 and 4.
If we play the note numbers 1, -3, 5, 7, 9 and 4, in the key corresponding to the chord name, we will have created the chord. If we play the 1, -3, 5, 7, 9 and 4 in the (Eb) scale, we then have an Eb minor 11.
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions The 1,-3, 5, 7, 9 and 11 in the (Eb) scale are the notes (Eb), (Gb), (Bb), (Db), (F) and (Ab).
Eb Scale Note
Eb
Number 1
F
G
Ab
Bb
C
D
Eb
F
G
Ab
Bb
C
D
Eb
2
3
4
5
6
M7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
We need to know what the (-3) is to create the chord, but the (Eb) scale table does not contain the notes for the accidentals. It only indicates what the (3) is. It indicates that the (3) is a (G), but we need the (-3), so the (-3) would be a ½ step below the (3). Therefore the (-3) would be a (Gb). And similarly, the (Eb) scale table only indicates what the M7 is. It indicates that the (M7) is a (D), but we need the (7), so the (7) would be ½ step below the (M7). Therefore the (7) would be (Db). If your song is in a different key, as an example, if it is in the key of (Ab), and the melody note is a (V) (Eb), we need to create the proper chord by looking at the general name and then using the table. The general name of (II) minor 9 tells us that the chord we need to create is a Bb minor 9. This is because (Bb) is the (II) in the key of (Ab). We now simply use the (Bb) scale and the numbers to create the proper chord.
Bb Scale Note
Bb
Number 1
C
D
Eb
F
G
A
Bb
C
D
Eb
F
G
A
Bb
2
3
4
5
6
M7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
The 1,-3, 5, 7, 9 and 11 in the (Bb) scale are the notes (Bb), (Db), (F), (Ab), (C) and (Eb).
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions
Above is the Bb minor 11 that you would play if your song was in the key of (Ab) and the melody note was a (V). (Ab) is the (V) in the key of (Ab) and you are playing the (II) chord which corresponds to a (Bb). You can see that the chord constructed has the (V) (Eb) on top.
5.1.4 Example – Shifting an Entire Cycle We have just seen the chords that create the cycle for a song in the key of (Db) with a (V) (Ab) as the suspension. As an exercise, let’s recreate this cycle for the key of (Ab). We need to know the general names of the chords that we selected.
General Chord name
Number
In Db
In Ab
(II) min 11
119
Eb min11
Bb min 11
(I) Maj 9
658
Db Maj 9
Ab Maj 9
(Maj VII) 7#9#5
941
C7#9#5
G7#9#5
(I) 6,9
57
Db 6,9
Ab 6,9
From the general name we can determine the bass chord tone for each chord. The Roman Numbers in the general name indicate the bass chord tone for any given key.
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions In the key of (Db) the (II) is an (Eb), so the first chord is an Eb min 11. In the key of (Db) the (I) is a (Db) so the next chord is a Db Maj 9. The (Maj VII) in the key of (Db) is a (C), so the next chord is a C7#9#5 and the last chord is a (I) which we already know is a (Db) in the key of (Db) making the last chord a Db 6,9. In the key of (Ab) the (II) is a (Bb), so the first chord is a Bb min 11. In the key of (Ab) the (I) is an (Ab) so the next chord is an Ab Maj 9. The Maj VII in the key of (Ab) is a (G), so the next chord is a G7#9#5 and the last chord is a (I) which we already know is an (Ab) in the key of (Ab) making the last chord an Ab 6,9.
Below is the completed cycle of chords for a song in the key of (Ab) with (Eb) (V) as the suspension.
Chord TONE 1 (II) (Bb)
-3,5,7,9,11
Chord TONE 2 (I) (Ab)
5,M7,9,10,12
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions
Chord TONE 3 (Maj VII) (G)
1,3,7,b10,#12
Chord TONE 4 (I) (Ab)
3,6,9,12 Now you have sufficient knowledge to apply the chords and notations in this course to any key. Now we can get back to our example for a song in the key of (Db) where the suspension is in an (Ab) (V).
5.1.5 Example – The Cycle Now let’s have some real fun. We are going to take a temporary detour from our harmonization, and take a closer look at what we have in front of us with these chords. All of the chord possibilities above have the (V) (Ab) as the melody top most note. This top note is called the suspension. Instead of using just one of these chords as the chord to harmonize on the (V), let’s play all of these chords in sequence, Eb min11, followed by Db Maj 9, followed by C7#9#5 and then Db 6,9. I call this cycling through the suspensions; when the melody note stays the same and the bass note cycles through chord changes. Listen to just how beautiful these changes sound.
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions
Chord 1
Chord 2
Chord 3
Chord 4
Look at what has just been done; you have just created your own progression! This is a mini cycle of chord changes. I call this a cycle because you can play these chords in almost any order. I say almost, only because of what was taught in the introductory volume with regard to consonance and dissonance. When you play the chords in this cycle, you have to end it somewhere ~ one of the chords in this sequence will be the last chord played. In the example above, the Db 6,9 (57) is the last chord played and this might be a chord that you hold down for a few beats. As indicated in the Tutorial, whenever a chord is to be held down for an extended period of time, make sure that chord has either has no dissonance, or has open harmony. Remember, open harmony refers to how spread apart the notes are in the voicing, and dissonance refers to the amount of tension that exists in the chord due to accidentals. Therefore it’s ok to end on this chord (Db 6,9) or hold it down for an extended period of beats, because this chord has open harmony within itself, and in comparison to the other chords in the cycle. If you look at the picture of the notes in the Db 6,9, you can visually determine that the notes are about as spread out (open) as they can be. If we moved the notes (Ab) and (Eb) an octave lower, the chord would not be open anymore. You can visually look at it with the (Ab) and (Eb) an octave lower and see that the notes are “bunched up,” not as open with the (Ab) and (Eb) in the upper position.
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions
Db (6,9) not in open position
The chord voicing is perfectly legal, but we can’t end on this voicing of the Db 6,9 chord because it is in a closed position, the notes are very close together. When the notes are close together, you get a very harsh or dissonant sound and it not very pleasing to the ear. Try not to end on such a harsh sound. By simply playing this chord with open harmony, and spreading the notes apart as we did in the cycle above, the sound becomes more pleasing to the ear. When you have a group of chords, you can just look at them visually and make a determination as to which one has the notes spread out the furthest. You can even count the distance between the notes in ½ steps and make a guess at which chord is more open.
Just as an example, if you look at the distance between the notes in C7#9#5 chord, we get the following: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5)
The distance between the (C) and (E) is 4 notes. The distance between the (E) and (Bb) is 6 notes. The distance between the (Bb) and (Eb) is 5 notes. The distance between the (Eb) and (Ab) is 5 notes. So you have 4, 6, 5 and 5.
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions And if you look at the distance between the notes in Db 6,9 chord, we get the following:
1) 2) 3) 4)
The distance between the (F) and (Bb) is 5 notes. The distance between the (Bb) and (Eb) is 5 notes. The distance between the (Eb) and (Ab) is 5 notes. So you have 5, 5 and 5.
So we have the Db 6,9 with (5, 5, 5) and the C7#9#5 with (4, 6, 5, 5). I would say that the Db6,9 is more spread apart because it does not have that (4) in it like the C7#9#5. The (4) meaning that there are (4) notes between the (C) and the (E) in the C7#9#5. This is just my way of looking at it, you may have some other way which is fine, it is just my opinion visually that the Db 6,9 is more open than the C7#9#5, The goal here in ordering the chords, is to have a chord movement from dissonance to consonance as we discussed in the Tutorial. We want to start with dissonant chords and end on consonant chords. We have assigned numbers to each chord in this course to represent the tension in the chord and how open the chord is. The tension number represents the dissonance, and the open represents the open harmony.
The larger the tension number, the more dissonant the chord is, the larger the open number, the more open the chord is. In looking at our chords in this cycle we have the following tensions and opens:
Chord name
Number
Tension
Open
Eb min 11
119
0.8
3.5
Db Maj 9
658
0.4
3.0
C7#9#5
941
1
5.0
Db 6,9
57
0.5
5.0
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions From looking at the tension and opens for the chords in this cycle, one can make the following opinions:
1) 2)
You do not want to end on the chord that has the lowest open number. You do not want to end on the chord that has the largest tension number But remember you can end on a chord that has dissonance (large tension), as long as it is open.
3)
In looking at the chords above, one can clearly see that the Db 6,9 has a large open (5.0). Therefore this chord is ok to play as the last chord in the cycle. This chord also has a low tension (0.5) in comparison to the other chords. The Db Maj 9 also has a low tension and is also ok to play as the last chord in the cycle.
The movement from chords dissonance to chords consonance is called chord resolution. This is the same as going from a harsh sound (dissonance) with a lot of tension to a smooth sound with no tension (consonance).
There is always a natural pull for chords to resolve. The ear does not like to hear chords in a state of tension (dissonance). Any chord that is in a state of tension (dissonance) must eventually move to a chord that has no tension (consonance). There can be many dissonant chords in a row, as long as the one at the last one played has no dissonance. The only caveat to this is that the last chord can have dissonance as long as it has open harmony. A chord that is dissonant, but has open harmony, will sound like a chord that has consonance. The spreading apart of the notes of a dissonant chord makes it sound consonant. So in this case, it is ok to end on a dissonant chord.
What does this all mean? It means in looking at our cycle of chords 1) Eb min 11, 2) Db Maj 9, 3) C7#9#5, and 4) Db 6,9, these chords can be played in ANY order as long as we leave the Db 6,9 as the last chord. By leaving the Db 6,9 as the last chord, we are assured that the overall chord movement moves to consonance, which means we can hold down the last chord (Db 6,9) for several beats if necessary.
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions This gives a total of six possible chord sequences. Leave the Db 6,9 as the last chord, and arrange the other three chords in any order. In short, this means you can play the chords in ANY order as long as the last chord played is the Db 6,9.
The possible chords are listed below, with the Db 6,9 as the last chord:
Chord 1
Chord 2
Chord 3
Last Chord ( consonance)
The six possible chord sequences using the above chords ending on the Db 6,9 are as follows: 1.
Eb min 11
Db Maj 9
C7#9#5
Db 6,9
2.
Db Maj 9
Eb min 11
C7#9#5
Db 6,9
3.
Eb min 11
C7#9#5
Db Maj 9
Db 6,9
4.
Db Maj 9
C7#9#5
Eb min 11
Db 6,9
5.
C7#9#5
Eb min 11
Db Maj 9
Db 6,9
6.
C7#9#5
Db Maj 9
Eb min 11
Db 6,9
Play each one of the above six chord sequences and listen to the beautiful changes. U.S. Patent Pending @ Copyright 2010 - All Rights Reserved - 7.31.2010 Page 26 The information contained within is copyrighted and is not to be reproduced or transmitted written consent of Creative Music LLC.
Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions Another possibility using these same chords would be to do the same thing, but this time end on the DbMaj 9. We can end on the Db Maj 9 because it has the least tension of all the four chords. The Db Maj 9 has a tension of (0.4). Remember, you can either end on the chord that has the least tension (dissonance), or the chord that is the most open. As long as we do that, we still preserve our general movement to consonance; when we move to consonance, we have resolution. Remember, chord movements like to be resolved; they don’t like being in a state of tension. Therefore, if we do the same thing, and end on the Db Maj 9, we have six additional possible chord sequences.
1.
Eb min 11
Db 6,9
C7#9#5
Db Maj 9
2.
Db 6,9
Eb min 11
C7#9#5
Db Maj 9
3.
Eb min 11
C7#9#5
Db 6,9
Db Maj 9
4.
Db 6,9
C7#9#5
Eb min 11
Db Maj 9
5.
C7#9#5
Db 6,9
Eb min 11
Db Maj 9
6.
C7#9#5
Eb min 11
Db 6,9
Db Maj 9
Play each one of the above six chord sequences, and again listen to the beautiful changes.
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions
5.1.6 Example – The Cycle – An Application What do we do with these cycles? We just created 12 cycles using the (V) (Ab) as the suspension. These cycles become possible chord sequences that you can play in ANY song, anytime the melody note is an (V) (Ab). So anytime you are playing a song, and the (V) (Ab) is the melody note, you can play any one of these sequences and make beautiful chord changes. Just make sure that you have enough time to make these changes. For example, if the note is a sixteenth note, or a note that is not held down long, you will not have enough time to fit in all the chord changes. In this example, we are working with four chords, and from these four chords, we have come up with a total of 12 cycles (chord progressions) on the suspension. The wrong thing to do would be to memorize each one of these cycles. There are too many, and it would take too long to memorize each one. The thing that you need to do is simply memorize the four chords that are available for that (Ab) (V) note. These four chords are now part of your personal library of chords that you will use for the (Ab) (V) note. Now when you play any song, and you get to an (Ab) (V) note in the melody, simply dig into your personal mental library and play the available chords in any sequence. The order does not matter, just pick one and play it, and then change to a different one; you can use two, three or all four in making your chord changes on this melody note. If the melody note is one that you can hold for a length of time, you might be able to fit in all four changes or it may be less if there is not that much time. It is totally at your discretion as to how many chord changes and which chords you use in your cycle. Now that have some available choices to harmonize on the (Ab)(V), Let’s get back to our song “What a friend we have in Jesus” and make some decisions and move forward.
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions
5.2 Harmonization of the word – a Now that there are some chords in our personal mental library for the (Ab) (V) suspension, we can now harmonize on the first two words (“What a ”) of our song. Both of these notes are an (Ab), so we are free to pick two chords from our personal mental library of four chords. You are free to pick any two of the four chords, and play them in any order to harmonize on these first two words. Below are some of the possibilities.
1.
Db 6,9 (57)
1.
“What”
2.
Db Maj 9 (658) “a”
Eb min 11 (119) “What”
2.
Db 6,9 (57)
1.
Db 6,9 (57)
2.
Eb min 11 (119) “a”
1.
C7#9#5 (941)
2.
Db 6,9 (57)
“What”
“a”
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions When you actually play this song do not memorize any particular sequence; otherwise you are going to sound boring because you have memorized the song and play it the same way every single time. I would like you to make the decision of what chords to play, as you play. Simply have a mental image of your chord library for the (Ab) (V) and pick one of the chords at random as you play. By doing this, you are able to play the song a different way, every single time. You may even surprise yourself with some of the chord changes that you make.
5.2.1 An Alternate Cycle The cycle we just created on the (Ab) suspension with the four chords is just one of thousands of possibilities. We can create another cycle with completely different chords. The cycle can have as many or as few chords as you want. The decision with regard to the number of chords in the cycle is up to you. Below is a three chord cycle on completely different chords. When you create a cycle, you really do not have to worry about the actual tension and the open; just pick ANY CHORDS. The trick is to always resolve your cycle, and you can do this by always knowing a single chord that you can play at anytime that will resolve a particular cycle on a suspension. Suppose we played the following three chord cycle: B13b5, Gb min 11, and Eb13sus. Play these chords in sequence and you will hear that the last chord Eb13 sus has a lot of tension (1.0).
Chord name
Tension
Open
B13b5
1.0
2.75
Gb min 11
0.83
3.2
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions Eb13sus
1.0
5.0
You can hear that the Eb13sus needs to be resolved, and that you cannot just hold this chord down, and stop playing on this chord. At this point you need to pull a chord out of your mental library that you know is open, and has very little tension. That chord can be the Db 6,9 that we looked at earlier. This chord has a tension of (0.4) and an open of (5.0). This chord has qualities, a small tension, and a big open. You cannot get any better than that! So the Db 6,9 is a chord that you can play at ANYTIME to resolve a cycle on the (Ab) (V) suspension. You can play as many chords as you want in a cycle and not worry about the tension. And when you feel like stopping, just play the Db 6,9 to end the cycle. You can use the Db 6,9 to close out and resolve anything. The Db 6,9 is a personal choice of mine, feel free to pick your own chord that you can use to resolve a cycle on the (V) (Ab). As an example of another possibility, you can use the Ab13sus (1077), it has a low tension of (0.67) and a large open of (2.8). Play the chord sequence that we looked at earlier (B13b5, Gb min 11, Eb13sus) that ends on that Eb13sus chord that has a lot of tension.
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions
Now close out the previous cycle with one of the following chords below. These chords have open harmony and minimal tension.
Chord Name
Tension Open
Db 6.9
0.40
Ab13sus 0.67
5.00
2.8
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions
5.2.2 Chords on out of Scale Tones The tones that you use to create the cycle are also up to you. Each major scale has seven tones (I, II, III, IV, V, VI, and Maj VII).
In an earlier example, the bass tones for the four chords were (I), (II) and (Maj VII) in the key of Db (Ebmin11, DbMaj 9, C7#9#5, Db 6,9). This corresponds to (Db), (Eb) and (C) for chords. It just so happens that these three tones (Db), (Eb) and (C), are in the Db major scale. Db Scale Db
Eb
F
Gb Ab
Bb
C
Db
Eb
F
Gb
Ab
Bb
C
Db
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
I
Number 1
2
3
4
5
6
M7
8
9
10
11
12
13
M14 15
Note
We can also pick tones that are not in the (Db) scale to create chords for our cycle. Every single tone is a possibility, even (D), (E), (G), (A), and (B), In other words, the key signature of the song that you are harmonizing is not important in determining the bass tones for the chords. For example, just because there is no (D) in the key of (Db), does not mean you cannot play a (D) chord. A (D) is a (-II) in the key of (Db). There is absolutely no restriction on the bass tones that you may pick for chords in your cycle. When you use tones that are not in the major scale corresponding to the key of the song, you give your harmonization extra color; this is desired and perfectly fine. You can either add chords to the existing cycle, or create an entirely new cycle. The choice is yours. Any new chords simply extend your personal mental library of chords available to harmonize on the (Ab) (V). In the cycle below, we have added a (G) and (D) chord. Both of these tones (bV) and (bII) are not part of the (Db) major scale, but it is perfectly fine to add these chords to our cycle.
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions
Play the following cycle with the (D) and (G) chords and you will hear that they sound fine.
Chord name
Tens ion
Open
D7#9b5
1.25
4.67
Ebmin 11
0.8
3.50
F min 7 (new)
0.67
3.40
Gb9 sus add 6
1.0
3.40
Note: There is no D in the key of (Db)
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions G 6,9 b9 (new)
1.0
3.67
0.6
3.5
Note: There is no G in the key of (Db) Ab 9 sus (new) Open Harmony
I know that many of you have been told in prior instruction that you should only use the (I), (IV) and (V) chords to harmonize a melody. The (I), (IV) and (V) chords in the key of (Db) would be (Db), (Gb) and (Ab). If you just stick to these chords, your music is going to sound pretty boring. Db Scale Db
Eb
F
Gb Ab
Bb
C
Db
Eb
F
Gb
Ab
Bb
C
Db
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
I
Number 1
2
3
4
5
6
M7
8
9
10
11
12
13
M14 15
Note
Playing the (I), (IV) and (V) chords, is nothing more than some rule that you have to remember. If you actually follow this rule, your music will sound boring and have no color. Forget the rules, rules are meant to be broken. Music is an art. It is the breaking of the rules that has caused us to have all this new music of today. If rules were not broken, then there would only be classical music. Start to break the rules and now you have genres like jazz and gospel. With the Adventures in Harmony Course, forget all the rules, there are no restrictions. The cycle we just looked at resolves to an Ab9sus that has open harmony. Remember open harmony means that the notes are relatively spread out. U.S. Patent Pending @ Copyright 2010 - All Rights Reserved - 7.31.2010 Page 35 The information contained within is copyrighted and is not to be reproduced or transmitted written consent of Creative Music LLC.
Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions
You may remove any chord from the above cycle, as long as you resolve the cycle. If you keep the Ab9sus as the last chord, you will be fine. Remember the key to any cycle is to resolve.
5.2.3 A cycle moving in Fourths Here is a cycle consisting of some chords that we are familiar with. This cycle has an interesting property in that it moves in fourths. Moving in fourths means that the next chord is always the fourth tone of the scale that the current chord is based on. The first chord in this cycle is a (D). The next chord would be the fourth tone in the (D) scale; this would be a (G) chord. Then we simply repeat the process from the current chord of (G). The fourth tone in the (G) scale is (C). So the next chord is a (C) chord. Now, the forth tone in the (C) scale is an (F), etc. Whenever you move in fourths it always sounds good; so whatever chord you are currently playing in any song, you can always start moving in fourths. Just make sure that you resolve on the last chord that you play. In the example below, we stopped in the (Bb) chord, but we could have kept going in fourths until we felt like stopping.
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions Chord name
Tension Open
D7#9b5 1.25
4.67
G7b9 add 6
1.0
5.0
C7#9#5 1.0
5.0
F7#9#5
1.0
4.25
Bb9sus
0.6
3.75
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions
5.2.4 Additional Chords There are two remaining tones in the (Db) scale that we have not shown any sample chords for. These two tones are (E) and (A), the (bII) and (#V). Both of these tones are again not in the (Db) major scale, but we are going to go ahead make chords on these tones and use them in a cycle. The fact that the two tones are not in the (Db) major scale makes them dissonant already with respect to the scale. It does not even matter what the tension or open is at this point. The two chords are an E6 (1262), and A Maj 7(1258). Play the following two chords to begin our cycle.
Now resolve the cycle by playing these two chords Ab9 sus (1256), and Bb9 sus (418). Any movement from tones that are not in the major scale to tones that are in the scale is a resolution.
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions
Play the four chords in sequence and hear the cycle and resolution. You can even leave out any one or the first three chords (E5), (A Maj 7) or (Ab9sus) and leave the Bb9sus as the last chord for resolution. It really does not matter what the chords in the cycle are, as long as they cycle resolves. Here we are using the Bb9sus for resolution. You can use the Bb9sus as another one of those chords in your mental library that can resolve any cycle on the (Ab) suspension.
5.2.5 Out of Scale Sequences Here is a two-chord cycle based on two out of scale tones in the key of (Db); The (#V) and (bII), tones (D), and (A) are not in the (Db) Major Scale. Play and listen to this two-chord cycle, AMaj 7 followed by D7#9b5.
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions
In playing these two chords, you can hear that this cycle is not complete. Something is missing, it needs to be resolved. This cycle can be resolved by simply playing a chord on a tone that is in the (Db) scale. We are going to choose a chord on the (VI) (Bb). We are going to play the Bb9sus to resolve this sequence. Resolve the two-chord sequence by playing this Bb9sus.
Play all three chords in sequence and just hear how sweet this movement sounds.
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions
Here is another example of ending of a different (Bb) (VI) chord. Before we ended on a Bb9sus, now let’s end on a Bb min 11.
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions The possibilities with this system are limitless. No two musicians will come up with the same harmonization. You will never have to copy a chord sequence from anybody else; they will all be coming to you from now on. You may be asking yourself, “how come the chords in this course go together so easily and how come one could never do this before?” The answer to that question is that Creative Music is not just a music lesson company; we are a music research company. We do research, design, analysis and engineering to create the chord voicings in this course. All of the chords in this course have been modeled and designed by a computer system so that they all fit together. We at Creative Music have already done the hard work. Just stick with the voicings in our course materials and you will be fine.
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions
6. A Chord on Every Tone The following chart has a chord for every single tone (C,Db,D,Eb,E,F,Gb,G,Ab,A, Bb) with the (Ab) as the suspension. Make sure you can play these chords instantly just based on calling out a bass note. For example, if somebody called out (G), you should be able to immediately play the G 6,9 b9, if they then called out (F) you should immediately be able to play the F7#9#5. Some of the bass tones even have more than one possibility. For example (Bb) has two possibilities.
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions
7. Summary You now know a chord to play for every single bass note, when you have the (V) (Ab), as the suspension in the key of (Db). This is a very powerful tool that you have now mastered. Now whenever you come across that (Ab), you can randomly pick a bass note, and play a chord and know that it will sound good. You do not have to memorize ahead of time the chord that you are going to play next, you can make that decision at the very instant that you U.S. Patent Pending @ Copyright 2010 - All Rights Reserved - 7.31.2010 Page 44 The information contained within is copyrighted and is not to be reproduced or transmitted written consent of Creative Music LLC.
Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions are about to play the melody note. You can even switch between the chords at random and play as many as you like. The only thing you need to remember it that anytime a chord is held for any length of time, it needs to be resolved. And it is perfectly fine to have a favorite chord that you can always resolve to.
If you are not holding the chord down on a suspension for any length of time, you do not need to resolve! You can move to another suspension, for example, you can move from (Ab) in the melody to (Bb) in the melody, and play chords or cycles on that tone. It is not until you hold a chord down for a length of time, that it becomes necessary to resolve. An an example, you can play cycles on the (Ab) just as we saw here, and then move right to an (F) and play cycles on that, and keep moving and playing cycles and not worry about dissonance or tension; It is not until you stop playing or hold a chord down, that the ear wants you to resolve the chord tension. While you are playing, you should be able to hear if a chord that you have held down needs to be resolved, and if it does simply pull that favorite resolution chord out of your mental library, and resolve. You can also visually look at a chord and see if it has tension and needs to be resolved. If you look at a chord and see notes close together, it has tension. The more notes you see close together, the more tension the chord has.
We have now mastered the (Ab) (V) suspension. At this point, you simply need to do the same thing for the remaining 11 notes. You may be thinking to yourself that you have mastered the (V) in (Db), and that you need to transpose this to every other key before you move on to the other 11 notes. This is not the case. DO NOT DO THAT. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT, I DO NOT WANT YOU TO TRANSPOSE. I want you to forget about the key signature! At this point, focus on that fact that you have completely mastered the (Ab) note by learning at least 12 chords, one for each possible bass tone. Feel free to move on to another note and learn 12 different chords for that note. Ignore the fact that you are in a particular key. You have just learned chords for (Ab) as the suspension. Now learn chords for the other 11 possible suspension notes, (C), (Db), (D), (Eb), (F), (Gb), (G), (A), (Bb) and (B).
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions
8. What a friend we have in Jesus Now we have many chords in our personal library to harmonize on the (Ab) (V) suspension. Let’s take another look at harmonizing the song “What a friend we have in Jesus.”
8.1 Harmonization of the words “What a” We see two (Ab) notes as the first two notes in this song. Ab is the (V) in the key of (Db).
Figure 8.1-1 What a Friend
Db Scale Db
Eb
F
Gb Ab
I
II
III
IV
Number 1
2
3
4
Note
Bb
C
Db
Eb
F
Gb Ab
Bb
C
Db
V
VI
VII
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
I
5
6
M7 8
9
10
11
12
13
M14 15
You can open either of these two reference manuals to the chapter on harmonizing on the (V). 1) Advanced Voicings for Melody and Suspension Harmonization. 2) Black Gospel Chords. Choose one of the voicings in that chapter to harmonize on the (V) note (Ab).
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions We already know many chords that we can play for the (Ab) suspension. At this point you should be able to just pick two chords that you now know to harmonize of the (Ab). You can pick any two, it does not matter.
The tension doesn’t even matter because you are not stopping on the word a“, you are not holding this chord down for any length of time, so there is no need to worry about chord resolution. You are going to be moving right on to the word “friend.” It is not until you get to the last note in this phrase, the (Bb) that is necessary to resolve. If you know this song, you know that you hold down that last (Bb).
Here are the two chords I selected to harmonize on the first two words of this song. You may have totally different selections. Each artist has their own preferences and tastes. Feel free to make different choices if these two chords are not appealing to you.
“What”
“a”
We just looked at sixteen possible chords to use harmonizing on the (Ab) suspension. If we restricted ourselves to these sixteen possible choices, and had to pick two, to harmonize the (Ab) suspension, there are 240 possibilities.
If you open the reference manual – Preaching Chords, there are more than 40 possible choices. So if you go to the book there are thousands of possibilities.
It is highly unlikely that any two musicians are going to come up with the same harmonization by using this course. What you create will be something that has never been played before.
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions
8.1.1 More Possibilities Here are just a few additional possibilities to harmonize on the first two words of this song. These chords are from the reference volume – Advanced Voicings for Melody and Suspension Harmonization.
“What”
“a”
“What”
“a”
“What”
“a”
And yes, you can even mix the chords above, with the chords in the Volume “Black Gospel Chords.”
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions
“What”
“a”
Yes this last pair is very smooth, Bb min9 to Gb7 6,9. The Gb7 6,9 is not from the set of sixteen we picked earlier. The possibilities are unlimited with this course.
8.1.2 Personal Tip Here is my personal thought process so you understand how I approach the choosing of chords. The goal is for you not to practice and memorize a sequence of chords. Even if you play this song every single day, don’t play it from a sequence of chords that you have memorized. You may have to change the way you look at music. You need to see the song in your mind or on the music as a series of individual tones. In this case, see the first notes are (Ab) (V). In your mind at this point, you know you are working with the set of chords that have the (Ab) (V) as the suspension. You need to choose two of those chords, to harmonize the first two words of this song. You should not have those chords picked out ahead of time. You need to pick them right now at the same moment you are identifying that the tone is an (Ab). At this point you have many choices in your mental library. Pick two bass tones at random, and play the chords associated with the tones that you picked. Pick any two bass tones because you know chords that go with any tone having the (Ab) as the suspension. I just happened to pick bass notes (Db) and (F), and played the chords that matched those bass tones from my mental library of chords having (Ab) as the suspension. The next time I sit down, I may pick two completely different tones. It should not be necessary to look in any kind of book or manual to choose chords because I know all the possibilities for the (Ab) tone. You should be able to master a set of twelve chords for a tone in no more than a day or so. If you are at this point in this volume, you should be able to immediately play a chord for any tone that has (Ab) as the suspension. U.S. Patent Pending @ Copyright 2010 - All Rights Reserved - 7.31.2010 Page 49 The information contained within is copyrighted and is not to be reproduced or transmitted written consent of Creative Music LLC.
Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions If you can successfully play the appropriate chord immediately for any bass tone, you should be able to randomly pick two tones and choose appropriate chords for the first two notes of this song and play them naturally and not need any practice.
8.2 Harmonization of the Word “Friend” The (Bb) note is a (VI) in the key (Db). Open the reference material to the chapter on harmonizing when the (VI) is the suspension. Choose one of the available chords to harmonize on this tone.
Db Scale Db
Eb
F
Gb Ab
Bb
C
Db
Eb
F
Gb
Ab
Bb
C
Db
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
I
Number 1
2
3
4
5
6
M7
8
9
10
11
12
13
M14 15
Note
I have selected the following chords to harmonize on the (VI). Here I am actually playing two chords to harmonize the single (Bb). You may play one or the other or both of them.
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions The following chord is also possible to harmonize on this tone.
8.3 Harmonization of the word “We” The (Ab) note is a (V) in the key (Db). Open the reference material to the chapter on harmonizing when the (V) is the suspension. Choose one of the available chords to harmonize on this tone.
Db Scale Db
Eb
F
Gb Ab
Bb
C
Db
Eb
F
Gb
Ab
Bb
C
Db
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
I
Number 1
2
3
4
5
6
M7
8
9
10
11
12
13
M14 15
Note
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions I have selected the following chord to harmonize on the (V).
The following chord is also possible choices to harmonize on this tone.
8.4 Harmonization of the word “Have” The (F) note is a (III) in the key (Db). Open the reference material to the chapter on harmonizing when the (III) is the suspension. Choose one of the available chords to harmonize on this tone.
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions Db Scale Db
Eb
F
Gb Ab
Bb
C
Db
Eb
F
Gb
Ab
Bb
C
Db
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
I
Number 1
2
3
4
5
6
M7
8
9
10
11
12
13
M14 15
Note
I have selected the following chord to harmonize on the (III).
The following chord is also possible choices to harmonize on this tone.
8.4.1 Harmonization of the word “In” The (Eb) note is a (II) in the key (Db). Open the reference material to the chapter on harmonizing when the (II) is the suspension. Choose one of the available chords to harmonize on this tone.
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions
Db Scale Db
Eb
F
Gb Ab
Bb
C
Db
Eb
F
Gb
Ab
Bb
C
Db
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
I
Number 1
2
3
4
5
6
M7
8
9
10
11
12
13
M14 15
Note
I have selected the following chord to harmonize on the (II).
The following chord is also possible choices to harmonize on this tone.
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions
8.5 Harmonization of the partial word “Je” The (Db) note is a (I) in the key (Db). Open the reference material to the chapter on harmonizing when the (I) is the suspension. Choose one of the available chords to harmonize on this tone.
Db Scale Db
Eb
F
Gb Ab
Bb
C
Db
Eb
F
Gb
Ab
Bb
C
Db
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
I
Number 1
2
3
4
5
6
M7
8
9
10
11
12
13
M14 15
Note
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions
I have selected the following chord to harmonize on the (I).
The following chord is also possible choices to harmonize on this tone.
8.6 Harmonization of the partial word “sus” The (Bb) note is a (VI) in the key (Db). Open the reference material to the chapter on harmonizing when the (VI) is the suspension. Choose one of the available chords to harmonize on this tone.
Db Scale Note
Db
Eb
F
Gb Ab
Bb
C
Db
Eb
F
Gb
Ab
Bb
C
Db
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
I
Number 1
2
3
4
5
6
M7
8
9
10
11
12
13
M14 15
I have selected the following three chord cycle to harmonize on the (VI).
-S-
-U-
-S-
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions
9. Completed Harmonization “What a Friend” Here is our completed harmonization for the first phrase of this song.
Chord 1 What
Chord 2 a
Chord 3 Fri-
Chord 4 -end
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions
Chord 5 We
Chord 6 Have
Chord 7 in
Chord 8 Je
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions
Chord 9 -s-
Chord 10 -u-
Chord 11 -s-
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions
10. Never Transpose Again We are going to briefly examine a concept where it no longer necessary to transpose to play a song in a different key. This also addresses the issue of seeing a song written in a key that you have never played in before; you will still be able to immediately play the song in that new key. The material in this chapter is just going to be a brief introduction, but you will have enough knowledge to point you in the right direction to further explore this before we dedicate a volume to the details. Here is our example song “What a Friend We Have in Jesus,” in the key of (Db).
Here is the same song written in the key of (Eb).
You may be thinking that in order to play this song in the new key you need to take all the chords that you used to harmonize this song when it was in the key of (Db), and transpose all those chords to the key of (Eb). Well you are in for a surprise, and this may be a hard one to swallow, but you do not have to transpose any of the chords. That is the wrong way to approach this task. If you did do the actual transposition, you would have quite a bit of work to do, and probably would not be able to play this in the new key immediately. This means you would have to know all the chords in every key! That is not easy to do and is a lot of work and memorization. Let’s take a quick look at how hard this would be before we clue you in on a secret. Look at the first two chords that we used to harmonize the first two words of this song, when it is in the key of (Db). We used the Db 6,9, followed by the F7#9#5.
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions
Chord 1 What
Chord 2 a
If we are going to move these chords from the key of (Db) to the key of (Eb), we need to figure out the distance from the current key to the new key. This is the same as figuring out the distance between the notes (Db) and (Eb). The distance between the notes (Db) and (Eb) is one whole step. Therefore is we wanted to transpose this entire song to this new key, we need to move every note in every chord up one whole step. This also means that the name of the chord would move up one whole step. Therefore instead of playing a Db 6,9 as the first chord, we would have to play an Eb 6,9; and instead of playing an F7#9#5 on the second chord, we would play a G7#9#5. We simply moved the names of the chords up one whole step. To play the new chords in the new key, you would have to do one of the following: 1) Do the lazy man slide and actually play the chord on the keyboard in the original key and then try to physically move every note by sliding each finger up ½ a step at a time, until you have moved all fingers in the chord up one whole step, or 2) Already know these chords in the new key, because you memorized these chords in all 12 keys, or 3) Use the number system and recreate the chord in the new key, or 4) DO NOT DO ANY OF THE ABOVE, AND USE OUR NEW TECHNIQUE Let’s look at each one of these methods before we introduce the new technique. U.S. Patent Pending @ Copyright 2010 - All Rights Reserved - 7.31.2010 Page 62 The information contained within is copyrighted and is not to be reproduced or transmitted written consent of Creative Music LLC.
Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions
10.1 The Lazy Slide I see musicians do this all the time where they have a chord in one key and they need it in another key. They get the chord in the new key by actually playing the chord on the keyboard in the original key and then try to physically move every note in the chord by sliding each finger up ½ a step at a time, until they have moved all fingers in the chord up the number of ½ steps to the new key. In this instance, if you started with a Db 6,9 and you needed to get to an Eb 6,9, you would have to move each finger up one whole step to reach the chord in the new key. Remember the distance from (Db) to (Eb) is one whole step. So you would start on Db 6,9
And then slide each finger up ½ step to reach a D 6,9
And then slide each finger up another ½ step to reach an Eb 6,9. Remember ½ step + ½ step.
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions In this example we only had to move two ½ steps. Suppose we had to move a larger distance, like ten ½ steps! Anyway, it’s very easy to mess this up while you are moving your fingers, and if you are one of the musicians that use this technique, let’s end it right now.
10.2 Memorize the Chords in Every Key All the other music courses tell you to learn every chord in every key. So hear you are with your Db 6,9 chord, and you need to play the Eb 6,9 chord.
So they are telling you that when you learned this chord, you should have learned the other 11 chords.
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions Wow, that’s a real hard road to go memorizing all those chords! And that would only be for the first note in the song. Earlier in this volume, we learned sixteen chords to harmonize on the (V)(Ab) suspension. If we wanted to learn all sixteen of those chords in every key, that is a total of 192 (16 x 12) chords! That is way too many chords to try to remember. Imagine if you had to do all twelve tones, that would be (192x12), or 2304 chords! That would be a very boring task and would probably discourage many people. If I had to learn that many chords, I would need years and would probably give up. DO NOT MEMORIZE ALL OF THOSE CHORDS. It is not necessary to learn all of the chords in every key. You will eventually learn them, but you will accomplish it by following a much more exciting and rewarding path. There is a better, quicker and easier way. And remember the end result of doing an old fashioned transpose is merely playing the same song, the same way, in a different pitch. How boring!
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions
10.3 Use the Number System If we use the number system, we know that the Db 6,9 (57) is made up of the following tones:
Bass 1 3
6
Left and Right Hand 9 5
Tension Open
0.5 5.67
We can see in the following table how to create this chord for any tone.
Bass Left and Right Hand Chord Key 1 3 6 9 5 Db Key Db Db F Bb Eb Ab Song Key
Name 6,9 Db 6,9
C
Key C
C
E
A
D
G
C 6,9
B
Key B
B
Eb
Ab
Db
Gb
B 6,9
Bb
Key Bb
Bb
D
G
C
F
Bb 6,9
A
Key A
A
Db
Gb
B
E
A 6,9
Ab
Key Ab
Ab
C
F
Bb
Eb
Ab 6,9
G
Key G
G
B
E
A
D
G 6,9
Gb
Key Gb
Gb
Bb
Eb
Ab
Db
Gb 6,9
F
Key F
F
A
D
G
C
F 6,9
E
Key E
E
Ab
Db
Gb
Eb
Key Eb
Eb
G
C
F
Bb
Eb 6,9
D
Key D
D
Gb
B
E
A
D 6,9
B
E 6,9
We indicated that the first chord would now be built on the (Eb) tone and be an Eb 6,9. This would be the following chord.
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions
You can see that we could have the same result if we took the original chord (Db 6,9) and slid all the notes up 1 whole step.
ORIGINAL CHORD
NEW CHORD We can do this same thing for the second chord. If we use the number system, we know that the F7 #9#5 (1101) is made up of the following tones:
Bass 1 7
Left and Right Hand 3 #5 1 -3
Tension Open
0.6 4.2
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions We can see in the following table how to create this chord for any tone.
Bass Left and Right Hand Chord Key 1 7 3 #5 1 -3 Db Key F F Eb A Db F Ab Song Key
Name 7#9#5 F 7#9#5
C
Key E
E
D
Ab
C
E
G
E 7#9#5
B
Key Eb
Eb
Db
G
B
Eb
Gb
Eb 7#9#5
Bb
Key D
D
C
Gb
Bb
D
F
D 7#9#5
A
Key Db
Db
B
F
A
Db
E
Db 7#9#5
Ab
Key C
C
Bb
E
Ab
C
Eb
C 7#9#5
G
Key B
B
A
Eb
G
B
D
B 7#9#5
Gb
Key Bb
Bb
Ab
D
Gb
Bb
Db
Bb 7#9#5
F
Key A
A
G
Db
F
A
C
A 7#9#5
E
Key Ab
Ab
Gb
C
E
Ab
B
Ab 7#9#5
Eb
Key G
G
F
B
Eb
G
Bb
G 7#9#5
D
Key Gb
Gb
E
Bb
D
Gb
A
Gb 7#9#5
We indicated that the second chord would be built on the (G) tone and be a G7#9#5. This would be the following chord.
You can see that we could have the same result if we took the original chord (F7#9#5) and slid all the notes up 1 whole step.
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions
ORIGINAL CHORD
NEW CHORD
(F7#9#5)
(G7#9#5)
We now know the two chords we would have to play for this song in the new key of (Eb). Eb 6,9 followed by G7#9#5.
Chord 1 What Chord 2 a
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions Remember the original suspension was a (V) which was an (Ab) in the key of (Db); if we slide everything up one whole step that will move us to the key of (Eb). That means our suspension should have moved up also. We see here that our suspension has moved from (Ab) to (Bb) in using our new chords. And notice that we are still harmonizing on the (V), but we are on the (V) in the key of (Eb). The (V) is a (Bb) in the key of (Eb).
Eb Scale Eb
F
G
Ab
Bb
C
D
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
Number 1
2
3
4
5
6
Note
Eb
F
G
Ab
Bb
C
D
MVII I
II
III
IV
V
VI
MVII I
M7
9
10
11
12
13
M14
8
Eb
15
The (V) in the key of (Eb) is (Bb), and (Bb) is the suspension in our new chords. These are the original chords for when the song is in the key of (Db). These original chords have (Ab) as the suspension.
Chord 1 What Chord 2 a
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions These are the new chords for the key of (Eb). These chords have a (Bb) as the suspension.
Chord 1 What Chord 2 a
10.4 The Old Result of Transposing We went through a lot of work in the last section to make the transpositions happen, and we didn’t even finish the first phrase of the song. There is a lot of work involved in transposing, especially if you do not know all the chords in every key. The other bad thing about transposing is the fact that after you are finished transposing, and you play the song, the resulting chord changes are exactly the same. The song sounds exactly the same way except that the pitch has changed. This result is pretty darn boring; especially since all the work you had to go through to make it happen. Earlier we learned sixteen possible chords to harmonize on the (V) suspension. It is not necessary to learn that many. Two or three should be sufficient for now So, if there are twelve tones and we ask you to learn two or three chords for each tone, that’s only 24-36 chords total. That amount is very easy to manage and should not take that long. At that point, you then know a few chords to play for every possible suspension (C, Db, D, Eb, E, F, Gb, G, Ab, A, Bb and B). U.S. Patent Pending @ Copyright 2010 - All Rights Reserved - 7.31.2010 Page 71 The information contained within is copyrighted and is not to be reproduced or transmitted written consent of Creative Music LLC.
Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions In looking at our song in the original key of (Db), we see that (Ab) is the suspension, and we know one possible chord to play for that suspension is the Db 6,9.
Since the (Ab) note is repeated twice, we can play a different chord for the second (Ab) note. The chord that we played earlier was the F7#9#5. Remember this is the original movement for these first two notes in this song in the key of (Db).
Chord 1 What Chord 2 a
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions On the straight transpose to the new key of (Eb), where the first melody note is now a (Bb),
We are simply playing the same chord types slid up or down to a different pitch. We are playing a 6,9 chord moving to a 7#9#5 chord. It’s the same boring movement in a different pitch. These are the new chords for the key of (Eb).
Chord 1 What Chord 2 a
You can see that all the notes have moved up one whole step in moving from the old chords in the key of (Db) to the new chords in the key of (Ab). Again, this result is very boring and is a lot of work!!! U.S. Patent Pending @ Copyright 2010 - All Rights Reserved - 7.31.2010 Page 73 The information contained within is copyrighted and is not to be reproduced or transmitted written consent of Creative Music LLC.
Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions
10.5 The New Method Let’s take a look at a method that is a lot easier and gives a more exciting result. Instead of transposing chords to accommodate for the tone in the new key, simply make your chord selection from the chords that you already know for that note. Notice I said NOTE and not TONE. This distinction is very important. Let me give you a simple example. Here we have the song in a new key (Eb). You see that the suspension is now a (Bb) for the first two notes. Yes the (Bb) is a (V) in the key of (Eb); and if you played the 6,9 as you did earlier, it would be that Eb 6,9.
As we said earlier you would have to know the 6,9 chord in that key or go through that long transposition process. We do not want you to do this.
What you should do is look at the (Bb) as being a NOTE and not a TONE. Simply play one of the chords that you know for the (Bb) note. When you played the harmonization of this song when it was in the key of (Db), it did have a (Bb) in it, but the (Bb) was in a different position. The (Bb) was on the word “friend,” when the song was in the key of (Db).
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions But in the new key of (Eb), the (Bb) are on the words “What a.”
But wait, we already know a chord and used a chord to harmonize on the (Bb) when the song was in the key of (Db)! Hmmm, so why can’t we use that same chord that was used on the (Bb) when the song was in the key of (Db), on the song now when it is in the key of (Eb)? The answer is that we can!!!
These are the two chords that we used earlier to harmonize on the (Bb) suspension when the song was in the key of (Db).
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions
Here is the earlier harmonization from the key of (Db). We used these two chords at the end of our harmonization.
Now all you have to do is use those same two chords that you used to harmonize on the (Bb), on our song in the new key!
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions As soon as you know enough chords for each one of the twelve tones as a suspension (C, Db, D, Eb, E, F, Gb, G, Ab, A, and Bb), you can forget about the tones, and just look at it as you know chords to play for every melody note.
So in this case, in the new key of (Eb), look at is as being that you need to use a chord that can harmonize the (Bb) as the suspension. Look at the (Bb) as just being a note.
You know chords to harmonize on the (Bb) use those chords to harmonize on a (Bb) in any key! If you do this you will get completely different color!! You get a completely different movement. Look at the new movement that we have now. A 13 chord moving to a 7 6,9b5 chord!!!
Chord 1 What
Chord 2 a
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions
These are the chords that we used in our original harmonization, on the (Bb) suspension when the song was in the key of (Db). We are simply using those same chords on this (Bb) suspension in the new key of (Eb)! The tone number is different in this new key, but we don’t care, all we care about is the fact that the note is a (Bb) and we know chords to harmonize on that suspension!
And you didn’t have to learn chords in all 12 keys! Or do that tedious transpose. Once you know a few chords for each tone, you play immediately in the new key because you already know chords for all the tones. And the beauty is that you get a different movement and different color!!! And if we move on to harmonize on the word “friend” we can use the following chord.
C7#9#5 (938) “FRIEND” This is a chord that is the book on the section harmonizing on the (Maj VII), as if we were in the key of (Db). We are using this chord because it’s a chord that we know we can use to harmonize on the (C). Forget about the fact that we are now in the key of (Eb), and this tone is a (VI) in that key! Just look at this as a chord that you know to use on the (C) as the suspension. Now once this song is in the key of (Eb), the suspension is now (Bb); however the tone number is still (V). Bb is a (V) in the key of (Eb).
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions
If we did this the old fashioned way, and did the transposition, the new chord would still be a 6,9, but instead of a Db 6,9 it would be an Eb 6,9 as we saw earlier. This is not the result we want because it involves knowing all the chords in all the keys. When you want to play in another key, the thing to do is to look at this song in terms of the notes and not as tone numbers in the new key. Do not look at the Bb note as a (V) in the key of (Eb) (even though it is). Look at the (Bb) just as a note in the key you are already familiar with. Make believe you are in your familiar key of (Db), and this (Bb) would be a (VI) in the key of Db. Guess what? If you do this, you would already know a chord for the (Bb), because you know one chord for each tone (C, Db, D, Eb, E, F, Gb, G, Ab, A, Bb and B). Just make believe you are in the key that you know (Db), and play the chord that you know for that note. That’s why I’m saying just look at is as a note (Bb) and not as a tone number in the new key. In this volume, you learned chords for the (Ab) note. You didn’t get to the (Bb) note, but you did use a chord to harmonize on the (Bb) suspension in the song “What a Friend” in the key of (Db). You may only know one or two chords at this point to harmonize of the (Bb) suspension in the key of (Db), but you can use that same chord that you used on (Bb) to harmonize on this (Bb) in this new key of (Eb). In other words if you know chords to harmonize on a particular suspension by note name for example (Ab), use those chords to harmonize on (Ab) in any key. If you see a song with an (Ab), choose from the chords that you know that have (Ab) as a suspension and forget about the tone number and the key. If you see a song with an (F), then choose from the chords that you know that have an (F) as the suspension. In other words just look at the note and ignore the tone number and the key. But you can only do this after you have learned chords for each tone in some key. If you do this, the amazing result is you get flavor and color in your music without the work of transposing!
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions
In this example, you would simply play two chords that you already know to use on the (Bb) suspension. If you look back at the completed harmonization of this phrase in the key of (Db), you can see two chords that we used to harmonize on the (Bb).
You used a (Bb 13) and an (E7 6,9 b5).
Simply use those chords here!!! Our original chord progression for this phrase in the key of (Db) was as follows:
Db 6,9
F7#9# 5,
Bb7#5
Bb Maj 9 add 6
C7#9#5
Ab7b9 b5 add 6
F min 9
Ab min 11
Bb7 #9#5
E7 6,9 b5
Bb13
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions And in doing the old fashioned standard transpose to (Db) the entire progression we would have the following:
Eb 6,9
G7#9#5,
C7#5
C Maj 9 add 6
D7#9#5
Bb7b9b5 add 6
G min 9
Bb min 11
C7 #9#5
F7 6,9 b5
C13
We simply moved up the chord names by one whole step. The (Db) chord became an (Eb) chord, etc… You can look at both of these chord progressions and see that the movements are still the same for both.
WHAT
A
FRIEND
Db 6,9
F7#9#5,
Bb7#5
Eb 6,9
G7#9#5,
C7#5
WE
HAVE
IN
JE
SUS
Bb Maj 9 add 6
C7#9#5
Ab7b9b5 add 6
F min 9
Ab min 11
Bb7 #9#5
E7 6,9 b5
Bb13
C Maj 9 add 6
D7#9#5
Bb7b9b5 add 6
G min 9
Bb min 11
C7 #9#5
F7 6,9 b5
C13
It’s a II 6,9 to a III7#9#5, to a VI7#5, to a VIMaj 9 add 6, to a Maj VII#9#5 to a V7b9b5, etc…… But if we transpose using our new technique, we have a complete different movement!!! The old progression is in the top row and the new progression is in the bottom row.
WHAT
A
FRIEND
Db 6,9
F7#9#5
Bb7#5
Bb13sus
E76,9 b5
Eb9sus
Bb Maj 9 add 6
WE
HAVE
IN
JE
SUS
C7#9#5
Ab7b9b5 add 6
F min 9
Ab min 11
Bb7 #9#5
E7 6,9 sus
Db9b5 add 6
Gb Maj 9 add 6
F min 9
Bb9sus
E7 6,9 b5
Bb13
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions
The interesting result in using this new technique is that every time you play the song in a new key, the harmonization is completely different!! You will even surprise yourself with some of the resulting movements. Here is a completed harmonization in the new key of (Eb) without doing chord transposition. We simply used chords that you would already know and have used in a harmonization from a harmonization in (Db).
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions
11. The Completed Harmonization in (Eb) – Using Chords on Db This is a completed harmonization of “What a Friend” played in the key of (Eb). We simply used chords that already knew for suspensions on notes in the Db scale. Example: The first note here is a (Bb). We simply choose chords that we would already know from harmonizing on the (VI) as if we were really in the key of (Db) where the (Bb) is a (VI). Just ignore the fact that the (Bb) is really a (V) and that we are really in the key of (Eb).
Chord 1 What
Chord 2 a
Chord 3 Friend
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions
Chord 4 We
Chord 5 Have
Chord 6 in
Chord 7 Je
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions
Chord 8 sus
AMAZING!! YOU NOW PLAY THE SONG IN A DIFFERENT KEY WITHOUT TRANSPOSING!!! AND THE RESULT IS A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT SOUND COLOR AND FLAVOR!!!!!
11.1 A Closer Look Now I am going to show you step-by-step how you would arrive at the above harmonization, by looking at the process for the first note. Simply repeat this process for all notes. Imagine yourself looking at this song in the new key of (Eb), and you already learned to play it in the key of (Db). Imagine that you have already been through the course, and you know a few chords for each one of the tone for a song in the key of (Db). In all of our reference volumes, the large chord picture at the top of every page corresponds to the chord to play if you were in the key of (Db), and the table at the bottom of every page, tells you how to play the chords in all other keys. Now you want to find chords to harmonize this song in the new key of (Eb)
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions Forget that fact that this song is in a different key and use the key signature only to determine what the individual notes are. 1) The first note is a (Bb). Use chords that you already know to harmonize on a (Bb) suspension. a. Do not look at the (Bb) as a tone number in the (Eb) scale. Just look at the note as being a (Bb). Yes, a (Bb) happens to be a (VI) in the key of (Db), and when you learned chords that have the (VI) as the suspension, that note was a (Bb); but remember, it was a (VI) when we were in the key of (Db). This song is no longer in the key of (Db); so we cannot call this (Bb) tone number (VI). The (Bb) is now tone number (V) in the key of (Eb)!
Eb Scale Eb
F
G
Ab
Bb
C
D
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
Number 1
2
3
4
5
6
Note
Eb
F
G
Ab
Bb
C
D
MVII I
II
III
IV
V
VI
MVII I
M7
9
10
11
12
13
M14
8
Eb
15
We could look up chords to harmonize on the (V) and then transpose the chord possibilities to this new key, by the methods that we described earlier (transposing, number system or sliding), but it’s easier just to forget about looking at the (Bb) as a tone number (V) in the new key of (Eb) and look at is as just being a Bb note. 2) If you look at the (Bb) as being simply a note, you already know how to harmonize on the (Bb). The (Bb) was a (VI) in our familiar key of (Db). All we did was choose from those chords. All those chords had the (Bb) as the suspension. This is the chord that we selected. This chord is in the chapter of chords that have the (Bb) as the suspension.
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Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions
3) Now repeat the process for the next note (C). You already know how to harmonize when the suspension is a (C). Just forget the fact that you are in a different key. Choose from the chords that have the (C) as the suspension. (These would be all the chords that are in the chapter on harmonizing on the (Maj VII), because a (C) was a (Maj VII) in the key of (Db). Simply learn the chords for the suspension in a single key. For example our course chord examples are based on (Db); then use those chords for songs in ANY KEY! Example you see a song in the key of (F#), and you probably think to yourself that you can never play in that key, there are way too many sharps. You look at the song and see that the first note is an (A#). Just treat that note as a (Bb), and you already know how to harmonize on the (Bb) as a suspension. Choose a chord and move to the next note!!!! YOU NO LONGER CARE WHAT THE KEY SIGNATURE IS!!! THE (Bb) IS JUST A NOTE TO YOU! AND YOU KNOW HOW TO HARMONIZE ON A (Bb). LOOK AT ALL THE NOTES LIKE THIS AND FORGET ABOUT THE KEY! I hope this gives you some insight.
This is just a brief introduction of this concept! We will go into more detail in a future volume. We hope you have enjoyed this leg of your Adventure in Harmony. “Once you know how to harmonize all 12 suspensions, you can then immediately play any song every written in any key with full chords” - Gregory Moody U.S. Patent Pending @ Copyright 2010 - All Rights Reserved - 7.31.2010 Page 87 The information contained within is copyrighted and is not to be reproduced or transmitted written consent of Creative Music LLC.
Adventures in Harmony – Mastering Chord Suspensions The chords in this system are truly like Lego building blocks that you can put together thousands of ways. To aid in your experimentation we also have all of our chords available on 4x6 cards. You may use these cards to arrange chords and try out new progressions while sitting at your instrument. The front of the cards contains a large picture of the chords so that you may easily put your hands right on the chord. The back of the cards contains the chords detailed note-by-note in all 12 keys. The cards are available at our website www.creative-music-ventures.com.
We also have an iPhone App that provides instant access to all of our chords in all 12 keys Piano Harmony MIDI Studio Pro is available in the AppStore now.
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