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1, 4, and 5 are major. Very easy to remember - just play a blues change in your head - those are the three major chords.
2, 3, and 6 are minor. Also easy because they are all the chords that aren't the "blues chords".
- except 7, which is half-diminished.
In EVERY key, there is one and only one of each letter - one A, one B, one C and so on. Never two of them. Of course, depending on the key, there may be one or more sharps or flats, but you can ignore while you count up (e.g.) E, F, G to get the 3 chord, only then saying "and I'm in the key of E, so that G is going to be a G#".
MINOR KEY
There are two ways to remember the minor key chords. You can (i) learn them in a similar way to the major chord outline above, or you can (ii) simply remember that they are exactly the same chords as the relative major key.
If you use method (i) you have to remember two different sequences. If you use method (ii) you only have to remember the first one but then translate it because you are starting in a different place. (E.g., A minor is exactly the same as C major only you start on the 6 chord (Am) which is the minor key's 1 chord.
It is helpful to remember that the 1, 4, and 5 chords in ALL keys (major or minor) are the same sort as the key itself - i.e., the 1, 4, and 5 chords in any major are always major, and the 1, 4, and 5 chords in any minor key are always minor.
Ignoring the B string relative to the G ... guitar strings are tuned a 4th in one direction and a 5th in the reverse direction.
A string is a 5th of the D string but the D string is a 4th of the A string etc
What helped me though was constantly practicing transposing songs. Take any song that works with a simple chord structure and transpose it into another key ... just keep practicing making sure you don't ignore the sharp and flat keys as well.
It soon becomes 2nd nature
then learn their key-agnostic names:
tonic
supertonic
mediant
subdominant
dominant
sub-mediant
leading-tone
tonic.
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
C I
Dm ii
Em iii
F IV
G V
Am vi
Bm vii
...as you can see the 4 chord is shown as IV. If it was shown as iv then the chord would be Fm.
It's a lot easier on guitar because you can just learn relative chord shapes when you're starting out i.e. if you're in the key of A you know that I is an E shape barre chord at the 5th fret, ii is a Em shape barre chord two frets up from your I, iii is an Am bare chord one fret down from your I etc etc Those will just be some options but they'll get you out of the shit when you're playing and someone yells "go to the three!" on a song you don't know (which is kind of the reason the system evolved in the first place).
The Nashville chart I'm familiar with is something like 1 - 5 - 6m - 4 The m =. minor with a half bar being underlined and 2 chords sharing a bar written together like 6/5
you get the key of the song and then use the number system if the key needs to be changed you just try another key
the numbers stay the same unless a part is rewritten . Can sound complicated but as someone mentioned if you played a
basic blues ( 3 chords ) it's not too difficult so you are on your way to the number system you just need to fill in the gaps
and it will all make sense. Hope this helps.
https://www.premierguitar.com/lessons/chords/nashville-number-system
Re: the subdominant - it’s convenient to think of the subdominant as the note below the dominant, but strictly, it’s a fifth below the tonic.
Re: Roman numerals - these are taught in primary schools as part of the maths curriculum!
Song Charting Made Easy: A Play-Along Guide to the Nashville Number System (Play-along Guides) https://amzn.eu/d/fsiEM9Z
What’s the practical application of those words though? I’ve never heard anyone refer to playing a mediant chord in any situation, so I’m struggling to understand why it’s useful to know.
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Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
Also, whilst the definition of 'altered' is where you start swapping diatonic notes for non-diatonic notes, it's mostly used when describing dominant chords (probably functioning dominant chords)...specifically sharpening/flattening 5ths and 9ths.
Thank you. I know the basics and how a 9th,11th,13th etc are spoken about by simply adding 7 to the appropriate degree of the scale but that dimished/half diminished theory has always been a bit hazy for me. Also,I had only heard of dominant 5ths and 7ths previously and didnt know there were other variants.
Just the roots:
C D E F G A B
Add the 3rd:
CE DF EG FA GB AC BD ... so that's major, minor, minor, major, major, minor, minor
Add the 5th:
CEG DFA EGB FAC GBD ACE BDF ... so that's major, minor, minor, major, major, minor, diminished
Add the 7th:
CEGB DFAC EGBD FACE GBDF ACEG BDFA ... so that's maj7, min7, min7, maj7, dom7, min7, min7b5 (half diminished)
Add the 9th:
CEGBD DFACE EGBDF FACEG GBDFA ACEGB BDFAC ... so that's maj9, min9, min7b9, maj9, dom9, min9, min7b5b9
Keep going with the 11ths and then the 13ths.
So...
No 'dominant 5th'...the only dominant chord in the harmonisation of the major scale is the dominant 7th which builds up on the fifth degree of the scale (stack another 3rd on top and you get the dominant 9th...then 11th...then 13th)...all down to that 1 3 5 b7 formula.
No fully diminished chord here either...you have to harmonise the harmonic minor scale to build that one.
The 5th note of the major scale is called the Dominant note, and its chord (which is a major chord) is called the Dominant chord. In C major, that would be a G chord.
If you choose to add the 7th on that chord, the note would be a minor 7th not a major 7th. We've come to call the 5 chord with its major 3rd and minor 7th, a Dominant 7th chord, because it's built off the 5th note of the scale ("Dominant"), and it has a (minor) 7th in it ("7th"). Hence "Dominant 7th". No other 7th chord in the harmonised major scale has a major 3rd and a minor 7th.
Then (wrongly, but it doesn't matter), we've started calling any old chord with a major 3rd and a minor 7th, a Dominant 7th chord. So in a blues in E, you might have E7 A7 and B7. People call all 3 chords Dominant 7th chords, because they all sound like one, but really only the B7 is, because only the B is the 5th note of the E scale. I don't think that matters, though it does tend to dilute / confuse the meaning of the word "Dominant" in peoples' minds.
Summary: the word Dominant is because of the position of the chord, not because of the 7th in it. But it so happens that only that specific chord has that particular arrangement of notes). So people call lots of identical chords a dominant 7th.
Edit: Oh. DK said what I just said, only more efficiently.
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.