Home › Forums › Music Theory › EP372 chord sequence which key?
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August 16, 2020 at 11:37 am #186946
Hi All.
Lesson 372- Brian demonstrates the percussive finger pick technique with a nice descending chord progression, which I would like to play around with or extend. I am feeling like my music theory is nowhere because I am trying to work out what key the chords Dmin, C, Bb and A belong to.
Can someone enlighten me? What is the method for working it out?
Stuart
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August 16, 2020 at 12:39 pm #186950
Stuart,
Brian explains that in the lesson starting at 6:00 minute. The chords are listed in the tablature and they all belong to the A chord “family”, the A scale. I’m not sure where you got the Dmin, C, Bb from?
As for the method of actually working out the key, I’m sure more experienced players will explain that better. All I know is that most of the time, the song will start with a tonic and/or end on it and where it gives that “resolved” feeling. Once you figure out the key and determine whether it’s major or minor, you can figure out all the chords of the tonic “family” from either the major or minor scale or from the Circle of Fifths. And of course, some chords can also be borrowed from other keys, just to make it more complicated.
🎸JoLa
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August 22, 2020 at 2:30 am #187424
JoLa, hello and thanks! 4:56, Brian runs down a chord sequence starting on Dmin followed by three major chords, C, Bb and ending on A which sounds like something of a resolution. I just like the sound of it; it sounds good too emebellished and picked with some sus chords for the Dmin and A. I am was wondering what the key would be. Yep the lesson tune is in A but these chords are not in A. The sequence sounds minor; Dminor might be the logical key seeing as it starts on Dmin, but in key of Dmin as far as I know the A chord should be Amin
Confused and out of my depth!
stuart
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August 22, 2020 at 3:44 am #187426
Aah, now I know what you’re talking about, Stuart!
Dm C Bb A
Ok, that’s a good sounding chord progression and to me it has that Spanish guitar/Flamenco vibe. Not sure how to explain it theory-wise but if you look at the Circle of Fifths, all those chords fall under the key of F (Dm is the relative minor of F) except for A major – BUT replacing the iii chord (minor 3rd) with III (major 3rd) is a common practice, so in this case we replace A minor with A major. Why? – probably because it sounds good 🙂 In fact, Brian also often mentions replacing the minor v chord with a major V.
(and to clarify: A minor is the iii chord in the key of F =OR= it is the v chord in the key of Dm). So those chords could be either in the key of F or in the key of Dm, according to my limited understanding.Maybe someone else can explain it better. In the meantime I found a nice track with this chord progression you may like:
https://youtu.be/nSSY8KBbjOY🎸JoLa
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August 25, 2020 at 12:41 am #187709
JoLa, haha, your understanding is very good! Thank you very much for this, all makes sense and I had vaguely wondered about a major/minor substitution- I recall Brian speaking about turning a minor second chord into a major, and so it seems you can do it with others too. Yes the Circle of Fifths has all the answers- I must use it more!
BTW I have particularly enjoyed this lesson, another most excellent standalone composition of Brian’s that is potentially capable of me making me sounding a somewhat better guitarist than I am!
Thanks again for taking the time to explain.
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August 16, 2020 at 7:36 pm #186964
Hey Stuart. This is in the key of A. The single notes of this key are A, B, C#, D, E, F# & G#. You can build a chord on each of these notes and that’s what basically Brian has done. The main chords are major chords (the 1, 4 & 5 Chords eg A, D & E). The other chords are minor chords (the 2, 3 & 6 chords eg Bm, C#m & F#m). The 7th is actually a diminished. It’s a bit tricky to explain in a short message but hopefully this has helped a little. All the best.
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August 16, 2020 at 7:50 pm #186967
I just try figure it out using the opening chord,sometimes it works and others it doesn’t. The tab sheet is probably the best bet to follow if one is supplied.
..Billy..
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September 5, 2020 at 5:01 am #190922
Hi Stuart, I also picked up & developed this lovely progression! Jola has set out almost all the correct answer to your question – but just in case you are curious, I can show you where the A major chord comes from. I can see two ways of thinking about it.
1. If we think of your chords as being from the key of D minor (except for the A maj chord), then we can think of the A (chord) coming from the parallel major key – i.e. D Major. This is often referred to as ‘borrowing’ a chord. I’ve attached a chart of the chords in that key – you’ll see it’s the V chord there – ignore the 7 for now)
2. You could also just think of the A as being a secondary dominant chord (it being a fifth above the D minor) having the effect of ‘pulling back’ to the D min. See Brian’s recent lesson on secondary dominants)
hope this is of help.
GaryGary
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