Monday 20 September 2010

Chord patterns


4.0.Basics

Okay well to take it from the top to write a piece of music you need chords to make a melody and lyrics to fit the melody.

First pick a key, a key is either sharp or flat and either major or minor

4.1.Sharp Major Keys

C Major- C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C
G Major- G, A, B, C, D, E, F#, G
D Major- D, E, F#, G A, B, C#, D
A Major- A, B, C#, D, E, F#, G# A
E Major- E, F#, G# A, B, C#, D#, E
B Major- B, C#, D#, E, F#, G#, A#, B
F Sharp Major- F#, G# A#, B, C#, D#, E#, F#
C Sharp Major- C#, D#, E#, F#, G# A#, B#, C#

4.2.Flat Major Keys

Open Key/Atonal (you do not want to do that though)
F Flat Major- F, G, A, Bb, C, D, E, F
B Flat Major- Bb, C, D, Eb, F, G, A, Bb
E Flat Major- Eb, F, G, Ab, Bb C, D, Eb
A Flat Major- Ab, Bb C, Db, Eb, F, G, Ab
D Flat Major- Db, Eb, F, Gb, Ab, Bb C, Db
G Flat Major- Gb, Ab, Bb Cb, Db, Eb, F, Gb
C Flat Major- Cb, Db, Eb, Fb, Gb, Ab, Bb Cb

4.3.Or Sharp Minor Keys

A Minor- A, B, C, D, E, F, G, A
E Minor- E, F#, G, A, B, C, D, E
B Minor- B, C#, D, E, F#, G, A, B
F Sharp Minor- F#, G#, A, B, C#, D, E, F#
C Sharp Minor- C#, D#, E, F#, G#, A, B, C#
G Sharp Minor- G#, A#, B, C#, D#, E, F#, G#
D Sharp Minor- D#, E#, F#, G#, A#, B, C#, D#
A Sharp Minor- A#, B#, C#, D#, E#, F#, G#, A#

4.4.Flat Minor Keys

Open/Atonal (again you don't want to)
D Minor- D, E, F, G, A, Bb, C, D
G Minor- G, A, Bb, C, D, Eb, F, G
C Minor- C, D, Eb, F, G, Ab, Bb, C
F Minor- F, G, Ab, Bb, C, Db, Eb, F
B Flat Minor- Bb, C, Db, Eb, F, Gb, Ab, Bb
E Flat Minor- Eb, F, Gb, Ab, Bb, Cb, Db, Eb
A Flat Minor- Ab, Bb, Cb, Db, Eb, F, Gb, Ab

Now once you have picked your key you will then have to pick a list of chords. Within a key it has a list of set chords, for example in C major it goes C Major, Dm, Em, F Major, G Major, A Minor and B Diminished
Each major key follows the same pattern and each minor key also follows the same pattern and there is a diagram for that below. I am going to use C major and C minor to demonstrate this because all major keys follow the same pattern and all minor keys also follow the same pattern

4.5.Major Key chord pattern

1 (C) Major
2 (D) Minor
3 (E) Minor
4 (F) Major
5 (G) Major
6 (A) Minor
7 (B) diminished

4.6.Minor Key chord pattern

1 (C) Minor
2 (D) Diminished
3 (Eb) Major
4 (F) Minor
5 (G) Minor. This chord is also commonly Major, especially when the next chord is 1 (c minor)
6 (Eb) Major
7 (Bb) Major

Now for saving time in this post I will just say research which ever key you pick on Wikipedia and see what minor and major chords you have to use in each scale but you if you compare the keys template and the chord pattern template you can see which chords to use
However I would recommend against diminished chords unless you want your piece to be shocking and dark. If you truly want your piece to sound dark though I would suggest going to the relative minor though

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