I - bIII - V (Chord construction)

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Plendakor

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Oct 30, 2010
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Why learn many many chords when you can learn the easy invariable concept called "intervals" and use them to construct chords ?

My friend went to the "Berkley" of my place and really insisted that I should not learn chords from a poster or something. I mean, I've been playing for about 13 years, I know basic chords and wanted to move to some jazz chords and stuff. He said "construct them" and I was like "yeah wtf hey..." Then he said I only needed to know intervals, which I did.

I learned intervals 10 years ago and only now do I know what to use them for.

It's nice to know that the Third/minor Third decide if it's a major or minor chord. That type of thing.

I'm a little curious to know how many of you already know this and if not who would be interested to.
 
I've learned them before I started to play an instrument... mainly because I started composing in midi and than learned to play.... and also funny thing many musicians have no idea about scales and chords and how they are related :-D
 
I know intervals and thought music theory I know by myself through analyzing guitar pro tabs etc.
I know how to recognize minor from major by it's third. I can construct some chords not knowing name of it (only know how look min, maj, min7, maj7 and add9), but jazz is something I can't understand.
i would like to know what I have to do to play at least simple stuff that sound like jazz.
 
Yeah that's pretty basic knowledge. Intervals is right in there with music theory 101. All chords are made up of them as well as all structures of music. It couldn't flow without intervals happening. Otherwise it'd just be a continuous single note drone Lol.
If you're a self taught guitarist (I'm pretty much that) then It's expected to not know right away but I've taken a few theory classes as well as hours of studying and researching. I never really got lessons to learn music you just gotta figure it out and make it work for your ear and what sounds good to you.

Another good tip off what he said is that when you're building chord progressions, instead of doing it chord by chord, do it as a single note line. Like, Say a Gmaj to a Bmaj. Instead of moving all 3 notes up to the Bmaj (or down for those keeping track) try moving individual notes around to create new chords and textures. I know this is probably common sense but you'd be surprised when you're sitting there dinking around and you start messing with individual note lines to fulfill and entire chord progression. it becomes cool. Instead of Moving the root G to B, try G to Bb. and then instead of B to F, maybe B to Eb. See where I'm getting at? you create chord progressions based on note lines rather then just what feels better for your hand. it also gives you the opportunity to make way more exciting and cooler sounding chords than just your standard Sus2, major, minor and power chords.
 
Yeah, I had very few real guitar classes with a teacher and that's pretty much the first thing I was taught, the major third/minor third thing, and then on to the major scale. being a bass player mostly Internet-taught, learning intervals was a thousand times more important than chords to me, cause obviously chords on the bass are usually sparse, while intervals are the foundation of everything
 
Siriun said:
I know this is probably common sense but you'd be surprised when you're sitting there dinking around and you start messing with individual note lines to fulfill and entire chord progression. it becomes cool. Instead of Moving the root G to B, try G to Bb. and then instead of B to F, maybe B to Eb. See where I'm getting at? you create chord progressions based on note lines rather then just what feels better for your hand. it also gives you the opportunity to make way more exciting and cooler sounding chords than just your standard Sus2, major, minor and power chords.
Click to expand...

No I don't exactly see where you're getting at, but more than willing to understand o_O
 
Plendakor said:
No I don't exactly see where you're getting at, but more than willing to understand o_O
Click to expand...

Instead of moving a progression chord by chord, move them by notes of the chord individually.


Code: 
--------------------------
-------------------------
-4---5---------------------
-5---7---------------------
-5---7---------------------
-3---5---------------------
Gmaj -> Am

This is would be a normal way to move with chords up and down the neck. But break it apart so you can move each individual note to something that sounds cooler

Code: 
--------------------------
-------------------------
-4---7---------------------
-5---7---------------------
-5---7---------------------
-3---4---------------------

In tablature terms, instead of just "move up from G Maj to Am" I broke it down note by note. i started by moving the INDIVIDUAL notes around to create the chord I wanted versus just moving up the next minor or major chord.

Think of it as individual voicings instead of one chord. Where do you want each 'voice' to land next? It's the same concept as composing with an orchestra
 
I've always found guitar playing much more fun and cooler when melodies are made using chords.


You can even take a simple chord progression... say E-D-C-B, and morph the chords around and create a melody through chord voicing.
 
Every guitar player should sit down in front of a piano once in a while and go thru some chord charts. It's easier to conceptualize music theory on a keyboard, and then take what you've learned to your guitar.
 
Siriun said:
Think of it as individual voicings instead of one chord. Where do you want each 'voice' to land next? It's the same concept as composing with an orchestra
Click to expand...
Oh yes, I think I always do that. The dude my firend told me I was composing in counterpoints. I should start studying that a little more. I find theory rather interesting when it's not about learning stuff like a picture but more like what's under the hood. And I'm really a jam guy and impro and never get stuck when playing over a beat (except jazz.. those guy are just on another insane planet of win) but yeah, I need to fill my head with what I missed and be competent in the proper sens of the term.
 
IanM said:
Learn your intervals in semitones instead of scale degrees and it will help your understanding...
Click to expand...

I second this. Also, something that helped me was associating certain riffs with intervals, for example the riff from Now I Lay Thee Down starts with a minor 6th. Passions Killing Floor by HIM starts with a perfect 5th.
 
I understand those concepts but I find it very mysterious how people can use them in a theorist way to build a song. All in all, at the end of the day, I write things only from my imagination and the music that I build real-time in my head, and theory only helps me understanding it or get new ideas. I'm more the kind of guys who writes chords by hearing what I want them to be, and adding here and there another voice to them to enrich them, but then have no clue what has happened. Do any of you guys actually use theory before hearing the melody/chords/song in your head ?
 
If you struggle with chord progression, or finding notes in a key, or harmonizing notes, then use this site.

http://www.studybass.com/tools/chord-scale-note-printer/

I've taken Theory one, Theory two, and two additional piano classes. I have a thorough understanding of music and I still refer to this site at times.

You can set your guitar tuning in the bottom right and then choose your root note, which is generally the guitar tuning and finally the scale you want to use, which is natural minor for a lot of metal music. You can also enable the harmony button, which will show you which note harmonizes with the corresponding note.

Example: Drop C tuning, Root note C, Natural Minor Scale
 
LeSedna said:
I understand those concepts but I find it very mysterious how people can use them in a theorist way to build a song. All in all, at the end of the day, I write things only from my imagination and the music that I build real-time in my head, and theory only helps me understanding it or get new ideas. I'm more the kind of guys who writes chords by hearing what I want them to be, and adding here and there another voice to them to enrich them, but then have no clue what has happened. Do any of you guys actually use theory before hearing the melody/chords/song in your head ?
Click to expand...

Very similar here. I do understand all the theory about intervals and chordbuilding etc, but I never seem to think that way. When writing or figuring out songs, I hear the chord in my head, and separate the individual notes in that chord. Then it's just a matter of time or experience to know how to play that chord. Same goes for harmony, it comes naturally. Maybe I'm gonna be that grandpa in the bar that starts to whistle a harmony to the song everyone is singing in drunken stupor... now all I need to do is learn to whistle with a perfect vibrato. They always do...

Ofcourse, I would probably be crushed when it comes to very technical musicstyles. Lucky enough for me, I was never really drawn to those. I do greatly respect musicians with such deep knowledge of music though.

Theoretical knowledge does come in handy when I want to communicate ideas to fellow musicians. Without it, there would be a lot of hand-and-feet-work I guess :D

Oh, I do use the circle of fifths quite a bit lately btw. Can be a very cool tool to bring a nice twist into a song, or to jam with a buddy of mine.
 
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