Colour my world! Are there any rules of thumb for using colorful chords in a composition?
Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2016 10:34 pm
Hi everyone.
There have been a few TG posts lately that have got me thinking about colorful chords; chief amongst them Vanessa's lessons on Jesus to a Child and Father Figure (especially her segment on the Jewish scale) and Neil's further discussion in the news.
I love the sounds of colorful chords. They can really add something special to a song. Even just the more common 7th chord (in all its forms).
I've been trying to learn by doing by exploring the Jewish scale a little more. I started by writing out the scale (starting on G) and the triads.
G Ab B C D Eb F G
G - G B D (and G7 - G B D F)
Ab - Ab C Eb
Bdim- B D F
Cm - C Eb G (Cm7 - C Eb G B )
Ddim - D F Ab
Eb aug - Eb G B
Fm - F Ab C - (Fm7 - F Ab C E)
Feel free to correct me if I've got something wrong here.
I also looked at the chords in Hava Nagila and read a bit online.
Well ... That got me thinking about diminished and augmented chords, which are generally used pretty sparingly in the music I'm familiar with. And then I started thinking about other colourful chords more generally.
I'm still reading. I'm still trying to understand.
But my question to the forum and to Neil in particular is:
Are there any rules of thumb to using colourful chords?
I know that the blues uses lots of seventh chords. Besides going with the sound, can you give us some pointers about when different types of colourful chords are especially useful and when to avoid them; the pitfalls. I notice that seventh chords and diminished chord can be particularly powerful at the end of a phrase (like a chorus) when you want to build tension and then resolve it by starting a new verse.
Using the Jewish scale in particular, do compositions that use this scale tend to end up using more diminished and augmented chords?
So much to learn. are there any shortcuts?
Hopefully this all makes sense. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
Michele
Edit - I do realize that this is a huge question. Perhaps advice on certain types of chords (other than major and minor chords) might help to kick my thinking along here; like 7th cords 101, or intro to diminished and augmented chords; 9ths. You get the picture.
I'd also welcome advice on any texts (etc) that people have found particularly useful in helping them to understand these types of chords and how to use them. Thanks again.
M
There have been a few TG posts lately that have got me thinking about colorful chords; chief amongst them Vanessa's lessons on Jesus to a Child and Father Figure (especially her segment on the Jewish scale) and Neil's further discussion in the news.
I love the sounds of colorful chords. They can really add something special to a song. Even just the more common 7th chord (in all its forms).
I've been trying to learn by doing by exploring the Jewish scale a little more. I started by writing out the scale (starting on G) and the triads.
G Ab B C D Eb F G
G - G B D (and G7 - G B D F)
Ab - Ab C Eb
Bdim- B D F
Cm - C Eb G (Cm7 - C Eb G B )
Ddim - D F Ab
Eb aug - Eb G B
Fm - F Ab C - (Fm7 - F Ab C E)
Feel free to correct me if I've got something wrong here.
I also looked at the chords in Hava Nagila and read a bit online.
Well ... That got me thinking about diminished and augmented chords, which are generally used pretty sparingly in the music I'm familiar with. And then I started thinking about other colourful chords more generally.
I'm still reading. I'm still trying to understand.
But my question to the forum and to Neil in particular is:
Are there any rules of thumb to using colourful chords?
I know that the blues uses lots of seventh chords. Besides going with the sound, can you give us some pointers about when different types of colourful chords are especially useful and when to avoid them; the pitfalls. I notice that seventh chords and diminished chord can be particularly powerful at the end of a phrase (like a chorus) when you want to build tension and then resolve it by starting a new verse.
Using the Jewish scale in particular, do compositions that use this scale tend to end up using more diminished and augmented chords?
So much to learn. are there any shortcuts?
Hopefully this all makes sense. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
Michele
Edit - I do realize that this is a huge question. Perhaps advice on certain types of chords (other than major and minor chords) might help to kick my thinking along here; like 7th cords 101, or intro to diminished and augmented chords; 9ths. You get the picture.
I'd also welcome advice on any texts (etc) that people have found particularly useful in helping them to understand these types of chords and how to use them. Thanks again.
M