goldfinger69

I'm not a much of a theory guy so I need someone to clean this up...

This Minor Chord Progression 1-4-7-3-5 (an example Am - Dm - G - C - Em)
is pretty popular i think.

So .... I've heard a song a few days ago and it was using that chord progression but ... full of 7ths ...It blew my mind ... (Am - Dm7 - G7 - C - E7) ... such a nice weird feeling with the inclusion of 7ths...

Here's the song

Please someone who can break down this for me...

Can I get any popular chord progression and add 7ths ..??

For example where do we add 7ths on this major hit-chord-progression 1-3-6-4 (C-Em-Am-F) ?? I tried to add on Em7 ... sounds weird ... maybe cause is a major Key instead of Minor?

Thank you

mdc

It' E7. Not Em.

Study harmony and theory and train your ear.

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goldfinger69

On which chord progression you are referring? 1st or 2nd ??

mdc

1st. Did you transcribe it yourself, or did you get the progression from some other source other than your own ears?

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mdc

I do apologize, I read your first post far too quickly.

However, you should still do some further study as I suggested to understand harmonic function.

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goldfinger69

I found the chords and it was with Em (not E) ...Also Am Chord Progression has Em and not E in there ...

goldfinger69

Oh no probs... I try to keep playin for fun and not really study music ... 7ths are cool addition .. i just need some easy answers like.. how we add them in a chord progression ... I guess i just add and if they sound right i keep them in my songs :P or steal ready-made chord progressions like a boss!

mattrusso

Just take the key you're in and add the diatonic 7th. So for example, in C major the diatonic 7th chords are Cmaj7, D-7, E-7, Fmaj7, G7, A-7, and B-7b5. Obviously, you can go outside diatonic chords, but if you don't know what you're doing it'll probably sound bad. I'd suggest reading up on some harmony just so you can get a firm grasp on this stuff. Here's the basic (!) harmony curriculum from Berklee. It's been revised since this edition came out (1987!) but it should still be mostly the same (especially the more basic stuff).

http://valdez.dumarsengraving.com/P...ny/Harmony1.PDF
http://valdez.dumarsengraving.com/P...ny/Harmony2.PDF
http://valdez.dumarsengraving.com/P...ny/Harmony3.PDF
http://valdez.dumarsengraving.com/P...ny/Harmony4.PDF

Note: these books are written for "pop" or "jazz" musicians (I assume you fall under this umbrella). Because of this, the content is different from what you would find in a more classical-oriented "tonal harmony" type book like Kostka and Payne's Tonal Harmony (which I would also recommend reading). However, many of the differences are only in name and some concepts overlap. For example, what Berklee calls a "subV7" or "tritone sub" would be called an "augmented sixth chord" by a classical theorist.

goldfinger69

Thanks man... I hope i'll find the time to read them.. But i really like experiment and play by ear... It was nice to hear a famous Minor Chord Progression with a different spin with 7ths ... I would love to be able to do that on other popular chord progressions .... thanks

mdc

Ok. Well it's your choice.

http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/2279.html

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shelovemyguitar

Wow. **** you man.

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macashmack

That was a great time to use that. I don't think that saying "**** you" to a guy who is right and trying to help someone is a constructive thing to do...

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AeolianWolf

i agree with macashmack -- don't hate on someone with stronger musical sense and a deeper understanding of the machinations of music simply because of your own conscious ignorance and lack of skill.

TS, if you want to be able to do that, you should absolutely familiarize yourself with the conventions of harmony. it's just a matter of adding the diatonic 7th (as matt said) to the chord.

as far as the issue of Em and E, both are acceptable - to make the dominant (5) chord major is extremely common practice in a minor key - it creates the leading tone of the key (in this case, G# to lead back to A). look through the minor key section of your chord chart and try playing V - i, being sure to make all dominant chords major.

the basic idea that mdc is trying to tell you about, though (which i absolutely agree with) is that to be able to do this as second nature, you can't take the mentality that you need easy answers. these are concepts you need to know and (more importantly) understand if you want to be able to utilize them as you please. is that fair to say?

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amonamarthmetal

He's not your man, buddy!

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AeolianWolf

he's not your buddy, guy!

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macashmack

He's not your guy, friend!

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jazz_rock_feel

C-c-c-combo breaker!

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amonamarthmetal

your princess is in another castle.

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shelovemyguitar

How is he helpful? In the comment I quoted, he basically said: You have to learn the whole thing, or you'll never achieve anything. It didn't answer his question at all. What makes you think he has the time and will to learn music theory? Some people actually want to play music for FUN, nothing complicated.


Ok so I guess I should stop making music since I'm just a worthless piece of crap who knows nothing about music theory and it's machinations right? Are you ****ing serious??? I'm not even hating on you guys because of your so immense musical knowledge, I'm hating on you guys because you believe you can't do music without being an arrogant and big-egoed "musician" like you guy's are.

If having a "stronger musical sense and a deeper understanding of the machinations of music" is having your philosophy, I don't want to have anything to do with that theory elitism crap.

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