chart what chords to go into

[playibanez]

i remember my theory teacher touching on what chords sound good going from one chord to a next

like the chart would be like 1-say the chords it sounds good going into.

and the same for all the degrees of the scale/key.

does this actually exist and anyone know where i can find it or what to search for online?

[onlyclave]

Circle of fifths?

[playibanez]

naw not a circle of fifths

im sorry im not explaining this well =[

its to help write chord progressions.

kinda of like cadences like a 4-1 or a 5-1 cadence.

[DudeistMonk]

I'd be really interested in this as well... I found this the other day, it was helpful but not exactly what you are looking for.

http://www.accessrock.com/Songwritin...rogression.asp

The other thing I started doing is whenever I learn a new song I write out its chord progression how how they all relate, this way I can start to build an understanding of chord theory.

[DocBop]

A chart of strong root movements of chords??? Stuff like that would be cover in composition courses.

[onlyclave]

How about this?

In this little chart, chords progress left to right towards the tonic. You can start within any category, you can move up and down within each functional category but when the roots move you find the next chord by moving to the right.

This chart is for major tonalities.

[DudeistMonk]

A chart of strong root movements of chords??? Stuff like that would be cover in composition courses.

I graduated from college before I could take Music theory 2...which I assume covers mostly this stuff. Any book recommendations on chord theory and composition would be great...I have a music fundamentals book and despite its thickness it doesn't really go too far into this stuff.

[playibanez]

Originally Posted by DocBop

A chart of strong root movements of chords??? Stuff like that would be cover in composition courses.

Yes this is what what im looking for.

At the point in our theory course when he was talking about this we were doing compositions. For our final we had to do a large composition of our own using different things we learned in the class and we had to explain where and why we used them.

But i guess what im looking for isnt as cut and dry as a chart. Or is it?

[ryco]

This from Piston's "Harmony"

I is followed by IV or V, sometimes vi, less often ii or iii
ii is followed by V, sometimes vi, less often I, iii or IV
iii is followed by vi, sometimes IV, less often ii or V
IV is followed by V, sometimes I or ii, less often iii or vi
V is followed by I, sometimes vi or IV, less often iii or ii
vi is followed by ii or V, sometimes iii or IV, less often I
vii is followed by iii, sometimes I

[playibanez]

exactly what i was looking for!!!
thank you!

[playibanez]

Do you guys find something like that to be really helpfull or us it better to just go totally by ear of what you think is good?

[Bruce Lindfield]

Well when I'm playing Jazz tunes that are new to me - the ones that are interesting, are those that don't follow rules, but just follow the melody or that don't have functional harmony.

Of course there are a huge number of tunes that have successfully used functional harmony - but can you come up with anything different to those great composers who dedicated their lives to it...?

[ryco]

Originally Posted by playibanez

Do you guys find something like that to be really helpfull or us it better to just go totally by ear of what you think is good?

Both. I found it very interesting and I found this idea helpful when I started writing songs.

But, like everything, as I grew I discarded strict rules and became more exploratory, depending on my ears to go to other places. More often I would write by playing, but once in a while I would remember this harmonic idea and use it to take me somewhere I might not have gone.

Kind of like when I first started playing electric bass guitar. I was shown patterns for chords and scales. As I grew in my playing I started to not think about "shapes" and "patterns", and relied more and more on my ears and what I hear in my mind.

After awhile patterns and shapes and "rules" become kinda cumbersome.

I believe this is what Bruce is pointing out as well.

[DocBop]

Originally Posted by Bruce Lindfield

Well when I'm playing Jazz tunes that are new to me - the ones that are interesting, are those that don't follow rules, but just follow the melody or that don't have functional harmony.

Of course there are a huge number of tunes that have successfully used functional harmony - but can you come up with anything different to those great composers who dedicated their lives to it...?

Have a feeling I will regret asking this, but what do you mean by Functional Harmony? Jazz tunes can and are analyzed by Jazz players on and off the bandstand in harmonic terms. IMO much/most of Jazz theory and traditional have the same concepts just use different terminology. I think what you are calling rules are just stylistic differences in music.

[Bruce Lindfield]

Functional harmony to me, is ii-V7-I's - things like that!

Although it can get more complicated -
Tritone substitution
Voice-leading (linear) chords
Secondary functions and tonicization
Borrowed chords (modal interchange)
Modulation etc.

More than 90% of Jazz is made up of this stuff - especially in the American tradition of 'standards'....

But the more modern European Jazz I hear, has less of this and I find it interesting - although I still like the American Jazz greats!

[JEBassman]

Here is a link to an excellent chart on chords and scales. The syllabus shows different ways of constructing scales and chords. It's printed in most of the Jamey Aebersold jazz play-along books. Here is a free copy on the web:

http://www.jazzbooks.com/miva/docume...e_syllabus.pdf

The Aebersold books are a mainstream source for jazz musicians, with music theory that applies to all music, of course They're at http://www.jazzbooks.com
Regards,
Joel