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10 february 1993
introduction.
all the examples will be written in the keys of c major and a minor.
students are strongly encouraged to examine results in other keys.
it's important when learning the material that you work through the
exercises yourself without first looking at the completed exercises.
this set of lessons is divided into several parts. each part except
the first builds upon material developed in the previous lesson. my
plans for the set include the following:
do the exercises!
c d e f g a b c
a b c d e f g a
a b c d e f g# a
a b c d e f# g# a
one can develop a useful set of chords by stacking notes from the
scale. for the purposes of this set of lessons i will stack thirds.
i will start with, say, a c major scale; over that i will place the
same scale but starting with the 3rd scale degree (e); over that i
will place the same scale starting with the 5th scale degree (g). the
harmony deriving from stacking alternate scale tones is called
"tertiary harmony".
the harmonized scales in c and its relative minors are:
c major:
g a b c d e f g - fifth above root
e f g a b c d e - third above root
c d e f g a b c - root of chord
a natural minor:
e f g a b c d e - fifth above root
c d e f g a b c - third above root
a b c d e f g a - root of chord
a harmonic minor:
e f g# a b c d e - fifth above root
c d e f g# a b c - third above root
a b c d e f g# a - root of chord
a melodic minor:
e f# g# a b c d e - fifth above root
c d e f# g# a b c - third above root
a b c d e f# g# a - root of chord
these interval patterns, along with one or two others, will serve as
the basis for a chord classification system to be introduced in part
2.
do the exercises!
as an example, here are the first few lines from such a table.
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0 d2 unison
1 m2 1 semitone c-c#, c-db
2 m2 2 semitones c-d
3 m3 m3 c-d#, c-eb
4 m3, d4 m3 c-e
5 p4 m3 + 1 semitone c-f
...
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 degree
chord tone
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g a b c d e f fifth
m3 m3 m3 m3 m3 m3 m3
e f g a b c d third
m3 m3 m3 m3 m3 m3 m3
c d e f g a b root
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i ii iii iv v vi vii symbol
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chord type intervals semitones scale source
and chord name 3rd 5th m nm hm mm
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major
major m3 m3 4 7 1 4 5 3 6 7 5 6 4 5
minor
minor m3 m3 3 7 2 3 6 1 4 5 1 4 1 2
diminished or
half-diminished
(ambiguous)
m3 m3 3 6 7 2 2 7 6 7
augmented
aug m3 m3 4 8 3 3
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interval meaning
m3 major 3rd, 4 semitones
m3 minor 3rd, 3 semitones
semitones meaning
(#) number of semitones of chord tone above chord root
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0 d2 unison
1 m2 1 semitone c-c#, c-db
2 m2 2 semitones c-d
3 m3 m3 c-d#, c-eb
4 m3, d4 m3 c-e
5 p4 m3 + 1 semitone c-f
6 a4, d5 m3 m3 c-f#, c-gb
7 p5 m3 m3 c-g
8 a5, m6 m3 m3 c-g#, c-ab
9 m6, d7 m3 m3 m3 c-a, c-bbb
10 m7 m3 m3 m3 c-a#, c-bb
11 m7 m3 m3 m3 c-b
12 p8 m3 m3 m3 c1-c2
13 a8, m9 m3 m3 m3 m3 c1-db2
14 m9 m3 m3 m3 m3 c1-d2
15 m10 m3 m3 m3 m3 c1-d#2, c1-eb2
16 m10, d11 m3 m3 m3 m3 c1-e2
17 p11 m3 m3 m3 m3 m3 c1-f2
18 a11, d12 m3 m3 m3 m3 m3 c1-a#2, c1-gb2
19 p12 m3 m3 m3 m3 m3 c1-g2
20 a12, m13 m3 m3 m3 m3 m3 c1-g#2, c1-ab2
21 m13 m3 m3 m3 m3 m3 m3 c1-a2
22 m14 m3 m3 m3 m3 m3 m3 c1-bb2
23 m14 m3 m3 m3 m3 m3 m3 c1-b2
24 p15 m3 m3 m3 m3 m3 m3 c1-c2
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notes:
1. in the "thirds" column, note that m3 m3 m3 = m3 m3 m3
m3; therefore one can substitute four minor thirds for
three major thirds in any interval with no change in
the total size of the interval.
2. in the "example" column, if note names have numbers
appended, the numbers refer to the relative octave in
which the notes appear.
definitions:
perfect interval: an interval which, when inverted, becomes
another perfect interval (a self-referential definition
if ever i heard one). e.g., c-f is a perfect 4th, f-c
is a perfect 5th; c1-f2 is a perfect 11th, c2-f2 is a
perfect 4th, f2-c3 is a perfect 5th; and so on.
augmented: a raised perfect or major interval.
diminished: a lowered perfect or minor interval.
major: an interval other than a perfect interval that
appears in a major scale.
minor: an interval that does not appear in a major scale.
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 degree
chord tone
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g a b c d e f fifth
m3 m3 m3 m3 m3 m3 m3
e f g a b c d third
m3 m3 m3 m3 m3 m3 m3
c d e f g a b root
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i ii iii iv v vi vii symbol
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 degree
chord tone
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e f g a b c d fifth
m3 m3 m3 m3 m3 m3 m3
c d e f g a b third
m3 m3 m3 m3 m3 m3 m3
a b c d e f g root
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i ii iii iv v vi vii symbol
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exercise 2c. triad chord stacks, key of a harmonic minor
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 degree
chord tone
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e f g# a b c d fifth
m3 m3 m3 m3 m3 m3 m3
c d e f g# a b third
m3 m3 m3 m3 m3 m3 m3
a b c d e f g# root
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i ii iii iv v vi vii symbol
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 degree
chord tone
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e f# g# a b c d fifth
m3 m3 m3 m3 m3 m3 m3
c d e f# g# a b third
m3 m3 m3 m3 m3 m3 m3
a b c d e f# g# root
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i ii iii iv v vi vii symbol
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chord type intervals semitones scale source
and chord name 3 5 m nm hm mm
_______________________________________________________________________________
major
major m3 m3 4 7 1 4 5 3 6 7 5 6 4 5
minor
minor m3 m3 3 7 2 3 6 1 4 5 1 4 1 2
diminished or
half-diminished
(ambiguous)
m3 m3 3 6 7 2 2 7 6 7
augmented
aug m3 m3 4 8 3 3
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interval meaning
m3 major 3rd, 4 semitones
m3 minor 3rd, 3 semitones
semitones meaning
(#) number of semitones of chord tone above chord root
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future lessons
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no name style level instructor
9 right hand left hand technique technique b tim fullerton
10 how chords work theory b tim fullerton
11 right and left hand techniques theory (etc.) b tim fullerton
12 modes theory i dave good
13 octaves theory b bill quinn
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