Help 'understanding' chord progressions

[the_tall_guy]

I know we all know the classic chord progression I-IV-V which represents 90% of all bluegrass songs, but I’m really getting into writing lately and trying to figure new and different progressions. Not only that, but trying to understand progressions. Let’s say I want to write in the key of A, but not use the 1,4,5 progression, how can I understand the theory concept of building and resolution when writing. I’m trying to write songs that build and build and then explode and then resolve…if you understand what I’m saying…but I don’t understand how to do that within music theory. If my first chord is an A…how can I understand what chords to use within that key that will allow the song to ‘musically’ build to a climax and then resolve. Don’t get me wrong I love the classic bluegrass chord progressions, but I don’t want to write a song that goes in circles…I want to write one that climbs up a mountain and jumps off. Does this make any sense?

[Austin Koerner]

Maybe the Diatonic Triads lesson on MusicTheory.net (http://musictheory.net/) will help, it got me started about chord progressions...sort of. And then maybe you could go over to Mandozine.com and look at the chord progression lessons.

This might not be what you're looking for, but man it helps

[earthsave]

If it sounds good then it is resolved.

I like the sound of adding the sharped 7th chord, at least I think I am calling that right, for instance in Sitting Alone in the Moonlight, where you go from A to Ab/G#.

Try adding the II. Like a I II V IV I progression.

[Kevin Briggs]

I know we all know the classic chord progression I-IV-V which represents 90% of all bluegrass songs, but I’m really getting into writing lately and trying to figure new and different progressions. #Not only that, but trying to understand progressions. #Let’s say I want to write in the key of A, but not use the 1,4,5 progression, how can I understand the theory #concept of building and resolution when writing. #I’m trying to write songs that build and build and then explode and then resolve…if you understand what I’m saying…but I don’t understand how to do that within music theory. #If my first chord is an A…how can I understand what chords to use within that key that will allow the song to ‘musically’ build to a climax and then resolve. #Don’t get me wrong I love the classic bluegrass chord progressions, but I don’t want to write a song that goes in circles…I want to write one that climbs up a mountain and jumps off. #Does this make any sense?
I know it's not bluegrass, but I think it's from a pretty reliable source, and that same source when he was inarguably in his prime. Check out the following YouTube clips from Bob Dylan's 1965 tour of Europe.

This is the only rendition of this song ever recorded, and it's by far one of the most beautiful I've heard from him. The changes that start around 40 seconds are amazing, and I think they are what you are asking about. Essentially the songs are built around the 1,4,5 progression, but there's so much in-between:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=LX8VdSOsvJQ&feature=related

Also, this is another one:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=WQr0jY2ZSDs&feature=related

Again, both songs are based on the 1, 4, 5, especially the second, but I think it's what you do with that 1, 4, 5 progresson. For example, in the second clip, although it's more traditional, Dylan doesn't end the first time the five comes around. It's really only the middle of the verse.

It takes an open mind to appreciate Dylan, and this is particularly true for mid-60s Dylan, when he was soaring (literally and figuratively, no doubt).

[mandolirius]

Tons of info available, but I'd suggest you start with 3 or 4 songs with chord progressions you really like, the kind that fit your description of what you want to do, and work them out. See what chords were used where and try to get a feel for how you other people have used chords.

The 6 minor chord (Am, in the key of C) is common, so is the 2 minor, or major. You sometimes hear a 3 major (an E in the key of C).

As for what to study, try the harmonized major scale. That should help open a few doors. Good luck!

[Perry]

I'll take a shot though others can explain it much better then me.

Learn the diatonic chord progression for the key your in*

i.e. key of A; an A major scale. Build a triad (1,3,5) from each note of the scale and you end up with diatonic chords in the key of A. All the chords would make excellent choices for a chord progresion. They will all sound "in". However interest often comes from something that is not quite so "in". Tension and resolution.


here would be all the "safe" chords in the key of A


A Bm C#m D E F#m G#o


Try strumming through that progression and you willl hear a very musical "build-up"

Also you don't always have to start a song with the root chord.

You may want to look at circle of fifths theory too. But most country, folk, bluegrass songs don't call for complex chord progressions and key shifting progression would sound wrong in that genre

Listen to jazz standards for interesting chord progressions.
Study the lead sheets for the chord changes.
*Mike Marshall's chord DVD (or book) talks about this

[Doug Hoople]

It's not bluegrass, but it has some very simple (and, I think, directly-usable) clues to the kind of thing you're talking about.

Look up 'Assanhado,' a Brazilian choro tune by Jacob do Bandolim. It builds and builds, and by the B section it launches right out of orbit, all on fairly simple harmonic elements.

First of all, it starts on an A7 and stays there for two whole phrases, a long time. The trick here is that staying on one chord for longer than expected creates the need for change. When the A7 finally gives way to the D7 (IV chord), it feels like you're launching, but not really, and it adds further to the tension, especially when it returns to the A7. It rocks again from the D7 to the A7. So far, no light bulbs, no revelations, right? Except everything is moving slowly, so our impatience is building, and that's the trick... make us impatient. Still in the A section, the progression finally hits E7, rocking back to A7, E7 A7. The A section is really, really long, and the melody, while fun, is just teasing us.

And then, LAUNCH!!!! A7-D7-G7-C7-F7-Bb7... A 'Sweet Georgia Brown' style circle of fifths while the actual notated head is in a really cool bebop frenzy, E7 back to A7. Repeat the whole A7-D7-G7-C7-F7-Bb7... E7 back to A7 with some more really cool licks and you're back to the A.

This progression, even though it's Brazilian-born, is really blues-based (again, think Sweet Georgia Brown and Western Swing), and lends itself to fiddle-tune improvisation, so you could adapt it directly and put your own bluegrass/old-time blues melodies on it.

At the very least, it shows you one particular approach to building tension and building some more and building some more and then launching a really, really satisfying release. Which, I think, is what you were asking for.

It may be Brazilian, but I think it applies.

Let me know if this gets you any closer!

[Pete Martin]

Look at common chord progressions in fake books. Play and listen to each. Write them out in the roman number system to study them.

There is a good Jerry Coker book called "Hearing the Changes" that is a study in chord progressions.

[Doug Hoople]

Note also that building tension and getting that launch-and-release effect can come just from the way you play the tune.

Every year at the Symposium, the first night has all the instructors getting together and jamming on, among other things, a simple fiddle tune. They know how to get the pulse driving, they know how to comp without becoming a wall of mando strumming, and when each of them solos, they have their own things to say. But the sense of propulsion and the sense of variation, the buildup and climax, the larger-scale structure of what is really just a simple fiddle tune is nothing short of astonishing in the hands of these masters.

So you don't necessarily need the progression to do that build-tension/launch-and-release work for you. All you need is an old fiddle tune and a band that includes David Grisman, Mike Marshall, Sam Bush, Andy Statman, Don Stiernberg and Mike Compton.

No, seriously, I'm sure you can find similar examples in your own record collection. Listen carefully for how things start out, how they build, what the textures are when the frenzy is achieved, how they unwind. Even on the simple stuff, the really good players know how to make this happen.

[mandolirius]

I checked out the MusicTheory.net site and was blown away. What a fantastic resource for someone who wants to pick up some music theory.

[HogTime]

IMHO "build & building" is more related to the playing dynamics and not the chord progression.

[Doug Hoople]

IMHO "build & building" is more related to the playing dynamics and not the chord progression.
That's especially true for the simple tunes, like "Take Me Back to Tulsa," or "Jambalaya," both of which are I6-V7-V7-I6 progressions repeated endlessly. Very cool tunes, and it's a great exercise to see how long you can play them and sustain interest.

If you're really good (I'm not), then you can play rhythm and vary the mood in increments and crank things up without bashing; you can play solo and respond to the moment when things heat up. That's really hard to do, though, and it's the mark of a great player if he can pull it off. Think Mark O'Connor with something like 7 choruses of "Tiger Rag," or just about anything uptempo that Stephane Grappelli ever played.

[Kevin Briggs]

Listen tot John Lee Hooker soem time. He's the king of playing a whole song using one chord. Somehow I didn't even realize this until recently....

[mandolirius]

<Listen tot John Lee Hooker soem time. He's the king of playing a whole song using one chord. Somehow I didn't even realize this until recently....>

Somehow I don't think that's going to help the OP that much. I think he was looking to use more chords, not fewer. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

[EdSherry]

Building tension and resolution are clearly affected by the chord progression chosen, but also by the choice of melody, the timing of notes, etc. #By way of illustration, "Bile Them Cabbage Down" is as simple a melody as it gets, with little in the way of tension and resolution. #But its chord progression (I IV I V I IV I/V I) #is a chord progression that also fits #some very complex and and tension-filled melodic hooks. # And one can improvise "around" even a simple melody in a way that can be hypnotic. #As Doug says, part of the fun of playing "simple" tunes is to take a relatively simple chord progression and see what can be built on top of it.

[JeffD]

Check out this book. It really has some good stuff on this subject.

http://www.mandolincafe.net/cgi-bin....t=50659 (http://www.mandolincafe.net/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=25;t=50659)