mmuussiiccaall - Posted - 12/02/2013:  09:54:56

When I started playing 50 years ago I just played the chords to songs, then I heard about the way songs are written using certain common chord combinations.

Most musicians don't go to college to write a song but they all kind of sound similar. They figured out that all songs run on the same track.

This a diagram for playing the chord structure of a song so that you can eventually hear the changes. 

song example: Rocky Top Key of B 4th string 4th fret is 1 =                  verse  1 1 4 1 6m 5 1 1 1 1 4 1 6m 5 1 1          chorus  6m 6m 5 5 b7 b7 4 4 4 4 1 1 1 b7 1 1 1 b7 1 1 

I tell my students that the: 

1 4 5 are the happy major chords,

2 6 are the sad minors

b3 b7 are the blues chords (they're majors)

These 7 chords represent one whole half of the circle of fifths which are the chords that are currently in vogue.

If you do not use some kind of structure like this whenever you play for example a C chord you don't know it's position in the scheme of things, 

for example it could be a 1 4 5 b3 b7 chord in that song. 

Below is a list of ear training songs for each chord change. All that is cared about are the first two notes of each song. Strike the 1 then the 6 for example and it should sound like Hey Jude 

1-6    Hey Jude

1-b7   Mary Had A Little Lamb

1-2    Do Re

1-b3  Popeye

1-4    Here Comes The Bride

1-5    Chim Chim Cher-ee

If you do not use some kind of structure like this whenever you play for example a C chord you don't know it's position in the scheme of things, for example it could be a 1 4 5 b3 b7 chord in that song.

​If you can play these changes kind of like what a bass player does you'll be able to figure out the chords to any song.

Note that the 1 (also called the key note) must be at the third fret or higher on any string so as to not run off the fingerboard at the nut.

(Musicians like to get out of the box and it's easy to figure out what these out of key chords are if you start moving either up or down a fret to find them also)

here's a link that's good for eartraining songs

​earmaster.com/products/free-to...ator.html

Edited by - mmuussiiccaall on 12/02/2013 13:38:53

chord structure

Philphool - Posted - 01/05/2014:  15:19:41

The approach you describe is called the 'harmonized scale' and assigns or identifies the chord associated with each note of the scale (usually major) that the song is played in.

In your ear training list, I'd say that the Mary had a Little Lamb example is actually: 3-2 rather than 1 b7 since the song doesn't start on the 1st scale note.

Likewise, Popeye starts with 3-5 rather than 1 b3.  You can tell by the chords that fit the song.

I don't see that any of this particular subject has much to do with the circle of fifths.

Edited by - Philphool on 01/05/2014 15:21:25

mmuussiiccaall - Posted - 01/10/2014:  16:34:45

It's all about the first two notes of the song, there is no rule against beginning on different intervals. You can go to an internet search and come up with a lot of possibie songs.

And no this is not about the circle of fifths.

fiddlebutcher - Posted - 01/14/2014:  02:02:21

This works both ways...a song can remind you of the interval and the first interval of a song can remind you of how the song goes.......Apart from that I don't understand anything else of your post. I don't know why you can't just say ..''Mary Had A Little Lamb begins with a major 2nd''...!?

I have only been playing 40 years and taught for about 25. Maybe because I was so slow that I needed to make stuff simple to understand, but I endeavour to do that for students too, and I seek to explain stuff in many different ways because not everyone understands concepts in the same way....!?

mmuussiiccaall - Posted - 01/17/2014:  06:17:03

quote:

---

Originally posted by Philphool

 

The approach you describe is called the 'harmonized scale' and assigns or identifies the chord associated with each note of the scale (usually major) that the song is played in.

In your ear training list, I'd say that the Mary had a Little Lamb example is actually: 3-2 rather than 1 b7 since the song doesn't start on the 1st scale note.

Likewise, Popeye starts with 3-5 rather than 1 b3.  You can tell by the chords that fit the song.

I don't see that any of this particular subject has much to do with the circle of fifths.

 

---

After re-reading your post I see what you are saying and I agree with you. I could have  picked other songs like let's say FREIGHT TRAIN for 1-6 but I have found that today's generation doesn't know a lot of songs, For this reason I use very common songs focusing on the sound of the first two notes not their intervallic structure. And by the way the seven chords on the chart always turn out to be a half of the circle of fitfh's. b3 b7 5 1 4 2 6

Edited by - mmuussiiccaall on 01/17/2014 06:33:02

mmuussiiccaall - Posted - 01/17/2014:  06:29:34

quote:

---

Originally posted by Henry George

 

This works both ways...a song can remind you of the interval and the first interval of a song can remind you of how the song goes.......Apart from that I don't understand anything else of your post. I don't know why you can't just say ..''Mary Had A Little Lamb begins with a major 2nd''...!?



I have only been playing 40 years and taught for about 25. Maybe because I was so slow that I needed to make stuff simple to understand, but I endeavour to do that for students too, and I seek to explain stuff in many different ways because not everyone understands concepts in the same way....!?

---

mary had a little lamb always begins on the 3 of the key but for ear-training purposes you can slide that 3 2 beginning interval anywhere in pitch to demonstrate a drop of a whole step. That's what I'm doing to some of the songs in my original post.

Mary Had A Little Lamb 

3212333 222 355 3212333322321

fiddlebutcher - Posted - 01/17/2014:  21:45:44

quote:

---

Originally posted by Henry George

 

 I don't know why you can't just say ..''Mary Had A Little Lamb begins with a major 2nd''...!?



 

---