A
accordian
Guest
i read that chords can fit a key of a song but I don't get it. how do i find out the chords of say pompeii-bastille
- Status
A
accordian
Guest
jozz post_id=53573 time=1513586730 user_id=2600 said:
thanks for that but I want to learn what chords go into what keys as I saw a diagram that looked like a certain key will have certain chords with it but from the look of the diagram it was saying that Bb was a key I thought the chords where the key like la tarantella in Dm and so from this diagram I am quite a bit confused.
Im trying to figure this out so I can learn to play songs by ear because as for the piano side its just yep that sounds right or not quite but with chords I find it harder to find the correct one and see it as that one sounds right but that one also sounds right and get confused.
You need to learn some basic music theory - try this https://www.musictheory.net/lessons
Theres a whole section just on chords but youre probably best starting with the keys and intervals.
Theres a whole section just on chords but youre probably best starting with the keys and intervals.
You've asked variations on this question before AccordIan, but clearly the answers haven't worked!
Try this.
Find a tune that you can play on just the white keys of your accordion, and that ends on a C. If you play a C to start with, and imagine that's the last note of the tune, you should get started in the right place.
When you're fluent with your tune, start the tune playing C bass and C major chord with the tune, whatever pattern you like.
Your ear should tell you when it's time to change chord but, restrict yourself to C, F and G basses and chords.
If the tune you've chosen is suitable, you should definitely end on a C chord. If you don't, try another tune.
You should be able to get a decent sounding harmony to your white-keys-only tune that ends on a C by using only C, F and G chords and basses.
Let us know how you get on.
Stick to your three chords, C, F and G and you can play the blues, though you'll need some black notes on the right hand as well!
Try this.
Find a tune that you can play on just the white keys of your accordion, and that ends on a C. If you play a C to start with, and imagine that's the last note of the tune, you should get started in the right place.
When you're fluent with your tune, start the tune playing C bass and C major chord with the tune, whatever pattern you like.
Your ear should tell you when it's time to change chord but, restrict yourself to C, F and G basses and chords.
If the tune you've chosen is suitable, you should definitely end on a C chord. If you don't, try another tune.
You should be able to get a decent sounding harmony to your white-keys-only tune that ends on a C by using only C, F and G chords and basses.
Let us know how you get on.
Stick to your three chords, C, F and G and you can play the blues, though you'll need some black notes on the right hand as well!
A
accordian
Guest
TomBR post_id=53583 time=1513591919 user_id=323 said:
okdoke does the bass in each key work like this when i want to find the correct bass it will be in a 3 button radius (not really a radius but one of 3 buttons i mean)
A
accordian
Guest
just tried twinkle twinkle little star as its a real easy one I hear and well yep it worked although honestly it doesn't make me feel as though I really understand any more than I did or do. its the theory thats confusing me a little bit i'm going to look at more key/chord charts to see if ive seen a incorrect one or if it's just me
Fortunately, music isn’t a set of equations that can be read like a computer program. I advise using your ears and “feeling” what sounds best. The three note “radius” rule you made up will work for many songs but you will have to try whether it’s major, minor or diminished.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Well done you! Im pleased to hear it. My suggestion would be to go at it in two ways, find things that work, like the three button radius which is often called three chord trick but then add a bit of theory to explain why things work.accordian post_id=53597 time=1513618217 user_id=2458 said:
Once you have things that work and maybe a bit of theory, you start seeing that people are using patterns you know about.
I should be working but Ill write a bit! If we just take the scale of C major, we get a nice chord sound when we take the first, third and fifth notes of the scale - C E and G. The three chord trick uses the two chords that link to this, top and bottom. Start your chord on the top note of the C chord, which is G and you have a chord of G consisting of G B and D.
Add the chord that links to the bottom of the C chord, and thats F with the three notes F A and C.
You now have chords that include all the notes of your C major scale, CDEFGAB. That gives you a very good chance of harmonising a tune in that key, so long as the tune has a feel of ending on C.
Its easy to harmonise a scale of C using those three chords.
If you look at other chords which can be made out of the notes of the C scale you have DFA, EGB, and ACE. All three are minor chords. If you have a tune that harmonises mainly using your major chords you may find that you need a minor sometimes. A-minor is the most likely. It shares two notes with the important C chord.
C, A-minor, F, G is a really important chord progression used in thousands of songs.
Theres one chord left, starting on B so you have B D F. It sounds a bit weird, its a diminished chord, neither major nor minor. Ignore it until you know you need it!
Good luck!
Tom
A
accordian
Guest
TomBR post_id=53621 time=1513675045 user_id=323 said:
ok doke I think i get it so songs in the scale of c any of the 3 chords will be correct because it fully cover the c scale. but is the scale also the key of the song?
A
accordian
Guest
Yes and no! They are often the same but not always. Knowing the key of a tune will tell you what scale of notes to use, though there may be some notes that shift between sharp, flat and natural.accordian post_id=53627 time=1513699543 user_id=2458 said:
If you know a tune is using the notes of a certain scale, for example you can play it on all white notes, you know its using the notes of the c-major scale, but that doesnt necessarily tell you the tune is in c-major.
If you have a tune that ends on a C and a C major chord sounds right at the end of the tune and the tune uses only the C-major scale notes then the key and the scale are the same C-major.
One problem is when you get into minor tunes. You could have a tune that uses the notes of the C major scale but ends on an A. In that case the chord that sounds right at the end of the tune is likely to be A-minor. (As I said above, the A-minor chord shares two notes with the C-major chord, C and E, so the two are closely related.) If the tune ends on an A with an A-minor chord then the tune is probably in A minor, but it may still use the same notes as C-major because the two are closely related.
When you have a minor tune, say A-minor, it may well include some G-sharps as well as the C-major notes. The Gs in the tune will sometimes be natural and sometimes sharps. When you get notes that change like that, it is often a sign that the tune is in a minor key based on the next note up the scale. A-minor tunes are likely to have G-naturals and G-sharps.
So, different keys can use the notes of different scales. Knowing what key a tune is in tells you more than knowing what scale it uses. Knowing the key will help straight away to know what chords to use.
Seems to be saying similar things to me!accordian post_id=53630 time=1513700591 user_id=2458 said:
A
accordian
Guest
TomBR post_id=53632 time=1513701373 user_id=323 said:
I think my head is likely to explode from all this theory lol
thanks
You could leave the theory for a bit and try a different practical angle.
Instead of trying to fit chords to a song or tune, set out some chords and try playing with them on the right hand.
Say, basic twelve bar blues
CCCC
FFCC
GGCC
Count whatever you like to each letter, 2 or 4.
Make all chords 7ths if you like.
Cheers
Tom
Instead of trying to fit chords to a song or tune, set out some chords and try playing with them on the right hand.
Say, basic twelve bar blues
CCCC
FFCC
GGCC
Count whatever you like to each letter, 2 or 4.
Make all chords 7ths if you like.
Cheers
Tom
A
accordian
Guest
thanks
W
wout
Guest
When i started music i didnt know to much about chords and scales either. What i did was play a c scale (all white keys) and try it out from say e to e. You hear its not right and then use some of the black keys (trial and error) to see if it sounds right. You compare it with the c scale and compare it. Then with chords you also know. For example the c chord is C E G. If you play in the c scale and you play yhe e chord you will notice its E G B. That makes it the E minor (you can try it out with playing the left hand chord and see if it fits) I hope i explained well but it helped me alot memorizing the notes within a chord and knowing if its minor or major
george garside
Prolific poster
- Joined
- May 11, 2013
- Messages
- 1,850
- Reaction score
- 6
I have a feeling that I have already posted something on these lines some time ago but feel it worth repeating on this thread
For those playing 'by ear' or from just a melody line of dots 3 chords are enough to get by with and generally sound quite reasonable . Guitarists often refer to this as the '3 chord trick'
In terms of stradella bass ( and it helps to have a bass chart available - plenty on google and in all tutor books) think in terms of the diagonal rows. These go up or down relative to each other in so called 5ths which in plain language means that the next diagonal row above or below any particular one plays bass note and chords that will harmonise in a tune played in key of C. Exactly the same applies to any other key eg a tune in F works exactly the same i..e. the F diagonal row , the one above and the one below.
using just the bass note and the major chord ( 2nd aand 3rd vertical rows counting from bellows) start with bass/chord of the key the tune is in eg C. play C bass until it doesnt sound right at which point try the diagonal row above or below, one of which will sound right - when that one doesnt sound right go back to the one youstarted on i.e C and stay on it until it doesnt sound right and again try the one above and the one below to see which sounds best.
/to begin with do this slowly (easier if playing a slow tune) and in a relatively short time choosing the right bass'/chord out of the 3 will become intuitive i.e you will be able to 'busk' in a reasonable bass acompanyment.
Using this tried and tested method there is no need for any knowledge of musical theory to get you started but that is not to say that the aquisition of a modicum of theory will not be useful and will help you to progress furthur
geroge
For those playing 'by ear' or from just a melody line of dots 3 chords are enough to get by with and generally sound quite reasonable . Guitarists often refer to this as the '3 chord trick'
In terms of stradella bass ( and it helps to have a bass chart available - plenty on google and in all tutor books) think in terms of the diagonal rows. These go up or down relative to each other in so called 5ths which in plain language means that the next diagonal row above or below any particular one plays bass note and chords that will harmonise in a tune played in key of C. Exactly the same applies to any other key eg a tune in F works exactly the same i..e. the F diagonal row , the one above and the one below.
using just the bass note and the major chord ( 2nd aand 3rd vertical rows counting from bellows) start with bass/chord of the key the tune is in eg C. play C bass until it doesnt sound right at which point try the diagonal row above or below, one of which will sound right - when that one doesnt sound right go back to the one youstarted on i.e C and stay on it until it doesnt sound right and again try the one above and the one below to see which sounds best.
/to begin with do this slowly (easier if playing a slow tune) and in a relatively short time choosing the right bass'/chord out of the 3 will become intuitive i.e you will be able to 'busk' in a reasonable bass acompanyment.
Using this tried and tested method there is no need for any knowledge of musical theory to get you started but that is not to say that the aquisition of a modicum of theory will not be useful and will help you to progress furthur
geroge
JeffJetton
Prolific poster
Not sure if this will do any good, but here we go...
A key is a specific collection of notes. If you can form a chord using some of those notes, then we say that the chord is "diatonic" to the key.
For example, the key of C has all the white key notes: C D E F G A B. There are 7 basic triads that you can make using those 7 notes. In other words, there are 7 three-note chords that are diatonic to the key of C. These are the chords that "go with" the key of C:
<LIST type="decimal">
You might notice that all the chords are made by simply picking a note from the scale and then playing every other note above it. For the first chord, you play the C note, skip the D, play the E, skip the F, play the G. Same pattern for all of them.
Furthermore, the pattern of chord qualities is the same in any major key, whether it's C or F# or Bb or whatever. The first chord (the chord based on the first note) will always be a major chord. Then second chord (the chord based on the second note) will always be a minor chord, and so on.
You can take advantage of the Stradella bass system to derive a nice shortcut for this! I like to think of the left-hand buttons as being like a leaning building, with the different chord rows being "floors". (So if you start on the "D floor", you'll find the A floor "upstairs" and the G floor "downstairs".) With that in mind, for major keys...
Call the chord row that corresponds to the key the "ground floor". The chord that fits here is a major chord. So if you're in the key of Bb, start on the Bb row and realize that the Bb major chord belongs in the key of Bb major (obviously!) The other major chords that "fit" (that are diatonic to the key) will always be immediately upstairs and downstairs from there. Additionally, you have the option of also making your upstairs chord a 7th chord, for reasons we won't get into here--just trust me on this.
The minor chords that fit the key (that are diatonic) will always be two, three, and four floors up.
So there you have it. For any key, you can play major chords on the main floor, the basement, and upstairs. And you can play minor chords on the top three floors above all that. Those six chords are made up solely of notes that are in the main key.
That said, you will often see chords in a song that are not diatonic to the main key. They sort of "borrow" one or more notes from other keys, and they have the effect of sort of putting you temporarily into a "key of the moment". Jazz music, in particular, is notorious for quickly weaving in and out of multiple keys-of-the-moment.
And we haven't even gotten into minor keys...
A key is a specific collection of notes. If you can form a chord using some of those notes, then we say that the chord is "diatonic" to the key.
For example, the key of C has all the white key notes: C D E F G A B. There are 7 basic triads that you can make using those 7 notes. In other words, there are 7 three-note chords that are diatonic to the key of C. These are the chords that "go with" the key of C:
<LIST type="decimal">
- C E G (C major)
- D F A (D minor)
- E G B (E minor)
- F A C (F major)
- G B D (G major)
- A C E (A minor)
- B D F (B diminished triad) -- Rarely used
You might notice that all the chords are made by simply picking a note from the scale and then playing every other note above it. For the first chord, you play the C note, skip the D, play the E, skip the F, play the G. Same pattern for all of them.
Furthermore, the pattern of chord qualities is the same in any major key, whether it's C or F# or Bb or whatever. The first chord (the chord based on the first note) will always be a major chord. Then second chord (the chord based on the second note) will always be a minor chord, and so on.
You can take advantage of the Stradella bass system to derive a nice shortcut for this! I like to think of the left-hand buttons as being like a leaning building, with the different chord rows being "floors". (So if you start on the "D floor", you'll find the A floor "upstairs" and the G floor "downstairs".) With that in mind, for major keys...
Call the chord row that corresponds to the key the "ground floor". The chord that fits here is a major chord. So if you're in the key of Bb, start on the Bb row and realize that the Bb major chord belongs in the key of Bb major (obviously!) The other major chords that "fit" (that are diatonic to the key) will always be immediately upstairs and downstairs from there. Additionally, you have the option of also making your upstairs chord a 7th chord, for reasons we won't get into here--just trust me on this.
The minor chords that fit the key (that are diatonic) will always be two, three, and four floors up.
So there you have it. For any key, you can play major chords on the main floor, the basement, and upstairs. And you can play minor chords on the top three floors above all that. Those six chords are made up solely of notes that are in the main key.
That said, you will often see chords in a song that are not diatonic to the main key. They sort of "borrow" one or more notes from other keys, and they have the effect of sort of putting you temporarily into a "key of the moment". Jazz music, in particular, is notorious for quickly weaving in and out of multiple keys-of-the-moment.
And we haven't even gotten into minor keys...
A
accordian
Guest
JeffJetton post_id=53684 time=1513811299 user_id=1774 said:
Head = Bang! lol
- Status
