So, on to the next "chapter", namely minor chords.
For now, I'll be using the key of A minor (parallel minor to C major).
To adress one potential question: Why not stick with A major and use the parallel F# minor?
There's several reasons:
- As within A major, the open A string will allow you to quickly put things into at least some sort of context.
- You're forced to deal with another key. Which, as it's the parallel to C major, isn't a big deal, though.
- Possibly most interesting, you'll be able to compare the 3 main characters in this episode directly to their major variations. And that actually *is* a big deal (or the beginning of a big deal), as altering the notes within triads is opening up for a whole new world of options. As said, observing the difference between major and minor variations is just a start.
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Then, quite unfortunately but important, some minor key "issues" possibly need explanation.
As soon as we're in a minor key "for real", the scale degrees of the chords will be labeled according to the minor tonic chord.
Let's have a quick look at the scale degrees of the C major scale (C-D-E-F-G-A-B):
I = C
IIm = Dm
IIIm = Em
IV = F
V = G
VIm = Am
VIIdim = Bdim
As C major and A (natural) minor use exactly the same notes, we could now just go like "Ok, our Am is VI". Which it actually is.
But as we're also treating it as the new tonic chord (for now at least) which everything is related to, we will as well define it as our new I chord.
So, our list of chord degrees in A minor would actually look like this:
Im = Am
IIdim = Bdim
bIII = C
IVm = Dm
Vm = Em
bVI = F
bVII = G
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Note: You may wonder about the accidentals (the "b"s in this case). These are used when a scale degree deviates from its "normal" state in a major key. Example: In A major, the major third C# is 4 semitones up from the root A and the "III" chord degree building up on it isn't additionally labeled. In A minor however, the minor third C is just 3 semitones up from the root and hence the "III" chord requires additional labeling, becoming "bIII".
And to make matters worse: This isn't always treated in the same fashion. For instance, when we talk about chord symbols, a major 7th needs an extra indication (maj7, j7, whatever), whereas the minor 7th doesn't. But when looking at chords building upon scale degrees, it's the other way around. And it's again the other way around on thirds.
I know, it sucks.
But (!), on a positive note: While chord symbols are pretty common (so you need to know which labels apply there), you rarely analyze stuff much. You may need parts of it for the Nashville Number System, though, but let's better not get into that (being in/from Germany, I'm not too familiar with it anyway - which actually is pretty bad as it's a kickass system).
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Back on topic.
For a start as a very simple thing, same things as with A major, we'll build an A minor triad on the D, G and B strings, starting with the root position.
Following our triad building "rules", we'll start with the root A and slap two diatonic thirds on top.
The result will be: A-C-E.
Analysis will reveal that it's a minor third (C) and a perfect fifth (E), which you may want to store as the formula for minor triads.
First inversion will then be C-E-A, third inversion will be E-A-C.
So here's the three inversions on said set of strings:
And as this will become more and more important throughout further explorations, here's how the A min triad is different from the A maj triad. It's pretty simply on paper, the C in A min becomes a C# in A maj, but it's a pretty decent idea to actually look at where those C/C#-es are located and how you would have to modify one triad to get to the other.
For me, being able to quickly modify triads (and it goes *way* beyond just making a minor triad major or vice versa), is one of the biggest deals why I like that "triad mindset" so much whenever dealing with chords.
So here's all inversions of A min vs A maj triads on the D-G-B strings:
Alright, I could now present you the same stuff on all sets of strings, but I won't. Why?
1) Yes, it actually is some boring/exhausting stuff for me to write down.
2) It's by far the best way to figure things out on your own, at least partially. All required information can be found earlier in this thread and should be easy enough to digest, so you can either start to build those A min triads on the other sets of strings from scratch or take the A major triad graphics I've posted, look up the note C# in them and lower it by a semitone.
3) I'll post some examples of some chord progressions in the next posts likely covering some of the other stringsets, so they will be "half-shown" anyway.
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Short (hopefully) rest, next post will have some examples.
Edit: if you are interested in lame arguing about how the CAGED "system" is just as great and the entire thread is all bogus, continue reading the folliwing two pages. But if you rather want to fast forward to the next on-topic post, you might want to click
here (<---).