Circle of Minor Keys

Looking back at my last post and reflecting on some of my reader's comments, 
I wanted to do a follow up post regarding minor keys. I had posted a song on YouTube, Winter Sonata, and had used mostly broken chords (arpeggios.) I use this style of playing in Classical music, romantic songs, sometimes new age music and especially for endings that seem to close out a particular song. I'm talking about rolling the chord, whether ascending or descending.


The Circle of Minor Keys

We have studied together and looked at the "circle of 4ths and the "circle of 5ths" before. Many folks are not familiar with the minor circle but it works pretty much the same ways as the circle of major keys but with one exception.


When you're trying to figure out the 3 chords to any key, look to the left and right of the circle but keep in mind that most songs written in the western hemisphere use the harmonic scale instead of the natural minor scale. The chord to the left is usually a major chord instead of a minor chord.


Here's an example. In the Key of Am, the 3 most likely chords would be Am, Dm and E Major, not E minor. Another way to say it, i is minor chord, iv is a minor chord and the V chord is Major. Now that you are learning what chords move up a 4th or 5th or down a 4th or 5th, you'll quickly recognize what the key of the song is and what chords are most likely in the song. So, memorize the Circle of Minor Keys.


It's the inner circle I'm focusing on in this lesson.


Am


Dm


Gm


Cm


Fm


Bbm


Ebm


Abm


Dbm


Gbm


Bm


Em


Practice playing in the minor key signatures and then switching back and forth to its
relative Major Key.


Let's talk a bit about minor keys and the bass notes. For example, the C Harmonic 
Minor Scale is C, D, Eb, F, G, Ab, B, C.


If the bass note is C, the most common chord is Cm. Other possibilities would be, the iv chord with its fifth in the bass (Fm/C). For more info, visit Minor Keys

Here are the chords to Pirates of the Caribbean:  

Dm Bb Am Dm
Bb F C Dm
Dm Gm Am Dm
Bb Dm A A7

Dm Bb Am Dm
Bb F C Dm
Dm Gm Am Dm
Bb Dm A
Dm C Bb A
Gm A

Dm C Dm 
Dm C D

Dm C F Bb
F Am Dm Dm
Dm C F Bb
Gm Am A

Dm Bb F C 
Gm Am Am Dm 

Chords 101 and 102 Collection






"The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you." B.B.King

Hearing The Changes

Several years ago (2007) I signed up Greg Hannon's online Keyboard Tricks & More.
http://www.giftedplayer.com



This very gifted keyboard player has many chord dvds and transposition charts for sale. One major point from Greg's teaching is focusing on "The Ear!" To listen to yourself playing by ear, focus on two things:

1. The dark sound of the minor key

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Minor_scale#The__dark_sound_of_mminor_keys
2. The "vi" as the tonal center or the tonic.

http://www.answers.com/topic/tonality


Here's what Greg has to say from one of his lessons that I discovered online and have applied to my piano practice...
"Let's look at some popular chords used in the key of Gb major. This progression will be built around the vi chord of this key which is an Ebm chord. When thee tonal center of a key is temporarily switched to another key, we call this tonicization. In this lesson we are tonicizing the vi which is Eb minor. Therefor the I chord is temporarily replaced by the vi chord."

6-5-4 in Db
6- Ebm7= Eb Bb Eb/ Bb Db Eb Gb
5- Db2= Db Ab Db/ Ab Db Eb F Ab
4- Cbmaj9= Cb Eb Gb/ Bb Db Eb Gb

2-5-1 in Eb minor
2- Fm7b5= F Eb/ Eb Ab Cb
5- Bb7#5#9= Bb Ab/ D F# Ab C#
1- Ebm7= Eb Bb Eb/ Bb Db Eb Gb

4-5-1 in Eb minor
4- Abm7= Ab Eb/ Gb Cb Eb
5- Bb7#5= Bb F/ Ab D F#
1- Ebm7= Eb Bb Eb/ Bb Db Eb Gb

Then Greg goes in a different direction with this lesson building on the 1-2-3 progression, adding a few non-diatonic chords and a classic 4-5-1 progression.

1-2-3 in Db
1- DB2= Db Ab Db/ Ab Db Eb F Ab
2- Ebm7= Eb Bb Eb/ Gb Bb Db Gb
3- Db2/F= F Eb/ Ab Db Eb Ab


Alternate Chord Quality
2*- Ebm7b5/Gb= Gb Db Gb/ A Db Eb Gb
5- Db2/Ab= Ab Eb/ Ab Db F Ab
6- Bbm7= Bb F/ Ab Db F Ab
5- Ab11= Ab Gb/ Bb Db Eb Ab


4-5-1 in Db (with the 3rd is in the root on the 4 & 5)
4- Gb2/Bb= Bb/ Gb Ab Bb Db
5- Ab2/C= C/ Ab Bb C Eb
1- Db2= Db Ab Db/ Ab Db Eb F Ab



A resource for learning to hear jazz chord progressions and tonal shifts is at

http://www.ralphpatt.com/Tonal.html

Here is a free list of songs in Eb minor

http://www.tabwiki.com/index.php/Category:Songs_in_Eb_Minor

All the best,
~ LadyD

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