We established that the 1, 4 and 5 are the most important degrees of any scale and that you can

pretty much play tons of songs with these chords.

In fact, you can play most songs with just these chords.

(Your songs may sound basic but the point is that you can do it!)

But now, I want to take it a step further and show you how to get those other tones of the scale working for you.

Lets turn back to the C major scale

C major

CDEFGABC 1234567

(Of course, weve numbered our scale because this is of no use if we dont think universally and numbers allow us to apply this to any key later on so get used to thinking in terms of numbers).

As you know, the primary chords are on the 1st, 4th, and 5th degrees:

CFG 145

But now, lets take it a step further.

Music loves to move in fourths and fifths.

In fact, the interval between C and F is a fourth (perfect fourth, specifically).

And the interval between C and G is a fifth.

To find out what interval youre working with, count the number of alphabet letters encompassed in the interval (that includes the starting and ending notes).

So, between C and F, there is C D E F. Four alphabet letters means this is a fourth interval.

Note: Dont mix up alphabet letters and notes. When you count white and black keys, there are much more than four notes in this interval. Thats not what were talking about. Were solely talking about alphabet letters and not even concerned with anything else.

How many alphabet letters are in between C and G?

Well, lets see

CDEFG

Five! Thats why this is a fifth interval. Get it?

For this lesson, were only going to focus on fourths as they are much more common than fifths in popular chord progressions.

See this circle?

Were going to focus on going counter-clockwise. That is, the direction from C to F to Bb and so on.

These are fourths. Plain and simple.

If you write them out, itll look like this: C > F > Bb > Eb > Ab > Db > Gb > B > E > A > D > G

Memorize this! This is the direction most songs flow in.

And this is what I want to use to help you add flavor to your primary chords.

Question

What are the primary chords of C? (This is easy. You already know the answer because its at the top of this page).

Another question

Where do these primary chords lie on the circle?

Bingo! They are neighbors!

C is right in the middle. To its left is F and to the right is G.

That means they have a very close relationship. This circle isnt just a pretty way to organize keys its a circle of close relationships and the closer notes are arranged on this circle, the stronger they pull and work with each other. By the way, you can find the primary chords for any key by doing this:

Take the key you want to find primary chords for and circle it on the chart (of course, this will be the 1st primary chord). Then go to its left neighbor. This will be another one of the primary chords (4th). Then go to its right neighbor. Thatll be the final primary chord (5th).

Bam! The primary chords for any key.

But back to the lesson

Remember I said that music usually flows in fourths and that going counter-clockwise around the circle will give you fourths?

Well, think about it. In yesterdays, lesson, I told you that Gmaj has a very strong pull to Cmaj. Now, notice where G is on the circle. Its to the right of C (as we just learned) and comes right before it, if youre moving counter-clockwise around the circle.

And pretty much the whole circle works that way.

They key directly to the right side is what pulls the strongest to its neighbor on the left.

So G pulls strong to C.

C pulls strong to F.

F pulls strong to Bb.

Bb pulls strong to Eb.

E pulls strong to A on the other side of the circle.

D pulls strong to G.

Hmm, D pulls strong to G

(And it works the other way around too. G pulls strong to D as well. But for this lesson, were focusing on fourths and the counter-clockwise direction of the circle because this is more common in chord progressions).

Ive got an idea.

Why dont we take a song from yesterday and see if we can pull to any of the Gmaj chords by first using some type of D chord?

But first, lets make sure we talk about the numbers behind this

CDEFGABC

1234567

CFG 145

Now, weve introduced D.

CDFG 1245

So basically, the 2 leads strongly to the 5. (Remember that rule).

In other words, if Im playing a song only with primary chords and I want to start venturing outside my comfort zone, I can first try out a chord on the 2 and there is a high probability that it will work to lead to the 5.

If the circle says it, then its right! :)

So lets take a song from yesterday and see what happens.

A-ma-zing grace how C major ~~~~~~~ (C + E + G)

(Note: It sounds better to play the chord on ma-zing rather than on the first syllable, A)

Sweet the F major ~~ (F + A + C)

Sound. C major ~ (C + E + G)

That saved a wretch like C major ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (C + E + G)

Me G major (G + B + D)

Now what we can do is slip a 2-chord before the G major.

So that means it should come on:

wretch like

(your ear should have told you that if there should be a new chord added, the best place would be here).

Now, normally the 2-chord is minor. Youd have to go to past lessons to get the scoop on that because this post will be super long if I explain each tone and chord of the major scale.

So try minor there first.

See how it sounds to your ear.

That saved a C major ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (C + E + G)

wretch like D minor ~~~ (D + F + A)

Me G major (G + B + D)

Now, the D minor can surely work there but if it were me, Id keep fishing for a closer match on this 2chord.

So lets try D major

That saved a C major ~~~

(C + E + G)

wretch like D major ~~~ (D + F# + A)

Me G major (G + B + D)

Sounds much better doesnt it!?! We had a similar lesson about this when I talked about secondary dominant chords. Its when a chord acts as the dominant chord of any tone of the scale other than the tonic (the 1). Thats whats going on here. I recommend viewing that lesson when youre done.

I know this is a beginner post but keeping the melody on top is very important.

And the melody on wretch is the note, E.

But E isnt in the D major chord so there are two ways you can do this to spice up your chord movement.

1) Try to add E to the chord as the highest note

OR

2) Try to rearrange chord so that you can add E on top.

Right now, adding E on top of D + F# + A is kinda hard.

But thats where possibility #2 comes in.

What if we invert this D major chord so that D is on top? Again, I cant really talk about inversions here or this post will be super long. Just use the search box up top to search for posts that talk about inversions and youll be caught up to speed!

So inverting the D major chord to F# + A + D (aka first inversion) allows us to put an E right on top:

F# + A + D + E

Now, I personally dont like the sound the D and E make up top and since Id most likely be playing D on my bass (in the left hand), Im going to take it out.

That leaves me with F# + A + E over D bass.

You wanna know what chord youre playing here?

D major (add 9) (F# + A + E on right hand / D on bass)

Thats not bad for a beginning lesson!

But do you see how easy it is to naturally start playing more complex chords? One thing leads to another one requirement leads to the next and before you know it, your ear has taken you to something totally different!

In fact, you can add a C in there and make this a D dominant ninth chord (D9 for short).

D9 (F# + A + C + E / D on bass)

The following is Amazing Grace with the added 2-chord and other inversions to keep the melody on top. Pay close attention to the order of notes in each chord as Ive made some changes:

A-ma-zing grace* how C major (1st inversion) ~~~ (E + G + C)

*On grace, the melody changes to E so you can actually invert your chord from E+G+C to G+C+E (which is 2nd inversion).

Sweet the F major (root inversion) ~~~ (F + A + C)

Sound. C major (root inversion) ~~~ (C + E + G)

That saved a C major (1st inversion) ~~~ (E + G + C)

wretch like D major (add 9) ~~~ (F# + A + E / D bass)

-OR-

D9 (F# + A + C + E / D bass)

Me G major (first inversion) ~~~ (B + D + G)

(Unless otherwise noted, you can play these chords on your right hand and you can play the keynotes of the chords as the bass notes on your left. Basically, C major means C on left and C+E+G on right. Or you can play the chords on your left and pick out the melody and play it on your right hand. Try both ways and see what you like best.)

So there you have it! Without getting too deep (because theres always tomorrow and the next day and the next day), weve learned how to start using other tones of the scale to lead us to our primary chords.

Until next time! We established that the 1, 4 and 5 are the most important degrees of any scale and that you can pretty much play tons of songs with these chords.

In fact, you can play most songs with just these chords.

(Your songs may sound basic but the point is that you can do it!)

But now, I want to take it a step further and show you how to get those other tones of the scale working for you.

Lets turn back to the C major scale

C major

CDEFGABC 1234567

(Of course, weve numbered our scale because this is of no use if we dont think universally and numbers allow us to apply this to any key later on so get used to thinking in terms of numbers).

As you know, the primary chords are on the 1st, 4th, and 5th degrees:

CFG 145

But now, lets take it a step further.

Music loves to move in fourths and fifths.

In fact, the interval between C and F is a fourth (perfect fourth, specifically).

And the interval between C and G is a fifth.

To find out what interval youre working with, count the number of alphabet letters encompassed in the interval (that includes the starting and ending notes).

So, between C and F, there is C D E F. Four alphabet letters means this is a fourth interval.

Note: Dont mix up alphabet letters and notes. When you count white and black keys, there are much more than four notes in this interval. Thats not what were talking about. Were solely talking about alphabet letters and not even concerned with anything else.

How many alphabet letters are in between C and G?

Well, lets see

CDEFG

Five! Thats why this is a fifth interval. Get it?

For this lesson, were only going to focus on fourths as they are much more common than fifths in popular chord progressions.

See this circle?

Were going to focus on going counter-clockwise. That is, the direction from C to F to Bb and so on.

These are fourths. Plain and simple.

If you write them out, itll look like this: C > F > Bb > Eb > Ab > Db > Gb > B > E > A > D > G

Memorize this! This is the direction most songs flow in.

And this is what I want to use to help you add flavor to your primary chords.

Question

What are the primary chords of C? (This is easy. You already know the answer because its at the top of this page).

Another question

Where do these primary chords lie on the circle?

Bingo! They are neighbors!

C is right in the middle. To its left is F and to the right is G.

That means they have a very close relationship. This circle isnt just a pretty way to organize keys its a circle of close relationships and the closer notes are arranged on this circle, the stronger they pull and work with each other. By the way, you can find the primary chords for any key by doing this:

Take the key you want to find primary chords for and circle it on the chart (of course, this will be the 1st primary chord). Then go to its left neighbor. This will be another one of the primary chords (4th). Then go to its right neighbor. Thatll be the final primary chord (5th).

Bam! The primary chords for any key.

But back to the lesson

Remember I said that music usually flows in fourths and that going counter-clockwise around the circle will give you fourths?

Well, think about it. In yesterdays, lesson, I told you that Gmaj has a very strong pull to Cmaj. Now, notice where G is on the circle. Its to the right of C (as we just learned) and comes right before it, if youre moving counter-clockwise around the circle.

And pretty much the whole circle works that way.

They key directly to the right side is what pulls the strongest to its neighbor on the left.

So G pulls strong to C.

C pulls strong to F.

F pulls strong to Bb.

Bb pulls strong to Eb.

E pulls strong to A on the other side of the circle.

D pulls strong to G.

Hmm, D pulls strong to G

(And it works the other way around too. G pulls strong to D as well. But for this lesson, were focusing on fourths and the counter-clockwise direction of the circle because this is more common in chord progressions).

Ive got an idea.

Why dont we take a song from yesterday and see if we can pull to any of the Gmaj chords by first using some type of D chord?

But first, lets make sure we talk about the numbers behind this

CDEFGABC 1234567

CFG 145

Now, weve introduced D.

CDFG 1245

So basically, the 2 leads strongly to the 5. (Remember that rule).

In other words, if Im playing a song only with primary chords and I want to start venturing outside my comfort zone, I can first try out a chord on the 2 and there is a high probability that it will work to lead to the 5.

If the circle says it, then its right! :)

So lets take a song from yesterday and see what happens.

A-ma-zing grace how C major ~~~~~~~ (C + E + G)

(Note: It sounds better to play the chord on ma-zing rather than on the first syllable, A)

Sweet the

F major ~~ (F + A + C)

Sound. C major ~ (C + E + G)

That saved a wretch like C major ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (C + E + G)

Me G major (G + B + D)

Now what we can do is slip a 2-chord before the G major.

So that means it should come on:

wretch like

(your ear should have told you that if there should be a new chord added, the best place would be here).

Now, normally the 2-chord is minor. Youd have to go to past lessons to get the scoop on that because this post will be super long if I explain each tone and chord of the major scale.

So try minor there first.

See how it sounds to your ear.

That saved a C major ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (C + E + G)

wretch like D minor ~~~ (D + F + A)

Me G major (G + B + D)

Now, the D minor can surely work there but if it were me, Id keep fishing for a closer match on this 2chord.

So lets try D major

That saved a C major ~~~ (C + E + G)

wretch like D major ~~~ (D + F# + A)

Me G major (G + B + D)

Sounds much better doesnt it!?! We had a similar lesson about this when I talked about secondary dominant chords. Its when a chord acts as the dominant chord of any tone of the scale other than the tonic (the 1). Thats whats going on here. I recommend viewing that lesson when youre done.

I know this is a beginner post but keeping the melody on top is very important.

And the melody on wretch is the note, E.

But E isnt in the D major chord so there are two ways you can do this to spice up your chord movement.

1) Try to add E to the chord as the highest note

OR

2) Try to rearrange chord so that you can add E on top.

Right now, adding E on top of D + F# + A is kinda hard.

But thats where possibility #2 comes in.

What if we invert this D major chord so that D is on top? Again, I cant really talk about inversions here or this post will be super long. Just use the search box up top to search for posts that talk about inversions and youll be caught up to speed!

So inverting the D major chord to F# + A + D (aka first inversion) allows us to put an E right on top:

F# + A + D + E

Now, I personally dont like the sound the D and E make up top and since Id most likely be playing D on my bass (in the left hand), Im going to take it out.

That leaves me with F# + A + E over D bass.

You wanna know what chord youre playing here?

D major (add 9) (F# + A + E on right hand / D on bass)

Thats not bad for a beginning lesson!

But do you see how easy it is to naturally start playing more complex chords? One thing leads to another one requirement leads to the next and before you know it, your ear has taken you to something totally different!

In fact, you can add a C in there and make this a D dominant ninth chord (D9 for short).

D9 (F# + A + C + E / D on bass)

The following is Amazing Grace with the added 2-chord and other inversions to keep the melody on top. Pay close attention to the order of notes in each chord as Ive made some changes:

A-ma-zing grace* how C major (1st inversion) ~~~ (E + G + C)

*On grace, the melody changes to E so you can actually invert your chord from E+G+C to G+C+E (which is 2nd inversion).

Sweet the F major (root inversion) ~~~ (F + A + C)

Sound. C major (root inversion) ~~~ (C + E + G)

That saved a C major (1st inversion) ~~~ (E + G + C)

wretch like D major (add 9) ~~~ (F# + A + E / D bass)

-OR-

D9 (F# + A + C + E / D bass)

Me G major (first inversion) ~~~ (B + D + G)

(Unless otherwise noted, you can play these chords on your right hand and you can play the keynotes of the chords as the bass notes on your left. Basically, C major means C on left and C+E+G on right. Or you can play the chords on your left and pick out the melody and play it on your right hand. Try both ways and see what you like best.)

So there you have it! Without getting too deep (because theres always tomorrow and the next day and the next day), weve learned how to start using other tones of the scale to lead us to our primary chords.

Until next time!