Hey Friend,

Here is a handful of exercises illustrating various chord changes from E major to D# diminished.

These combinations have a distinct directional sound to them. We start with an E chord - the root chord in the key of E. As you play it, notice there is a feeling of rest and completeness. It's very similar to the feeling you get when you've arrived home after a long day out.

Then D#° comes into play. How does that sound feel? 

Clearly there's a directional change in pitch - you can hear the downward motion with the notes used in each chord. 

But what about the tension between these two chords?

When you play E, it's easy to stay there, comfortable. When you change to D#°, you instantly feel the pull to go back to E.

It's like stretching a rubber band. As soon as you stretch it past its resting state, you have resistance, and all that rubber band wants to do is get back to relaxing.

Like we've seen with the other keys we've studied, the root chord in a key is like the sun with its gravitational pull. The closer you get to the sun (or any planetary body), the greater the pull towards it.

I'm working up some exercises - chord progressions - that will help you get a handle on how to use all this knowledge. For now, here are the exercise files:

Friday Eve, everybody! Rock it out!

Peace~

Dave