Hey Friend,
Got a new exercise for you today. In this one, we’re mixing up some 7ths and a couple major chords.
The standard progression would be I IIIm IV V, but I’ve changed the IIIm to a IIIm7 and the IV to a IVM7.
While I didn’t tab it out, I’d like you to play the standard progression first before playing the substituted chords.
The chords are as follows in the key of A major:
I IIIm IV V
A C#m D E
Pretty normal sounding, right?
Let’s see what happens to the progression with the 7th chords:
I IIIm7 IVM7 V
A C#m7 DM7 E
To me, the addition of the minor 7th and then the major 7 notes (respectively) gives the progression a lot more emotional punch than straight major and minor triads. There's something beautiful about the tension of "almost being there" in the scale - like you're almost back to the starting point (the tonic) with that feeling of completion.
That's the beauty of inserting these additional notes into standard triads. You really open up a lot of sonic possibilities for emotional exploration.
Here are the exercises:
What do you think? Good stuff, huh? Anyone want to take a guess at a pretty famous song using a similar progression? There’s an extra chord in this exercise (the V), but if you know the song, you’ll probably hear it right away.
I’ll give you a little hint - it’s by a former Beatle...
Peace~
Dave
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