Subject: The Ides of March
The Ides of March
March 15th, 2017 at 8:30 am EDTHey Friend, "Beware the Ides of March" - William Shakespeare in Julius Caesar. It's March 15, the "Ides of March," the day Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC. I remember reading the play in junior high school. I think that's about the time I als ...
Altered Chords In A Minor
March 14th, 2017 at 8:34 am EDTHey Friend, We talked yesterday about the opening chord progression from "House of The Rising Sun" by The Animals. I explained that while the song was written in the key of A minor, that didn't prevent the writer from changing the chord to fit the mo ...
Using A Minor Progressions
March 13th, 2017 at 8:29 am EDTHey Friend, There are all sorts of things we can do with the chords from the key of A minor/C major, and there are plenty of songs that will attest to that fact. Remember House of the Rising Sun (The Animals)? How about Stairway to Heaven (Led Zeppel ...
The Alex Lifeson Chord
March 12th, 2017 at 10:17 am EDTHey Friend, Gotta keep this one brief today... again. I didn't realize we were going through the bi-yearly time change and I was losing an hour. This one snuck up on me and did a number - we were up much later than normal waiting to pick up my younge ...
Saturday Work Detail
March 11th, 2017 at 8:28 am EDTHey Friend, I'm on another home improvement work detail again today - this time laying down flooring in the bathroom.While I would have liked to finish this project off this weekend, it's not to be. The vanity top isn't going to be installed until Mo ...
G Major as the VII Chord
March 10th, 2017 at 8:31 am EDTHey Friend, Woot! Friday!! What's more, I'm leaving early to take my daughter to the airport for her first ever solo vacation. She's heading for Scotland and Ireland, so I'm definitely jealous! (I'll have her turn a bit south from Edinburgh to wave t ...
F Major as the VI Chord
March 9th, 2017 at 8:26 am EDTHey Friend, F major weighs in next as the VI chord in the harmonic progression of the key of A minor. If you recall, F was the IV chord in the key of C. So like all its co-stars in the key of A minor, its position is merely shifted BACK by two spots: ...
E Minor as the Vm Chord
March 8th, 2017 at 8:25 am EDTHey Friend, E minor steps up as the next chord in the key of A minor. The chord is derived from the key of E minor and its resulting scale: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 (8)E F# G A B C D (E) We take the 1 3 5 notes from the E minor scale and that gives us what we ...
D Minor as the IVm Chord
March 7th, 2017 at 8:27 am EDTHey Friend, We're rolling through these chords! D minor is the fourth chord in the key of A minor. I tend to think primarily in major keys, so it's a little odd to be calling the IV chord minor. Of course, it's all relative to the key you're working ...
C Major as the III Chord
March 6th, 2017 at 8:27 am EDTHey Friend, Like we saw in the key of C major, the C major chord follows the B diminished chord in the harmonic progression of A minor. The difference here is that this time around, C major is the III chord. It's still major, but now C is occupying a ...