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Overview of The C Chord Family – Lesson 21

Saoirse Byrne

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Personally, when i learn a bunch of of new chord positions like this i just mess around with them and come up with a progression. I think it’s one if those things you just have to practice every so often so you don’t forget. Jam with it a bit, try different strumming patterns and arpeggios of the chords, maybe add in some pentatonic lead. If you feel you can remember the positions decently I would move on.

Since you don’t write then I would pick a simple song containing some of those chords, can be anything, and create your own version using the new positions you’ve learnt to create something different.

Hope that helped a bit haha! good luck!
 
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Dominik Gräber

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    Personally, when i learn a bunch of of new chord positions like this i just mess around with them and come up with a progression. I think it’s one if those things you just have to practice every so often so you don’t forget. Jam with it a bit, try different strumming patterns and arpeggios of the chords, maybe add in some pentatonic lead. If you feel you can remember the positions decently I would move on.

    Since you don’t write then I would pick a simple song containing some of those chords, can be anything, and create your own version using the new positions you’ve learnt to create something different.

    Hope that helped a bit haha! good luck!
    It definetly helped! I will try that, thanks
     
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    Ethan Keeling

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    Dude, this CAGED thing FUCKED me up. I remembered the patterns by simply playing them over again, with a metronome and them I used the pentatonics while I jammed, need to do that with the arps and major scales too now. I overcomplicated it, just think simple, know your root notes for chords and you will be fine. I made a video on my riffs page highlighting some things I found really useful in terms of learning what is what and where to find them and understand some stuff better.
     
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    umaheavymetalfreaks

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    Papa Gates told that there is no f# note in the c family...i got it but the only note we have shifted is from d# to natural d.....my index finger was already in f natural note ....as index finger moved like a to b to c to d to e to directly f note ....not f# according to rules..... So i didn't understand why papa gates told to make a f natural note in bdiminshed....i think it should be a d natural note... So am i right in this case or not?
     

    idssdi

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    Papa Gates told that there is no f# note in the c family...i got it but the only note we have shifted is from d# to natural d.....my index finger was already in f natural note ....as index finger moved like a to b to c to d to e to directly f note ....not f# according to rules..... So i didn't understand why papa gates told to make a f natural note in bdiminshed....i think it should be a d natural note... So am i right in this case or not?
    A diminshed triad is stacked minor thirds, so do B diminshed it would be B D and F. In principle basic chords are build around triads so you need three notes to make up the chord. From the definition of a diminished triad you know you need a note a minor third apart and a tritone apart (two minor thirds). When you go up a minor third from B you get a D, if you then go up a minor third again you get an F so it's B D F
     
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    Jak Angelescu

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    Papa Gates told that there is no f# note in the c family...i got it but the only note we have shifted is from d# to natural d.....my index finger was already in f natural note ....as index finger moved like a to b to c to d to e to directly f note ....not f# according to rules..... So i didn't understand why papa gates told to make a f natural note in bdiminshed....i think it should be a d natural note... So am i right in this case or not?
    Did you understand Ids's response?
     
    J

    Jak Angelescu

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    How do we know which chords to play major or minor in a chord family?
    It's very simple! The formula for a major key is Major minor minor perfect 4th perfect 5th minor diminished so if you have the key of C major you would have your notes of CDEFGAB. If you go in order of the formula, each note is relative to each part of the formula. So we would have C major, D minor, E minor, F major (perfect 4th) G major (perfect 5th), A minor and B diminished. The reason why you do not have a D major chord in the key of C is because the chord of a D major has an F# in it. And that is not in the key of C. But by flatting the 3rd (which is am F# in the key of D) you put it into the key of C because it becomes an F natural. Does that make sense? So if you have something that is in the key of D major, you play a D major scale and use that formula to find which chords would be minor major and diminished. Why don't you try it out? Tell me what chords would be in the key of D major 🙂
     
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    Bellah83

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    It's very simple! The formula for a major key is Major minor minor perfect 4th perfect 5th minor diminished so if you have the key of C major you would have your notes of CDEFGAB. If you go in order of the formula, each note is relative to each part of the formula. So we would have C major, D minor, E minor, F major (perfect 4th) G major (perfect 5th), A minor and B diminished. The reason why you do not have a D major chord in the key of C is because the chord of a D major has an F# in it. And that is not in the key of C. But by flatting the 3rd (which is am F# in the key of D) you put it into the key of C because it becomes an F natural. Does that make sense? So if you have something that is in the key of D major, you play a D major scale and use that formula to find which chords would be minor major and diminished. Why don't you try it out? Tell me what chords would be in the key of D major 🙂


    D major, E minor, F# minor, G major, A major, B minor... I want to say C# next, since it's the next note. But, I'm not quite sure about the diminished part yet.

    Why are they called perfect 4th and perfect 5th, and not just major?

    Thank you Jak!
     
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    idssdi

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    D major, E minor, F# minor, G major, A major, B minor... I want to say C# next, since it's the next note. But, I'm not quite sure about the diminished part yet.

    Why are they called perfect 4th and perfect 5th, and not just major?

    Thank you Jak!
    It's C#dim, it has a root b3 and b5 in it's triad form.

    Jak messed up a little bit there 😅

    Perfect 4th and perfect 5th are intervals G is the perfect 4th of D and A is the perfect 5th of D for example. They are called perfect because they say nothing about major or minor tonality.

    If you go into chord it doesn't work like that because chords are made up of intervals. If a perfect 4th is in the chord it can be a sus4 chord, add 4 chord or an 11 chord for example. So yes the G and A chord are major in the key of D major. If you switch to the key of D minor they are G minor and A minor, D harmonic minor Gm and A(it's a dom7 chord it's pretty nice) etc.
     
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    Jak Angelescu

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    It's C#dim, it has a root b3 and b5 in it's triad form.

    Jak messed up a little bit there 😅

    Perfect 4th and perfect 5th are intervals G is the perfect 4th of D and A is the perfect 5th of D for example. They are called perfect because they say nothing about major or minor tonality.

    If you go into chord it doesn't work like that because chords are made up of intervals. If a perfect 4th is in the chord it can be a sus4 chord, add 4 chord or an 11 chord for example. So yes the G and A chord are major in the key of D major. If you switch to the key of D minor they are G minor and A minor, D harmonic minor Gm and A(it's a dom7 chord it's pretty nice) etc.
    Yeah I kind of blended intervals in there. But I definitely see now why I shouldn't have said it like that. I did say it right later on and tried to relate the notes to their intervals but yes. Ids explained it better
     
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    Bellah83

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    Yeah I kind of blended intervals in there. But I definitely see now why I shouldn't have said it like that. I did say it right later on and tried to relate the notes to their intervals but yes. Ids explained it better
    Is Ids a machine or something? Dudes knowledge is incredible. I've heard terms like perfect 4th or 5th, dim, sus, add. And they all kind of fly over my head most times. I'm glad you used the term so it could be clarified here.

    Is there a specific resource on here that lists chord family formulas? I've been sorting through lessons searching. Is it something we just need to memorize?

    Major chord families, minor, dorian, phrygian, etc? The scales/modes make sense to me now, but I want to make sure I'm using the right chords under them. I've been locked into to using the Aeolian mode over power chords for a long time.

    Thanks again to the both of yous. 🤘
     

    idssdi

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    Is Ids a machine or something? Dudes knowledge is incredible. I've heard terms like perfect 4th or 5th, dim, sus, add. And they all kind of fly over my head most times. I'm glad you used the term so it could be clarified here.

    Is there a specific resource on here that lists chord family formulas? I've been sorting through lessons searching. Is it something we just need to memorize?

    Major chord families, minor, dorian, phrygian, etc? The scales/modes make sense to me now, but I want to make sure I'm using the right chords under them. I've been locked into to using the Aeolian mode over power chords for a long time.

    Thanks again to the both of yous. 🤘
    I do refer to my brain as a .exe sometimes so who knows 🤷

    I figure most of them out by myself, it helps remembering and actually having them ready when you need them. You can also find them on the internet if you want to but that usually means I have to keep looking things like this up and don't really want to. If you can figure out one chord family you can pretty much do all, it all works the same. Some chord theory is required though (try Rick Beatos your channel or his book he's a gold mine as far as theory is concerned).

    The aeolian mode is the sixth mode of the major scale so for D that's B for example. Make all the chords powerchords and let it resolve back to B every time(B A G G and all powerchords does the trick)

    Powerchords can be pretty fun to solo over because you can do some cool major/minor mixing if you're into that.
     
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