Circle of 5Th Chord Progression

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Circle of 5Th Chord Progression Circle of 5th Chord Progression Buckeye Dulcimer Festival - Intermediate 2 Workshop prepared by: Katie Moritz For supporting files, visit: www.katiemoritz.com/workshops/int2 Introduction At an “Intermediate 2” level, you are already familiar with the basics of how chording works. The purpose of learning the Circle of 5ths progression is to expand on your understanding of chords by working cycling through 7 different chords for each note in the scale. Not only is this progression common in many popular songs, the chords can be rearranged and modified to create endless musical possibilities. In this workshop, we will be working in the key of A minor. A minor is relative to C major, which means there are no sharps or flats. Playing in this key will simplify explanations, and will fit on most dulcimers. The Circle of 5ths We’ll begin by looking at the circle of 5ths! The diagram to the right shows the circle of 5ths as most people recognize it. If this is the first time you’ve seen the circle of 5ths, you might be fairly confused. For the purpose of this workshop, however, it is not im- portant that you completely understand this diagram, or why it is so important to musicians. It is just import- ant that you know it exists and that you can recognize the progression. Notice the order of the letters going clockwise. Don’t worry about flats and sharps...just notice there is a repeated pattern: C – G – D – A – E – B – F C is between a G and an F. D is between an A and a G. It doesn’t matter if it’s flat, sharp, or natural, this pattern is consistent. Instead of starting on C, you can start on A, but the order remains the same: A – E – B – F, and so on. You can even go through the order backwards: A – D – G – C – F, and so on. Even if you’ve never seen a circle of 5ths, these ideas might be looking familiar to you. This is how the keys on the dulcimer are arranged! Our instruments are organized in 5ths and the layout actually displays a portion of the circle in linear form. This is why I call the hammered dulcimer a road map to understanding basic music theory. Let’s move onto the chord progression. 1 Circle of 5ths Progression Exercise for Hammered Dulcimer Arr. Katie Moritz A m Circle of 5ths ProgressionA m CircleThere areof obviously 5ths several Progression ways you can work your way around the circleExercise of fifths for with Hammered chord progressions. Dulcimer Please under- standExercise that this for is notHammered the only wayDulcimer to go through the4 circle. You can go clockwiseœ or counter clockwise. You can start in a œ Arr. Katie Moritz major key or a minor key. You can be strictly& diatonic,4 or youArr. can Katie œborrow Moritzœ chords fromœ otherœ keys. Simply put, if theœ orderœ œ œ of the chords corresponds with the circle of fifths, Ayouœm are technicallyœ Circle playing ofa circle 5ths of 5ths progression.Progressionœ Aœm œ œ A m A m D m Exercise for HammeredD m Dulcimer CircleFor this ofworkshop, 5ths we will Progression be working3 counter clockwise in the key of A minor. There will be 1 borrowed chord, but the CircleExercise of for Hammered5ths Progression Dulcimer 4 Arr. Katie Moritz rest will be completely diatonic to the key of &A minor.4 œ œ œ œ œ œ 4 œExercise for Hammered Dulcimer œ œArr.œ Katieœ œ Moritzœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ & 4 œ Whatœ will thisœ lookœ like? & œ œœ Aœmœ œ Arr.œ Katie Moritzœ œ Aœmœ œ œ œ A m œ œ A m œ Dœm œ Dœm œ Circle of 5ths Progressionœ 3 D m A m ExerciseA minor for — Hammered D minorD Dulcimer—m G majorA m —G C major — F major — B diminished 7 — E dominantG 7 (borrowed) 3 4 œ œ 5 & 4 Arr. Katie Moritzœ œ œ œ œ œ 4 œ œ œ œ œœ œœ œ œ œ œ œ œœ œœ œ œœ œ & 4 4 œ œ œ œ œ œ & œ œœ œ œœ œ œ œ œ œœ œ & A&m 4œœ œ œ œ œ œ A m œ œœD m œ œœ œ œ D m œ œ œ œ A minor œ œ œ œ 3 & œ œ œœ Dœ minor œ œ D m œ œ D mœ œ Gœ œ œ œ œ œ G œ œ œ œ 3 5 œ œ G D m G D m C œ C œ 5 3 4 œ A — C — E œ œ œD — F — A œ œ & 4 œ œ 7 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ &œœ œ œ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œ œ & œ œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ &œ œ œœ œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ D&m & œ œ œ œ œ D m Gœœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ Gœ œ œ œ œ 3 œ œ œ œ œ œ 5œ&œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ Gœ œ œ Gœ œ Cœ œ Cœ 5 G Major 7 C Major C G œ œ œ C G œF œ œ F &7 5 œ œ Gœ — B —œ D œ œ9& œ œ œC — E — G œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ & œ œ œ œ œ &œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ &G & œ œ œ œ œ œ œ G œ œ C œœ œœ œ œ œ œ œ C œ œ œ œ 5 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ 7 & œœ œ œ œ Cœ œ œ Cœ œ F œ F 7 œ œ 9 F C F C B dim7 œ B dim7 œ 9 7 œ 11 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ & œ œ œ F Major & œ œ œ œ œ Bœ dim7œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œF œ— A —œ C œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ B — D œ— F —œ A œ œ œ œ œ &œ œ œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ &œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ &C &œ œ œ œ œ C œ œ F œ œ œœ œ œ F œ œ œ 7 œ œ œ œ 9œ& œ œ œ œ œ F œ F œ B diœm7 œ œ B diœm7 œ œ 9 11 œ œ B dim7F œ B dim7F E7 œ œ œ E7 œ œ 11 9 œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ & œ œ œ œ B diminishedœ œ œ 7 is just one optionœ forœ13& this œchord.œ œ Youœ couldœ eliminateœ œ the A, making this œa plain ol’œ B diminishedœ chord. œ &œ œ œ œ Anotherœ œ thingœ someœ songsœ will doœ is &startœ workingœ towardsœ pullingœœ œ towardsœ œ œthe next chord, which is E7 in this case. E7œ is œ œ œ œ not diatonic andœ has beenœ borrowed from theœ keyœ of A œmajor. œBecauseœœ of that,œ sometimesœ œ musicians willœ play aœ B minorœ œ œ œ œ &F & œ œ œ œ œF œ B dœim7 œ œ œ œ œ œ B dœim7 œ œ 9 œ œ œ chord insteadœ of aœ B diminishedœ œchord.11& œ Othersœ #willœ substitute a chordœ likeœ a G7 chord, whichœ consistsœ of# œmany of the same œ B dœim7 notes. This adds color toB dtheœim7 tune. The Echord7 is flexible, but for this exercise, we’re going to useE 7a Bdim7. 11 œ 13 œ E7B dim7 œ œ E7B dim7 Aœm œ A m 13 11 œ œ œ15 œ œ œ & œ œ The next chordœ is E dominantœ œ 7 (E7).& This chord is theœ onlyœ chord œœthat isœ not in œthe key of A minor. It is calledœ a “borœ- œ œ œ œ rowed chord” because it has been borrowedœ fromœ A major.œ œ Why? The easiest answerœ is œbecause itœ soundsœ coolœ and, mu- œ œ & œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ &œ œ œ#œ œ œ œ œ œ œ #œ œ B&dim&7 œ #œ œ œ sicallyœ speaking,œ œ itœ hasB di ma 7strongœ # pullœ backœE to7 A minor.œ Couldœ youœœ stayœ œdiatonicœ œ and play an E minorE7 instead? Sure. Someœ œ œ 11 œ œ œ tunes do. But œfor thisœ exercise,œ we want13œ& to getœ outside theœ box and incorporateœ œ thisœ chord from a different key. œ œ E7 œ E7 œ A m œ œ A m œ œ 13 15 œ For more support visit www.katiemoritz.com/workshops/int2œ A mE7 A mE7 œ œ œ œ œ œ &15 13 œ œ œ œ œ E7œ œ& œ #œœ œ œœ œ œ œ #œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ E —œ G#œ — B —œ D œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ & œ #œ œ œ œ œ œ œ #œ & œœ œ œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ E&7 & #œ œ œ œ œ Eœ7 #œ Aœmœ œ œ For moreœ supportœ visit www.katiemoritz.com/workshops/int2Aœm 13 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ 15 œ œ œ Aœm For more support visit www.katiemoritz.com/workshops/int2Aœm 15 2 A m œ A m œ 15 œ œ œ œ œ œ & œ #œ œ œ œ œ #œ œ& œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ & œ œ œ œ œ Forœ more support visit www.katiemoritz.com/workshops/int2 A m&œ œ œ œ œ A m œ œ œ œ œ 15 œ œ For more support visit œwww.katiemoritz.com/workshops/int2œ œ œ œ œ œ For more support visit www.katiemoritz.com/workshops/int2œ œ œ œ œ œ œ & œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ For more support visit www.katiemoritz.com/workshops/int2œ Circle of 5ths Progression Exercise for Hammered Dulcimer Arr.
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