My First 9 chord substitution and toying with the time signature

SuzukHammer · Sep 15, 2010

I am reading and studying the variations on blues progressions.

Its what got me started on uke.

So, they had this simple example of a substitution going from G - Cmaj7 to G9 -Cmaj7.

I thought... What???? I did it anyway against my will.

But Damned!!! What a nice chord. and what a nice little small chord progression.

I also strung along some other chord progressions based on ukulele JJ's recomendation to try different time signatures. It turned into experimenting with one thing after another and BLAM!! it seemed to open up some fun music. This is just simple chords and tweaking with the rhythm.

This uke stuff is fun. And I don't think I'm going to be stuck on a 12 bar blues mentality.

savethecheerleader · Sep 15, 2010

It's amazing how much one note or chord can entirely alter the feel of a chord progression. I've found myself be really particular lately about selecting the right chord voicing (or variation) on the fretboard depending on the song. Different chords have different textures when you play them. When you consider there are several options for how to play an E major chord on the neck a whole new world opens up.

Another thing you can try doing is substituting your V chords for vi7 chords and your IV chords for ii7 chords. So in the example above it might be... G - Cmaj7 - Em7 - Am7.

The reason it works is because your Em7 chord has a E, G, B, D in it and a G chord has G, B, D in it. So you are only adding one note. Same goes with a C chord which has a C, E, G. An Am7 has a A, C, E, G in it.

So many options! Love it

SuzukHammer · Sep 15, 2010

savethecheerleader said:
It's amazing how much one note or chord can entirely alter the feel of a chord progression. I've found myself be really particular lately about selecting the right chord voicing (or variation) on the fretboard depending on the song. Different chords have different textures when you play them. When you consider there are several options for how to play an E major chord on the neck a whole new world opens up.

Another thing you can try doing is substituting your V chords for vi7 chords and your IV chords for ii7 chords. So in the example above it might be... G - Cmaj7 - Em7 - Am7.

The reason it works is because your Em7 chord has a E, G, B, D in it and a G chord has G, B, D in it. So you are only adding one note. Same goes with a C chord which has a C, E, G. An Am7 has a A, C, E, G in it.

So many options! Love it

I-iv7 -vi7-ii7 passive - active - passive- active. I don't know what passive and active mean. I just read it in the notes but it looks like you are playing soothing music, then generating tension, baack to soothing and then to tension ( and leaving it at tension so the listener wants more). What style of music is this good with? The 7ths make me think its good with blues.

Did you study Sheller's Blues book? That's what I am studying.

savethecheerleader · Sep 15, 2010

I'm not sure what passive and active mean in this context either. The minor chords do create a little bit of tension, but it still feels very natural because you're only adding one note to the chord. I would agree that the little bit of tension definitely creates some interest. When you get to the last chord it feels like it wants to resolve back to the I chord. It is pretty soothing.

You are right.. seventh chords are often found with blues and jazz stuff. It seems like dominant 7th chords (where the 7th is lower a half step; e.g. G7, A7, E7, etc.) are more common in the blues though.

I'm not familiar with Sheller's blues book. I'll have to check it out. I studied guitar and music theory through college so a lot of this stuff I'm just applying over to the uke.

My First 9 chord substitution and toying with the time signature

SuzukHammer

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savethecheerleader

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SuzukHammer

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savethecheerleader

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