Theory

Introduction

My aim is not to write an harmony handbook in few rows and I apologise in advance o everyone more expert than me. My purpose is to give few basic information and some samples about the chords order using in an arpeggio.

Many times I found generic indications concerning guitar accompainment simply signaling to "play an arpeggio", sometimes suggesting the right hand movement required.

Anyway, there are some rules in the "classical" or "tonal" harmony, briefly that harmony used (more or less) from XVI century chorals up to almost all the XIX century, and still today, knowingly or not, in a lot of pop music, that might still be observed, just to be a little bit rigorous and, at the same time, to obtain more convincting effects for the most sensitive ears of some listener.

So, in the first part I will try to explain the rules in a nutshell (at least the ones concerning the note selection of two consecutive chords), in the second part I will show a series of chord progressions so that these rules are actually observed (I will limit myself to the most used tonalities).

Introductive note I

Please, pay attention !

When I write an apeggio, e.g.

From the harmonic point of view it is equal to:

Introductive note II

On a keyboard you will find a sequence of black and white keys:

The 7 white keys correspond to the C, D, E, F, G, A, B notes. The 5 black keys are inserted between C and D – you will say C sharp (#) when you mean a C increased of half tone or D flat (b) when you mean a D decreased of half tone – between D and E (D# o Eb), between F and G (F# o Gb), between G and A (G# o Ab) and between A and B (A# o Bb).

All these sounds have the same distance that is called half tone or semitone.

So the # notation shows an increase of half tone, the b a decrease of half tone.

Alterations can be multiple, i.e. Fx is said F double sharp, Bbb , B double flat, etc.

Introductive note III

Guitar playing range is from an E below the staff of the Bass clef to a G / A over the staff of the Violin clef. It is most used the "octave" violin clef, that is a clef whose values are an octave below of the standard violin clef.

Real notes:

Equivalence with the octave clef

The lowest note is the open sixth string (E). Pushing the first fret with the left hand we can hear an F and then, on the sixth string, each time we move to the next fret, we increase the note of an half tone: so, on the sixth string, we will have in the first positions:

On the fifth string:

On the fourth string:

On the third string:

On the second string:

And finally on the first string:

The major scale

The major scale (let's take the C major scale as an example) is the scale everyone know how to sing (C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C). Following what I said above, between C and D there is one tone, between D and E one tone, between E and F half tone, between F and G one tone, between G and A one tone, between A and B one tone and finally, to come full circle, between B and C half tone.

In harmony, the first note is said tonic (C), the fourth is said subdominant (F), the fifth is said dominant (G), the seventh is said Leading-tone (and it is half note below the tonic).

This sequence of intervals is the same for each major scale.

If we start, for example, from an A, the second note must be one tone from the first, so it will be a B, the third will be one more tone above, so it will be a C# as B and C are half tone distant, and going on we will find D, E F# and G#.

The minor scale

The minor scale (let's take the A minor scale as an example) is made by the tonic (A), followed by the second that is one tone above (B), the third is an half tone above (C), the fourth (subdominant) one tone above (D), the fifth (dominant) one tone above (E), the sixth is one half tone above (F) and the sventh (leading-tone) is three half-tones above (G#). So the leading-tone is half tone below the tonic. Sometimes the seventh may not have any alteration (so loosing its leading.tone function) and sometimes the sixth too may be alterated (it means F#).

The most frequent cases concern the descending scale that usually needs the two notes not altered (see the sequence below)

And the ascending scale that usually needs the two notes altered

The intervals

An interval is said harmonic when you have two notes played at the same time, melodic when you have two notes played in sequence.

Starting from any note (i.e. C) you can have the following intervals:

Unison.

Unison can be perfect (i.e. C – C), augmented (C – C#), diminished (C – Cb ). There could be other definitions that go far beyond these few rows.

Second

The interval of second can be major (C – D), minor (C – Db ), augmented (C – D#), diminished (C – Dbb )

Please, pay attention: writing C – C# or C – Db , from an harmonic point of view is not the same although it id the same sound (the intervals are said enharmonics).

Third

Same as the second, it can be major (C – E), minor (C – Eb ), augmented (C – E#), diminished (C – Ebb )

Fourth

Same as unison, it can be perfect (i.e. C – F), augmented (C – F#), diminished (C – Fb ).

Fifth

Same as unison, it can be perfect (i.e. C – G), augmented (C – G#), diminished (C – Gb ).

Sixth

Same as the second, it can be major (C – A), minor (C – Ab ), augmented (C – A#), diminished (C – Abb )

Seventh

Same as the second, it can be major (C – B), minor (C – Bb ), augmented (C – B#), diminished (C – Bbb )

 

Chords

A chord is a set of notes played together. We will see two types of chords, the three different tones (triads) and the four tones.

Please, note that we intend three or four different notes, for example:

is a triad (C-E-G-C). From the intervals point of view we will say that E is the third (it is a third distant from the root) and G is the fifth third (it is a fifth distant from the root).

We will take into account chords built "on third" that is placing above the first note of the chord (i.e. C), a second note that is a third above, a third note that is a third above the second note and, in case, a fourth note that is a third above the third note).

 

Type of chords

A major chord is a chord whose second note is a major third distant from the first note and whose third note is a minor third distant from the second note.

A minor chord is a chord whose second note is a minor third distant from the first note and whose third note is a major third distant from the second note.

Note

Following what we wrote, to build an A major chord I have to take an A, the note that is a major third above, that is a C# and the note that is a minor third above the C#, that is an E.

To build an A minor chord I have to take an A, the note that is a minor third above, that is a C and the note that is a major third above the C, that is an E.

You can see easily that the two chords are equal except for the intermediate note that has an half tone variation and is said mediant and its variation identify major mode and minor mode.

A diminshed chord is a chord in which the second note is a minor third distant from the first and the third note is a minor third distant from the second note.

An augmented chord is a chord in which the second note is a major third distant from the first and the third note is a major third distant from the second note.

A four sound chord is built as over but adding a minor or a major third as the fourth note. I will not describe it for now.

 

The degrees

Starting from a scale, the chord built on the triad starting from the first note is said first degree chord (or tonic). For instance in C major it is formed by C-E-G.

The chord built on the triad starting from the second note is said second degree chord. For instance in C major it is formed by D-F-A.

Going on we will find the third degree, fourth degree (or subdominant), fifth degree (or dominant), sixth and seventh degree.

Chords are built following the specific alterations of the scale of the choosen tonality.

In a major tonality, the first degree is - obviously - a major chord (i.e. C-E-G), the second degree a minor chord and the third is minor too, the fourth and the fifth are major chords, the sixth is a minor chord and the seventh is a diminished chord.

In a minor tonality, the first degree is - obviously - a minor chord, the second degree a diminished chord, the third is major, the fourth is a minor chord, the fifth is usually a major chords (with alteration of the leading-tone), the sixth is a major chord and the seventh is a diminished chord (with alteration of the leading-tone).

Example:      A major (F#, C# and G# in cleff)                   A minor (no alteration in cleff)

I degree:         A-C#-E                                                                          A-C-E

II degree:        B-D-F#                                                                          B-D-F

III degree:       C#-E-G#                                                                       C-E-G

IV degree:      D-F#-A                                                                           D-F-A

V degree:       E-G#-B                                                                          E-G#-B (rare E-G-B)

VI degree:      F#-A-C#                                                                        F-A-C

VII degree:     G#-B-D                                                                          G#-B-D

As you can see, there are only two identical chords and they are on the V and on the VII degree.

 

Complements

Chords can be in root position (the tonic is in the bass), at first complement (the third is in the bass) and more rarely at second complement (the fifth is in the bass).

A seventh chord can also have the seventh in the bass.

Example on C chord

Root position

First complement

Second complement

Seventh in the bass

Parts

We will consider 4 parts that, in analogy with uman voices, we will define, starting from the lowest, Bass, Tenor, Alto and Soprano.

Referring to the already known chord:

The low C is the Bass part, the E is the Tenor, the G is the Alto and the high C is the Soprano.

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Basic rules

A brief explanation of the main rules, leaving the thousands of exception aside..

Please note: all the following examples are thought to have no alteration in cleff

1 In a chord you always have to have the tonic (C in the example) and the third (E in the example).

So:

Ok (the fifth is missing)

No (the third is missing)

The tonic is quite obvious, but the third too is quite obvious, as it is the note that distinguish between the major and the minor chord, if it is missing, it is the identity of the chord that is missing.

2 Movements of parallel fifth or eigth are forbidden.

Here is an example

The interval between Bass and Tenor is a fifth both in the starting and in the final chord and the interval between Bass and Alto is an eigth both in the starting and in the final chord: you "start" from a fifth (or from an eigth) and you "arrive" on a fifth (or on an eigth). They are said parallel (or consecutive) fifth or eigth.

3 Movements toward a fifth or an eigth using similar motion are forbidden (it means both parts raising or descending).

It happens starting from a whichever interval and arriving to a fifth or an eigth using similar motion.

The interval between Bass and Tenor starts from a third and arrives to a fifth and both parts move in the same direction. They are said hidden fifth or eigth.

They are accepted if the lower part jumps (it moves at least of a third - skip) and the higher part moves of conjunct movement (step).

Viceversa is not perfect but non a serious error (I apologise to the purists).

The Bass steps and the Tenor skips (E-A).

4 The seventh intervals have to be prepared, that means that the note that will become the seventh must appear in the previous chord:

The second chord is a F major with the seventh (E note that is a seventh distant from F). In the first picture E is present and in the same part in the previous chord, in the second picture this is not true.

Ok

No

The second chord is a F major with the seventh (E note that is a seventh distant from F). In the first picture E is present and in the same part in the previous chord, in the second picture this is not true.

A very important exception is the seventh chord built on the dominant (dominant seventh chord), that is for instance, in C major tonality:

Ok

5 The seventh chords must resolve. Resolve means that the seventh in the chord must step down.

The seventh chords must resolve. Resolve means that the seventh in the chord must step down.

6 Diminished intervals must resolve stepping down.

7 The leading-tone must step up to the tonic.

This is fundamental rule for all the tonal music (anyway many exceptions exists..)

An exchange resolution is also accepted that is, preferably in the inside parts (Tenor and Alto), tonic can be reached from a part close to that one that had the leading-tone.

In this example, the B of the Tenor resolve on the C of the Alto. It is often used in the V to I degree passages so to have the complete chord on the I degree without harmonic errors.

8 Some notes cannot be doubled

All notes that have compulsory resolution, for the obvious reason that their correct resolution would create a parallel eigth movement.

9 You cannot have augmented melodic skips

In a major scale, skipping from the fourth to the seventh degree is forbidden as it is augmented.

In the minor mode it is the ascending skip fron the sixth to the second (see the example above) or the step from the sixth to the leading-tone (the altered seventh).

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Notes outside harmony

Some notes can be inserted even if outside harmony, that is they are not pard of the current chord. They can be:

1 Passage notes

Notes on the weak beat that join two notes of harmony in step. For example:

B is on the weak beat and it is a passage note

2 Neighbor tones

Notes on the weak beat that steps and go back to the starting note

Ascending neighbor tone

Descending neighbor tone

3 Delays

Note that delays its step down on the weak beat of the following chord