Over time, my taste changes somewhat and I find myself gravitating toward new ideas. I can point out a few in the recent arrangement of “Honey in the Rock,” but I want to talk about one in particular. Check out these examples and then we will talk about them. If I asked you to name […]
Tag Archives: dominant chord
After publishing my latest free arrangement of “Christ Arose” last week, several of you asked for me to discuss it in a video so here it is. I wrote the arrangement in just a few minutes and I don’t consider it to be the best thing I have ever done. The one thing I consciously did while […]
The question I asked on my Facebook page today was this: which note in a dominant chord is most expendable.
The answer is the 5th. The 5th is not only unnecessary but actually hurts the sound a bit I think. In fact, I never put the 5th in a dominant chord unless the melody is the 5th.
In the past, I have spent a lot of time talking about the importance of the 7th in your chords. Sevenths are not the end of where you need to go, but they are a huge start in the right direction. One of the challenging things about using a 7th is choosing whether to use […]
Let’s talk about 7ths. In my opinion, 7ths are the gateway to where we are trying to go in arranging/improvisation. It is usually the first and easiest way to alter a chord, and 7ths will by themselves add a lot of depth to your sound. When we start re-harmonizing hymns, it will be our goal […]
So you know you have to add 7ths and you know which 7th to add to each chord. Now, here are a few easy ways to make that happen.
Wonder which 7ths belong in which chord? Here is a easy way to remember.