third and seventh / chord type

Early on in my explorations as an emerging jazz soloist, the goal of making the changes in my improvised line while playing through jazz standards was the true test, and when successfully completed, brought to me a real sense of joy and accomplishment. I think I thought it meant that I was creating aural art, and it was very important to me, working within real time and beginning to discover tonal gravity and the fun and challenge to try understand and shape it.

I remember hearing more than once my college professor Dr. Miller say to me "not a bad idea ol'e boy, but play closer attention to the third of the chord." Seems like I was forever goofing up how I was hearing the third of the chord. Ya know, major or minor, perhaps the 1st of the important distinctions for the me emerging jazz wanna be. I gradually came to fix this problem initially by playing arpeggios over as many of the chords as I could, this began to clear up hearing my lines harmonically for major and minor and led me towards the understanding of how the third and seventh degrees of any given chord can be used to determine it's chord qualities within equal temper, creating chord type or families of chords.

For with this knowledge I not only had a way to group chords according to type or function and create and vary their parent scales, but by this understanding began to get a sense of the cyclical nature of the intervals, which eventually opened up into the world of polytonality.

So, how can we employ the concept of chord type in creating improvised musical dialogue? Well, basically in that thinking by chord type, we can place any given chord into one of three broad families of harmonic color, by simply determining the emotional or intervalic quality of their 3rd and 7th degrees. Really? Yep. So where might we use this thinking?

Traditional folk players usually do not think in these terms, the harmony of which is mostly triadic and not extended to include the 7th degree, but modern folk players might if they use modulation in their arrangements. Blues players and rockers are also not likely to think in these terms, but fusion players and advancing blues artists just might as they delve deeper into the blues chord substitutions. Jazz players often think in these terms, but then again, they tend to do it all. And for the most part, these concepts are potentially helpful anytime the music being played changes keys in the normal course of doing business, so for the popular styles of American music, mostly a jazz thing.

So by thinking of any chord as being one of three chord types, finding and creating a parent scale for any chord, from which we can create our melodic ideas, is potentially just that much easier, especially in the more complex music that modulates often and uses non-diatonic color tones to enhance the chords within the harmonic progression of the composition.

So how does thinking by chord type simplify and yet expand the modern improvisers palette of musical colors? Well, by simply determining the 3rd and 7th degrees of any given chord, we can place any chord into one of three chord types, each of which represents a family of chordal colors. Within each of these three families of chords, we find a range of chordal colors, all of which will function in a similar capacity when placed within the common chord progressions of the various styles of American music.

Understanding and utilizing this range of color in the music oftentimes creates the gradually increasing complexity as we evolve stylistically, from the folk styles towards jazz. As a player evolves through the styles, it maybe the understanding of the more complex chords as defined by chord type, that oftentimes function as basic triadic folk chords might, that allows the creative artist to transcend style with grace and sincerity. Historically, has part of the artistic evolution of the various styles within the American sound been created by the trickle down effect of the color tones, defined in this text by chord type, as the jazz legends of the last century forged new paths towards chromaticism? Thus, is the alto sax solo contributed by jazz artist Phil Woods on the classic pop tune "Just The Way You Are" by Billy Joel, indicative of this merging of stylistic complexities? Or simply among the best pop ride / solo ever taken?

So, what is chord function? Any given chord's function is determined by to what degree that particular chord creates a sense of tension or the sense of being at rest in the music, which in this text is referred to as tonal gravity. We evaluate this degree of tension or release as viewed within either the major or minor tonality. So, each of the three chord families, as determined by the quality of their 3rd and 7th, in reality each represent a body of harmony, all of which functions in generally the same manner? Exactly, this way of understanding the resources provides the creative artist with a choice of colors to mix and match at their own discretion, weaving their own pathways of tension and release, through the various styles of American music.

Do the various scales available to the creative musician coincide with these theoretical guidelines of chord families? Yes they do, we can simply categorize any scale based on it's ability to create musical tension or the sense of being at rest, the two basic artistic forces within most of the artforms we enjoy. Is the parent scale, as derived from a chord and defined by chord type, a perfect match of pitches for creating our improvised ideas over the chord? Yes it is. Perfect match? Well, that in of itself is a unique concept n'est pas?

Too many questions? Sorry 'bout that, but it is the nature of my teaching style. To simply prompt the learner to examine and develop their own way of understanding the ideas.

So in with this in mind, getting back to how these concepts are formatted in this text, the three chord types represent families of chordal color, both which help to define chord function and provide options for the creative artist. The basis of creating this distinction between chords is determined by the quality of their 3rd and 7th degrees. Here are the links to the discussions about each of the three types of chords.

Chord type is initially determined in this text by the combination of either a major or minor triad with the added interval of either major or minor 7th. And while there are variations of these elements in addition to these three pairings, common practice in American music over the years consistently utilizes these three basic chordal colors to create the tonal center or sense of stability and tension or need to resolve in the music we love. Compare the intervalic structure of the three chord types, the major 7th, dominant 7th and minor 7th. Click the graphic to hear the chordal colors. Example 1.

Let's spell these three chord from the root note C and compare pitches and intervals. Example 1a.

We can see that in spelling the three chord types from the common fundamental pitch C as done in example 1a, the pitches of the root and fifth of each of the three chords remains the same, thus the interval created between them, the perfect fifth, remains intact throughout all three of the chord types. The interval created between the third and seven of the three types is either a perfect fifth or the diminished fifth / tritone, the essential intervalic component of the dominant 7th chord type. Isolating just the pitches of the 3rd and the 7th from the above chart, compare the sounding of these fifths. Example 1b.

So these three pairings create the 3 chord types? Yep. The diminished 5th / tritone of the dominant color creating the "original dissonance", the "first tension" if you will of diatonic, equal tempered harmony. Adding the root and fifth, here is the sound of the three "types" both as chords in the harmony, the pitches of which are arpeggiated in the melody. Example 1c.

Hear the difference? Potentially subtle to the emerging listener, these three chord types provide the basis for the following discussion.

Which three chord common chord progression diatonically contains one of each of the three different types of chords? Right, the Two / Five / One motion in the major tonality. We can easily rearrange the chords of example 1c and create this potentially important harmonic motion. Using the key of C major, hear how the 3rd of the Two chord becomes the 7th of the Five chord which then resolves by descending half step. Example 1d.

Sound familiar? We hear this harmonic motion somewhere in just about every style of American music. Can you hear the quality of how the minor third of Two becomes the seventh of Five in the melody above evolve with each new chord, creating a guide tone like melody? Part of the coolness of thinking along these lines is that with knowledge of the properties of the chromatic scale, we can project this last idea from any of the 12 major keys created within equal temper by simply applying the correct pitches of the key. When playing through tunes, we oftentimes discover a new chord or voicing, or need to create a new combination of elements to realize the written music.

Most times this discovery is made in one key, the key of the music of the song we are working on. How can we use this new chord in other keys? Can we use the principles of chord type to help utilize this new combination in other keys? You bet. For instance, we learn a new substitute dominant chord voicing for G 7, say G 7b9, we could think of this chord as a "dominant seventh flat nine chord" and build this voicing from the dominant fifth degree of any of the 12 major or 12 minor scales. So, one new voicing now becomes 12 with 24 different keys to use it within. So very simple but so exceptionally cool. This idea of projecting an idea from any of the 12 major and minor tonal centers is what jazz players tend to do. And then there's the blues...

Cool so far? Let's goof up the third and seventh in the following melodic idea and hear how these potentially "wrong" notes hinder the line from really outlining the changes. Example 2.

Wow, sure does bring back some memories for me. Let's fix the line by adjusting the third and seventh. Example 2a.

Mucho better eh? Starting to sound a bit like music again. In the following idea, hear how the "correct" third and seventh degrees of the melody bring forth the color of the chords, as we arpeggiate the changes in the line and weave our way through the 12 major keys using the jazz essential Two / Five / One cadential motion. Using the key scheme provided by the cycle of fourths, this one hums right along. Example 3.

Quite the tonal extravaganza eh? Can you sense the "correctness" of the third and seventh degrees as we quickly modulate from key center to key center? Know of any tunes that use all 12 major keys in it's composition? Pretty rare, I can think of one from school, but that was more an "exercise" than art.

So where can we use these 3rd and 7th / chord type concepts? Perhaps in creating tonal convergence possibilities? In modulating? Can we expand a particular chord type past it's seventh degree? Of course, we do it all here, explore the color tones. Curious about the families of musical colors? Is this concept of chord type based on the third and seventh degree potentially important to the music you currently create? Any comments? Questions?

In review, the third and seventh degree of any seventh chord can be used to determine it's chord type. Three distinct pairings between these two chord degrees provide the essential elements of tension and release for both the major and minor tonalities. While the root and 5th of a chord are constant, the various combinations of major and minor 3rd's and 7th's initially create the three families of chords. From these "harmonic clans" can come all of the myriad of wonderful chordal variation we are continually blessed with. Theorists use these terms somewhat interchangeably, chord type perhaps implying a basic seventh chord color, while chord family oftentimes implies a range of color tone combinations commonly used with particular chord type. Both chord type and family of chords can be used to describe a given chord's function, based on it's ability to create a sense of tension or stability in the music. When we substitute one chord for another, we usually choose a chord of the same type. When looking for different degrees of stability within chord type, we examine it's chord family of possible colors.

Where to next?

review new ideas

A wise person will make more opportunities than they find. Francis Bacon