May Music Blog

Dean Cutinelli here from the Colorado School of Music. Remember we are just a call away to start your private music lessons. We offer guitar lessons, piano lessons, drum lessons, Violin lessons, vocal lessons as well orchestral instruments. Now on to our discussion about jamming over two major chords.

Today I’m going to be discussing all the possibilities for jamming over two major chords. For this example we will use G major and C Major. At first glance you should be thinking that these two chords are from the key of G major. The progression is a I IV in the key of G. With that said for improvising over these two chords your first thought should be I can play G major scale and the relative minor scale which is E minor. Second I would jam the G major pentatonic scale and E minor pentatonic scale one this I IV  progression in G major.  Next try playing a G minor pentatonic scale. This will give you that classic rock sound. At first it may sound a little harsh but with some good phrasing this sound is a lot of fun to jam with. I like to do a little call and answer with the G major pentatonic and G minor pentatonic scales. The next sounds you can try are modes. If you try playing G Lydian over these chords it will give you a dissonant sound. This sound works better if you where to extend the two chords out to Major 7th chords. If you want to try G Dorian this sound works well in combination with the G minor pentatonic scale. These two sounds compliment each other. Last try G mixolydian scale. This sound will work well and is a good way for me to transition into the second way you could analyze our progression. We could look at C as the one chord and G as the five chord in the key of C major. Playing G mixolydian is the same or equal to playing a C major scale over these two chords. Now we can use C as the key and we will have another batch of sounds to try over these two chords. Of course C major scale will work along with A minor and both the C major and A minor pentatonic scales. Now you can also try C minor pentatonic scale and again this sound is a little harsh at first but gives you that edgy rock sound. Last you could try C dorian that will complement the C minor pentatonic scale. Each sound has it’s own feel and texture.

When trying these different sounds over these two chords I recommend cleaning you audio palette. What I mean by this is after trying a sound play some random chords and scales. This will reset your ear and how you will hear the next sounds you try. You will find some of these different sounds compliment each other and some do the opposite and clash. The best way to get a feel for these different sounds is to practice them over your progression. If your jamming over a I IV progression and its from a song with singing or a melody this may influence what sounds work best over your progression. Remember if you taking a solo and the song has vocals or a melody this will influence what sound or sounds work best.

Feel free to come in to the Colorado School of Music and take a lesson. We offer guitar lessons, piano lessons, drum lessons, violin lessons and vocal lessons as wells as orchestral instruments.  

April Music Blog 2022

Dean Cutinelli here from the Colorado School of Music. Remember we are just a call away to start your private music lessons. We offer guitar lessons, piano lessons, drum lessons, Violin lessons, vocal lessons as well orchestral instruments. Now on to our discussion about jamming over a minor progression. 

Today I will be discussing playing over two minor chords. For this example we will use A minor and D minor. When analyzing these two chords you will see they are from the key of A minor. The two chords can also be analyzed from the  key of D minor. If we start by talking about A and D minor being from the key of A minor we would see that A minor is the one chord and D minor is the four chord. With this analysis we would have the options of playing an A minor scale. You could also play your A minor pentatonic scale including the flat 5. Of course you could play the relative major scale of C as well. Now if we flip our analysis of these two chords and make the D minor the one chord and the A minor the five chord you will have a few new sounds to try over these chords. First you would have the D minor scale and the D minor pentatonic scale with the flat 5 to try out. Next you could try the relative major key to D minor which is F major. Things to consider when jamming these sounds over the chords is which chord is played first. You could experiment playing your progression starting with the A minor chord first. Then try the progression by starting with the D minor chord first. This might not sound like a big difference on paper but when you actual here the two different progressions each should pull your ear a little more to the side of the fence of which ever chord is being played first. Each time you start and end the progression you are coming back to which ever of the two chords you started with and that should feel a little more like home. If you have A minor first A minor scale should sound more like home or inside the box and vice versa. When you look closely at the difference between A minor and D minor you will see that there is only one note different between the two scales. A minor has no sharps or flats and D minor has Bb. Sometimes you may find from one day to the next you prefer a specific sound. If these two chords were from a song, usually the melody will dictate which sound or scale would sound best.

If you want to push the limit a little bit try playing an A harmonic minor or D harmonic minor scale over the progression. A harmonic minor scale is a natural minor scale with a raised 7th. A harmonic minor would be A,B,C,D,E,F,G#. 

Feel free to come in to the Colorado School of Music and take a lesson from me. We offer guitar lessons, piano lessons, drum lessons, violin lessons and vocal lessons as wells as orchestral instruments.