Friday, March 18, 2016

Diminished 7th Modulations and the Swiss Army Pivot Chord

Not gonna lie, I've been waiting to make this video for about over a year now, and we finally got the chance to! Let's do some exercises to make sure you got it.

1) First we'll make sure you got the concept. Let's take a look at E diminished 7. For each of the 12 keys, what means do you have of pivoting through E diminished 7? Hint: Start by figuring out what the enharmonic chords are.

2) Now let's have a discussion question. Listening to the resolutions, were there any that didn't sound right? Any you think didn't really work? Or did they all sound good? Structurally speaking, does this make sense to you? Does it seem interesting? Surprising? How would you describe this phenomenon?

3) Finally, let's do a writing exercise. Taking what you've learned (including from previous episodes) try to write a progression that uses these to modulate. If you're feeling adventurous, maybe even modulate more than once. I'm not gonna tell you where to modulate to and from because part of the point is that you can go anywhere, so use whichever device feels right to you. I'd aim for 16 chords minimum, to let you establish both keys, but whatever works. If you can't play your progression, send it to me and I'll try to make you a demo.

And that's it! Put your answers in the comments below or on the main video, and we'll see you next week!

1 comment:

  1. |Bmaj/D# |Emaj7/sus2 |D#7 |G#-11 |
    B: I IV V7/vi vi

    |Emaj7 |F#7 Go7 |Abmaj7 |Abmaj6/9 |
    IV V viio7/vi
    Ab:viio7 I I

    |G-7b5 |Go7 (or A#o7) |Bmaj7 C#7add9 |F#maj7 F#7add13|
    vii viio7
    F#:viio7/IV IV V7 I V7/IV
    B:V7

    ReplyDelete