4.3 | Diatonic Chords

There will be a video overview of each chapter that demonstrates how to complete each section with a multicamera view.

Learn

Diatonic Chords: Chords that come from the same scale. Since there are seven notes in a scale, there are seven diatonic chords. Each diatonic chords receives one of three chord qualities:
Major: I IV V (capital Roman Numeral)
Minor: ii iii vi (lower case Roman Numeral)
Diminished: vii° (lower case with a degree symbol)
Chord Naming: There are two parts to a chord’s name: its letter name and quality.
example: The iii chord in C major is E minor.

Transposition: Changing a melody or chord progression from one key to another.

Harmonic Analysis helps us understand how chords relate to one another to create harmony. We perform harmonic analysis by giving each chord a number (in Roman numerals) and a quality (upper case or lower case). In order to translate chords from their letter names to Roman numerals, you must first find the key they were taken from. Understanding the chords in a major scale helps makes this translation efficiently and effectively.

Adjacent Chord Qualities
Two clues to find the key of a chord progression are the quality and locations of chords within the major scale.
ii-iii: Two minor chords with roots that are next to each other in the musical alphabet could be the ii and iii chords in a scale.
IV-V: Two major chords with roots that are next to each other in the musical alphabet could be the IV and V chords in a scale.
iii-IV: A minor chord with a major chord one letter away in the musical alphabet could be the iii and IV chords in a scale.

Circle Progressions
A common chord progression is the “circle progression.” Circle progressions have roots that move through the circle of fourths. A full circle progression is vii-iii-vi-ii-V-I-IV. Segments of this progression are used in many songs. In order to identify a circle progression in a song, look for chord roots that move in fourths and that have qualities that match the corresponding numbers in the diatonic major scale.

Identify

Complete the Diatonic Chord Spelling Worksheet →.

Use the diatonic chord flashcards to test your knowledge of the chords in each major scale.

Master

Master the chords in each scale by saying and playing them along with the Noteflight Score below.
You can also challenge yourself by playing inversions through common chord progressions with this Noteflight Score →.

Open In Noteflight

Record

Pop Song Cover Recording

Choose your own song that has a four chord progression OR choose a song from the Pop Progression Page →.
Fill out the information about your song using the first page of the Cover Song Organizer →.
Transcribe the drum groove, bass line, and map the inversions of the song using the second page of the Cover Song Organizer →.
Change the tempo of the project to match the BPM of the original song.
Record a drum track that matches the drum groove of the original.
Change the bass track to a bass sound.
Record a bass line that matches the kick drum rhythm OR record a bass line that matches the original.
Optional: Record a vocal track of the melody OR record an alternate melody with words OR record a rap over the track