Today I’ll show you how to get chords under your fingers in a really creative way – and how to discover sounds you would probably never have found otherwise.
The usual approach: moving a voicing chromatically
Most students practice chords like this: they take a maj7 voicing and simply move it up chromatically, one semitone at a time. That works, but it isn’t especially creative.
The cycle of minor thirds: C, Eb, F# and A
Let’s say you start on C and want to build a cycle from it. Move up a minor third at a time and you get C, Eb, F# and A. Because the distance is always a minor third, completely new possibilities suddenly open up.
A maj7 voicing on every note of the cycle
Now use each note of the cycle as a root and play a maj7 voicing on it:
- Cmaj7
- Ebmaj7
- F#, this time with the second (G#) on top
- Amaj7, with the seventh (G#) on top
From there, let the whole progression resolve – one more minor third up brings you back to C, where the cycle started. Suddenly you get wonderfully beautiful sounds that you would never have come up with otherwise.
Try it yourself
Play the chords slowly, one after another, and let each one ring before you move on. Listen to how fresh every new chord sounds, even though it is the same chord type each time – only the root moves by a minor third. Have fun trying it out!
In part 2, I’ll show you the same idea with a cycle of major thirds: Creating New Sounds – Exploring Fresh Chord Progressions – Part 2.