Three chord tricks-useful or not?

[simon_f3]

Arcada, thanks for the info,
Simon

Simon, please see YouTube Videos In Posts

Unfortunately 90% of posters don't do this. For most of the YouTube videos you see posted, I've manually edited the post to embed the video in the post rather than show a link.

I've always done this...I sometimes think people must assume it's automatic...it isn't! Maybe I'll stop...

[Nighthawk99]

Hi Simon,
My lesson today was learning where the relative minor chords are in each major chord..is that what you meant by a minor 6?

[simon_f3]

Yes, that's exactly what I meant. So in the key of C you would have your three chord trick of C, F, G and the relative minor is Am. If you consider the notes in the C major scale, you have:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
C D E F G A B C

so the relative minor (Am) corresponds to note 6.

I should state again that the theory is extremely useful, but in my personal experience it was only useful once I could play a few songs confidently. I'm currently attempting to learn pedal steel and no amount of theory knowledge will compensate for a lack of physiological skill in playing the thing! The two go hand in hand, but I'd still advocate learning the 'how' before you need to know the 'why'
Do you play any other instruments, just out of interest?

[Nighthawk99]

Yes, that's exactly what I meant. So in the key of C you would have your three chord trick of C, F, G and the relative minor is Am. If you consider the notes in the C major scale, you have:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
C D E F G A B C

so the relative minor (Am) corresponds to note 6.

I should state again that the theory is extremely useful, but in my personal experience it was only useful once I could play a few songs confidently. I'm currently attempting to learn pedal steel and no amount of theory knowledge will compensate for a lack of physiological skill in playing the thing! The two go hand in hand, but I'd still advocate learning the 'how' before you need to know the 'why'
Do you play any other instruments, just out of interest?

Hi,my tutor has written them all out for me,showing the major chords along with the relative minor keys in each key,and has given me chord sequences to practice.
He wrote out the key changes for"Act Naturally"which is a song I know well,and I was following it while he strummed the tune on his acoustic guitar.
Good luck with learning the pedal steel,I like the sound of them,but it's unlikely I'll ever get to play one.
I dabbled with drums when younger,so I've got a good sense of timing at least.

[Danny Mitchell]

Hi Nighthawk,
If you're on an android mobile phone you should check out a free app from Google Play called Circle Of Fifths created by Anton Zhvakin.
Great little tool that I'm sure would help. Your tutor could walk you through the ways to use it.
And if you've got an iPhone I'm sure there'll be an equivalent.
All the best.☺

[Nighthawk99]

Hi Danny
I'll email him in the week to see if he thinks it'll be useful at this stage..if so I'll print it off.
I'm a fairly slow learner so don't want to take on too much at one go..if that makes sense?
My tutor is very patient with me,and is careful not to overload me with more than I can handle.

[simon_f3]

Hi Roy, was just looking through the forum and thought I'd ask how the lap steel lessons are going - hope you're seeing some good progress and getting a feel for which combinations of notes sound good together. I've been trying to get an honest 10 minutes a night on the pedal steel, and I'm sure my playing is improving. Sadly I rarely get around to plugging it in, but it's useful for getting right hand technique and for generally keeping in tune.
What key were you doing 'Act Naturally' in? I've been attempting 'She thinks I still care' on the pedal steel - and found that searching for karaoke tracks on youtube has returned some good stuff! Plus if you record the karaoke track you can slow it down with Audacity or similar software until it becomes playable! Or at least that's my approach

[Danny Mitchell]

I think that's good advice, Simon.
Also, I don't know if you've come across this.......

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7931

It's slid down the pole a bit But there might be something for the community to use.

[simon_f3]

You, good sir, are a legend! Thank you very much indeed - that lot should keep me going for the foreseeable
Shame the SSGW is a bit far for me, otherwise I'd be there like a shot. Not sure if there's anything like that in the Midlands - maybe I need to book a hall and see if anyone turns up...!
Thanks again for the link

I think that's good advice, Simon.
Also, I don't know if you've come across this.......

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7931

It's slid down the pole a bit But there might be something for the community to use.

[Will C]

Simon, Roy, just a "tidying-up" thought here. The minor chord that "belongs" with a major chord - its "relative" minor - is indeed built on the sixth note of the scale, so for example, a sequence: C Am F G7 might be written 1 6 4 5 (or, better yet, I vi IV V7 - the lower case denoting a minor chord)

BUT: I wasn't sure you were addressing that when you mentioned "minor sixth". A m6 chord is a minor chord ("de luxe"), using the 6th note of that minor scale thrown in for coloration. It gives a beautiful, haunting sound that wants to "resolve" to a major chord in a way that a plain vanilla minor chord doesn't.

An example of a Dm6 on a pedal steel would be to place the bar at 8, press A & B pedals, and also lower the E's - usually a knee lever (left knee right on an Emmons setup usually). Now play any combination of 8/7/6/5/4/3 for the m6 chord. It will resolve to an A (e.g. 8af).

All the best,

Will