Originally Posted by: ChristopherSchlegel

Hey, glad you are enjoying GT!

Originally Posted by: adamstocker

But what if you create a tune that doesnt follow the 1, 4, 5 structure?[/quote]

I, IV & V are the most commonly used chords in a progression. But you can form a chord on any of the 7 notes of the major scale. And you put them in any order you want. Later you will find there are 12 possible chromatic notes on which you can build an incredible variety of chords! And you can combine them in any way you desire.

There are general practice standards for how chords are combined. I cover the basics of this aspect of music theory in this tutorial.

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=495

Originally Posted by: adamstockerHow do I figure out what key it is in as there is nothing in there that fits into the 1,4,5 format but still sounds okay that the chord progression works ?

You write out all the notes of all the chords you are using & see if they form all or most of a scale. It also helps a great deal if you have a melody because that is a very strong indication of the key signature.

This is the essence of what a key signature is: the scale that contains all or most of the notes of a song, melody, or chord progression.

I cover this topic in my intro to improvisation tutorial.

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=876

[quote=adamstocker]

I came up with a part of a tune (only very short) of Amaj>Amaj flat>C#minor (barre chords)>A (rock open)>C(open)>B7>Emaj.

[p]Let's apply the concept.

A: a, c#, e

A-flat: a-flat, c, e-flat

C#min: c#, e, g#

C: c, e, g

B7: b, d#, f#, a

E: e, g#, b

a, b, c, c#, d#, e, f#, g, g#

We don't need to include a-flat because it's the same note as g#. Also d# is e-flat.

Most of those notes are in tlhe key of E major:

e(1), f#(2), g#(3), a(4), b(5), c#(6), d#(7)

Some are not:

c(minor 6th in E minor), g(minor 3rd in E minor)

But they are in the closely related, parallel key of E minor! So the progression has some modulation, notes and, or chords that are not in the same key as the rest of the notes.

So using E as the root we get this:

A (IV) - G# (III or V of VI) - C# min (VI) - A (IV) - C (bVI) - B7 (V) - E (I)

Stripped down this is a IV-VI-V-I progression with some modulations to make it interesting.

G# is a modulation that leads to the C# minor. C is a modulation that leads to the B. I cover this kind of secondary dominant relationship in the music theory tutorial linked above.

Most of how this works is in the tutorials listed above. Please ask more if necessary. Hope that helps!

Hi Christopher,

Thanks for the detailed response. I will admit I am at a point in my training where a lot of that went over my head due to the knowledge gap. I understood though the core of it re. writing down the notes of each chord and referencing them to a scale that incorporates the majority of them as a key idenitfier, that is handy to know. Beyond that I will have to wait until I get to that point in my training as I mentioned to understand the rest clearly. I like to take things a step at a time in case it blurs my founationary knowledge. Thanks again.