Cool Chord Progressions


chris mood
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chris mood
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05/29/2003 3:38 pm
It seems the importance of chord progressions are always overlooked in this forum. We all know 1,4,5 and 1 ,5,6,4 will always work, but nothing grabs my attention more then hearing a chord progression that is unique and creates a certian vibe. Does anybody have any to share?!?

Revelation...here's one written by the keyboardist of the Yellow Jackets (I forget his name) made famous by Robben Ford (Talk to Your Daughter cd). Gospel, Blues, Rock shuffle feel.

//G.../..../C.../B7sus.B7./F.C./G.C./G.../..FC//
/G.../D-7.G13./C.../B7sus.B7./F.C./G.D#o7./E-7.../
/C-7.../D-7.G13./C.../G.../A-7.C./G.../..FC//

Here's another, After You, a rock style ballad by Mike Stern

//G.F#./B-7.../E-7 D A G/..../G.F#./B-7.../E-7 D A-7 B-7/
Gmaj7.../F#-11.../F13...//
//G-7.../C-7 Bb F G-7/..../C-7.B-7./G-7.../C-7 B- A E/
/F#- A B-7 G/....//
# 1
noticingthemistake
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noticingthemistake
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05/29/2003 6:59 pm
Cool. :) I'm not too much into transposing or even looking at other peoples music, so I don't know too many chord progression for already established songs. But I think I come up with some cool chord progressions of my own. Here's one of them.

intro
Em // B7 // Em // Cm Amaj // Em //B7 //Em // Am D7 //
verse
Gmaj // C7 // F#7 // B7 Bmaj7 // Gmaj // C7 // F#7 // Am7 // D7
chorus
G7 // Cmaj7 Cmaj6 // Dm7 // Cm6 Caug C Cdim // G7 // Cmaj7 Cmaj6 // Dm7 // G7 F#m7 B7
repeat intro
interlude
B7 Am Cmaj (repeat x3) // B7 D7 // G7 // Cmaj7 Cmaj6 // Dm7 // D7 Am6 //
breakdown
Em // Cm7b5 F#m7b5 (repeat x4) // B7 // Am Cmaj (repeat x4) // Am7b5 // G#m7 // Gm7#5 // F#m7b5 //
Em // Cm7b5 F#m7b5 (repeat x4) //
ending
Em // B7 // Em // Cm Amaj // Em //B7 //Em // Am D7 // Em // B7 // Em // Cm // Adim // G7 // F#m7b5 // Em ///

I know there alot alot of familiar chord progressions like, 1, 5, 6, 4 and stuff like that. But hey they work and they are very flexible in terms of melody.


"My whole life is a dark room...ONE BIG DARK ROOM" - a.f.i.
# 2
chris mood
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chris mood
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05/29/2003 8:58 pm
Here's a Blues Chestnut: Stormy Monday

|G7...|C7...|G7.Db7.|G7...|
|C7...|C#o7...|G7.A-7.|B-7.Bb-7.|
|Eb9D9..D9D#9E9|F9...|G7.C7.|G7.D7||

For a cool jazzy sub play E-7 to B-7b5 in replace of G7 in bars 1, 3, and 4.
A-7 to E-7b5 in bars 5 and 6.
# 3
Led Zeppelin
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Led Zeppelin
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05/29/2003 10:58 pm
G, D, Em, C

:D
www.gnr.com.ar
http://www.izzystradlin.tk/
# 4
noticingthemistake
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noticingthemistake
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05/30/2003 1:19 am
Here's one I was messing with earlier today.

Bbm7 // Gm7b5 // Cm7b5 // F7 // Em7 // A7 // Dm7 // G7 Gm7 // Bb7 Dm7 // G7 Cm7 Fmaj7 // Bb7 Dm7 // G7 Dm7 // G7 Cm7 // Fmaj7 // Bbm7 -->cont.


A cool chord progression for an intro to a song I wrote in G major. The first two bars are a traditional chord progression in G. The next two bars are more eractic but bridges the Cdim up to the D7, which then leads right to G major.
G6add9 D7 // Esus/B Cdim // C#m/maj7 Gmaj7 Cdim C6add9/A# // Gmaj7 Cdim C#m/maj7 //D7 Gmaj/B //

Another one in E major. This one acts as more of a suspension and it sounds more natural if the low E in the first chord carries throught the rest of the C.P.
Emaj // C#sus(b9) //F#maj // B7.
Naturally it's a common C.P: I - vi - ii - V7. I just think the sus(b9) is a nice twist on the norm.


"My whole life is a dark room...ONE BIG DARK ROOM" - a.f.i.
# 5
chris mood
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chris mood
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05/30/2003 5:01 am
-I would think you were a jazz musician writing changes like that.

Here's a cool intro to a blues I came across while learning the music to a show I have to do this weekend;

Blues in D:
|B-7.Bb13.|A7...||D7 etc..
# 6
kingdavid
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kingdavid
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05/30/2003 10:10 am
Originally posted by Led Zeppelin
G, D, Em, C

:D

Or Am in place of Em.
# 7
TheDirt
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TheDirt
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05/30/2003 1:54 pm
When I go out of town, I usually attend a local church. At one church, I heard a song with some nice jazzy changes so when I got home I worked out a close rendition on my guitar. This is what I came up with (p.s. - if anyone knows the song, please tell me)

First, here are the vanilla chords that I used as a skeleton...
( Ebm, Bbm ), ( Cb, Db )

Now the jazzier changes...
( Ebm7, Bbm7 ), ( Cbmaj7, Db, Bb/D )

Adn finally, the way I play it in case you want to try it yourself...

|----------------------------|
|-6h7--6--676-----7----6---6-|
|-6----6-----6----8----6---7-|
|-6h8--6---------8-----6---8-|
|-6------------------4---5---|
|------6-6------7--7---------|


My rhythm in the tab isn't exactly right... the 6, 7, 6 thing over the Bbm7 chord is a triplet, etc. Just play it until it sounds good to you. I noticed that the rhythm is different from most songs... The first chord of the first measure gets 3 8th counts, and the second chord gets 5 8ths. The first chord of the second measure gets 3 8ths, the second chord gets 2 8ths, and the 3rd chord gets 3 8ths. It's this ahead of the beat playing with the jazzy chords that makes it sound so good. Hope you like :)
"You must stab him in the heart with the Bone Saber of Zumacalis... well, you could stab him in the head or the lungs, too... and the saber, it probably doesn't have to be bone, just anything sharp lying around the house... you could poke him with a pillow and kill him."

- Aqua Teen Hunger Force, The Universal Re-Monster
# 8
noticingthemistake
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noticingthemistake
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05/30/2003 10:00 pm
Originally posted by chris mood
-I would think you were a jazz musician writing changes like that.


Not really a Jazz musician. I was just writting down some of the more uncommon chord progressions I've come up with.

To extend on the topic. How do you come up with your own chord progressions?? I usually take them one note at a time and just build on that. Like I start with just a root progression like G, C, and D. Then I'll think of a harmony to play over that. Like E, D, and C. Then I'll fill in the rest to make a complete chord, whether it's major or minor or whatever. Maybe I'll end up with. Gmaj6 // Cm9 // D7 //. Or even start out with the harmonic part and then the root part, or which ever order. Works out rather nicely. :)

[Edited by noticingthemistake on 05-30-2003 at 05:02 PM]
"My whole life is a dark room...ONE BIG DARK ROOM" - a.f.i.
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u10ajf
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u10ajf
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05/30/2003 11:48 pm
here's one.
Fminor, G#Minor, Fmaj, Emaj, G#min. Amin
Another:
Dminor,c#dim, Gminor, A# majr, Eb dim, A maj
If I couldn't laugh at myself how could I laugh at someone less ridiculous?
# 10
chris mood
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chris mood
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05/31/2003 2:55 am
original chord progressions, I usually just play a chord and imagine where I want it to go, does that make sense?
When you've been doing it for so long it's like asking someone how you ride a bike.

Okay, here's an 8 bar blues, some of you may recognize this as Eric Claptons (he didn't write it, only covered it) Someday After Awhile

|D7...|....|G7...|G#o7...|
|D7.B7.|E7.A7.|D7.G7.|D7.A7||

most 8 bar blues songs will have a bridge section, in the key of D it would look something like this;

|G7...|....|D7...|....|
|E7...|....|A7...|....||
# 11
chris mood
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chris mood
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05/31/2003 3:10 am
*Okay, a hundred guitar picks for the person who can put the song title to this very famous progression.
-hint- (it was written by a guy named jimi)

|E-...|G...|A-...|E-...|
B-7..Bb-7|A-.C.|G.F.|C.|
|D...|....||
# 12
noticingthemistake
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noticingthemistake
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05/31/2003 3:22 am
BUFFET!!!!

Am I right?
"My whole life is a dark room...ONE BIG DARK ROOM" - a.f.i.
# 13
chris mood
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chris mood
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05/31/2003 3:56 am
Buffet, no your not right. Plus your supposed to come up with the song title, I pretty much gave you the composer )except for you few who are stuck in Margarittaville.
# 14
noticingthemistake
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noticingthemistake
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05/31/2003 4:13 am
Ah.. I kinda over looked that part, Oh well. I was joking anyways. I'll still take a guess at it. Looks like "Little Wing", I aint absolutely sure but I think that's what it is. The "B-7..Bb-7|A-.C" is in that song, but then again jimi did alot of blues progressions like that. So Am I right?
"My whole life is a dark room...ONE BIG DARK ROOM" - a.f.i.
# 15
chris mood
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chris mood
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06/01/2003 6:06 pm
Yeah, your right. "Angel" by Jimi Hendrix is another great chord progression, as well as "The Wind Cries Mary" and the infamous "Hey Joe".
So this forum has had 130 views, and the best people can come up with is G E- C D? I'm losing my faith here, c'mon people, it's hard to be a guitar player and not play chord progressions, from beginners to the most advanced, the guitar is 1st and foremost a rhythm instrument.
# 16
TheDirt
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TheDirt
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06/02/2003 1:10 am
Hey, I thought I put forth a pretty good one... here's another, kind of neoclassical. Each chord gets 2 beats, except the E, which gets 4.

Am, E/G#, G, D/F#, F, E

Notice the descending bassline is pretty cool. It can also be a descending melody line if you voice the chords upside down.

Check these two ways of playing the progression. The first is standard three string arpeggios, at a moderate pace (eighth notes at 140).

e|17----17-16---16-15----15-14----14-13----13-12------12-16-19-
B|--17------17-------15-------15-------13-------12--12---------
-G|----17------16-------16-------14-------14-------13----------


The second came after watching an Eric Johnson video, which inspired me to do some wide voiced arpeggios, so here is how I play the progression now. This is at the same pace as the first (eighths at 140). Notice that the same pace might be a bit more difficult when playing through this piece than the other due to the hand stretches, repositioning, and string skipping.

e|-------------12---------------10----------------787---
B|----13-15------12----12-13------10----10-12---------9-
G|------------------------------------------------------
D|--14-------14------12-------12------10--------9-------
A|12-------11------10-------9-------8---------7---------
E|------------------------------------------------------


"You must stab him in the heart with the Bone Saber of Zumacalis... well, you could stab him in the head or the lungs, too... and the saber, it probably doesn't have to be bone, just anything sharp lying around the house... you could poke him with a pillow and kill him."

- Aqua Teen Hunger Force, The Universal Re-Monster
# 17
chris mood
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chris mood
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06/02/2003 4:27 pm
A-,E/G#, G,D/F#,F, E......is a very cool progression. I'm used to seeing it as |A-...|G...|D/F#...|F.E.|wich is a very common progression in Spanish/Flamenco and has appeared in such rock songs as Babe I'm Gonna Leave You, Brain Stew, and 25 or 6 to 4. The E/G# adds a nice variation. The Eric Johnson inspired arpp. pattern was very nice too, string skips are a b$%^&, and it is definetly a big part of his technique.

Here's a cool one written by the Allman Bros., the verse/chorus is of the standard 1 4 5 nature but the bridge section adds some nice color

Soul Shine
|Bb...|F...|Eb...|Bb...|Bb...|F...|G-.Ab.|Bb...||

||G-...|Ab...|Eb...|Bb...|D-...|Eb...|Ab...|F...||
# 18
chris mood
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chris mood
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06/03/2003 2:31 am
Hmmm, still not getting much response, but the ole view'o meter keeps climbing so I'll guess I'll keep posting till somebody tells me to stop.

12 bar minor blues (I'm always surprised how few people know how to play this correctly)

|C-7...|F9...|C-7...|....|
|F-7...|....|C-7...|....|
|Ab13...|G7#5...|C-7...|D-7b5.G7#5.||

The last 6 measures make for a good funk progression.
1 more Blues for ya, here's the changes to the famous blues tune "Night Life", sort of a variation to the 8 bar blues I posted earlier, I like this one.

|D...|D7...|G7...|G-...|
|D7.B-.|E-7b5.A7b9.|D7.G7.|D7.A7||
# 19
TheDirt
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TheDirt
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06/03/2003 2:38 pm
Hey, chris, care posting your favorite voicings for that minor blues you posted, or perhaps a tab of a way you like playing it? Especially the last 6 bars...

|Ab13...|G7#5...|C-7...|D-7b5.G7#5.||

Thanks in advance.



"You must stab him in the heart with the Bone Saber of Zumacalis... well, you could stab him in the head or the lungs, too... and the saber, it probably doesn't have to be bone, just anything sharp lying around the house... you could poke him with a pillow and kill him."

- Aqua Teen Hunger Force, The Universal Re-Monster
# 20

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