Printable Version of Topic

Posted by: The Professor Jan 31 2013, 01:13 PM

Going to have some fun today and post a "Challenge Analysis" for everyone to work out. I'll post a new challenge analyses each week for us to work on together. Have fun with it!

Here is a chord progression, see if you can work out the following and post your answers:

1. Chord Names
2. Harmonic Progression
3. Key
4. Scale Choices for Improvising

Have fun and good luck!

Posted by: AdamB Jan 31 2013, 04:35 PM

Not sure I have this right, but here goes:

Chords: CMaj7, Amin7, Fadd6, Dmin7b5, G7, Csus4, CMaj7
Progression: I, vi, IV, Not sure on the D - it's ii in the key of CMaj but b5?,V,I
Key: Cmajor
Scale Choices: C Maj Pentatonic, A minor Pentatonic

Edit: Also, more of these! It'd be brilliant to have one of these each day to work on.

Posted by: The Professor Jan 31 2013, 05:00 PM

Really close man, nice work!

Check out the chords, you have Cmaj7-Am7-G7-Cmaj7 totally correct, the Fadd6, Dmin7b5 and Csus4 aren't there yet.

Keep the root notes in mind when looking at progressions, those low notes can help you out more often then not.

Just try to get those chords worked out and you've got it!

Posted by: AdamB Jan 31 2013, 05:22 PM

OK, Chords MkII, with explanations as to why I chose them:

So, CMaj7, Am7 are correct.
The Fadd6 I had because it's D, F, C, E, which I read as being F A C E (F Maj) with the A removed and replaced with a D, which in F Maj is the 6th. But, that's wrong, so instead I'd read it as Dmin7+9 (D, F, A, C with the A removed and replaced with E which in D is the 2nd or 9th).
The Dmin7b5 I chose because the notes were G, F, C, D. I thought this was D F Ab C, I'm not sure why. So this time I've gone with G7sus4, as it's G B D F (G7) with the B replaced with C (suspended 4th), which leads into the G7.
G7,
The Csus4 I got from C G B F, which I thought was C E G B with the E placed with F to make it another sus4 chord. That's also wrong, so I have no idea what this is. Maybe a V chord of some sort, like Gmin7b5 or something?
CMaj7

So my next best guess is;
CMaj7, Amin7, Dmin7+9, G7sus4, G7, Gmin7b5, CMaj7.

I'm also useless at knowing which scales out side of pentatonic to use, so some explanation there would be greatly appreciated!

When you say "Keep the root notes in mind when looking at progressions", is the root note always in the bass? How do you tell whether it's an inversion or what not? Is there cases where a chord is ambiguous and could be one of several chords and named differently?

Posted by: The Professor Jan 31 2013, 05:33 PM

Pretty good man! Just look at the second to last chord, the C G B F, it's the B that is the clue

For the root note, it's not always the bass note, but it's a good place to start and then if it doesn't make sense you can look elsewhere from there.

For the D F C E, with the D as the root it's Dm9, but if you looked as F as the root it's Fadd6, so the root is the important note.

Posted by: AdamB Jan 31 2013, 07:20 PM

C G B F, so do you mean B is the root? Then it's B C F G. BMaj is B D# F# A#, so it's bb3, b5,bb7? I have no idea what that is. So I'm assuming it must be the note that's different and the C is the root? in which case it's C F G B. C Maj is C E G B so it'd be Csus4? But that's what I put the first time so that must be wrong. :S

Posted by: The Professor Jan 31 2013, 07:28 PM

The second one is very close. It is Cmaj7sus4. The B is a major 7 in C so you just need to have it in the chord symbol. That's all. Good work man!

Posted by: PosterBoy Jan 31 2013, 07:53 PM

1) Cmaj7 Am7 Dm7 G7sus4 G7 Cmaj7sus4 (or is it Cmaj11) Cmaj7
2) I vi ii V I
3) C major
4) C ionian, G mixolydian

Posted by: The Professor Jan 31 2013, 08:47 PM

Nice one!

Posted by: AdamB Feb 1 2013, 03:05 PM

Ah I see, so it's CMaj7sus4. Cool.

Can we get another one of these?

Posted by: The Professor Feb 1 2013, 09:09 PM

Yep will be doing these on a regular basis!

Posted by: The Professor Feb 3 2013, 03:03 PM

Here is a brand new Analysis Challenge phrase. In today's phrase, try to identify the following.

1. The scale used in the opening bar
2. The key of the entire phrase
3. The chord progression
4. The name for the chord shapes being used
5. 2-3 Scales you could use to solo over these changes






Good luck!

Posted by: HungryForHeaven Feb 3 2013, 03:16 PM

SPOILER --- my humble answers below --- SPOILER





















1. E aeolian
2. Em
3. E5 - D5 - C5 - D5
4. 5th chords or, as they are more commonly known as at least within the metal sphere, power chords
5. I'd probably just stick to E aeolian (or possibly E minor pentatonic with a touch of E blues)

Posted by: The Professor Feb 3 2013, 03:30 PM

Nice one mate! If you had to give numbers or Roman Numerals to the chords what would they be?

Posted by: HungryForHeaven Feb 3 2013, 03:41 PM

Hmm, not sure how 5th chords are normally written.

I guess if they were triads, then maybe i-VII-VI-VII, since the D and C chords would probably be major chords. Or do I need to point out that we're talking about a flat 7th etc?

How about I5-VIIb5-VIb5-VIIb5?

Thank you though.

Posted by: The Professor Feb 3 2013, 03:47 PM

Yeah, when we are putting numbers on chords we don't have to change anything between power chords or triads, so in the key of G major, C5 and C are both IV. So no worries there.

And your analysis looks right, we just put the b before the number so it would look like this.

I5 - bVII5 - bVI5 - bVII5

That's it, nice work!

Posted by: HungryForHeaven Feb 3 2013, 03:56 PM

Great, thanks Prof!

Posted by: The Professor Feb 3 2013, 03:57 PM

No problem!

Posted by: AdamB Feb 4 2013, 11:30 AM

Here's my attempt;

Scale; C Lydian
Key; Em
Chord Progression Em, D, C, D
Chord Shapes; E5, D5, C5, D5 (power chords)
Scales for soloing; Em pentatonic, G Major Pentatonic, D diminished?

Posted by: The Professor Feb 4 2013, 11:31 AM

Nice one, I was thinking E Aeolian for the lick, but it has the same notes as C Lydian so all good.

The rest looks great. D Diminished might be a bit outside, but you could try it out and see how it fits. Would just need to make sure to resolve it back at the right time and in the right place so it didn't get too far out on you.

Nice work!

Posted by: AdamB Feb 4 2013, 11:36 AM

Cool. I chose C Lydian just because I thought it couldn't be Em pentatonic because of the F#, and I see that position on the fretboard as the C lydian 3notes per string shape (starting on the low E at the 8th fret).

What other scales can be used? I guess because it's power chords you can use E harmonic minor? What else?

Posted by: The Professor Feb 4 2013, 11:38 AM

For scales, I would stick to some of these as the most common:


E Aeolian
E Harmonic Minor
E Pentatonic Minor

Those are the most commonly used sounds over a progression like this. Then I might also use some arpeggios like

Em - D - C arpeggios over each chord.

Posted by: Madfish Feb 4 2013, 12:13 PM

Could I call it G Ionian as well? Or is it E Aeolian because the whole piece is in E minor?

Posted by: The Professor Feb 4 2013, 12:14 PM

Then have the same notes, but you're right. Since the progression is in E minor, I would call the scale E Aeolian just to relate it more closely to the key we're in.

Posted by: Jonas Tamas Feb 4 2013, 03:35 PM

As I'm from Hungary, I recommend a really cool scale for this progression, it's called "Hungarian Minor".

In the key of E minor, it would mean raising the 4th and the 7th note of the E natural minor scale. Another way to get the Hungarian Minor scale: raising the 7th note E harmonic minor scale.

So the notes are: E F# G A# B C D#. In the above progression, it could be used as a short interesting interlude section over the E5 power chord. I wouldn't use it during the D5 chors because of the clashing of the D in the chord and the D# in the Hungarian Minor scale.

Of course, a 16-bar solo using Hungarian Minor would be too much here - I'd only drop in a few notes during the 2nd and the 3rd cycle of the progression, to spice up the natural minor feel used until that point.

Posted by: The Professor Feb 9 2013, 02:25 PM

Hey Everyone

here is a new Analysis Challenge. Have fun and see if you can figure out.


1. The overall key of the progression
2. The secondary key in bars 6 and 7
3. The chord progression in numbers or roman numerals
4. The chord progression in this key
5. What scale you would use to solo over bars 1-5 and 8
6. What scale you would use to solo over bars 6 and 7

And for a bonus, what would the chord progression in the key of A?

Good luck!

Posted by: The Professor Feb 10 2013, 10:18 AM

Do we have any takers on this week's analysis challenge?

Posted by: HungryForHeaven Feb 10 2013, 11:53 AM

Posted by: The Professor Feb 10 2013, 11:55 AM

Nice work, very close!

1, 2, 5 and 6 are all correct.

For 3, there are just a few wrong chords in bar 2, and 4, well four is just a spelling thing as you wrote the right chord.

For the bonus, can you name the chords using letters like A, D7 etc?

Posted by: HungryForHeaven Feb 10 2013, 12:08 PM

For the bonus, do you mean what would the chords be if the first chord was A? As in transposed to the key of A?

Posted by: The Professor Feb 10 2013, 12:13 PM

Yeah, for the bonus spell it out as if starting on the chord A, that's all.

For bar 2 and 4 they are slash chords, so they are chords you know, but with a different bass note. So bar 2 is Cadd9/B and bar 4 is Am7/G.

Kind of a tricky one, wanted to put something in for folks with more advanced theory experience, so not a problem if you didn't get those. Just something to look out for in the future.

Posted by: HungryForHeaven Feb 10 2013, 01:24 PM

Aahh, inverted chords.. I knew about them, not just used to doing this type of analysis so I guess I forgot to specify.

However, I still don't get bar 2. It has E, G, B and D, making it Em7. The "bass note" is not E, so it's an inversion; in slash notation I would call it Em7/B. How can it be C when there is no C note in there?

Posted by: The Professor Feb 10 2013, 01:29 PM

Yeah, that one's a bit tricky. It is the movement of the chords that really gives this one it's name. Since it's moving from C to Am, I to vi, it's common to put a Imaj7 with the 7 in the bass between those two chords.

You could call it Em7/B if you wanted, I just see it as Cadd9/B since it's moving towards the Am, the descending bassline keeps the chord as a C for me, but this one is kind of subjective.

The middle 3 notes stay the same between the first two chords as well, so that's another connection that I make to keep it as some sort of C chord.

We don't always have to have a root in the chord shape to give it that name, sometimes we can imply a chord, especially if we start to get too many extensions in there and dont' have enough fingers to play the root.

Posted by: klasaine Feb 10 2013, 05:41 PM

In 'classical' or traditional analysis is the V/V chord (measure 6) considered the momentary key change?
As opposed to the jazz way of thinking of it as II7.

Posted by: The Professor Feb 10 2013, 05:44 PM

That's a tough one. It would be written V/V there, moving to V and then returning to I at the top of the form.

I could see it as a Secondary Dominant, but I don't think there is a key change as such. Just a momentary slip into the V and then back to the I again. Had that cadenced in V and then continued in that key going forward, it would be a stronger argument for a shift to the V there as a new key center.

Posted by: AdamB Feb 12 2013, 03:49 PM

My answer, not sure on some of it but I gave it a good try!

1.) C Major

2.) D Dorian? (or is it some weirdness where the Dm becomes a temporary I chord?)

3.) I, iii m7, vi, vi m7 , vi sus4, ii, V, V7

4.) C, Em7/B, Am, Am7/G, Am7sus4, Dm, G, G7

5.) C Major Pentatonic, Am pentatonic, Ionian/Aeolian scales

6.) Maybe D Dorian or Am pentatonic with an added note for the 6th (to make it hexatonic) and then raise the 6th to get the dorian feel?

7.) A, C#m7/G, F#m, F#m/D#, F#m7sus4, Bm, E, E7

Posted by: The Professor Feb 12 2013, 07:14 PM

Hey, good try man, very close!

You labelled the D7 as a Dm and that's what through you off. Before I correct your answers, if you want to go back and redo a few things knowing that bar 6 is a D7 chord, then that might fix things up for you.

Posted by: AdamB Feb 13 2013, 12:16 PM

Oh yes! I missed the # on the F. How come it's D7 and not D major - is the C note implied some how?

Edit: Oh and that makes the key G Major in those bars, and then returns to C major when you go to G7 (the 7 implies it's chord V and therefore back in C). Then you could use G Major Pentatonic, E minor Pentatonic, G Ionian, E aeolian to solo-a-fy it.

Posted by: The Professor Feb 13 2013, 12:18 PM

Sorry. Just a normal D, my typo.

Posted by: AdamB Feb 13 2013, 12:38 PM

Oh right! haha cool. Yea I think I understand it. Is G Major right for that part?

Posted by: The Professor Feb 13 2013, 12:40 PM

That's it!

Posted by: AdamB Feb 21 2013, 11:47 AM

Can we get another of these?

Posted by: The Professor Feb 21 2013, 11:51 AM

I've got one lined up for later today, stay tuned!

Posted by: The Professor Feb 21 2013, 01:24 PM

Here is a brand new Analysis Challenge.

For this one, name the following:

1. The key of the phrase
2. The chords used in the phrase
3. The Roman Numerals for the chords in the key
4. What scale(s) would you use to solo over this progression
5. What would this progression be if you wrote it out in the key of F





Good luck!

Posted by: AdamB Feb 21 2013, 02:23 PM

Figured out how to do spoilers

Posted by: The Professor Feb 21 2013, 05:16 PM

Cool. Perfect man!