Music Theory Live Class I

#PMT Challenge 1 Chord Progressions Key of C

Verse
C Am F G

Chorus
Dm G Dm G Dm G C

I’ve modified my earlier chord progression in G to get more ā€˜movement’ and apply some of the concepts from class2.

A basic amp-to-iphone recording, appreciate any and all feedback!:

My new progression is:

|G |G6 |Em |Em7 |
|Am |Asus4 |Bm |C |
|Csus2 |Em |Am |D |

Chorus:
|G Em |Am D7|G Em|Am D7| 3x

I like this version more than several earlier attempts but am not very satisfied with the Bm to C to CSus2 portion. I tried to get the ā€˜movement’ and ā€˜melody part’ to ring out more clearly by playing the G6 without the pinky on the high E (string 1) and the Em7 with pinky on the ā€˜D’ on string 2.

While working on this, I wound up discovering how different voicings, inversions and instruments can influence musical choices… I first tried working out the progression on a piano. I am not great at piano, and my son offered to help me. He got a lot more ā€˜movement’ out of a very similar progression:

|G |G6 |Em |Em7 |
|Am |Asus4 |A5 |D |
|F#dim |F |Am |D |

by using inversions that added a lot more ā€˜spice’, for lack of a better word. wBut when I tried the same chords on guitar, it didn’t sound good - I couldn’t play the G to G6 with a D in the base, for example. I will try to upload a recording of the piano version if I can get him to play it again :slight_smile:

When reading music/tab is there a way from the notes that we could tell the strumming pattern or picking pattern that would work best? I know it’s depends on the song and a few other things but didn’t know if there was a general rule or not.