A Major and A minor in the same chord progression

[SantaCruzOMGuy]

I've been chewing on earlier explained concept of playing a V over a vi, in the key of G major, meaning D over Emin, resulting in Emin11, many thanks to JonPR, ljguitar, and stanron for chiming in on that post.

I am always curious to understand these things because it can lead to possibilities when creating music. I took that idea and started working making up a melody mostly accomplished by arpeggios of a chord progression in the key of G, with the Emin11 being the tonal center. The verse is minor in feel, and the chorus is more major in feel, but not anything "happy" sounding, more contemplative.

One thing I realized this year by listening for pure enjoyment to Bach's Chaconne, and then later reading about it, is that voicing and rhythm variations of the same essential chord progression can result in a seemingly varied piece of music (meaning it doesn't seem repetitive, even though it is.)

Thats a bit of a ramble to get to a question I hope one of you theory heavy weights can help me with....

I have the following progression as a couplet:

Bmin, F#11 (im 90% sure thats what this chord is), Gadd2, D/F#, Emin
Bmin, A major, Gadd2, D/F#, E min

If i let that sink in repeating a few times, I can also play the second couplet as this:

Bmin, F#11, Gadd2, D/F#, A major, Aminor, then back to the verse theme which is varied Emin11

I know the A major doesn't belong to the Key of G. But it sounds right in this order, and you can move back and forth between A major and A minor.

Anyone know what this concept is called? Goggle is pulling way too much noise when i search for it.

[LeftArm]

Could be a secondary dominant or a V of V. ie D is the V of G and A is the V of D.

[rick-slo]

First of all, you put in whatever chords you want - rules be ***ed.

If you want to classify things, a common thing is to "borrow" a chord
from the parallel key (e.g. use a chord from the key of C minor in a
song written in the key of C major).

For example take a song in C major with the progression:

C-Am-B9-G-C
To my ear it sound better as C-A-B9-G-C.

You have a leading note walk up and down on the second string
(C-C#-D-B-C) which become the focus and a unifying feature of the
progression. They are a myriad of other possible situations where
borrowed chords sound "right".

[macmanmatty]

I wrote a country song with the progression

Verse:

C C C F
C C C G
A7 A7 A7 E7 (E7 F7 G7) turnaround

C C C F
C C C G
A7 D7 Em F G G7 C

Chorus:
F F F Am
G G7 F C7
F F F Am
D7 Em F G G7 C


so anything is possible with music if it sounds right it is

[mc1]

the progression for the second couplet sounds a bit odd to me, but it goes to show how an odd chord change can sound good upon repetition. i'd guess it's the chromatic movement that is appealing to you.

just some thoughts, i'm not even completely sure how you are playing it.

[macmanmatty]

Originally Posted by mc1

the progression for the second couplet sounds a bit odd to me, but it goes to show how an odd chord change can sound good upon repetition. i'd guess it's the chromatic movement that is appealing to you.

just some thoughts, i'm not even completely sure how you are playing it.

No actually I wrote the words and melody in my head on a walk and those were the chords that went with the melody it took me awhile to figure them out too as they are not common chords for a slow classic country style song.

[mc1]

Originally Posted by macmanmatty

No actually I wrote the words and melody in my head on a walk and those were the chords that went with the melody it took me awhile to figure them out too as they are not common chords for a slow classic country style song.

cool. i was actually replying to santacruzomguy. your chords seem a little more standard.

[JonPR]

Originally Posted by SantaCruzOMGuy

I've been chewing on earlier explained concept of playing a V over a vi, in the key of G major, meaning D over Emin, resulting in Emin11, many thanks to JonPR, ljguitar, and stanron for chiming in on that post.

I am always curious to understand these things because it can lead to possibilities when creating music. I took that idea and started working making up a melody mostly accomplished by arpeggios of a chord progression in the key of G, with the Emin11 being the tonal center. The verse is minor in feel, and the chorus is more major in feel, but not anything "happy" sounding, more contemplative.

One thing I realized this year by listening for pure enjoyment to Bach's Chaconne, and then later reading about it, is that voicing and rhythm variations of the same essential chord progression can result in a seemingly varied piece of music (meaning it doesn't seem repetitive, even though it is.)

Thats a bit of a ramble to get to a question I hope one of you theory heavy weights can help me with....

I have the following progression as a couplet:

Bmin, F#11 (im 90% sure thats what this chord is), Gadd2, D/F#, Emin
Bmin, A major, Gadd2, D/F#, E min

If i let that sink in repeating a few times, I can also play the second couplet as this:

Bmin, F#11, Gadd2, D/F#, A major, Aminor, then back to the verse theme which is varied Emin11

I know the A major doesn't belong to the Key of G. But it sounds right in this order, and you can move back and forth between A major and A minor.

Anyone know what this concept is called? Goggle is pulling way too much noise when i search for it.

As rick says, you can use any chords you like the sound of. The theory is only for describing it later. It so happens that most songs will use diatonic chords (from the same key) - and those "common practices" are what eventually become "music theory" - but who wants to do what most people do? (Well, OK, it seems most people do... )

Anyway, what makes chord progressions work (as rick also says!) is not sharing the same key (harmonised scale), but voice-leading. Good sounding chord changes are often (if not usually) distinguished by 1 or 2 shared tones between the chords, and other notes moving by half-step or whole step -half-steps being stronger. Downward half-steps have a more "relaxing" or logical feel, like gravitational falling, while upward moves usually create tension or interest (with the exception of the leading tone resolving to the tonic).

This kind of move can easily ignore any issues of key; IOW voice-leading rules outweigh diatonic key rules. "Key" means nothing but a sense of tonal centre, a "home base" that one might start from and return to, but perhaps only visit briefly (if at all) during the course of a progression.
Of course, the sense of tonal centre is enhanced the more chords there are that imply a shared scale (key or mode). But in terms of moves from chord to chord, voice-leading is the governing principle, and any chromaticism can be used to assist those moves. (You don't have to worry about forming chords you don't recognise; if they sound good, they've probably been invented before.)

Your chord sequence is really more like an E minor one than a G major one - because a G chord only features briefly in the middle (and has an add9 anyway), while the whole thing seems to gravitate towards the final Em - which has a modal feel because the previous chord is D rather than B or B7.

So (depending on exactly which notes are in your "F#11" chord ), you have what's known as a "mode mixture" sequence, combining chords from E aeolian (mostly) and E dorian (A major and maybe the F#11).

That's not uncommon. You may have heard of a song called "Eleanor Rigby" - that also combines E aeolian and E dorian - albeit in much simpler form than your song. (But before you start thinking you've outdone Paul McCartney - - you might want to think about your melody... if you haven't got one, write one now, or you don't have a song at all )