New Chord Lick (for me)

[Mr. Jelly]

I ran into a a chord sequence that I like the sound of. At this point I'm not sure how I'll use it. It's like a walk down to the one chord. Or a turn around. I know some of you know this stuff well so I thought I'd throw this out and maybe you could shed some light on it for me. Does this work? Sound like it does to me.

In G
x5646x
x4545x
x3424x
320003

[john57classic]

First rule “if it sounds good it is good”

Having said that, one way to think about those chords is as a descending circle of fifths using dominant chords. In fact, it could be viewed as a way to play the opening of Cannonball Rag with substitutions. CR is typically played E7 A7 D7 and G. Sweet Georgia Brown uses the same cliche but in a different key, lots of other songs do as well!

So the chords you are playing Ddim7, C#m7b5 and Cdim7, could be thought of as E7b9, A9 and D7b9 all rootless. You might try a different G chord at the end like a G6 or Gmaj7, maybe you’ll like the resolution even better.

[rick-slo]

The G is a bit of a surprise. How about ending instead with 30x40x

[Wyllys]

Originally Posted by rick-slo

The G is a bit of a surprise. How about ending instead with 30x40x

...or

3 x 2 4 x x

or

3 x 2 2 3 x

or

3 x 4 4 5 x

[Mr. Jelly]

"You're making the wrong mistakes." The story of my life.

Thanks I'll try this stuff out that you mentioned. I'll explain a little. I come from finger picking country blues and country rags. My theory knowledge stops a little after relative minors and rag changes with embellishments. The harsher stuff rather than the prettier jazz. It's part of the reason I never continued further with theory. I like to throw in dim and shape dim 7th chords at times and other times I just throw my fingers down to see what sound comes out and work from there. It sort of gets me out of my ruts but then I always work my way back to them. It's all fun. Thanks

[Wyllys]

Originally Posted by Mr. Jelly

"You're making the wrong mistakes." The story of my life.

Thanks I'll try this stuff out that you mentioned. I'll explain a little. I come from finger picking country blues and country rags. My theory knowledge stops a little after relative minors and rag changes with embellishments. The harsher stuff rather than the prettier jazz. It's part of the reason I never continued further with theory. I like to throw in dim and shape dim 7th chords at times and other times I just throw my fingers down to see what sound comes out and work from there. It sort of gets me out of my ruts but then I always work my way back to them. It's all fun. Thanks

Jelly...

It depends a lot on the flow. If you're resolving a phrase I'd use a root based chord. If you're moving on, another inversion may suit better. The half-step descending line on the 5th string in your example would continue nicely to

x 2 x 0 3 x

or

x 2 x 2 3 x

If you want to take it up the neck, use

7 x 5 7 x x

or

7 x 7 7 x x

instead.