Common Tone Chords.
Sevenths in C Major - Exercise.
Remember to make sure that you set your metronome at 60-70bpm to practice the exercises below. As you get better with changing each chord clearly in rhythm, slowly increase the tempo until you can play them cleanly and correctly at up to 90-120bpm.
Check out the first part of this two-part series.
Sevenths.
For the following exercises, we will be using the seven notes in the key of C Major to build the seven “Sevenths” chords in that key:
C, D, E, F, G, A and B.
In the diagram below, you can see how each of the seven “7th’s”chords in the key of C Major are built from the notes in the key. There are Two Major 7th chords: CM7 and FM7. The G becomes a “dominant 7th” chord, and the three minor chords become Dm7, Em7 and Am7. The strangest chord of them all is the B° triad now becomes Bm7b5 (B minor 7 flat 5). So, it is exactly like the other three minor chords, except for the fact that it has that diminished (flatted) 5th in the chord structure.
Common Tone Chords.
Common tones are notes that are common between two or more chords. Each of the the chord-sets in the diagram below, all have at least one or two common tone notes.
Since we are now adding one additional note to the triad, we have even more common tone notes and one more chord.
For example: The CM7 chord now has three common tone notes with the Em7 chord. Those notes are “E, G and B”. The Em7 chord has three common tone notes with the G7 chord. Those notes are “G, B and D”. All three chords in this set now have two common tone notes - “G and B”.
Now, we will add the fourth chord to this set. It is the Bm7b5 chord. The Bm7b5 has three common tone notes with the G7 chord. These notes are: “B, D and F”.
Putting all four of these chords in their set: CM7, Em7, G7 and Bm7b5, you can see that all four chords have one common tine note: “B”.
If you study each of the seven sets of four chords (below), you will notice the exact same pattern, but with different notes from the key of C major. Each four chord set will have one, two or three common tone notes.
Chord Shapes.
Here are the shapes for all seven of the “7th’s” chords in the key of C Major including the tablature versions of each chords in the first position. Play through each chord to get familiar with each shape and name of the chord.
Easy Exercise.
Below is an easy exercise that uses all of the seven “7th’s” chords listed above. Listen to each of the four chord combinations, and try to hear the common tones for each of the chords.
Why do you need to know this?
The main purpose for this exercise is ear training. When you play the chords in the above combinations, you can hear how well they all blend together. This is what makes it very easy to find melodies in chord progressions. This is what you can use to create your own songs and how to figure out the chords in your favorite songs without using the aid of the internet.
I hope that you now have a better understanding of common tones in chords and how to use them for figuring out songs and how to write your own songs and create melodies.
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Dave