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1) OUR BASIC I/IV/V:
These are our changes played in umpteen ways that are found in all manner of Blues, rock and country and folk music. So common that we have listed them on the perimeter of the wheel. They can be played in any fashion or order. Here think HANG ON SLOOPY, SWEET HOME CHICAGO, HOUND DOG, BLOWIN' IN THE WIND, or ALREADY GONE.
Listen to the sound that they create. They are created off of our major chords built off of our 1st, 4th & 5th chords (usually with a dom 7th tone when used in a boogie sense) or are relative minor 1st , 4th, and 5th tone when used in a "minor" sense. If you know your Blues Boxes, you should have a lot of fun riffing over them. See how the color bands inter-relate very easily.
2) OUR BASIC I/VI/II/V:
Here, think 50's or early 60's doo wop songs like LAST KISS, CHERRY PIE, or a "cast of thousands" courtesy of "tin Pan Alley". More contemporary usages of the form gave us songs like EVERY BREATHE I TAKE by STING. Also important to point out PRETTY WOMAN and I WANNA HOLD YOUR HAND offer excellent examples of the form, in a somewhat progressed sense.
On the other hand in a very advanced sense, Bach's "JESUS, JOY OF MAN'S DESIRING, gives us an excellent example of a very progressed use of that basic form complete with a few other changes most notably a minor 3rd chord thrown in see if you can find where it goes. It is very much a staple of a lot of Jazz and Be-Bop and in essence is the inspiration for Charlie Parker's "Bird Blues" a Jazz improvisational staple found in one variation or another in all Jazz fake Books by all kinds of artists. Experiment around the wheel and find them in every key. How? By using your color bands as your guide!
3) LET'S TOUCH A LITTLE BIT ON SOLOING, IMPROV, AND MELODIC CONSTRUCTION:
Let's play our scale tones like we see them in every key around the wheel. Now let us play any pattern of chords from our consonant scale tone chords also from any key.SEE HOW THEY AUTOMATICALLY FIT AND PUT US IN KEY EFFORTLESSLY!!
4) We can play those same scale tones in any order or phrasing we wish to and play in key all day!!. We can also pick out melodies by ear of our favorite songs and if we have to find the chords, use our consonant chord mode to find them. We can also construct our own melodies and put our own chord patterns behind them experiment and find simply THAT IT ALL FITS this should be a revelation to many beginners!
In any event that's the essentials of how a hack puts together a really bad song, a songwriter constructs a memorable melody, a great songwriter "moves a generation", what Charlie Parker and Miles Davis used as a background for their improv work and Beethoven used for his 5th Symphony!!! - The same essential tools used to greater or lesser degree of proficiency and musical perspective by everyone!!!!!
Amazingly enough And there are so many patterns of melodic construction and chord interweaving and of course the same rules apply to the Minor Scales. Now, go away kid, get your Harmony Wheel and play your ax .. You bother me!!! (just kidding)
5) PLAYING GUITARS (OR ANY INSTRUMENTS) IN HARMONY:
Play your scale tones in "C": They are C/D/E/F/G/A/B/C. Now Play E/F/G/A/B/C/D/E. now play them together. You are playing in 3rd's. Try your other scale degree tones against your tonic tones in all keys.It is actually that easy!! - AND NOT JUST WITH GUITARS ---any instrument will do!!! Guys like Mozart, McCartney, Gershwyn, Beethoven etc. did exactly the same thing in an infinitely varied conglamoration of ways and got rich and famous. Well Mozart didn't get rich exactly.he sure did get famous though. In short all harmonies, horn and string lines can be and are derived in the same manner. Chords are derived by similar means and greater number of tones.
6) CREATING CHORDS AND ADDING 6TH'S, 7TH'S & 9TH'S:
Play our basic triad, add another tone be it the 6th tone with it in "C", a "C6th" is derived by adding "A", our "C9th" is derived By adding a "D". Look on the back of the wheel where it explains the process. Also, realize that accidentals are notes found outside the scale. A simple way of viewing this can be to look at the black keys of the piano. In the key of "C", the accidentals are simply the black keys, from "C" to "C". It is the same from key to key.
7) MAKING OUR MAJOR CHORDS MINOR:
Take the 3rd tone of every triad (3 note Major chord) flat it by 1/2 step (one fret/key). You have now turned any major chord into a minor version of itself.
8) Triad construction: or why we have minor and major chords as our consonant chords: It is the definitive way we arrive at our chords. Every other scale tone of any given major key when played 3notes at a time will render us our essential primary triad consonant chords !!!
The Harmony Wheel's design shows this implicitly via the scale degrees on the modes of operation wheel and also by virtue of it's color bands. Ex: a "C Major triad is formed by red/yellow/blue! An E minor triad is formed by yellow/blue and violet. If we move to our key of "D", our E minor chord is formed by orange/green and dark blue. In this way we can see that our color bands are in synchronicity with the degree of the scale, not the chord itself (IMPORTANT point, not to be confused).
For instance the colors yellow/blue/violet corresponded with E minor because of its role in the key of "C" major (a 3rd). In "D", E minor played the role of 2nd/9th chord, in the D major scale.
9) THAT'S IT FOR NOW. IF WE TRIED TO EXPLAIN IT ANY MORE WE WOULD HAVE TO PUT IT ALL IN A BOOK, AND CHARGE YOU FOR IT!!! However hope this helps get you started on the road to the Harmony Wheel's potential!!
If any questions remain regarding the Harmony Wheels basic use, you can contact me, Robert Creveling. I am the Harmony Wheel's creator, feel free to write me at Robert Creveling c/o Ducks Deluxe - P.O.Box 35677, Las Vegas, Nevada. 89133 - U.S.A. Thanks for checking it out!! Thanks for checking it out!! Hope this helps you understand the immense world of music a little better!! - Remember, practice makes perfect!! Later, Dude