Canon Chord SequenceTHE MUSICARTA CANON PROJECTMODULE SIX – THE CANON CHORD SEQUENCEThis is Module Six of the Musicarta Canon Project, a series of free online piano lessons which shows you how to play a chord sequence freely and put together your own unique Canon performance from easily-mastered musical components. To get the most out of this module, you need to have done all the things detailed in the ‘Preparing to learn’ sections of the first Canon Project module, and have completed Modules One to Five of the series. Don’t skip this vital preparation! Use the Quick Links in the table, right, to catch up.
There is a lot of new, technical information in this module. It is not necessary to understand it fully in order to carry on with the Musicarta Canon Project lessons, but you should read it through a few times to ‘get the ball rolling’ and start ‘seeing the chords in the keyboard’. That is what you need to be able to ‘just sit down and play, to become an impromptu composer/improviser. |
| CPM_M6_02 |
Notice first that, in this example, the bass note is always the note mentioned in the chord symbol. The bass note is the root – the name-note of the chord. In popular music, this is usually the case.
We move the bottom or top note(s) up or down an octave to get the PMPMP arrangement.
| CPM_M6_03 |
That’s the ‘top note to the bottom’ kind of re-arranging. Here’s the other sort:
| CPM_M6_04 |
That is ‘bottom note to the top’ re-arranging.
Once the chords are in PMPMP arrangement, we can safely name them after the lowest note. PMPMP chords are officially called ‘triads in root position’, and the lowest note is the root – the name-note of the chord.
Make root position G and B minor (Bm) chords
Do the same operation to put the B minor (Bm) and G chords in root (PMPMP) position. Then you can safely name the chord after the lowest note.
| CPM_M6_05 |
| CPM_M6_06 |
Here are all the Canon chords again, with the roots of the right hand triads indicated.
| CPM_M6_07 |
Copy the audio/MIDI performance. It’s essential that you start to ‘see’ the root of the right hand chords, which is more often than not, NOT the bottom note.
Inversions
Triads which are not root position PMPMP chords are called ‘inversions’.Counting up from the bottom, inversions are either
- Play one, miss TWO, play one, miss one, play one (PMMPMP) chords - like the G and Bm chords in the Canon chord sequence, or
- Play one, miss one, play one, miss TWO, play one (PMPMMP) xhords – not seen in the Canon, yet.
| CPM_M6_08 |
(These are all D chords. The arrowed note is the root, or name-note.)
You can just as easily make inversions by taking the top note to the bottom, but then the counting goes ‘the wrong way’ – root position, second inversion, first inversion, root position.
| CPM_M6_09 |
So there are three inversions really, but one is called a root position triad, and only the other two are actually called inversions.
Practising inverting chords
Practising making inversions, and cycling through the full set, is essential work for anybody who wants to become a proficient pop/rock/jazz musician. Musicarta has a drill to get you started – click through to the Musicarta ‘Finding Inversions’ page, learn the method, and practice it on the five Canon chords.Here is the first pattern, in D, written out:
| CPM_M6_10 |
Descending:
| CPM_M6_11 |
Here are your starting chords shown on keyboards, and what yo
| CPM_M6_12 |
| CPM_M6_13 |
| CPM_M6_14 |
| CPM_M6_15 |
| CPM_M6_16 |
Broken chord studies
Cycling speedily through the inversions of a chord gives what are called broken chord patterns or studies. All the major exam syllabuses include broken chord studies.The simplest broken chord study (in D) is this:
| CPM_M6_17 |
Notice the fingering. This is the ‘official’ fingering for inversions – fingers 1, 3, 5 for the root position and second inversion, and 1, 2, 5 for the first inversion. This is how the inversions best fit the hand – you should try to adopt it as your standard fingering.
This pattern plays broken-up root position, first inversion, second inversion and root positions rising, and reverses the order of the notes and the order of the chords coming down.
Here another broken chord patterns to practice.
| CPM_M6_18 |
This is a more difficult pattern to learn, but more musical. You only play the notes on the lower stave. The upper stave shows you where the fingering changes and the inversion BMT coding. Listen to this performance. It’s the first broken chord pattern in D, B minor, G and A. You can hear how the broken chord pattern is ‘nearly music’ already, which shows how essential broken chord practice is.
| CPM_M6_19 |
Major and minor
Understanding the difference between major and minor chords is easiest if we look at the triads in root position, as for the inversions exercise above.
The sound should tell you whether a chord is major or minor. Here are the three major chords, followed by the two minor chords. Hopefully, you can hear the difference.
| CPM_M6_20 |
(Note that you only get told that if chord is minor – Bm (B minor), or F#m (F sharp minor), for example. You don’t get told if a chord is major – it’s assumed.)
All the triads are PMPMP chords (counting only the D major chord tones or the note letter names), but still some are major and some are minor. In order to see why, we have to count semitones. (Notice that we start counting semitones from zero, the same way as we use a ruler.)
The first thing we notice is that all the pairs of outside notes are seven semitones apart – so that’s not what makes them different.
Illus, fifths
The difference between root position major and minor triads is whether the middle note is closer to the bottom note (the root) or closer to the top. In root position major triads, the middle note is closer to the top. In minor triads, it’s closer to the bottom.
- In a major chord, the third (middle note of a root position triad) is four semitones (two whole tones) above the root. This interval (distance) is called a ‘major third’.
- In a minor chord, the third is only three semitones (one-and-a-half whole tones) above the root. This interval is called a ‘minor third’.
You can make minor chords out of the Canon major chords and vice versa just by sliding the third (the middle note of the PMPMP chord) a semitone up or down. Study the following table and copy the audio files for practice forming major and minor triads. Watch the MIDI file performance on MidiPiano for more guidance.
 |  |  |  |  | CPM_M6_21 |
The audio and MIDI performance files for the table above play major, minor, major chords for D, A and G (twice each), then minor, major, minor chords for B minor and F sharp minor.
| Note that ‘major’ and ‘minor’ have nothing to do with black keys and white keys, as pupils sometimes think. The third in a chord – the note that makes it either major or minor – is equally likely to be a black or white key. |
Working from the Canon chord sequence
Studying and working with chords forms a large part of learning to play all styles of popular music. See if you can now play a version of the Canon from just the Canon chord sequence chart:
This is the end of Module Six of the Musicarta Canon Project.
The Canon Project will broaden and deepen your understanding of chords and how to use them, but if you have spare time, click through to the Chords home page for an overview of Musicarta’s other chord-related resources.
When you’re ready, click through to the Canon Project Module Seven, where we start working on accompaniment patterns. Or take a break and click up to the Musicarta home page for an overview of all Musicarta’s free online piano lessons.
