We played a nice progression with major in minor chords in several different keys:
1. ||: C | F Fm :||
2. ||: G | C Cm :||
3. ||: A | D Dm :||
4. ||: F | Bb Bbm :||
We took "Raindrops Keep falling on my head" from the uke circle blue book, and simplified it so that it can be played with only major minor chords.
Fmaj7 became just F
C7sus became just C
etc.
Unless you see dim, aug, or b5 in a chord you can usually get away with just playing a major or minor chord. A C6 for example can just be played as C, an A9 becomes A. This is really handy when you don't know the more "fancy" chord, and will usually not interfere with those who are playing the fancy chords along with you. Simplify, simplify, simplify.
MORE INFORMATION:
HOW CHORDS ARE MADE:
The notes in music are laid out in this order
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C, D, E, F, G etc
When we make a chord we take alternating notes (every other note) starting with the root note of the chord.
For example:
a chord with A as a root would have an
"A" note, a "C" note and an "E" note
A chord with C as a root would have a C, E, and G note
A chord with F as the root would have an F, A and C note
>Sharps and Flats and figuring what notes are in chords you know:
Sharps and flats describe notes between notes. You'll notice that there are some white spaces on this ukulele fretboard chart. Theses notes are given names by using sharps and flats.
For example the first fret on the A string is the note between A and B. It can either be called A sharp (A#) meaning the note just above A or it can be called B flat (Bb) meaning the note just below B.
If you use a fretboard chart you can figure out what notes are in the chords that you know.
You can see that an Am chord has an A (2nd fret on the G string) a C (open), and an E (open), the open A string just doubles a note we had already.
So an Am has A, C, and E notes
However A major chord has an A note, C# note (first fret on C string) and an E note
Challenge: See if you can figure out what notes are in the major and minor chords that we looked at in class and see if you can figure out the rule regarding which note changes in order the make a chord major or minor!
