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Color Chords - Lesson 9

Calvin Phillips

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Nov 11, 2019
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Absolutely. It's actually easier to play diminished and Mel min, etc. over color chords. The more notes in a chord, the more options you have.
I agree with this. I just started adding in diminished scales. And they are easy to remember on the spot do it's easy to switch to the scale and go back. Odd even odd even.. etc. My one improv traded diminished with am6. It really fit well together and you can hear the difference in the two scales. One ascends while other tends to descend.

Needless to say.. there are so many options now not just for blues but everything. These blues lessons will really help new comers with simple melody and motifs.
 

idssdi

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I just started wondering. If you use a dominant seventh as a color chord. Say the chord progression is B7-E7-B7-E7-F#7-G7-F#7-E7-B7-F#7 can you say the G7 is actually a B german augmented sixth chord?

A german augmented sixth chord typical consists of the tonic (which in this case would be B), #4 (which would be F), b6(which would be G) and a minor third(in This case D).

So a german augmented sixth chord holds the same notes as dominant seventh chord however as far as my knowledge goes it becomes an augmented sixth if you put that chord before the V chord so I got curious whether that's something that happens with color chords too
 

idssdi

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You lost me at German +6 chord. lol.
But yes - a color chord can be a dom7.
Haha, Augmented sixth chords confuse the shit out of me because it's made up of the same notes as a dom7 chords and usually used as pre-dominant chords so thought maybe that's also a Color chord. I just know how to make them but the application is still a bit hazy for me since it's the weird stuff of music theory, I'm really intrigued by it tho

Rick Beato also has a video on it
 
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Brian Haner Sr.

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Yeah - I'm familiar with all of them. Rick always has a great way to explain complicated concepts. Such a great teacher.
These are mostly used in classical music. But the concept is the same. They are a pre-dom7 chord. So anytime you have a dom7, you can use one of these before it as a color chord.
These are also a great example of plurality in chords. An easy example is a C6 is also an Am7. So even though a B German Aug6 has a "fancy" and somewhat specific usage, it's also just a G7.
 

idssdi

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Coolio! I've been wondering about that for a while but that does make a lot more sense. If you take the dominant seventh where the root is a halve step above the root of the V chord and put it before the V chord it's an augmented sixth chord makes it a whole lot easier to remember than treating them separately.

I suppose that means italian aug6 is dom7 without the fifth and french aug6 is a dom7b5?
 
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Brian Haner Sr.

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Yes! Which is much more common in jazz & jazz blues. Especially going to the IV chord. In the key of A, you would play an Eb7-5 (or an Eb9-5) before going to the D9. Of course you can also use it leading into the V chord (F9-5 to an E9).
 
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idssdi

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Yes! Which is much more common in jazz & jazz blues. Especially going to the IV chord. In the key of A, you would play an Eb7-5 (or an Eb9-5) before going to the D9. Of course you can also use it leading into the V chord (F9-5 to an E9).
Nice! Love this stuff! Also things like you can play minor swing using almost only half-diminished chords. Still can't really place the Bb in that one tho. The other bits in that one really is a blues in Am but using a m6 chord for the Am and Dm