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by laGrenouille 1522 days ago
Interesting quantitative take studying chord distribution. The basic takeaway seems to be that if you re-phrase a song into a different key you can play a lot with just a few chords (I IV V), and even more with a few others.

While I would agree that you'll be okay playing any major scale in C major (or whatever other major key choose to learn), playing a song in a minor scale on a major scale just doesn't sound quite right. So, I'd double all of the numbers on their final table to account for learning a full set of major and minor chords.
2 comments
circlefavshape 1522 days ago
If you know I, ii, iii, IV, V, vi in C then you'll be able to play tunes in A natural minor. Add III to cover A harmonic minor, and II to cover A melodic minor

In real life though the key usually depends on the singer's vocal range, so you won't really get away with learning just one key

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tarentel 1522 days ago
In A harmonic minor the III is already a C, you can make it augmented but that is not very common. You generally change the v to a V and keep the VII diminished in both cases where as it is major in the natural minor.
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PhaseLockk 1522 days ago
He was saying that the III of C major is the V of A minor, and so if you are planning to play in A minor using a set of chords pulled from C major, you may want to add a III alongside the iii.
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tarentel 1522 days ago
Ah, when phrased that way it makes sense. I misunderstood. We're just saying the same thing in two different ways.
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laGrenouille 1522 days ago
Yes, that's a good point in the case of six keys (I think my point holds for just learning three), but it is not the one made that the article seemed to make.
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LtWorf_ 1522 days ago
But A minor is the same notes as C major.

The chords in the key of C major will be the same chords in the key of A minor, although their patterns might be different.

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tarentel 1522 days ago
This is only partially true. The chords in A natural minor will be the same but it's much more common to hear a dominant fifth using the harmonic minor so you would change the Em to E especially in classical and jazz music.
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asdffdsa 1522 days ago
nit: jazz is the melodic minor (raised 6th as well). Such a beautiful sound; and the modes allow you to get the altered scale (7th mode of melodic minor) which sounds good(?) over the dominant
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