It doesn’t take a lot of chords to create an interesting sounding chord progression. This is true with the two chords I want to share with you today. It’s a simple progression of two interesting chords that sound great together.
Our first chord will be a minor 7 chord.
A simple minor triad consists of a root, minor 3rd and 5th. These numbers are just intervals which are the distances between notes. Here we have C minor.
You can create a minor 7 chord by adding a flatted 7th tone added to it. You can find the flatted 7th tone by counting up the key to the 7th tone and lowering it a half step (one key down). In this case you will have C minor 7.
Our second chord will be the Major 7 chord.
A simple Major chord consists of a root, 3rd and 5th. Here we have F Major.
You can create a Major 7 chord by adding a Major 7th tone added to it. You can find the Major 7th tone by counting up the key to the 7th tone. In this case you will have F Major 7.
So we have these two chords which sound good consecutively.
But these two chords are limited as I’ve illustrated them so far. Like all chords, the key to an amazing sound is their voicing. Chord voicings are referred to as the arrangement and as well as the inclusion/exclusion of certain notes in a chord.
So we’re going to voice these two chords in a way that gives them a lush flowing sound.
Let’s voice our C minor 7 chord by moving our minor 3rd (E flat) up an octave). And we can also double the root (C) in the bass.
This places the minor 3rd (E flat) above the flatted 7th tone (B flat).
One last alteration we’ll do with our C minor 7 chord is to omit the 5th (G). This gives the chord an open voicing to create a more spacious sound.
Now we have our voicing for our C minor 7 chord.
Now let’s create the voicing for our F Major 7 chord.
Let’s voice our F Major 7 chord by moving the root (F) down an octave.
We’ll also omit the 5th (C) just as we did before to give the chord an open sound.
Notice that these two chords are almost the same in respect to their voicing. The only difference is the minor 7th tone in C and the Major 7th tone in F.
Play these two chords consecutively and notice the interesting texture and how they flow together.
We’re not done yet because we can cycle through the circle of 5ths and play a progression of these two chords.
You may have noticed that the C and F chords are related to one another. They’re actually the I chord and the IV chord in the key of C respectively.
You can play this I to IV progression consecutively by voicing the chords to flow together. This results in a I to IV progression around the circle of 5ths.
Start with C minor 7 which is the I chord
to F Major 7 which is the IV chord
From there you can easily transition to the next minor 7 chord which is B flat minor 7.
To transition from F Major 7 to B flat minor 7, move from F to B flat in the left hand. Move the 3rd (A) of the F chord down a half step to A flat. This becomes the flatted 7th tone. Move the Major 7th (E) down one and a half steps to D flat.
You now have B flat minor 7 that will progress to E flat Major 7. To transition to E flat Major 7, lower the B flat to E flat. Lower the A flat a half step to G. Raise the D flat to D.
Now we have E flat major 7.
As you can see this is a simple repeating pattern that you can use to cycle through the circle of 5ths with alternating minor 7 to Major 7 chords.
So here’s the formula for this progression.
| Minor 7 to Major 7 Chord Cycle Steps | |
| Step 1 | Choose the root of the chord in the left hand and voice it with the flatted 7th on the bottom and minor 3rd on top in the right hand. |
| Step 2 | After the first chord, move the root in your left hand up a 4th (counter-clockwise) to the next note on the circle. |
| Step 3 | In your right hand move the bottom note down a half step. Move the top note up a half step. This creates the IV chord. |
| Step 4 | Resetting to the next I chord (which is back to a minor 7 chord), move the bottom note down a half step and the top note one and a half steps. |
In this example, we started on C minor 7 but you can start on any minor 7 chord. For example you can choose F minor 7 to start on and as you cycle through, all of the chords that were minor 7 before would be Major 7 and vice versa. This would give you more variety in learning this two chord progression.
You could even change the chord voicings to make it even more interesting by creating your own two chord progression. Have fun and come up with your own two chord cycle progression.
Until next time, Go Play!
Greg Lee
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