Chord Prediction - Part Ten

You've met the fam and the cousins, and I trust by now you understand who they are and how to find them. If not, go back and review past issues of this E-newsletter until you do -- it's critical if you want to get a grasp on predicting chords.

(By the way, you can access past issues of this newsletter by going to http://www.keyboardchords.com/ and scrolling down to the bottom of the page, then clicking on the title of the issue you missed.)

So now it's time to meet the neighbors. They don't come over very often, but occasionally they do, so it's good to be introduced to them.

To keep it simple, let's say we're in the Key of C. You know now that the "fam" chords are I=C, IV=F, and V=G. The fam chords are the most likely chords to show up in the Key of C because they are the chords that "live there" in the Key of C.

And you know the "cousin" chords, too. You know that II=D, VI=A, and III=E, followed by distant cousin VII=B. After the fam, the cousins are the next most likely to show up in the Key of C.

So I would now like to have you meet the "neighbors". They live 1/2 step above or below the "fam" and the "cousins". So the upper neighbor to the C chord is Db (or we could enharmonicly call it C#, of course -- same reality, different name). The lower neighbor to the C chord is B.

"Wait a minute!", I can hear you say. "You said earlier that B was a cousin." Right you are. B is both a cousin AND a neighbor. Isn't that possible in life? You could have a cousin that lives next door, couldn't you?

The upper neighbor to the F chord is F# (or we could enharmonicly call it Gb). The lower neighbor to F is E. And again, E is both a neighbor and a cousin, isn't it?

The upper neighbor to the G chord is Ab (or we could enharmonicly call it G#, could we not?). And the lower neighbor to the G chord is Gb (or enharmonicly F#).

Notice that the upper neighbor to the IV chord is exactly the same as the lower neighbor to the V chord. Remember that -- it will come in handy someday.

Enough for this issue. I don't want you getting musical indigestion. Master the "neighbors" in all keys, and next issue we'll discuss what to do with the neighbors.