In this chapter you learned all the essential theory relating to Chords and Progressions and began to familiarise yourself with their sounds. You now know a wide range of ways to practice with building blocks for both Chord Types and for Progressions. You can gradually build up your recognition skills, aiming for I, IV, V progressions, and introducing further possibilities for Chord Types and Progressions when you’re ready, and to suit your musical life.
We’ve also covered the connections between Chords and the building blocks of Intervals and Solfa. You can enjoy great success doing Ear Training for all three, either by intentionally using them together, or by working on them separately and trusting in Convergent Learning to provide the multiplicative benefits.
In Part III we’ll be focusing on applied skills like Improvisation, Songwriting, and Playing By Ear, and you will see how our building blocks for Chords and Progressions can benefit you in each of those areas.
We have covered a lot! Remember to take small steps forwards, and mix together Learn, Practice and Apply so that you can enjoy the practical payoff of your Ear Training efforts sooner rather than later. You can return to any section of this chapter again later to refresh your memory or expand your focus with Chords and Progressions.
If you could relate to what I said at the outset about “wandering lost in a sea of chords”, I hope that as you’ve read through and started to experiment with the exercises in this chapter, the two big epiphanies I mentioned have become clear and impactful for you too:
- Although harmony can mean any possible combination of many notes played at once, in fact there are certain patterns and conventions in music which mean we can greatly simplify to a small number of “building blocks” for Chords and Progressions.
- A staggering number of songs and pieces use just a handful of Chords. By focusing on these particular building blocks in our Ear Training, we can go a long way fast.
Even if you never go beyond the “Start With Aiming For” target of recognising I, IV, V progressions by ear, reaching that stage alone can do wonders for your enjoyment, confidence, creativity and versatility as a musician. So start small and dive in! Soon that “sea of chords” will become a familiar river which you can confidently and joyfully navigate.