Applications

Chord Wheel as Composition Aide

The Chord Wheel will especially be valuable when composing your own progressions. Chords located completely within a single Key's triangular pattern are said to be diatonic and will sound very much like they belong together. Moving outside the Key's chord family will result in adding more tension to song (often very desirable) and is said to be literally 'outside.' By gaining better control of the 'tension and release' inherent in progressions and within the art of Key modulation, the Chord Wheel will provide you with the tools absolutely necessary for inventive composition

Soloing and Improvisation

Imagine being able to analyze a progression to the following detail in less than a minute armed with nothing but the Chord Wheel and your good looks:

Let's say that after using the Chord Wheel to analyze the progression you discover the Intro is in the Key of D except for the final measure which backcycles through the Key of G and very briefly to the Key of C before resting at the beginning of the Verse at the Key of F. What the hey?!?! That's a lot of Key center movement. But now you can follow this movement by playing licks based on the D Major Scale (along with your personal favorite variations) during most of the Intro as always, but now you know just where to throw in melodic lines based on G and C Major scales because you know exactly where the Intro modulates (i.e. changes key center). Now you're really playing the song!

You further discover the Verse stays firmly in the Key of F but just before the Chorus the Key of G is hinted at which leads strongly into the Chorus which does indeed begin in the Key of G. However you then discover the Chorus' second half is firmly in the Key of D, echoing the Intro. Once again, now that you're armed with the Chord Wheel you can actually play through the changes; a musicians' term meaning to actually follow the chord changes in a song instead of playing freely over everything regardless of key changes.

Sound confusing and complex? It's not and more importantly it's not all that uncommon. And we're not just talking jazz here, you'd be surprised what inventive songwriters working in the Pop vein come up with. If you think you can play modern rock music with the impression all songs rest in a single Key center, think again. But armed with the Chord Wheel your improvisations will sing along with the harmony of the underlying progression.

Buy a Chord Wheel today...; Start making better music tomorrow!

If all of the above seems a little complex, fear not. Click here and we'll cover some music theory basics and you'll get to where you want to be in no time.

Transposing

Let's face it, transposing is simply a necessary skill for all musicians. For arrangers, accompanists and composers it's an absolute must. Well, now it's no longer a pain.

Why We Transpose

There are numerous instances in which we must transpose a given progression into a different key. Perhaps we are arranging for instruments with non-concert tuning. Or we're accompanying a vocalist who needs the progression in a lower (or higher) range. If we're composing on a guitar and we decide to throw on a capo to get a fresh sound, you'll soon need to transpose when it's time to communicate the progression.

Transposing with The Chord Wheel

If the following sounds ridiculously easy, then you get the idea.

With the Chord Wheel in hand, set the disk to the original key and note the original chords. (To make things even easier, the Chord Wheel's transparent disk was designed for use with a dry erase marker. In this manner noting the chords is really a breeze.) Now turn the transparent disk to the new key and read off the new chords.

You're done.

Even if your progression modulated to five different keys throughout the composition, as long as you aligned the first key of the song and know what the first key needed to be transposed to, all the changes and modulations follow in turn.

Yes, it's too easy.

Tell Me More

The best way to learn is to follow the Chord Wheel Tutorial. Click here.

If you want to jump to the section of the tutorial where we transpose the Beatles' song 'Let It Be,' then Click here.

Music Education

While there are noted musicians who just 'wing it,' the vast majority are well studied. Many have music degrees from universities and quite a few have achieved greatness through private study. Whichever road you choose, the Chord Wheel will help get you there.

An awful lot of education is dependent on the student memorizing certain fundamentals which are intended to be used to advance higher concepts later. Unlike multiplication tables however, the relationships between chords and keys is not something most of us can maintain a firm grasp of in our heads alone. The Chord Wheel was developed as the ultimate 'cheat sheet' which would allow one to enjoy the vast benefits of chord theory mastery without the steep learning curve.

When a musician with a Masters degree first glimpsed a prototype Chord Wheel without any instructions or explanation, he immediately recognized its value and commented that this device contained the knowledge that had too quickly faded the moment he graduated. In fact, the Chord Wheel allows a beginning student to have at his/her fingertips music theory knowledge that degreed musicians would envy.

Too good to be true? Hardly. Try the test below.

Just the study of Music Theory alone is exciting. The quickest way to the depths of this boundless sea is the Chord Wheel. Below you will find a music/chord theory quiz. Don't worry... We won't score you.