The Major 2nd Chord Cycle Exercise

by Scott Hesse

This is the second installment in a series of tips on Chord Cycles. The first one dealt with a melodic voice-led approach to the harmonies. This time, I want to take a bit of a different approach.

First of all, I'm using a Major 2nd Chord Cycle below. What that means is that the tonic keys (the Major 7th chords in this case) are all separated by the interval of a Major 2nd. I connect each tonic key center by preceding it with a dominant chord. To color the dominant chords up a bit, I use the extension of a ninth. 

Also, note that the way I put the exercise together is very uniform. The arpeggio pattern is the same through every key center and ends when you return to the CMaj7 again. More uniformity exists in the fingering pattern as well. A look at the tablature notation reveals the same finger pattern throughout.

The Major 2nd Chord Cycle:

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Again the idea behind this exercise is to train yourself to hear different possibilities for harmonic cadence. You also need to be able to sight the various chord tones on the neck in different ways. This particular cycle (when broken in to segments) happens in lots of tunes as a I-vi (VI)-ii (or II) progression. 

Even though I have this exercise set up as I do, there are many, many ways to take this apart and reconfigure with different sequences. I really don't mean for this to be about technique, but more about sound exploration. Use your ears to suggest other ways of hearing this chord cycle. A great way to start yourself toward that end is to write a piece of music based on the chord cycle. It could be the whole cycle, or just pieces of it. 

As always, take your time to find your own way through it.


Happy practicing!!