The Minor 2nd Chord Cycle

By Scott Hesse

If you want to learn to improvise better in any style, you must understand how harmonies move. Over the course of the next two or three tips, I'm going to cover several different chord cycles. The aim is to help you internalize certain root movements in order to get more inside a given harmonic sequence. Once you're comfortable with certain tendencies of root movement, you can be free to reinvent the harmonies in different ways while improvising.

The basic chord movement for almost any song is I-V-I. It is tension and resolution in its simplest form. What I've done in the example below is taken a series of 'I' chords that move to 'V' chords of the next key. The resolution chords ('I' chords) move up in minor second intervals and are preceded by their 'V' chord. This chord cycle is therefore known as the minor 2nd chord cycle.

Seeing the root movement is important, but hearing the relationship is even more so. In order to really hear through the chord changes, I've written a particular harmonic/melodic pattern to use over the root movements. The pattern is the same throughout the key changes but modulates as the key centers move. 

I put the pattern on the top two strings, but this could be done on the G/B string set or the D/G string set as well. Be aware that if you start the pattern on the D/G string set that you may run out of room on your fretboard to complete the exercise.

The Minor 2nd Chord Cycle:

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Once you get the basic harmonic/melodic pattern down, you might want to attempt the chord changes in a variety of places throughout the fret board. You can also use the chord progression itself as a template for playing the particular arpeggios. See if you can find this chord cycle in any tunes you're listening to now, or might know from the past. 

Next time, we'll look at the Major 2nd chord cycle. 

Happy practicing!!