In Nashville, many pickers call this chord the "2" chord and write it as a large Roman Numeral 2. But really, it's the five of five chord in music theory circles.
Most often times it appears in a tune either after the Tonic chord or after the Dominant chord. For example: in the key of "G", play a G chord (Tonic)and follow that with a C chord (Sub Dominant) then back to the G chord, then up to the A chord (Five of Five)and then to the D chord (Dominant, also called the "Five" chord). You can then resolve this by Playing these chords: G chord, C chord, G chord, D chord and finally, G chord.
Another way the Five of Five is used is: in the key of "G", play a G chord (Tonic)and follow that with a C chord (Sub Dominant) then back to the G chord, then to the D chord (Dominant, also called the "Five" chord)and then to the A chord (Five of Five) and back to the D chord. You can then resolve this by Playing these chords: G chord, C chord, G chord, D chord and finally, G chord.
The Five of Five chord works this way: The color tone of the Five of Five has a tension that resolves nicely to the base note of the Five chord. For example: think in the key of "G" again, the color tone of the Five of Five is a C# note which resolves nicely to the "D" note in the D chord. Or, it could resolve nicely, creating a little tension (which can later be resolved to the color tone of the Tonic), by going to the flatted seventh note of the Dominant chord (D chord in this example) which would be the "C" note. (This "C" note would eventually resolve to the "B" note which is the color tone of the G chord).
Another well used chord progression is from the Tonic to the Sub Dominant to the Five of Five to the Dominant and back to the Tonic.
Yet another neat chord pattern is to go from the Tonic to the Five of Five of Five ( think of this one as a relative minor chord made major by raising the color tone) then to the Five of Five then the Five and return to the Tonic. For Example in the key of "G": G; E (not minor, but major); A; D; G.
Now find and resolve the Five of Five chords for these keys: D; A; F; C
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Fred, I'm a little confused. Since D is the "Five" of G, and A is the "Four" of D, shouldn't A be thought of as G's "Four of Five", rather than its "Five of Five"?
ReplyDeleteIn the Key of "G", "D" is the "Five" of "G". "A" is not the "Four" of "D", (D E F# G A)it is the "Five" of "G's" "Five" (G A B C D). In other words, counting to 5 from G you get G, A, B, C, and D. Now counting to 5 from D you get D, E, F#, G and A.
ReplyDeleteOuch, you're right. I should double-check my counting before clicking the "Post" button.
ReplyDeletealright I think I got it. (Potential Spoiler ALERT!)
ReplyDeleteIn the key of..
D the V/V is E which resolves to A
E the V/V is F which resolves to B
F# the V/V is G# which resolves to C#
G the V/V is A which resolves to D
and A the V/V is B which resolves to E
Let me know how I did. Please :)