Be my guest, Matt, and no need to apologize!  :)  There have been more than a few transitions I've struggled over, so I feel your pain. 

Matt. try a C. before or after the B

Personally I think that it's important to learn how to modulate keys if you want to add interest to your chord progressions. It's worthwhile, when writing chords, to think about which other keys your last chord belongs to, and then to experiment with moving to other chords from that key. Or modulation can be very subtle, like when you shift from A natural minor to A dorian, by slipping a D major chord in there instead of a D minor. 

mattplaysguitar


Thanks Rus. Learnt some more good music theory there so that's good! I 'think' it's not wanting to switch down to the key of E and it stays in C#m the whole time. I want it to still have some tension on the E because it then builds up and resolves to the C#m, which I definitely want to have a resolve feel. I thinking maybe it's all about timing here. I'm thinking now it needs a C#m resolve before I drop down to E. Then that keeps it in C#m and keeps E feeling tense. If I cut from B straight to E, it feels more like a key change, which I don't think I want. It's also not a pre chorus or anything, just a succession of chords leading up to the chorus in C#m. I thinking I could maybe cut the time of the B in half and put a quick C#m resolve then drop to the E. So instead of | A A | B B | E E | etc|, it would go | A A | B C#m | E E | etd |. That might do it. I'll experiment tonight. Thanks for the great reply! This parallel tonic thing is really helpful (as basic as it is, you got to start somewhere!).

Sorry for the hijack, but it's all in theory learning and I think still relevent to the topic!

First off, I like how you're giving it, its own identity! Having said this, do not force it to do anything it doesn't want to or what you think it wants to do. It'll tell you. I and everyone else can only merely suggest.

So, now you want tension (I could go on all day on this topic, but I won't! Lucky you! lol)

I'm going c/p the progression and analyze it again:

| C#m | C#m | E | E | F#m | E | A | B |   | C#m | C#m | E | E | F#m | E | A | B |  (i ... III ... iv-III-VI-VII)   

The first two chords evoke the Tonic-Parallel/Parallel-Tonic relationship, but it's in both lines:

C#m is the tonic-parallel to E Major. F#m is the tonic-parallel to A major. B is the parallel to G# minor.


So, I would throw in some of those chords in-between the ones you have written already (Bolded)


C#m-A-E-B / F#m-B-C#m / E-B-A-E / F#m-G#m7-C#m

That's the easiest way to get the tension while upping the resolutions.

Here's something for your E section: E-B-A-E / F#m-G#m-C#m / Bm7-E7-AMaj7-A6 / G#7sus-G#7-C#m

See how I temporarily went to E, but kept hints of C# minor before actually going back to it?

I embellished them, but they are taken from your original progression.

Something else you could do is go to the parallel of your initial key: (C# minor to C# Major in your song's case; the reverse for others - Major to Minor)
A classical example, would be Chopin's Fantasie Impromptu: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWBSAcX0Lug (@ 40 bpm - looks extremely slow, but @ tempo, you're killing the piano! lol. Here it is at tempo (Brace yourself): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBA-38mzabs When you hear the F (E#), you are no longer in C# minor. It's temporarily reverts back to C# minor (E natural) (a couple of times) but ultimately ends in C# major.

Now, this may seem hard, but it's not. The V in both keys retains the same quality. (G = V in C major and minor; G# = V in C# major and minor, etc.)

Going back to the tension/resolution:

You can add additional notes, alter notes or alter the additional notes added or evoke substitutions. (That Tonic-Parallel is just one type) I will not evoke this until you're ready. Just make sure you understand the voice-leading dynamic because this is what creates the resolutions.

Btw, whomever, didn't understand your "hard transition," I sure you meant wanting to change smoothly instead of abruptly.

Though you said your song wasn't modulating, you can still go smoothly from chord to chord in one key. This is referred to as "walking" either up or down from one target chord to another.

Here's an example using the tried an true I-iv-ii-V-I: C-Am-Dm-G7-C

Instead of Am, I'm going to use C#dim7 because my target chord is Dm. So, I'll walk up instead of leap.

CMaj9-C#dim7-Dm-G7-C. The bass notes instead of C-A-D-G-C (leaping by fourths), I have smoother movememt. C-C#-D-G-C.

Another example: Em7-A7b9-Dm7-Db7-C. I'm going to sub Eb7 because the Em7 before it is only a halfstep above it while the Dm7 (the target chord) is a halfstep below it. Same with the Db7. Db is in-between C-D or D-C.

Em7-Eb7-Dm7-Db7-C. (Notice the chromatic bass line making the progression smoother. E-Eb-D-Db-C)  On a guitar using the E and A strings: E: 12-11-10-9-8; A: 7-6-5-4-3

Using your song again:

| C#m | C#m | E | E | F#m | E | A | B |  
| C#m | C#m | E | E | F#m | E | A | B |  

C#m-A-E-B / F#m-B-C#m / E-B-A-E / F#m-G#m7-C#m (The C#m part) 
E-B-A-E / F#m-G#m-C#m / Bm7-E7-AMaj7-A6 / G#7sus-G#7-C#m (The E + C#m part, which I'll explain)

The first four chords clearly establish E (I-V-IV-I) However, the next three establish C#m via the ii - or in this case - iv-v-i
The next phrase has one secondary dominant: Bm7 = iv/iv; added tones - Major sixth and Major seventh degrees while the last phrase is simply a V. 

However ... what looks like a VI chord is really a IV chord in first inversion. A6 = A-C#-E-F# = F#m7 = F#-A-C#-E. So, in essence, what we really have in the last phrase is this: F#m7 / G#7sus-C#m (iv-V7-i)

Remember, I'm only making suggestions, there's no rule that says you have to evoke this.

Btw, Matt - and to whoever else - you may want to check out this forum: http://www.ibreathemusic.com/forums/index.php

sharke


Personally I think that it's important to learn how to modulate keys if you want to add interest to your chord progressions. It's worthwhile, when writing chords, to think about which other keys your last chord belongs to, and then to experiment with moving to other chords from that key. Or modulation can be very subtle, like when you shift from A natural minor to A dorian, by slipping a D major chord in there instead of a D minor. 

That modal playing. When it comes to keys, there are only two modes (Ionian and Aeolian)


When the other five are mentioned, they're built the sub-scale/mode built from the parent scale.


Major: Ionian (I) Dorian (ii) Phrygian (iii) Lydian (IV) Mixolydian (V) Aeolian (vi) Locrian (viio) and Altered (Super Locrian).


There is such a thing as modal interchange - this is where borrowed chords come from (iv-bIII/VI and VII - major keys)


You're probably not wrong as I may have misinterpreted, but I do agree that borrowing from the parallel scale does add interest to progressions.

Yeah I'm thinking as a guitar player of course....we're very modal centered! 

sharke


Yeah I'm thinking as a guitar player of course....we're very modal centered! 

Where does this leave jazz pianists or improvisers of other genres? They use the same jargon as guitar guys who use all the same things (Extensions, Alterations, Substitutions, etc.) They, however, may not discuss it at length like guitar guys. And we play modally, too; we just tend to dodge the other five. :)

Rus W

sharke


Yeah I'm thinking as a guitar player of course....we're very modal centered! 

Where does this leave jazz pianists or improvisers of other genres? They use the same jargon as guitar guys who use all the same things (Extensions, Alterations, Substitutions, etc.) They, however, may not discuss it at length like guitar guys. And we play modally, too; we just tend to dodge the other five. :)

Well the reason I said guitar players are very modal centered is because of the way we generally learn scales. We start with a box pattern minor pentatonic scale in the root position. Then we figure out the "blue" b5 note. Awesome! Then we learn the box patterns for the same scale up the rest of the fretboard. At some point (at least pre-internet) we picked up a guitar magazine that shows us the root position Aeolian. Whoa, it's almost the same as the pentatonic pattern, but with a couple extra notes! And now we sound like *insert favorite metal player here* running up and down that scale. From there, it's only a couple of guitar magazine lessons later before we've figured out that each box pattern is also the root pattern of a different "mode." From that point forward, we're Steve Vai. 

^ I know. Piano oriented have their ways, too. I just watched a video explaining the pentatonic scale from a piano perspective and realized how it's also fused with the blues scale in rock 'n' roll, blues, & boogie woogie.

The bass line is usually doing the penta walk or penta + blue walk with a sixth chord providing the comping. And I just mentally did this over 12-bar blues. The fusing is seamless! (C-E-F-Gb-G, there's the blue walk. C-E-G-A-Bb, there's the penta + blue walk. Boogie-Woogie bridges both)

I totally get you though. That was not a slight at all.

The blues is a fantastic learning experience for anyone who's fixated on harmonic "correctness." A good blues player will mix major and minor feels, often in the same bar. You can slide up to that major third note over a minor chord, and it still sounds great. And then on the IV chord you can continue to be harmonically ambiguous. 

The same goes for rhythm as well. When you listen to those old blues musicians playing solo they'll mix their bar lengths all over the place to match what they're singing. The rules are made to be broken.