# How many chords, scales should a person know ?



## Davzon

Hi all, just a word of thought what is a good amount of scales and chords to know ? or is it just best to learn short cuts so you can just play them when you need to? like for me I just remember a tonic chord and Submediant for a major 7th chord. but of cause it's rather simple, cause most people know three note chords so it's just a case of remembering the 7th. but of cause when you go to chord like 13th chords can be troublesome. but then 13th is the same as 6 well that's what I hear alot of people saying, the 2 is the same as 9, the 4 is the same as 11 and so on. But what about all the advanced chords what amount is good enough? cause I know this is mainly a classical forum but I've been doing a bit of jazz harmony, I'm going omg how much do you need to know to be a good player, I mean if you have the music in front of you fair enough, but if you don't and want to write songs then knowing as many chords will be a very good idea, but how, I mean theirs loads and loads of them. I have been mixing a A major 7th chord into a F7 #9#5 cause if im right there is only two notes difference, and that's the e gets flattered and the a drops down to the F that's a good way of remembering chords ? or am I thinking far too much into it ? cause I have a habit of doing too much and confusing myself. If anyone could share light in this that would be cool, cause I really want to be good with chords and know how the fit together better. 

PS. sorry if this thread don't make alot of sense I just have ideas pop into my head and like peoples opinions.


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## PetrB

1.) Standard: all major keys, all minor keys in their three forms -- natural / harmonic / melodic.

2.) Then modes if they suit your needs.

3.) Chords -- chords are built from scale degrees. Learning them more in the pop theory fashion is useful for pop music, not much else.

Classical and Jazz theory both consider chord function. Jazz theory is built on modes, and extensive lists of combined modes, and combined chords. Those books are like encyclopedias, and unless you want to be a deep-end jazz musician, I think there is less numbers on lists to learn in classical, and it can take you as far in any direction as you care to go..

Start with the basics, Nos. 1 & 2, then you can learn about chords by building them from those scales. That will take you much further, and leave less epic proportion laundry lists of 'just chords' to learn.

[[ ADD: AVOID "CHORD METHOD" PIANO BOOKS LIKE THE PLAGUE. ]]


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## Taggart

Basically, all of them. The more you know, the better it gets. It's a combination of learning the finger patterns and the actual practice on the scales.

Chords are subtly different. You need to know how to play progressions for example a ii V I VI7 in any key. The "trick" is that the VI7 leads back into the ii. Most jazz players (and folk accompanists) work with sequences of chords like that. Looking at what notes "move" is great for looking at what fingers move because that helps drive the progression.

So when you write harmony, you don't want the "fancy" stuff to start with, you want what most people will know - basic chord progressions. The whole point about jazz is that you improvise - and *that's* where the fancy stuff comes in. You basically need to know the "standard" progressions - or the progressions you find in jazz standards and use them initially. Then when you play what you've written and get a feel for it, you can improvise using the more unusual chords and see how it feels.

Keep reading, keep playing and enjoy!


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