# Tell me more about this chord progression



## ed2000 (Feb 16, 2007)

1)Am, Bm, E
..or a variation..
2)Am, Bm, Em

-what key are each in?
-why does the E and Em work in each case?

#1 is heard in a Three Dog Night tune called 'In The Country'
#2 the key is G ???


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## Shark (Jun 10, 2010)

There are some guys who know their theory quite well here, but this is my take from a very rusty memory.

The second chord progression is in the key of E minor, which is the relative minor of G major. So the notes and the chords are all the same as in the key of G major, but you play from E to E in the scale, rather than from G to G. The chords in the key of Em go: Em, F#mb5, G, Am, Bm, C, D. 

I'd say that the first chord progression (Am, Bm, E) is a non-diatonic progression, which means that one chord doesn't quite fit into the key. You could probably say it is in the key of A melodic minor, because that scale has a raised 6th and a raised 7th note when you ascend the scale. Oddly, it goes back to non-sharpened 6th and 7th notes when you descend the scale. That's right, the scale changes depending on whether you are playing up or down it! Anyways, the chord progression follows the first mode of the melodic minor scale, which is the dorian #7 mode (sometimes called the jazz minor scale). But to be honest, it's easier to just pick a close-ish key and for any chord that falls outside of that key, call it 'non-diatonic' and be done with it. The correct answer when someone tells you that a chord doesn't fit into the key is, "So what?" 

So I would say it is in the key of A harmonic minor, which is a more common and user-friendly scale than the dorian #7 mode. The A harmonic minor has an E major chord in it; however in A harmonic minor, the B chord is supposed to be a B diminished and not a B minor. So your Bm chord would be non-diatonic--i.e., it doesn't quite follow the rules. 

The harmonic minor scale is the same as a natural minor scale, but the 7th note is sharpened. So in A harmonic minor you get a G# note in the mix. That's why the E chord in A harmonic minor is an E major: the G note gets turned into a G#, making the E chord go from minor to major. The raised 7th in the scale provides what is called a 'leading tone', basically giving a stronger pull back to the root of the scale or chord progression, because having the second-last note a semitone away instead of a full tone away gives you a stronger sense of wanting it to resolve back to the root.

The further you get from the root note in a scale or chord progression the more you'll want that note or chord to resolve back to the root. For example, the chord progression of Am to Bm on its own is pretty weak and when you are on the Bm chord there is not a very strong feeling that you really need to go back to the Am chord. But once you play the Em or E major chord a few times you get a stronger feeling that you should head back to the Am. Try playing the chord progression and holding that last E chord for a while and see how you feel. If you play the E major as an E7 for half of the bar at the end it will pull you even more strongly back to the root.


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## ed2000 (Feb 16, 2007)

Yah, that's what I thought too.




Seriously, that is a helpful answer, thanks. It's good to understand the theory behind progressions


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