Chords in A dorian

Am · Bm · C · D · Em · F♯° · G

The course explains what this page shows in Lesson 19 · Harmonising the scale.

The chords in A dorian

  1. iAmAm7
  2. iiBmBm7
  3. IIICCmaj7
  4. IVDD7
  5. vEmEm7
  6. vi°F♯°F♯m7♭5
  7. VIIGGmaj7

The chords of A dorian are Am, Bm, C, D, Em, F♯° and G. With a seventh added they become Am7, Bm7, Cmaj7, D7, Em7, F♯m7♭5 and Gmaj7.

If you stack every other note of A dorian, starting from each degree in turn, these are the chords you get. Nobody chose them: each one is built from the scale's own notes, arranged in thirds.

Every chord, where it lives

iAmiiBmIIICIVDvEmvi°F♯°VIIG
Open51♭35151131351511♭3♭51131
Fret 11513151♭5♭3♭5
Fret 22fr151♭352fr131352fr1335132fr151♭32fr1♭51♭32fr13351
Fret 33fr1♭3♭3513fr151353fr1513153fr1♭3♭353fr151351
Fret 44fr131354fr151♭354fr1♭51♭3
Fret 55fr151♭3515fr1♭3♭3515fr151355fr151♭3155fr1♭3♭3♭51♭35fr1513
Fret 77fr151♭37fr151♭3517fr133517fr151♭357fr1♭51♭31♭57fr133513
Fret 88fr1♭3♭358fr1513518fr1♭5♭3♭58fr151315
Fret 99fr151♭359fr151♭39fr133519fr1♭51♭39fr13135
Fret 1010fr151♭31510fr1♭3♭3510fr151310fr15135110fr1♭3♭35110fr15135
Fret 1111fr151♭35
Fret 1212fr133513

The grid places seven chords across twelve home frets on 7-string guitar. Every chord is within reach from the open position and fret 2 and fret 9.

Read down a column to find one chord all over the neck. Each shape appears once, in the row for the fret it starts on. The line in the margin marks the rows your hand covers from a position where every chord of the key is within reach. In this key those positions are the open position and fret 2 and fret 9.

Shapes for each chord

Am i
51♭351♭35fr151♭3511♭3
Bm ii
515515151♭3
C III
1131311131513
D IV
135113515131353
Em v
515151♭31
F♯° vi°
1♭3♭511♭3♭52fr1♭51♭35fr1♭3♭3♭51♭3
G VII
13113511311

These are the most playable shapes for each chord, starting from the lowest position. Every shape fits within the reach of one hand, so none of them needs a finger you do not have.

Progressions in A dorian

Three chord
  1. iAm
  2. IVD
  3. vEm
AmiDIVEmvCDEEF♯GAAB+2+2+2+1+2

One of the six lines between these chords is flat: that note belongs to both chords, so it stays where it is. No voice moves more than two semitones.

Every one of these chords comes from A dorian.

Axis
  1. iAm
  2. vEm
  3. vi°F♯°
  4. IVD
AmiEmvF♯°vi°DIVCBCDEEF♯F♯AGAA−1+1+2+2−2+2

Three of the nine lines between these chords are flat: those notes belong to both chords, so they stay where they are. No voice moves more than two semitones.

Every one of these chords comes from A dorian.

Doo-wop
  1. iAm
  2. vi°F♯°
  3. IVD
  4. vEm
AmiF♯°vi°DIVEmvCCDEEF♯F♯GAAAB+2+2+2+1+2

Four of the nine lines between these chords are flat: those notes belong to both chords, so they stay where they are. No voice moves more than two semitones.

Every one of these chords comes from A dorian.

ii–V–I
  1. ii7Bm7
  2. v7Em7
  3. i7Am7
Bm7ii7Em7v7Am7i7DDCF♯EEAGGBBA−2−2−2−2

Four of the eight lines between these chords are flat: those notes belong to both chords, so they stay where they are. No voice moves more than two semitones.

These are the third and the seventh of each chord on their own. Together they decide whether a chord is major, minor or dominant, which is why they are called guide tones. If you play only these two notes, you can still hear the chords change. If you play only the root and the fifth, you cannot. Two of the four lines between these chords are flat: those notes belong to both chords, so they stay where they are. No voice moves more than two semitones.

Bm7ii7Em7v7Am7i7DDCAGG−2−2

Every one of these chords comes from A dorian.

Rhythm changes
  1. i7Am7
  2. viø7F♯m7♭5
  3. ii7Bm7
  4. v7Em7
Am7i7F♯m7♭5viø7Bm7ii7Em7v7CCBBEEDDGF♯F♯EAAAG−1−2−1−2−2

Seven of the twelve lines between these chords are flat: those notes belong to both chords, so they stay where they are. No voice moves more than two semitones.

This diagram again follows only the guide tones, the third and seventh of each chord. Two of the six lines between these chords are flat: those notes belong to both chords, so they stay where they are. No voice moves more than three semitones.

Am7i7F♯m7♭5viø7Bm7ii7Em7v7CAAGGEDD−3−2−3−2

Every one of these chords comes from A dorian.

Twelve-bar blues
  1. I7A7
  2. I7A7
  3. I7A7
  4. I7A7
  5. IV7D7
  6. IV7D7
  7. I7A7
  8. I7A7
  9. V7E7
  10. IV7D7
  11. I7A7
  12. V7E7
A7I7D7IV7A7I7E7V7D7IV7A7I7E7V7C♯CC♯DCC♯DEDEEDEEGF♯GG♯F♯GG♯AAABAAB−1+1+1−2+1+1−2+2−2+2−1+1+1−2+1+1+2−2+2

Five of the 24 lines between these chords are flat: those notes belong to both chords, so they stay where they are. No voice moves more than two semitones. The progression lasts twelve bars, but a repeated chord is not a change, so the ladder shows only the six places where the harmony moves.

This diagram again follows only the guide tones, the third and seventh of each chord. None of the twelve lines between these chords is flat, so every voice moves at every change. No voice moves more than two semitones. The progression lasts twelve bars, but a repeated chord is not a change, so the ladder shows only the six places where the harmony moves.

A7I7D7IV7A7I7E7V7D7IV7A7I7E7V7C♯CC♯DCC♯DGF♯GG♯F♯GG♯−1+1+1−2+1+1−1+1+1−2+1+1

Two of these chords go outside A dorian, borrowing C♯ and G♯ (A7, E7). No single key contains all of them. Every one is a dominant seventh, and a dominant seventh pulls towards the chord whose root is a fifth below its own, one step anticlockwise on the circle (A7 → D, D7 → G, E7 → A). A chord drawn dashed, here and on the circle, goes outside the key.

There are six progressions in A dorian, including Three chord (Am D Em) and Axis (Am Em F♯° D).

Each row is one progression. It is written first in roman numerals, which name each chord by the degree of the scale it is built on, and then as the chords those numerals stand for in this key. A dashed outline means the chord borrows a note that A dorian does not contain. Under each progression, a diagram follows every note from one chord to the next. A flat line is a note that stays where it is, and a sloped line is labelled with the number of semitones the note moves.

A dorian on the circle of fifths

—1♯2♯3♯4♯5♯6♯5♭4♭3♭2♭1♭CIIIAmiGVIIEmvDIVBmiiAF♯mEC♯mBG♯mF♯°vi°D♯mD♭B♭mA♭FmE♭CmB♭GmFDmA Dorian1♯

Each step clockwise around the wheel moves up a perfect fifth and adds a sharp to the key signature, or takes a flat away. The small numbers around the rim show each key's signature. A dorian has one sharp in its key signature.

Why the chords land where they do

The two rings work in pairs. Each minor key on the inner ring is the relative minor of the major key just outside it: the two are built from the same seven notes and share a key signature. C major and A minor are one such pair.

This pairing is why a key's chords gather in one place. Its three major chords, C, D and G (the III, IV and VII), sit next to each other on the outer ring, each a fifth from its neighbour. Its three minor chords, Am, Bm and Em (the i, ii and v), are the relative minors of those same three, so they sit directly beneath them. Together, six of the seven chords form a block three wedges wide.

The remaining chord, F♯° (the vi°), is diminished. It sits four steps away from the block and is outlined on its own. Every major key, and every mode of the major scale, has exactly one diminished chord, and it is always the one that sits apart.

In this way the wheel works as a map of harmonic distance. Chords inside the block sound as though they belong to one key, and the further a chord sits from the block, the more it sounds like a departure. That is why progressions such as I–IV–V and ii–V–I move between neighbours rather than leaping across the wheel.

One step, on the neck

On the guitar, a perfect fifth is a shape you already know: the power chord. Play a root, then the note two frets higher on the next string up. Here it starts on A.

BEADGBE101112131415AEB

Now think of it as a chain. The E you are already fretting is the fifth of A, and it is also the root of the next chord clockwise. Play the same shape starting from E and you reach B. A → E → B is two steps around the wheel, and the same movement repeated up the neck.

The shape works here because these strings are a fourth apart. On the G–B pair the distance changes, so the fifth moves to a different fret. That is the one place this tuning breaks the pattern, and the reason familiar chord shapes change on the higher strings.

A dorian has one sharp in its key signature. Six of its seven chords form one block on the circle of fifths.

Six of A dorian's seven chords sit together in one block on the wheel. The seventh, F♯°, sits apart.