combining major n minor key centers

[Jeansen]

hi,friends : glad to be back in the forum again...

just wanna ask you all simple questions here:
1) i just read a book, a handbook actually, i just name it if it is ok? "the pocket music theory" , i read some topic about combining major n minor key center n it give me this progression like this :

Cmi7 Fmi7 Dmi7(b5) G7 Cmi7 (key center: C minor )
Ebmin7 Ab7 Dbma7 (key center: Db minor ??)
Dmin7b5 G7 Cmi7 ( key center : Cminor)

n then the other progression :
C G F (key center: C major)
E Ami G F G (key center: A minor)
Cmi7 (key center: C major?? )
are the key centers all true? i'm not convinced about the Dbminor in the first progression n the Cmajor over the Cmi7 in the 2nd progression..
if they are all true..why n how could it be?

2) ..it said also ( in the same topic) that the minor7b5 chord are almost always II chords in minor keys ( and almost never VII chords in major keys). i'm quiet confused about this statement... isn't the min7b5 will always be the VII chords in major keys?

3) about blues: how can a blues melody can be very rich? i mean in chord progression like this:A7 D7 E7...how can you combine the A major n A minor pentatonic n also the D minor n D major pentatonic at the same time? can we play E major n Eminor pentatonic also? is there any explanation about this in theory? is it like modulation?

thx u..sorry to many question..i think i'm quiet desperate about musical theory haha ...please reply...oh ya, sorry for my bad english, hope you all know what i mean..

best regards,
Jeansen

[Zatz]

Originally Posted by Jeansen

are the key centers all true? i'm not convinced about the Dbminor in the first progression n the Cmajor over the Cmi7 in the 2nd progression..
if they are all true..why n how could it be?

Don't belive it

Originally Posted by Jeansen

2) ..it said also ( in the same topic) that the minor7b5 chord are almost always II chords in minor keys ( and almost never VII chords in major keys). i'm quiet confused about this statement... isn't the min7b5 will always be the VII chords in major keys?

You're right - don't believe it too

Originally Posted by Jeansen

3) about blues: how can a blues melody can be very rich? i mean in chord progression like this:A7 D7 E7...how can you combine the A major n A minor pentatonic n also the D minor n D major pentatonic at the same time? can we play E major n Eminor pentatonic also? is there any explanation about this in theory? is it like modulation?

Technically, the set of notes taken out of all the chords from this progression is very rich:
A7->D7->E7 (A B C C# D E F# G G#)

You can subdivide it into three smaller ones:

A major: (A B C# D E F# G#)

A major pentatonic: (A B C# E F#)
A minor pentatonic: (A C D E G)

Furthermore, if we write down the rest of the pentas and combine them we'll end up having only one note (F) sticking out and not fitting in the initial set:

D major pentatonic: (D E F# A B)
D minor pentatonic: (D F G A C)

E major pentatonic: (E F# G# B C#)
E minor pentatonic: (E G A B D)

But this problem can be resolved easily by adding #9 on top of D7 chord:
A7->D7#9->E7

Now you can play all the pentas but watch out the clashes - some of them are appropriate and some not.

But this is just math, not the real music. This doesn't explain how the blues works and honestly this scale approach to the above progression is somewhat wrong cos you in practice you play over the chord of the moment with a temporary tonal center in mind. I just wanted to show that such kind of progressions are not so functional. Look through the blues threads in the forums - I'm sure you'll find heaps of info on this topic.

[Jeansen]

thanx, Zatz : i don't believe that that book would be so wrong...well, i must be carefull right now when reading books...

thnx a lot...
if there any other words that helps me from the others... just throw it, i'm still waiting...

[mattblack850]

It could of course be talking about 'Borrowed' chords, where you can use any chord from Cmin progression and use it in a CMaj progression, this works because your parent key is 'C'.