Compendium of Chords for the Cello

© 2018 Benjamin Whitcomb. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 03/26/2018

ISBN: 978-1-5462-3069-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5462-3068-7 (e)

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Table of Contents

Introduction

Preliminaries

Double-, triple-, or quadruple-stop chords?

Triads and their inversions

Ways to play chords on the cello

Part 1: Types of Chords

Major triads

Inverted chords

Minor triads

Diminished chords

Dominant seventh chords

Introduction to chord progressions

Pattern of chord qualities

The rule of the octave

The circle of fifths

The circle of thirds

Chord progressions with suspensions

Part 2: The Basic Chord Progressions in all Keys

C major

C minor

Db major

C# major

C# minor

D major

D minor

Eb Major

Eb minor

D# minor

E major

E minor

F major

F minor

Gb major

F# major

F# minor

G major

G minor

Ab major

Ab minor

G# minor

A major

A minor

Bb major

Bb minor

A# minor

Cb major

B major

B minor

Part 3: Further Applications

Chord progressions as double stops

High registers

Modulation

Figured bass lines

Walking bass lines

Quiz on Chords

Bibliography

Biography

Acknowledgments

There are many people who helped me write this book, whether they realize it or not. First of all, I would never have been able to have written a book such as this without my primary cello teachers, Monty Lawson, Evan Tonsing, George Neikrug, and Phyllis Young.

I am extremely grateful for the useful suggestions and advice from the people who helped review this work, including Anne Witt, Tess Remy-Schumacher, Linda Jennings, Leanne League, Rebecca MacLeod, and Laurie Scott. I would also like to thank my parents, Carl and LaJean Whitcomb, my sons, Spencer and Preston, and my wife Pamela, for everything.

Introduction

There are many resources for practicing scales and arpeggios on the cello, but extremely few for practicing chords. Understanding chords on the cello can be a very useful skill for cellists for a variety of reasons, the most obvious of which is that chords appear a significant number of times in the cello repertoire. In addition, understanding chords:

• helps you to think harmonically

• helps you to better analyze music

• improves your ability to sight