I was discussing back cycling with a student recently and being the season that it is I decided to write a quick outline of Jingle Bells using back cycling with triads.
You can watch me playing the tune here with further information below and the sheet music plus tablature at the bottom of this blog post.
Jingle Bells using Back Cycling with Triads
Back Cycling basically means playing the V of V of V etc.
In the basic version of Jingle Bells the melody in the first 4 bars is played over a C chord before changing to an F chord in bar 5.
Playing 4 bars of C sounds a bit (very!) boring so this is an ideal opportunity for you to introduce backcycling.
You are heading from a C chord in bar 4 to an F chord in bar 5 so the first question you have to ask yourself is “What is the V of F?”.
The answer is C. This means that we can leave bar 4 as a C chord and harmonize the E melody note with the C chord. Easy peasy so far.
Bar 3 ends with a D melody note so you can harmonize the D note with a G chord since G is the V of C.
When I say G chord I mean any type of G chord. Experiment!
In this case I used a Gsus2 chord.
A Note about Suspended (Sus) Chords and Quartal Harmony
The Gsus2 chord that I have used at the end of bar 3 is spelled G A D which obviously are the 1 2 & 5 notes of the G major scale.
However Sus2 chords are also Sus4 chords in disguise. We can take the same notes and rearrange them into D G A which are the 1 4 & 5 notes of the D major scale.
Quartal harmony means harmony build on intervals of a fourth as opposed to traditional tertiary harmony which is build on intervals of a third.
We can take the same 3 notes and rearrange them as A D G. Each note has the interval of a fourth between them so we have instant quartal harmony.
In volume 2 of Mick Goodrick’s almanacs quartal harmony triads are called 3 part fourths.
In summary you can now play three different types of chords with one fingering!
Now go and apply them!
Back to Back Cycling with Triads
The second last melody note in bar 3 is a C note but which chord can you harmonize this with?
If you remember, the last chord in bar 3 was a type of G chord so the V of G is D.
You can see that for the third beat in bar 3 I have played a simple Dm7(no5) triad.
Again, and I can’t stress this enough, experiment and find voicings that you like.
A D7(no3), played by moving the F up to A gives a brighter sound and sounds great too.
The second beat of bar 3 has a G melody note and the V of the D chord above is A so you can harmonize the G melody note with a type of A chord.
I chose an Ab9 chord which is a hidden diminished chord!
Why Diminished Chords are Important in Solo Guitar
Diminished chords work great with back cycling especially in a solo guitar context.
If you use standard triads or 7th chords when back cycling your results are likely to be a bit boring (but still more interesting than playing a single chord over the entire bar.
To break free of this try using b9 chords.
The A7(b9) triad that I am playing is spelled E G Bb. Notice that I left out the root and the third. Instead I am playing the fifth, flat seventh and the flat ninth.
If you have good theory knowledge you can already see that the rootless A7(b9) chord is in fact an E diminished triad. Score!
In fact, if you were to play a rootless A7(b9) four note chord you would play C E G and Bb.
Rearranged these notes become E G Bb Db or an E Diminished chord!
Back To Back Cycling Again
The first beat in bar 3 has the melody note of E and the V of A (the next chord discussed above) is E.
Again I have chosen to play a b9 chord. In this case the b9 is diatonic but b9 chords provide a wonderful effect when the b9 is non-diatonic.
Bars 1, 2 and 4 in Jingle Bells
I’ve treated bars 1,2 and 4 just as C type chords as too much back cycling could be a bad thing.
However, again, experiment with how much back cycling you like to hear yourself.
I wanted to have a ‘Winter’ vibe to this arrangement so the clash between the E melody note in bars 1,2 and 4 sounds great rubbing with the F note.
Try playing the open A string with the chord on beat 1, bar 1. You’ll get an instant minor vibe. Nice!
Jingle Bells and Contrary Motion
Another great aspect of solo guitar playing is the concept of contrary motion where one voice ascends while another voice descends.
Back cycling also occurs in bar 5 and 6.
Take a look at the last beat of bar 5 and the first beat of bar 6 where to chords move from Dm7(b9) to G7.
The F melody note remains static however the middle voice falls from an Eb note to a D note while the bass note ascends from an A note to a B note. Even playing those dyads by themselves sounds great!
Notice that bar 5 also features a scalar descending line that consists of just 3 notes but it’s such a great effect.
Similarly there is contrary motion in the penultimate chord and final chord.
The A note of the G9 chord moves up to B in the C major 7 chord while the F in the G9 chord falls to the E note in the C major 7 chord.
Such lovely sounds!
Altered Chords in Jingle Bells
Of course we can’t forget our good friends the altered chords.
Altered chords sound great in chord melody or solo guitar playing.
If you’re ear isn’t developed to a certain level you might not appreciate them but once you can hear them they become a bit addictive!
You can see in bar 8, the final bar of the first ending, that I play a Gsus2 chord followed by an Galt chord.
This is because the bar of G chords are functioning dominants.
That is to say the previous bar of D minor and the following bar of C create a ii – V – I progression.
ii – V’s which don’t resolve to I are non-functioning dominants so don’t alter the V chords there.
So our progression in bars 7, 8 & 1 is Dm – G – C, this means that we can alter the G chord.
I’m playing G Db and A which really pulls the ear but it is resolved by landing back on C.
The joys of music!
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