Arpeggiating Am, Cm and Gm from the 6 string is a cool, spooky-sounding exercise that can also help us be more deliberate about finger position. These chords all have different relationships, depending on which of them is the tonic, but for me it’s enough to hear that eerie, floating musical idea they can produce. Here’s a chart illustrating the theoretical relationships though, if you’re interested:
Summary of relationships
| Relationship to | Am | Gm | Cm |
|---|---|---|---|
| Am | Tonic (i) | The minor dominant (v) in the key of Gm | Chromatic mediant |
| Gm | The supertonic minor (ii) in the key of Am | Tonic (i) | Dominant minor (v) in the key of Cm |
| Cm | Relative major is E♭ major | The subdominant minor (iv) in the key of Gm | Tonic (i) |
pdf sheet for this lesson with tabs, chord charts and instructions is available at https://paulelwood.com/wp-content/uploads/spooky-numbers-exercise.pdf
