Chord progression and Chord question

Well just wondering why this chord progression works audibly, when in my limited knowlage of theory it shouldn't (very very limited mind you)
A minor - Chord1 - E major - Chord2
I do finger pick around it and strum into each chord.

Also what would you call these chords

Chord1

E|----|

B|-1--|

G|-2--|

D|-0--|

A|----|

E|----|

Chord2

E|----|

B|----|

G|-2--|

D|-1--|

A|-2--|

E|----|

The chord namer didn't know it.

the problem with the "No name chords" is they are not triads so because of this they can be a whole hell of a lot of things(so can nice good little triads (they are simplified nicely so naming them is easy) case in point E minor is really just a c major7 with no C). Also as has been brought up before throwing about random chords does not tell much you really need a melody, rhythm, and what ever else your doing to lead into things, it is very important to progression. so now i have to guess at things.

To start of I'm thinking chord two is a B7 because the most important notes of a chord is the 3rd and 7th(not getting into it) and chord two is B(1), D#(3),A(b7) that and the proceeding chord is E major.

chord 1 I'm going to throw out a D minor 7. D(1),A(5),C(b7).

i know i have them all in 1st position it's what made sense to me with out anything else. They could very well be better as subs but I'm not proficient enough to do that and I'm not wasting that much time on this sorry i hope you understand.

So we got A minor to D minor to E major to B major.
well A to E gets key very nice into A harmonic minor but the B is a issue seeing it should be diminished

and I just look up Melodic minor(i use it but never keyed anything in it so bare with me) which would put it as A minor to D major(there is no third i was implying it) to E major to B major but then the issue is B should be minor.

hopefully that may give you an idea but it is way to vague for me to know for sure so it is just a "educated" guess. you could very well be subbing and changing keys.

OK, I'm not trying to undermine what RA responded with because everything that was said is pretty valid (although I would be inclined to get you to check again on using melodic minor over that progression) but I'm going to have a go at this one too.

The reason that Am and E work so well together has a short or long explanation. The short one is that type of progression (though here it's more of a cadence) is a very common one to use - it's resolves in a very strong way.
The long explanation is that with Am the normal chord V is Em, not E major, but have you ever heard of 'borrowing' chords from the parallel major or minor key? Here, E major comes from the key of A MAJOR. Alternatively, it also comes from the A harmonic minor scale, which contains E Major rather than E minor (therefore, you would probably use A harmonic minor to solo over those chords).

Chord 1 could be a couple of things, I think it's most likely to be Am/D, but could also be a Dm7 or D7 depending on what type of 3rd is used.

Chord 2 is a good solid B7.

Sorry, that was WAY longer than I intended but I hope it all makes sense.

Afro

Hey thanks guys and no worries on the length of your posts it's all good =]
I'm suprised myself by being able to grasp what your explaining, which in turn educates me even more, I was thinking the first was a Am/D but wasn't sure (though I called it Am with added D lol)

Also thanks for the tips on what scale(s) may work for soloing over the top =]

Peace
Jordan.

yeah i use melodic minor strictly(unfortunately, but hey i only got a few years under my belt) in a jazz sense(if i got D7add11# i'm using Lydian dominate) so i wasn't quite sure about it i just knew it might fit due to the similarities with harmonic minor(i dabble in flamenco) so i went to "scales to chords" and gave it a shot.




man don't worry tare me into peaces if you can it is the only way one can learn. and like i said it was more implying/guessing but anything would be due to limed info.

the reason i have it as Dminor7 is the flamenco progression would have it as that.



i wasn't really talking about what scales to uses (harmonic minor would change the vibe if your melody is based in Diatonic major) i was more trying to find out how it progresses.your not going to be able to blanket scale this. Scales and keys are very different.