MUSIC THEORY 101

[Elisabet]

3. Chords: Triads:

Each Degree of the Major Scale has a chord built off it. When these chords are played one right after the other starting from the 1st Degree chord through to the 7th Degree chord, it sounds like you're playing the Major Scale, except with chord harmony. Each chord is built using the Root note and then taking every other note of the Scale until you get 3 notes. These 3 note forms are called Triads:

There are ONLY 4 different TYPES of Triads in Western Diatonic Harmony:

Major Triad = 1-3-5 notes of the Scale
Minor Triad = 1-b3-5 notes of the Scale; notice the 3rd note is flatted to get the minor chord sound (sad)
Diminished Triad = 1-3-b5 notes of the Scale; diminished means to subtract, thus the 5th note is flatted
Augmented Triad = 1-3-#5 notes of the Scale; augment means to add, so the 5th note is sharped to get this Triad


C Major Scale Harmonized into Triads:

1st Degree = C Major triad = 1-3-5 notes of the Scale, C-E-G
2nd Degree = D minor triad = D-F-A
3rd Degree = E minor triad = E-G-B
4th Degree = F Major triad = F-A-C
5th Degree = G Major triad = G-B-D
6th Degree = A minor triad = A-C-E
7th Degree = B half-diminished triad = B-D-F (or a B minor-b5 chord)

Why are some of those chords Major, and some are minor? It's because ONLY the notes of the C Major Scale are used to build those chords, but... the name of the chords come from their respective Major Scales.

For example, remember, to create a minor chord triad, the 3rd in the chord is flatted. That 2nd Degree chord is a D minor chord because in the KEY of D Major, there is no F natural (meaning not sharped or flatted). Instead in D Major Key, the F is an F#. Because we're using just the notes of the C Major Scale which has no sharps or flats, it makes that a plain F. The D Major chord = 1-3-5 of the D Major Scale which would be D-F#-A, but remember when the 3rd Degree in the chord is flatted, you get a minor chord (1-b3-5). That's what the C Harmonized Scale did here to that 2nd Degree chord, made it a D minor. Same thing with the other minor chords, and with the B minor-b5 chord on the 7th Degree.


4. 7th Chord Harmony:

We can go further with adding yet another Degree note to our Triads, and that would be the 7th Degree note. There are the same triads as before, but with the added 7th Degree Scale note, making them 7th chords:

1st Degree (I) - C Major 7th chord = C-E-G-B
2nd Degree (ii) - D minor 7th chord = D-F-A-C
3rd Degree (iii) - E minor 7th chord = E-G-B-D
4th Degree (IV) - F Major 7th chord = F-A-C-E
5th Degree (V) - G Dominant 7th chord = G-B-D-E
6th Degree (vi) - A minor 7th chord = A-C-E-G
7th Degree (vii) - B minor 7th-b5 chord = B-D-F-A

The G Dominant 7th chord deserves special notice here. By adding the 7th Degree note, an Interval called a Tritone is created between the 3rd Degree note and the 7th Degree note. These two notes rub against each other, creating a sound that is leading, and it needs to resolve somewhere. It's most solid sounding resolution is back to the 1st Degree chord, the C Major chord.

Did you notice the Roman numerals I put in the above Degree descriptions of each chord? A large Roman numeral represents a Major chord (I, IV, V), and a small Roman numeral represents a minor chord (i, ii, vi, or vii). This tells you what kind of chord is spelled on the specific Scale Degree.


The Turnaround:

No matter what style of music you listen to, you will eventually hear this 'dominant' chord sound with just the Dominant chord, or within a group of chords with the dominant at the end, leading the end of a verse, chorus, or bridge of the song back to the 1st Degree chord the song began on. This is popularly called the "turnaround" in the song's chord progression. It is a dominant leading sound, a definite tension sound that needs resolving, and it most often resolves to the 1st Degree chord, or the I chord.



4. Song Form: Progressions:

Remember our melody we created, or the simple tune 'Row, Row, Row Your Boat.' Remember how I said that we are used to hearing certain patterns of harmony within tunes we grew listening to, even to where we naturally create those movements with a simple melody we might hum or sing.

One of the strongest sounding movements in harmony is with the V to I Degrees. That would be the C Major Scale notes G to C, or the chords G Dominant 7 chord to the C Major chord. This is the most pleasing resolution sound to our ears, and we are very used to hearing it in western music. Try to distinguish it when you listen to songs. Recognize each section, like Verse-Verse-Chorus-Verse (AABA song form), you should hear a 'turnaround' at the end of each section leading to the next section.

The two most used base Chord Progressions in Western Music:

I-IV-V-I (C Major chord, to F Major chord, to G Dom7 chord, back to the C Major chord)
ii-V-I (D minor chord, to G Dom7 chord, to the C Major chord)

You will discover those two base chord progressions in the majority... of western music. There are literally thousands and thousands of songs based on the I-IV-V chord progression, especially in Pop, Rock, Country, Blues, Jazz, Folk, Gospel, and Classical. Same with the ii-V-I chord progression, but it is especially used in Jazz and the old show Broadway show tunes.

With these two chord progressions, songs that use them will have other chords in the progression also, but the turnaround will have one of those types, or some close familiarity to it leading to the next song section.


5. Chord Families:

If you look at the Major Scale Triads closely, especially the 7th chords, you will see a 'common tone' relationship between some of the chords. Some chords will have at least 2 common tones in them. This establishes what Chord Family they belong in, which means they will have a fairly close relative sound to each other.

Major Chord Family:
I chord - C Major 7th chord - C-E-G-B
iii chord - E minor 7th chord - E-G-B-D
vi chord - A minor 7th chord - A-C-E-G

Minor Chord Family:
ii - D minor 7th chord - D-F-A-C
IV - F Major 7th chord - F-A-C-E

Dominant Chord Family:
V chord - G Dom7th chord - G-B-D-F
vii chord - B minor7b5 chord - B-D-F-A

Notice how those chord's tones relate to each other within their Family. You can substitute the chords within a Family with each other if your melody sounds right with it, have to use your ear to make sure the one different note does't rub against your melody. Don't be confused by the fact that some of those chords are Major, like the F Major7th being in the Minor Family, and minor like the Em and Am being in the Major Family. The purpose of this is for using those chords in Progression movement within a song because of their 'sound', not their type or spelling. Try it. When you have a V Dom7 chord, sub it with the vii min-b5 chord and check how it sounds.

Here's the main purpose on why you'd use them this way:

Let's say you have a simple chord progression for your song like, 8 bars of C Major, 4 bars of G Dom7, and then 8 bars of C Major, and you want more variety or harmonic movement and choices.

You could add more chords of the Families, like: instead of 8 bars of just a C Major chord, you could have 4 bars of C Major chord, 4 bars of Aminor chord. Or, 4 bars of C Major, 2 bars of E minor, and 2 bars of A minor, then go to your G Dom7 chord, and then back to C Major chord. All you are doing is extending the Major Chord Harmony by adding the Em or Am chords because they have 2 common tones that the C Major chord has. You can do the same thing with the ii and IV chord Family.

But to establish the Key center, the Key the song is in, and have a solid finish, you need... that V-I turnaround movement in the end, leading back to the I chord (C Major chord).

If you understood all this so far, then it ought to give you enough to start writing some basic chord progressions for your future songs.

I learnt some of them when i was appling for ABRSM Grade 5 music theory exam and i will forget it now if i didn't have to teach my sister for the same exam

Its fun learning those stuffs tho

 

[eternallife7]

I would suggest something like Finale SongWriter ($49.95) if you're just wanting to put down songwriting ideas and print the music out, or import MIDI and/or MusicXML files. The full version of Finale is quite expensive, and covers the full range of composition and notation you'd find in orchestral, jazz band, marching band, etc.

I just want one were I can erase notes with ease if I need to.

 

[DP]

I learnt some of them when i was appling for ABRSM Grade 5 music theory exam and i will forget it now if i didn't have to teach my sister for the same exam

Its fun learning those stuffs tho

The more tools, the more things you can do, that's my motto.

Some are against taking the time to learn music theory to this depth, but I think it essential if you want to be able to explore in writing the heavier styles of music like Jazz and Classical.

By the way, I'm not a pianist. My keyboard skills are very minimal. I'm just a guitar player, and don't claim to be a virtuoso on that either, although I once was heavily into Jazz chord melody playing. I really wish I had taken time to do piano lessons, because I need that more now.

 

[DP]

I just want one were I can erase notes with ease if I need to.

There's several programs out there. I think MakeMusic (authors of Finale) offer a free dumbed down version similar to Finale called NotePad. You might look into that first.

Free Music Writing, Music Notation Software - Finale Notepad

I know in Finale to erase notes, you select the measure to delete just the notes in that measure, or you use the arrow to drag over just the notes you want and either use Backspace or Ctrl-Z (PC) or a menu command.

For PC, Ctrl-Z is pretty much a standard to erase what you did one-step in most all software programs. Continuing to press it keeps erasing back one step at a time. The software usually has a preference setting to determine how many steps the program will recall that you can erase, allowing you to set it.

 

[DP]

11. Chromatic Chord Substitution:

OK, now for a jump in excitement, as chromatic chord substitution is where you get into the ability for deeper explorations in your songwriting. Just about any kind of combination creation becomes available to you.

Here's an example of a Diatonic Major chord progression, all the chords originate from the same F Major Key and Scale:

Gm7 - Cdom7 - F Major7

Audio: https://db.tt/FbuehL4z

Chromaticism is about use of notes that don't belong to the Key. Here is a chromatic alteration of our basic progression above:

Gm7b5 - C7#9 - F Major7

Audio: https://db.tt/EOACo6Jo

The b5 note (Db) of the Gm7b5 chord is not common to the Key of F, and the #9 note (D#) of that C7#9 chord is not common to the Key of F. But you can definitely hear how it added just a touch of different 'color' to those chords in that progression. Notice how those added chromatic notes made the transitions between the chords sound different also.

That didn't change the basic chord triads of the original chords, it added chromatic alterations to the existing chords. We didn't embellish those chords either, because embellishing is about adding extended notes that belong to the same Key and Scale those F Major chords were built from. Instead, this adding of chromaticism was like an enrichment of the chords.

The Gminor7b5 chord originates from the Harmonic Minor Scale (might cover that Scale later)
The C7#9 chord is a chromatically altered chord
The F Major7 chord originates from the F Major Scale

The main thing to notice is how those changes created Harmony that begins to leave the Diatonic Major Scale. So this tool can come in handy at times when you've got a chord progression you don't quite know where to go with next, and you're looking for a certain sound 'color' that will enhance, or create more tension, in the progression, making it more memorable or unique. By doing that you are beginning to experiment in defining 'your' own sound that others may come to recognize as part of your songwriting character.

 

[DP]

12. Secondary Dominant Chord Substition:

Secondary Dominants function 2 ways: first they can be used to replace a chord:

Original Progression in Key of C Major: C Maj7 - G7

Audio: https://db.tt/Egn3wzV8

Secondary Dominant added: CMaj7 - D7 - G7

Audio: https://db.tt/pX933634

Notice the added D7 has its Root note as a 5th from the Root of the G7 chord (the 5th of G is the note D). That makes the D7 chord a Secondary Dominant of the G7 chord. In short, the D7 is the V chord of the G7 chord, or V of V.

Using Secondary Dominants, you could easily work your way around the Circle of 5ths with continuing to add these V of V relationships. A7 would be the Secondary Dominant chord of the D7 (V of V), etc. Some of these kind of ideas were used in Jazz, especially in the Be-Bop era (Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Dexter Gordon, etc.).

You can do this with other chords outside that C Major Key progression also:

CMaj7 - Bm7 - G7

Audio: https://db.tt/Y9KDwqJI

The Bm7b5 chord is common to the Key of C Major, but that Bm7 chord is not, because it doesn't have the b5 note important to the vii degree chord in C Major. The Root of that Bm7 chord doesn't follow the Secondary Dominant concept, but, it is serving as a temporary chord related to the G7 chord, because it is the iii chord in the Key of G Major.

That Bm7 chord is thus serving as the iii (Bm7) of V (G7), with looking at it from a G Major Key perspective.

You could try the F#m7b5 chord also instead of that Bm7, because F#m7b5 is the vii chord in the Key of G Major, and it would serve as the vii of V in this situation using the Secondary Dominant concept.

CMaj7 - F#m7b5 - G7

Audio: https://db.tt/K6gDIg6p

That F#m7b5 chord is definitely not in the C Major Key family of chords. It belongs to the key of G Major. So there is a relation we're keeping here between the chords with this method. And by its sound it is proven to work with proper Voice Leading of the notes when moving from chord to chord.

 

[Siela01]

Honestly idk about music, chord, ect.. but i appreciate it.thank u DP..this is good thread

 

[eternallife7]

I"m thinking about breaking out the sheet music paper and a pencil and write a hit old school!

 

[Abing]

I"m thinking about breaking out the sheet music paper and a pencil and write a hit old school!

I'm starting to like processed music lel. I find it really enjoyable to mix lol. But I still want to learn more about music theory, in preparation for school. It's a looong way to go but at least we're moving forward! lol.