Category Archives: Harmony

Tension or rest? Here are the chords that allow you to have this effect

Consonant and dissonant chords

Have you ever heard a piece of music and noticed that a chord has a sense of stability and relax, to be immediately followed by another chord with characteritics of tension and movement?

Music is made up of alternation between rest and tension and for this reason we must find chords to express these two characteristics.

In today’s lesson, we will see consonant and dissonant chords. In this way, when we must choose which chords use, we will know which are their characteristic, either tension or stability.

Most of all, this lesson will be a fundamentali introduction to a new and more important chapter: seventh chords.

Learning material of this lesson

5 videos	20 mins
1. Consonant and dissonant chords	5m 21s
2. Consonant triads in major scales	2m 59s
3. Dissonant triads in major scales	3m 19s
4. Consonant and dissonant chords in minor scales	5m 58s
5. Here is how to obtain other dissonant chords	2m 31

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Harmonic cadences, only give me one hour and I will explain what they are (part 2)

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What is the interrupted cadence?

In the last lesson we introduced the concept of cadences and most importantly learned to understand its importance in a progression of chords.

We have studied the first four types of cadences.

Today the things that you will learn include:
– which are the other types of cadences (the interrupted cadence, the decepted cadence, the mixed cadence)
– when these cadences can be applied in the minor key
– which is the only cadence that can be used in the minor key
– How to identify cadences in the four songs that we have
analysed

As will be seen after the lesson of today, you will have made a great step ahead in understanding how to create a cadence.
Finally you will find a pdf table with the principal cadences

You will be able to apply immediately all of this in the moment you write your music!

Learning material of this lesson

4 videos	23 mins
1. The interrupted cadence, the decepted cadence, the mixed cadence	6m 38s
2. The use of the first three cadences in minor keys	4m 11s
3. The use of the other cadences in minor keys and the phrygian cadence	6m 18s
4. We look for cadences in famous songs that we have already studied	5m 56s
+ 1 pdf files

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Part 1: The interrupted cadence, the decepted cadence, the mixed cadence

Part 2: The use of the first three cadences in minor keys

Part 3: The use of the other cadences in minor keys and the phrygian cadence

Part 4: We look for cadences in famous songs that we have already studied

Attachments:

Attachments-Table of cadences pdf (click here)

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Harmonic cadences, only give me one hour and I will explain what they are (part 1)

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What are the harmonic cadences?

Today we will introduce a fundamental concept which helps to understand the logic which makes up the base of harmonic structure of any music sheet.
I am speaking about harmonic cadences. In this lesson we will start to see the first types of cadences in order to understand their fundamental importance in musical discourse

The lesson of today is also important for another reason: we will conclude the study of harmonic analysis of the four music sheets by analysing the last song which distinguishes itself from the other three and has a very important feature:

Its chords are built using a minor scale

In this way we will start to see in practice which are the features that link the chords on the degrees of minor scales and the most used progressions.

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Harmony, how to analyse the chords of four very famous songs

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How to analyse the chords of 4 very famous songs

In the lesson today, we will finally put into practice everything that we have learnt about chords, by analysing the chords of 4 very famous songs.

There is not much sense in studying harmony only through theory, so through the harmonic analysis of four very famous songs, we will start to understand the logic underlying the composition of songs.

Moreover, looking at the structure of chords (F Major and E minor etc), not in absolute terms but in relation to the degrees of major and minor scales on which they are built, we will discover the similarities among songs which apparently seem very different from each other.

We are going to the heart of harmony, looking at it more in-depth and most of all discovering the logic which is the basis of building chord progressions.

In the lesson today, we will analyse closely the first three songs which are all written in major keys while in the next lesson, we will study the fourth song which chords are built in minor key.

As you will see, in the next lesson we will introduce a new concept which allows to understand better the relation between chords.

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Harmony: the 3 main benefits of using chord inversions

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The three main benefits of using inversions

In the last lesson we spoke about chord inversions and looked at how to build them and what exactly is their importance. Today we will go one step further.

We will see in depth which are the 3 main benefits of using them and we will do this with some practical examples.
We will see how the introduction of this important tool, will allow us to improve significantly the progressions of chords we are using in our composing.

Moreover in the last video I wanted to explain to you in depth which are the principal notation systems of inversions, both in the study of classical harmony and in pop music.

Learning material of this lesson

7 videos	52 mins
Intro	1m 39
1. The sonor features of inversions	10m 35s
2. The first benefit of using inversions	8m 06s
3. The second benefit	5m 20s
4. The third benefit	11m 46s
5. The names of the inversions and how they are represented grafically 1	5m 58s
6. The names of the inversions and how they are represented grafically 2	9m 38s

Intro

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Triad inversions, the secret to have more variety in harmony

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Why is the inversion so important in harmony?

Have you ever heard of triad inversions? First of all, I would like to say that inversions are NOT the different positions in which you can play the chords, as many people believe.
It is rather a very important topic which we will see in today’s lesson. Furhermore, the introductions of inversions is a fundamental step in our course of harmony and chords.

Thanks to the concepts that I will explain today, after this lesson, we will have a much wider view of what we have learned about chords up to now. We will also introduce different chord inversions which you will be able to put into practice in any moment.

Before defining clearly the inversion we have to introduce another important element which up to now has been left out … Moreover, in order to understand today’s lesson better, I will explain in detail the ‘overtones theory‘.

For the moment I prefer not to use many words as the videos will show you in detail.

Learning material of this lesson

4 videos	26 mins
Intro	1m 48s
1. We introduce a new and crucial element	4m 02s
2. The overtones theory and its importance in harmony	6m 29s
3. Triad inversions	5m 49s
4. How inversions allow us to have many new tools	7m 50s

Intro

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Chords in minor Keys – we learn to build and use them in an effective way (part 2)

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How to give our music piece an atmosphere that is effective

In the last lesson we learned to build chords in minor keys. Today we will look more closely at what we saw in the last lesson. We will see, depending on the ‘character’ we want to give our music piece, which chords need to be used. Do we want to give our music piece a strong tonal sense? Do we want to give a more ethereal and ambiguous atmosphere? In order to understand how to reach these atmospheres, we have to acquire the knowledge of the types of chords to use. .. This is what we will learn today among various things. Finally, thanks to a practical example, we will see how it is possible to mix different atmospheres in the same music piece. We are at last entering in the heart of the world of harmony!

Learning material of this lesson

5 videos	37 mins
Intro	2m 11s
1. Dominant chord and fifth degree chord	8m 22s
2. How to reach a strong tonal sense or a tonal ambiguity.	11m 32s
3. Mixing chords of different minor scales, practice 1	9m 58s
4. Mixing chords of different minor scales, practice 2	6m 00s

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Chords in minor Keys – we learn to build and use them in an effective way (part 1)

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Building chords in minor keys

Up to now we have only talked about major keys.
Now, to look at harmony more in depth, we also consider minor keys and as you can see in this way we will discover a new world.

In fact we will learn to build chords at the piano using minor scales.

But the problem is:

Which minor scale should we use to build chords?

Today we will answer this question and learn to use chords in a minor key which will give us many new opportunities.
To understand how important this topic is, I want to point out that in pop music we often use chords of minor keys.

Since this topic is very important, I have divided this lesson into 2 parts, in order to understand it more in depth.

Preview of this video lesson

Learning material of this lesson

4 videos	31 mins
Intro	2m 40s
1. Building chords in a minor key	7m 10s
2. How to build chords using the harmonic and melodic minor scale	10m 08s
3. How to use all these chords in a very effective way	11m 18s

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Major and minor chords, how to find all the notes at any time

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How to find the notes of all the triads

Have you ever encountered chords of which you didn’t remember the notes? Especially with those chords with lots of sharps or flats, like Bb minor, C# major, G# minor…
Sometimes you don’t remember them and have to look the notes up on the charts.

In today’s lesson I will teach you two simple methods that will allow you to find, in a few seconds, all the notes of all the major and minor triads. You’ll only need to have followed the lesson on major scales and thank to today’s videos, and a little practice, you will only need a few seconds to find all three-note chords at the piano, without the need of charts.

Specifically, the second method is based on four simple steps that will only employ a few seconds to find the notes of any minor or major triad.
And in the last video I’ve wanted to show you with some examples how this method works perfectly even with chords that might “look” difficult on paper.

After today’s lesson you will be able to find, in any moment, all major and minor chords and, believe me, that’s no small task!
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Learning material of this lesson

3 videos	38 mins
1. First method: chords built on major scales	13m 27s
2. Second method, four steps to find chords in a few seconds	11m 45s
3. Four examples to practice what we’ve learned	12m 37s

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Harmony, how chords are built

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How can you build chords?

Chords, defined as the simultaneous sounding of at least 3 sounds, are the skeleton, the base on which you can write a song, more so in popular music.
We have already seen how chords are tied to the concepts of scale and tonality.

This kind of approach will allow us to answer the following questions today:

How can you build chords?
Is there a fool proof way to know all the chords relative to a certain tonality?

This method exists and today, in the three following videos, I will show it to you at the piano, applied specifically to major scales and tonalities.
I will also explain how to build chords, of any kind and of any complexity.

To achieve a better understanding of today’s lesson I personally advise, if you haven’t already, to wath the videos of the following lessons:

Musical intervals, how to properly name them (firts part)

The major scales: how to remember every note at any time

Let’s start by answering the first question: How can chords be built?

Learning material of this lesson

7 videos	30 mins
1. How to build chords	6m 57s
2. The seven chords of a major scale	2m 33s
3. The features of these chords	4m 26s
4. Naming chords	1m 29s
5. Practice: chords in E major key	5m 26s
6. Composing an easy harmonic base in E major key	3m 15s
7. Building more complex chords	7m 44s

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