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2.Octaves
Octaves are the safest intervals.You can count eight white notes up or down from the
root/fundamental note to reach the same note which would be pitched up or down by an
octave.You can also count twelve notes (including both the white and black notes)up/down
from the root note and the thirteenth note would be the same note which would be pitched up
or down by an octave.
4.Finding C
You can find the note ‘C’ in any octave by observing the pattern in which the 12 notes of an
octave are laid out.There are two sets of black keys,one set contains two black keys,separated by
white keys and the second set is the same as the first except the fact that it contains three black
notes separated by white notes .The note just below the first note of the first set is C.
5.Middle C
The middle C is simply the note C which is at the centre of the keyboard.In case of Ableton,C4 is
the middle C.This is mostly used as a reference.For instance,the notes above the middle C are
called the higher notes while the ones below the middle C are called the lower notes.
Note#1
Playing only with the white or black notes keeps you pretty safe,it’s difficult to make something
sound terrible when you’re playing only the white or black notes.But at the same time,keep in
mind that you won’t get much interesting results.Combining the white and black notes together
is where things get a little tricky,but that’s where most interesting melodies come
from,combining the white notes and the black notes together would give you quite interesting
results.
6.Intervals
This is probably one of the most important things in this book,all the topics discussed in this book
are around this pretty little paragraph,so read carefully.An interval is the difference between two
pitches. An interval may be described as horizontal, linear, or melodic if it refers to successively
sounding tones, such as two adjacent pitches in a melody, and vertical or harmonic if it pertains
to simultaneously sounding tones, such as in a chord.We’re gonna keep our focus on harmonic
or vertical intervals a little more.The chart provided here lists all the intervals:
Don’t stress your head too much over this table,you may as well skip it for now,after reading this
book to the end,you’ll have a better understanding of this table.
8.Finding Fifths
You can find fifths from a root note by counting five white keys(including the root
note)up/down.Likewise,G,A,B,C,D,E and F are the fifths above the notes C,D,E,F,G,A and B
respectively.Here you may notice that F and B when played together don’t sound as natural and
clean as the other notes do,here the ‘perfect fifth’ doesn’t work as we expected.This is why we
use the term ‘perfect’ with fifth.The note F is not a perfect fifth above B,while all the others
discussed above are.In this case you’ll have to play F# instead of F with B to get the natural
sound.The reason as to why we need to do this would be disclosed later in the discussion about
keys.For now,keep in mind though that this interval(B to F)can be called a ‘Diminished fifth’ or
simply ‘Tritone’.This is also the reason why we call the fifth,the second safest interval,because
it’s not possible to run into such trouble with octaves.
9.Being in key
In music theory, the key of a piece is a group of pitches, or scale upon which a music composition
is created.The key of music ,referred to by other names as well, such as tonality or tonal center
describes the chord that we perceive to be "home base" in that music. This means for example
that if a passage or song is in the key of C major, we will probably not feel complete closure
unless it ends with a C major chord, and our ears will expect it to return there at some point.
halfstep/semitone means going one note up/down.Lets see the pattern now,start from the note
C.Remember that you can only go up the piano roll with this pattern.The pattern is W W h W W
W h,where W=whole step and h=half step.Lets start at C,enter a midi note at C and go up
according to the pattern(exclude the C when counting this time),so now,if you go one whole step
up,you reach the note D,now exclude D from the counting and count two semitones/go one
wholestep up.Keep on following this pattern and enter a midi note at each note in the
pattern.This way you reach the C of the next octave,you can now continue this pattern in the
next octave,or any note from any octave of your liking.The note at which the pattern starts is
called the key,so here,the pattern starts at C and hence this is the key of C,and you might have
noticed,the key of C follows all white notes.When we were doing this,we also stumbled upon
something else,we’ve made a scale.If we play the notes in a key one after the other,this is what
makes a major scale.A scale is,just playing all the notes in a key one at a time.So now if we
arrange the notes so that they play one at a time,we get the C major scale.So you could say that
we’re working with the key of C major.A given major scale may also contain black notes.For
instance,the D major scale contains two black notes and the E major scale contains four black
notes .
11.Fifth Examples
Remember the problem that we encountered earlier?Though the note F was a fifth above B,we
couldn’t say that F is a perfect fifth higher than B.Okay,lets clarify the definition of a perfect fifth
so that it becomes more understandable as to why this is true.To really figure out what a fifth
is,you’ve to count in that key.So now,in the key of B major,as you count five notes above from
B,you will end up on F# which means that F# is the perfect fifth of B.But if we count up five notes
from B in the key of C,we end up on F natural(natural means the normal note without sharp or
flat.)This is a thing you’ll find and it’s unique to the seventh tone of the scale.Rememer that it’s
always gonna happen when figuring out a fifth for the seventh note of the scale.Generally,the
seventh tone of any scale is most dangerous,either when playing as a single note or in a
chord.Why do we need fifths again?There are three reasons:1.They usually sound good. 2.We
need them to assemble chords. 3.They are the single most powerful notes that leads us back
home.The third point went over your head,right?Actually,the fifth note of a scale has a tendency
to it,It has a tendency to make us want to feel the tonic.The strings in the instruments like
violins,cellos,etc.are tuned in fifths.
12.Moveable Patterns
The pattern of the major scale is movable,lets say you get yourself a C major scale in the piano
roll editor according to the pattern W W h W W W h,and you want to switch scales and go to E
major,all you have to do is select the whole pattern,and move the first note(which is on C)to
E.This way,you could get the E major scale without having to draw in the midi notes again.
the interval from A to C is a minor third, as the note C lies three semitones above A.Some major
or minor thirds do not occur in specific scales.For instance,a major third built on the note D does
not occur in the key of C major,this is because the note F# does not belong to the C major
scale.So as you build thirds throughout the scale,you’ll have alterations of major and minor
thirds.If you find this sentence hard to comprehend,just keep in mind that you’ll get some major
and some minor thirds as you go up the scale.For example,take the C major scale,In this scale,the
notes C and E form a major third,while the notes D and F form a minor third and so on.
14.Building Triads
When more than one note is played at a time,we get a chord.You pick up any two
notes,absolutely any two notes and play them together,you’ll get a chord,though it may sound
ugly,it’s still a chord,because it’s more than one note at a time.When we have two notes playing
at the same time,it’s actualy called a ‘dyad’.Actually,it’s pretty rare that we have chords made
out of only two notes.If we go up to three notes though,we have a triad.It’s probably the most
common chord that we have in electronic music.’ Triad’ is a word we use for a chord which is
made up of three different notes.Also a triad may consist of more than three
notes.How?Well,lets elaborate,take a triad with the notes C,F and A.Now if you draw in one
more C,but pitched at an octave higher,it is still a triad.Remember that we do not take the same
note into consideration more than once,if we were to build a triad.So you draw the same
notes,that is,the notes in the triad,in any other octave,it’s still a triad.So sometimes you may see
really big chords,but if you get rid of the octaves,they are actually triads.So now,lets focus on
chords,more specifically,we’re gonna focus on specific chords,not just any chords.We’re gonna
start with the two more popular chords,namely the major and the minor chords.Lets start with
the root note,the root is the note that the chord is named after,so if we’re playing a G major
chord,the root is gonna be G,you can also identify the root note from the name of the chord.If
you play the first,third and the fifth note of a major scale together,say the C major scale for
instance,you get a major chord.Here you may notice that the last note of the major chord is a
fifth of the first,here G is a fifth higher than C,also,the first part of the chord,that is,the notes C
and E form a major third(since there is an interval of three notes between them),which is why it
is called a major chord.If instead of a major third,you had a minor third,then you would get the C
minor chord.The only difference between a major and a minor chord is the third,in minor
chord,we have a minor third,whereas in a major chord,we have a major third,the first note and
it’s fifth remains the same.In this case,you can also say that we have a C major triad.Generally
speaking,if you ever want to convert a major chord to a minor chord or vice versa,just toggle
between the major and minor thirds,by changing a specific note,in this example,you’ve to
change the note E to D# and vice versa.Keep in mind though that if you change E to D#,you are
not in the key of C major anymore.But that shouldn’t be a problem.A major chord sounds happy
and a minor chord sounds a little sad.Now,lets talk about building chords in scales,now this is
where things get a little confusing.Lets begin by drawing in the C major scale in the midi note
editor or the the piano roll editor.Now ifyou want to build a G chord in the key of C major,you
cannot decide on which chord you want,it may either be a major or minor one,which purely
depends on the key you’re in.For instance,you can never have a G minor chord in the key of C
major,because the note A# is not in the key of C,but you may have a G minor chord in other
scales.This shows that the type of chord that can be built on any note in a scale,purely depends
on the pattern in which the notes in a scale are placed.You can also say that G major chord is the
only chord built on G that works in the key of C major.You can also try this for other notes in the
key of C major.Remember that this concept is incredibly important and try to warp your head
around it.
15.Chord Progressions
The chord progression is,in simple terms,a progression of chords.Every single song you’ve heard
is based on chords.It is like the skeleton of a song,we then add bass
layers,leads,vocals,drums,etc.Chord progression and a scale is very closely interrelated,you
should have a chord progression that lies within/uses the notes from a particular scale,or else it
may sound ugly.Say,for instance,you have the key of C major,then you could build a chord
progression using the chords C major,A minor,D minor and G major,etc.Note that while doing
this,being in the key is extremely important.You can make a progression using any of the
chords,which comprise of the notes in a given scale(C major in this case).For example,you can
make a chord progression of C major to A minor,A minor to D minor,and D minor to G major.A
typical chord progression contains some major chords as well as some minor chords.The chord
progression as a whole will give you the feel of how the song feels.A chord progression may
sound happy,sad or even neutral.This depends on the chords that make up the
progression.Other factors like tempo,beats,preset layers on the progression,etc. also influence
how a progression sounds to your ears,again it depends on the context or circumstances.For
instance,a progression may have a sad tone to it at lower tempos,but it may sound reasonably
happy at higher tempos.This is a usual scenario that you may often notice.
ugly.What you want music to do is stay relatively diatonic.What you mean when you talk about
diatonic chord progression is that a series of chords that are diatonic,that is,locked in a specific
key.
must be M m m M M m o (M).Let me give you yet another perspective to look at this,The notes
in C major scale are C D E F G A B C.The diatonic chord progression pattern is M m m M M m o
M.Now lets merge the notes with the respective notations.What do you get?You get all the
possible chords in the key of C major,that is :CM Dm Em FM GM Am and B diminished.
18.Roman Numerals
So now that we know the alterations of major and minor chords,actually,we call it ‘Chord
quality.’ You are now familiar with major,minor and diminished chords.There is another chord
type which goes by the name ‘Augmented chord’.The preceding term here shows the quality of
the chord.With this being said,there are four chord qualities:major,minor,diminished and
augmented.Lets learn about notations now,more specifically lets learn how to write down the
names of chords.Traditionally,in music theory,this is done using roman numerals.What we do is
use a capital roman numeral(for eg. I )to show a major chord,and a lower case roman
numeral(for eg. ii ) to show a minor chord.It’s more convenient to denote chords in the normal
manner,for example,D major chord,C minor chord,etc.But still,you can also use this method of
denoting chords.So lets have a look at how we use this method,take for example,the C major
scale,CM Dm Em FM GM Am Bo and C(M) are the diatonic chords in this scale.So using this new
method,we would call the C major chord a ‘major 1 chord’ in the key of C major(Symbol : I ).You
may as well omit the term ‘major’ since it is understood when you talk about the C major
scale.Similarly,we would call the Dm chord a ‘minor 2 chord’ in the key of C major (Symbol : ii
).Why do you call the Dm chord the ‘2’ chord?It’s because it is built on the second scale
degree,that is,the note D,and as mentioned earlier,we write it in lowercase roman numerals
since it represents a minor chord,if it were to represent a major chord,we would write it in
uppercase roman numerals.Similarly we would represent the E minor chord with the symbol iii
and so on.Remember that the symbol to represent a diminished chord is o and likewise,we
represent the seventh chord in any scale with the symbol viio.Also note that we represent the
eighth chord of the scale with the symbol I and not VIII.Why? When it comes to roman numeral
analysis,we only count upto 7 and then the counting starts over,because effectively,since they
are the same chords,we don’t count the octaves,when we’re talking about roman
numerals.Whatever octave the chord is in,it doesn’t matter.It’s only the quality and root we’re
talking about.Keep in mind that the root note gives the number to the chord in this case.Take for
instance,in the key of C major,the root note of a chord is E,and we also know that E is the third
note in the key of C major,therefore the chord gets the roman numeral iii.Observe this table:
This table would help you in your creative process of composing music.
19.Inversions
Lets talk about inversions.What are inversions?It’s just a way to make your chord progression
sound way more musical.Using this concept/technique when designing chords would make an
otherwise ‘blank’ chord progression more interesting.It’s a simple yet a very useful idea.Lets say
you choose to make a chord progression using some chords in the key of C major.Lets say you
choose the the chords CM,Am,Em and GM or the I,vi,iii and V chords respectively ,in the key of C
major and arrange them sequentially to make your chord progression.Now,you most probably
would notice that the chord progression sounds ‘boring’ or ‘blank’.It doesn’t flow the way we
wanted it to.It’s because all the chords we’re hearing are in their root positions.Now what is root
position?It simply means that the root of the chord is at the bottom(in the piano roll
editor),among all the notes that comprise that particular chord.We generally identify and name
the chords by observing the root notes(you may already know this).For instance,we know that
the first chord in the above chord progression is CM since the root note is C,similarly we are able
to identify the chords Am,Em and GM in the diatonic chord progression by observing their
respective root notes A,E and G respectively.Also note that the root note is at the bottommost
position in all the chords.Now,what you should try to do here is find the path of least
resistance.For example,between the first two chords of our diatonic chord progression,that
is,CM and Am,there is a big leap,so we’ll try to make that leap not so big by just using octaves.So
now,if you shift the highest note in the A minor chord down by an octave,you get an
inversion.We know it is an inversion because the root of the Am chord is not at the
bottom.Remember that though the Am chord is inverted now,it still remains the A minor
chord,but with the note E at the bottom.How do we benefit from this?You may have observed
that the by doing this,the note E flows nicely among all the first three chords of the
progression.You can actually make this sound better by taking the note C in the Am chord down
by an octave.You will now notice that the difference between the first two chords is just one
note,but that’s gonna make it flow so smoothly.Similarly shift the note B in the Em chord and the
notes B and D in the GM chord down by an octave.You’ll get better results using this
technique.Remember that while doing this,there is no change in the original notes or chords
whatsoever,the only thing that changes is the organization of the notes.Now,compare this result
with what we had before applying inversions,or before inverting the chords,you’ll notice the
difference for sure.You’ll notice that the first chord in the progression is still in root position,so
there’s nothing wrong with any chord in a chord progression being in root position,it’s the
jumping around abruptly between chords which doesn’t sound as elegant and musical.So that’s
why we rearranged the chords so they have some continuity to them.This way,the chords blend
in perfectly with each other.
20.Seventh(7th ) Chords
Lets talk about seventh chords.Now,seventh chords are not chords with seven notes,that would
be pretty extreme considering that so far,we’ve only dealt with chords comprising of either two
or three notes.Seventh chords are chords with four notes.Just draw in a C major scale in the midi
note editor.Now you know that,to make a triad,we can use the first,third and the fifth note of a
scale.Lets say for instance,you decide to draw in a C major triad in the key of C major.But lets say
you want another note in the chord.So you can also draw in the seventh note in the key of C
major,that is,the note B.So now your chord comprises of the first,third,fifth and seventh notes in
the key of C major,and this is what we call a ‘seventh chord’.The dangerous thing here is that
there are different types of seventh chords.Now this can be a little tricky to understand,so read
carefully.Moving further,lets deal with the first type,it’s called the ‘dominant seventh chord’.The
dominant seventh chord is the most common and in many ways the most important of all the
seventh chords.It is created by taking a major triad and adding a note which is a minor seventh
(10 semitones) above the root note.For example,a dominant seventh chord on C contains the
notes C,E,G and Bb/A#(Bb/A# is a minor seventh/10 semitones above C).You will often see it
written as C7.Now,lets move one step ahead and understand what the ‘major seventh chord’
is.The major seventh chord has a much softer sound than the dominant seventh. Again, it is
created by taking a major triad, but this time adding a note which is a major seventh (11
semitones) above the root.For example,a major seventh chord on C contains the notes C,E,G and
B (B is a major seventh/11 semitones above C).You will often see it written as CM7.Similarly,a
‘minor seventh chord’ is created by taking a minor triad and adding a note which is a minor
seventh (10 semitones) above the root note.For example.a minor seventh chord on C contains
the notes C,Eb,G and Bb/A# (Bb/A# is a minor seventh/10 semitones above C).You will often see
it written as Cm7.Now,you would ask,why don’t we combine a minor chord with a major
seventh?We don’t use that chord pretty often,it’s rarely used.It’s a different kind of chord which
we’ll discuss about later.
major can also be writen as IV7 chord in the key of C major.Please note that we use uppercase
roman numerals for major and dominant seventh chords along with the number 7 and lowercase
roman numerals for diminished and minor seventh chords along with the number 7.
24.The Fourth
Neither the fourth nor the sixth are incredibly useful to us for making chords,atleast not
directly.We don’t build chords with the fourth.Take the C major scale,here the note F would be a
fourth higher than C.Count up from the note C(include C and F while counting),you’ll notice that
the note F is 5 semitones higher than C and if you are counting in the scale,you need to count
four notes(including the notes C and F).Now,the weird thing about this is that the fourth and the
sixth both are actually incredibly useful to us,but not directly,we need to do a little bit of
maneuvering to get them to work the way we want.Another weird thing though,is that you’ve
been doing it already.You’ve already been using fourths and sixthes in your chords.Lets point out
where we used it,so now locate the note which is a fifth above C,that is,the note G.Lets do the
counting,you need to count eight half notes up from C till G(include C and G)while
counting.Every interval has an inversion,it’s like an evil twin,so you may also say that every
interval has an evil twin,its inversion.Now if you invert a fifth(take the note G down by an
octave,you get a fourth.In short,the inversion of a fifth is a fourth,or as we say,the evil twin of a
fifth,is a fourth.On inverting this fourth again,you’ll get your original fifth again.That’s what
happens when you take the uppermost note of the C major triad down by an octave,you still
have a C major triad,but with a fourth in it.Remember though that we’ll still consider the interval
between the notes C and G a fifth,even if the note G is pitched down by an octave,when we’re
talking about the chord.But the interval between the notes C and G is technically a fourth.So
every interval has an inversion that makes up a different interval,because our scale is not
perfectly symmetrical.So as stated earlier ,you’ve been using fourths already,when you inverted
chords.So the inversion of a fourth is a fifth and vice versa.Fourths aren’t used directly to make
chords.There’s no chord which has a fourth iin it.It is important to remember though that
fourths exist as the evil twins of fifths.
25.The Second
Alright,now lets talk about seconds,not the ‘second’ which is a unit of time but the number
two.Take any scale,say the C major scale,Take for example,the first two notes of this scale,the
interval between them is of a second,or two.This is not much useful to us as the interval of a two
makes a kind of dissonant sound.Lets do the same thing that we did with fourths earlier,we’re
gonna invert it and see what results we get.So we have the notes C and D,that is,the interval of a
second.If we apply the concept of inversions by moving the upper note,that is D,down by an
octave,we get a huge interval between the notes D(of the lower octave) and C,and this interval,is
a seventh.Now the thing that’s different with a second as opposed to a fourth is that the second
has major or minor possibilities.If no note lies between the notes comprising the second,it is
called as ‘minor second’ and if there is a note lying between the notes that comprise a second,it
is termed as a ‘major second’.Now how does the major and minor thing actually
works?Remember that we do not have major and minor qualilties on the fifth because it is a
perfect interval.The other perfect interval is a fourth,so a perfect fifth inverted becomes a
perfect fourth.But a major second when inverted becomes a minor seventh and vice
versa.Similarly,a minor second when inverted becomes a major seventh and vice versa.So keep
in mind that if we invert a non-perfect interval,it always become a opposite quality.Now keep in
mind that we don’t need to talk about the intervals like the fourth,the second and the sixth all
the time.Because when we’re making chords,we’re thinking about the first note,the third,the
fifth,sometimes the seventh,You can add these intervals to your chords,but keep it in mind that
you gotta think a little out of the box,that’s it.These intervals exist and they’re actually fun to
play with.
26.The Sixth
So lets keep pressing on and talk about the interval of a ‘sixth’. Take the C major chord once
again,here if you count up from the note C to A(Include the note C when counting)in the key of C
major(you can take any scale),you’ll notice that you need to count six notes up to reach the note
A,and the note A is a sixth higher than the note C.Again,we have a major sixth as well as a minor
sixth.So here you need to count six up from the note C to reach the note A which is a sixth higher
than the note C,and this interval is what we would call a major sixth.To make it a ‘minor
sixth’,just replace the note A with G#,so now you still need to count six up from the note C in the
key of C major,but keep in mind that G# is not a part of the C major scale,so doing this will take
you out of key.Well,how do you distinguish between them?Forget about the C major scale for a
minute.If you count normally instead of counting in a scale(include the end notes when
counting),in a major scale,you gotta count ten from a note to reach its major sixth.Here,you
gotta count 10 up from the note C to reach the note A,which is a major sixth above C.The same
applies for a minor sixth,but you gotta count 9 instead of 10.Something interesting coming up,so
now if you take the interval of a major sixth,say the interval between the notes C and A,and
apply the concept of inversions by pushing the note A down by an octave,you’re gonna get a
third,more specifically,a minor third.Hence we can conclude that the third is the inversion of the
sixth. A major sixth when inverted becomes a minor third and vice versa.Similarly,a minor sixth
when inverted becomes a major third and vice versa.
Note#2
Please understand this little important thing,do what sounds good to your ears.If you have
something composed,which really sounds good to your ears,but does not fit with the rules of
music theory,do not change it.Music theory is just for helping you in the process of
composing,they’re not some rules that you gotta follow no matter what.Unleash your
creativity,do what fits your ears,and never hesitate to think out of the box when composing.Your
ears can really help you create a masterpiece!
27.Minor Scales
One important thing that you gotta understand before we dive into this topic is that,just because
a song uses minor chords,doesn’t mean that it’s always gonna be in a minor key.Any key is an
arrangement of major and minor chords and some other ones sometimes.So if a chord
progression sounds dark,most probably it’s in a minor key,but sometimes it may also be in a
major key.Now that being said,if it sounds really dark,it’s surely in a minor key.Minor keys are
important,you might wanna work in a minor key,but not all the time.The minor scale is also an
arrangement of whole steps and half steps,just like the major scale.The only difference really is
that the half steps are in a different place.The minor scale also follows a pattern like the major
scale.The pattern is W h W W h W W,where ‘W’ represents wholesteps and h represents
halfstep.Note that we still have the same number of wholesteps and halfsteps in the minor
scale.You know that the pattern of a major scale is W W h W W W h.Now if you observe
carefully,there’s a looping pattern that occurs here,You can find the same pattern as the major
scale in the minor scale as well if you start right at the third position in the pattern of a minor
scale.Now according to the pattern,we can draw in minor scales in any key.For instance,the C
minor scale will consist of the notes C,D,D#,F,G,G#,A# and C.All we have to do in case we want to
convert a major scale into a minor scale,is shift the third,the sixth and the seventh note in the
scale down by a semitone.That is the fundamental difference between a major and a minor
scale.This is an example of the ‘natural minor scale’.There are actually three different flavours of
minor scales which we’re gonna study later.This is what we would call the’standard normal
minor scale’.
28.Relative Keys
Now we’re gonna talk about the pattern which we discussed about before,where it cycles
around again.Now,what that means is that we can find a major scale within a minor scale and we
can also find a minor scale within a major scale.So if we take any minor scale,and start it on the
third note,we would fulfill the pattern of a major scale.Similarly,if we take a major scale and start
it on the sixth note,we would get the pattern of a minor scale.So how is that useful to us?It’s
really useful to us because it points out something called the relative major and the relative
minor.That’s like saying every major scale has a sibiling,which is a minor scale.Further
elaborating,every major scale has a corresponding minor scale that’s composed of the exact
same notes.It’s true that major scales sound kind of happy whereas minor scales sound a little
sad,but it really depends on what note you’re treating as the root of the scale.Take for
instance,the C minor scale,here C is the root note,but if we went to the third note,that is,D# and
treat it as the root note,it would be a major scale,more specifically,a D# major scale.To transform
a C minor scale to a D major scale by treating the note D# as the root note,just move the notes
which lie below D#,that is,the notes C and D,up by an octave and complete the scale by drawing
in the note D# in the upper octave.Note that though we changed scales here,we didn’t change
any of the original notes.Now,to transform this D# major scale to a C minor scale again,you gotta
take the sixth note in the D# major scale,that is,the note C,and treat is as the root note,and
transpose it down by an octave.Also transpose the notes D and D# down by an octave as
well.Draw in the note C in the upper octave as well and complete the minor scale.That means
that C minor has a relative major of D# major or Eb major.So these two scales would have the
exact same notes and they go hand in hand.Now,remember that the C major scale is formed
from all the white notes,so the relative minor of this scale must also contain only white notes.So
A minor is the relative minor of C major and they are both formed from white notes.One more
easy way to go about this,to find the relative minor of a major scale,just scan through the notes
and find the sixth note in the scale,and the minor scale with that particular note as the root note
is the relative minor of your major scale.Now to find the relative major of a minor scale,scan
through again and find the third scale degree,the major scale with that particular note as the
root note is the relative major of your minor scale.This concept also to keys,so when we’re in a
key,that means that we’re using the chord progression from that key.Sometimes it can be really
ambiguous when we’re analyzing a song whether or not we’re in the major or the relative minor
of the song,well it depends on the section of the song we’re looking at.So a song might sound
like it’s in C major,but then we might look at the chords of the chorus and notice that it’s all
based around A minor.In a way,it doesn’t matter,if you’re focusing on just one section,it could be
either.If you’re looking at the song as a whole,usually you would find things that would make you
say that it’s C major or A minor.When you’re analyzing things,this is something that you should
keep in mind.
What’s with this chart?Lets understand this.We’re now gonna take a look at the diatonic chord
progressions in a minor key.’Diatonic chord progressions’ is just a fancy way to say ‘all the chords
in a key’.Again,the term ‘diatonic’ just means ‘in key’.Remember what we did in major diatonic
chord progressions?We basically took all the notes in the major scale and built triads out of
them.We’re gonna do that same thing here and see what pattern emerges out of it.Now if you
remember,the diatonic chord progression pattern for the major scale is M m m M M m o
(M).Lets work with the A minor scale.So draw in all the diatonic chords,just like you did with
major scales.But keep in mind that the chords must be in the key of A minor.Notice that
Am,Bo,CM,Dm,Em,FM,GM and A(m),are all the chords that you drew in.Likewise,thepattern of a
minor diatonic chord progression will be m o M m m M M (m).Lets compare this with the pattern
of a major diatonic chord progression.Remember that the pattern of a major diatonic chord
progression is M m m M M m o (M).Now if you observe the pattern of a minor diatonic chord
progression,and go all the way to a certain point in the pattern and start counting from
there,you’ll find the major diatonic chord progression pattern cycling through.If you go to the
minor diatonic chord progression,and locate the third spot in the pattern and start.counting
from there,you get the pattern of a major diatonic chord progression.Similarly,in the major
diatonic chord progression pattern,start counting from the sixth spot,and you’ll get your minor
diatonic chord progression pattern.Lets take this a little further,in the A minor scale,if you locate
the third degree,it will be the note C,which means that there is a C major chord in the key of A
minor.This is useful because it tells you all the possible chords in a key,and helps you if you’re
planning to make music with only chords that are in a specific key.Likewise,Am,Bo ,CM,D
m,Em,FM,GM and A(m) are all the chords which are available for you if you are planning to stay
only in the key of A major,you can now say that the Dm chord is diatonic in the key of A minor,or
any diatonic chord for that matter.Note that this pattern is movable,you need not draw in all the
chords again,just select them and move them altogether,and you’ll get all the diatonic chords in
a different key.We use diminished chords as passing chords sometimes,which means we use
them for a really short time between two other chords,so that they come into the mix and fade
out real quick,in other cases,we usually tend to avoid them.They may be useful in genres like jazz
but not that useful when you talk about electronic dance music(EDM).
What all information do we get from this circular diagram?First of all,it outlines all the major keys
and major chords along the outer circle and their respective relative minors in the inner circle.So
we can look at ‘C’ and know that the relative minor of C is Am,and similarly for Am,the relative
major is ‘C’,that is,CM,it goes both the ways.Its a handy diagram to see all those things really
fast.Why is it called the circle of fifths?If you go in the clockwise direction,all the notes in the
outer circle have an interval of fifth between them.If you cannot bring yourself to believe
this,just draw in any of the two adjoining notes in this circle and determine the interval that lies
between them.For instance,’G’ in the outer circle is a fifth away from ‘C’.Now sometimes,you’ll
come across this diagram and it’ll be called the circle of fourths,why?If you move in the
anticlockwise direction, all the notes in the outer circle have an interval of a fourth between
them.So that’s the circle of fifths,it shows us the fifths going around,the fourths going around
and the relative majors and minors going around.The third thing that we can find in this circle of
fifths is the ‘tritone’.It is also called the dimished fifth.It was discussed really briefly in one of the
previous chapters,well there are not many useful things you could do with the tritone.Go
straight opposite from one spot in the outer circle to the other spot in the outer circle.For
example,go straight opposite from ‘C’ which lies in the outer circle,to Gb which lies exactly
opposite to it in the outer circle.This also applies to the inner circle.The tritone is the ugliest two
notes which you could play together,besides the minor second.Now comes the fourth thing that
we can find in this circle of fifths,and it’s the most useful thing to us as creators of music,and
what is it called?It’s called ‘Closely related keys’,or sometimes we call them ‘Modulation
keys’.We’re gonna study them in detail in the next chapter,so scroll through and find out what it
is in the next keys.
change from a key with the root note C to keys with the notes Eb and D as their respective root
notes,keep reading this chapter and you’ll understand why this happens.Here comes another
thing which is really important for you to understand.We’re gonna understand this with the help
of major keys.Take the C major key,also draw in the D major key in the midi note editor,compare
both of them and you’ll find that they have two notes uncommon,in the C major scale you have
the notes C and F# which are not a part of the D major scale,and are replaced by the notes C#
and F# respectively.This is because the note D lies two positions to the right of C in the circle of
fifths.So to transform the C major scale to a D major scale,you’ll need to raise the note C up by a
semitone and make it C#,and you also need to raise the note F in the C major scale by a
semitone and make it F#.In short,if you want to successfully convert a C major scale to a D major
scale,you are required to introduce two sharps into the scale.Now observe the circle of fifths
carefully,if you wanna move from C major to G major,you gotta introduce one sharp into the
scale,or in other words,you need to sharpen a note.Similarly,if you wanna go from C major to A
major,you’ll be required to sharpen three notes.If you go in the anticlockwise direction
though,you’ll be required to repeat the same procedure but instead of sharpening the notes,you
should flatten them.Likewise,to transform from a C major to the key of B major,you’ll need to
flatten two notes,because B lies two positions to the left of C in the circle of fifths.That is why the
circle of fifths is important,it tells us,when we’re writing songs,’good’ places to go,and ‘not so
good’ places to go.The term ‘go’ here,refers to ‘transition’.The circle of fifths helps us to both
come up with new chords to use in a chord progression,that are maybe outside of the key and
also coming up with a key change if you want a complete key change.There’s another little thing
which is important,you can also go from the outer circle to the inner circle or vice versa.For
example,if you have the key of C major,and you want a subtle change in chords,you could also go
to the Em and Dm chords,which lie in the inner circle.If you want the most subtle
change,transition to the Am chord,and you know why.
33.Borrowing Chords
If you’re writing a tune,and can’t just find the right chords,you can switch keys and go to its
neighbouring keys,in the circle of fifths and see what chords they have to offer.Please
understand that borrowing chords is different for changing keys.Changing keys is when you play
a chord from a different key,and then continue to play chords from that key,or more
specifically,you stay in that key for a while.On the other hand,borrowing chords means you just
play one,two or maybe a little more chords from other key and return to your original key.You
just borrow a single,or maybe some chords from another key,but eventually you return back to
your original key.Though this takes you out of key,you get better musical results.Usually chords
or maybe notes are borrowed from closely related keys,or sometimes from other keys as well,it
all depends on how good it sounds to your ear.
chord written and then it says ‘flat thirteenth’,so that means that you gotta add a thirteenth,but
you gotta pull the original thirteenth down by a halfstep,so these are just more chord options we
can do.So lets say that you have a chord which is made up of the notes E,G,B,D,F#(of the upper
octave),B,what would you call it?So you call it an ‘E Minor ninth with a flat thirteenth’.It is
denoted as Em9(13) and the flattened version of this exact same chord would be denoted as
Em9(b13).There are also elevenths which are similar to ninths and thirteenths,but they are rarely
used.
36.Suspended chords
Suspended chords are when you add the second scale degree to a triad.Now you remember that
the ninth is essentially the same note as the second scale degree.but pitched higher.So if we put
that note at the top,we call it a ninth and if we put that same note inside,or rather in between
the notes of our original third,we get to call it a suspended chord.Usually we call the second
notes as ‘suspensions’,the reason why they are called suspensions is because they sound like
they’re being suspended.It has a kind of unstable quality,like it’s kind of hanging out there.Again
there are two types of suspended chords,namely the major,and the minor suspended
chords.Take for instance,a G major chord in the key of E minor and add the second scale degree
to it,that is,add the note A to it,you’ll get a major suspended chord.It is called the major
suspended chord because it is built on a major chord/triad and also because it has a major
second in it.The way we would symbolize this chord is by writing ‘Gsus2 ‘,and this symbol
indicates that this is a major chord with a ‘two’ in it.If you listen to suspended chords,they sound
kind of unfulfilled.There also exist minor suspended chords which have a minor triad with a
minor second.But they are not possible for all the minor triads,for instance,you cannot build a
minor suspended chord out of a E minor triad(in the key of E minor).Likewise a minor suspended
chord with the root note F#(in the key of E minor) is represented as.There also exist ‘suspended
four chords’,which are made by adding the fourth scale degree to a particular major or minor
triad.So a suspended chord is a chord with the second scale degree added to the original major
or minor triad and the suspended four chord is a chord with the fourth scale degree added to
the original major or minor triad.
We’re gonna dial in chords in our sequencer using this sheet given above,with the help of a
couple of tricks,which we already know.To do this,all you gotta do is figure out the key,look at
the names of the chords,and figure out how to make those chords,which we know how to
do.See the project made on ableton by Elve and also refer to the video lecture by Jason Allen for
information on how this is done.
Please keep in mind that basslines can have a significant influence on your chords,so you need to
be a little more careful here.There are many ways to make good basslines,here are a few tips
that may help you:You can always use the root notes of your chords as the notes of your
basslines,doing this will never lead you wrong,and it’s the safest option too,but sometimes may
also give you boring results.You can make notes of the basslines repeat after short intervals
rather than playing it for a complete bar,for instance,you can have the same bassline note
retrigger at every downbeat of that bar,so that it compliments the melody better.You may also
move some notes in the bassline up or down by an octave or so,so the bassline has a little more
character.You may also use the concept of ‘anticipation’,and introduce a note earlier than
usually expected in a typical bassline.You can use ‘out of chord’ or ‘out of key’ notes in your
bassline,the later though requires careful experimentation and skills,it’s a good area to work
in,there are many other ways to spice up your basslines,again,it comes down to your
creativity.You may even combine some of the tips discussed above and get some unique results.
43.Basslines-Bass Riffs
In this lesson,we’re gonna talk about the opposite of what we just did.Now,you do not have a
chord progression all the time,so you could get a bassline out of it.Sometimes,you might design a
bassline first and would wanna find a chord progression that goes with it,and this is where ‘bass
riffs’ come into the picture.The term ‘riff’ here means a kind of a repeating pattern.If you ever
wanna make chords which blend in with the bass,observe the bass first,take into consideration
the passing notes in the bass as well,remember that you don’t have to take the passing notes
into consideration when designing chords,because they go really fastYou can have a chord,which
consists of the note in the bassline.For example,if your bassline has the note A in it,you might
want to design an A minor chord,because it consists the note A, so that it fits well with the
bassline.Sometimes you might not even need a chord,and you could leave the bassline
alone,because the bassline does the work alone.If you hear some drops from the Dubstep
genre,from artists like Skrillex,you’ll find that though the drops are freaking huge,there are no
chords that you hear,yes the notes in the bassline are in a specific key,but again,there aren’t any
chords that accompany the bassline,only dubstep growls and all that stuff.You could also use
passing chords,which means chords that come in and go out really fast,to spice up your chord
progression.As always,you may borrow notes from other scales,for instance if you have a B
diminished chord,you may borrow note F# from the melodic or harmonic minor scales and
thereby convert it into a B minor scale.Another important thing,if you are playing a Bm
chord,and have the note A playing in the bassline,then you write it as ‘B minor over A’,and
denoted as ‘Bm/A’,here the base note ‘A’ is not in the B minor chord.But if you have an A minor
chord instead of a B minor chord that is playing with the note A in the bassline,you would simply
denote it as ‘Am’ and not ‘Am/A’ or ‘A minor over A’.Its all about experimenting and finding the
sound of your liking.
44.Basslines-Get Muddy
A very important thing,do not put chords in a basslines,and by chords,I mean more than one
note.Your bassline track should only play a single note at a time.Too many notes in this lower
frequency area,it kind of turns into ‘mud’.Just keep this little thing in mind,or things may get a
little messy for you.
45.Chromaticism
One little thing that’s necessary to point out is,so far we’ve looked at all kinds of diatonic
stuff,diatonic chords,diatonic harmonies,diatonic basslines,etc.Now if you search out more,you’ll
find this whole different kind of music,that isn’t in keys,and it’s called chromatic music.Chromatic
means,it uses all the pitches freely.There are a lot of different systems for organizing music,in a
bunch of different ways,that are completely chromatic.It does exist but we’re not gonna talk
about that here,because if you’re into electronic music,or its subgenres like future
house,progressive house,etc,it’s unuseful to you.There are some artists like Schoenberg,who are
the pioneers of chromatic music.It’s pretty wild stuff.And it is recommended to be open to this
thing,because the more elements of chromaticism that you incorporate in your music,meaning
stuff outside of the key,is when it gets interesting.If you go completely chromatic though,you
most probably would create a mess,but the more outside of the key you get,the more
interesting and unique your music will sound.So don’t be afraid to go outside of the key and
experiment,if it sounds good to your ears,its perfect.There is no music theory explanation
required if it sounds good to you.It’s sometimes also called ‘Twelve tone music’,or sometimes we
also call it ‘Dodecaphonic music’.It’s not that useful for electronic musicians,but as an artist,you
should always try to explore deeper into your craft.