…to become a better musician! The proper care and feeding of a musician is important for healthy development. There are many things you can do to improve, while there are some things that disrupt or cause bad habits. It is important to know both of these in order to properly optimize and grow your musical […]
Archive for the ‘Level Two’ Category
Suspended Chords Resolved
Commonly referred to as “Sus” chords, these unique sounding chords have enriched compositions of every music genre for as long as music has been around. Though most musicians tie the words Sus and 4th together, its more clear to think of Sus chords as the 3rd is suspended – in other words, the major 3rd […]
The Music Theory of Relativity
One of life’s injustices: you don’t get to choose your relatives! As in life, music comes with relatives. Every major chord has a relative minor – or you could say every minor chord has a relative major. Likewise, scales have relatives as well. In fact, entire keys have relatives! There’s no escaping them – they’re […]
Intervals: The Space Time Continuum of Music
In our very first post, I noted that music moves in two directions: vertically and horizontally. Music moves horizontally forward in various intervals of time – which we call rhythm. Simultaneously, music moves vertically up and down in various intervals of pitch. Individual notes and/or clusters of notes move in harmony in these two dimensions […]
9th Chords And Beyond
Moving beyond 7th chords, we enter the huge, shimmering, full-orchestra sounding world of 9th chords. Simply put, 9th chords are extensions of 7th chords. In fact, there is a corresponding 9th chord for each of the three types of 7th chords: Cma7 Dmi7 G7 Cma9 Dmi9 G9 Here is the structure for major 9th chords: […]
Beyond Triads: Seventh Chords
Before indulging ourselves into the tasty world of seventh chords, let’s review how we got here: The diatonic major scale is made up of a specific sequence of half-step and whole-step intervals. Every diatonic major scale has the exact same sequence of half-steps and whole-steps. The key of C is the only “natural” diatonic major […]
Just For Doug – but good for everyone
Though this post applies specifically to Doug, I thought it could be instructive for everyone to see, so decided to make it an open post. Incidentally, Doug Ross is one of the finest musicians I know – his primary instruments being drums and Dulcimer – for which he is an expert on both. Feel free […]
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