Creating Musical Materials From Just One Chord

     In this post, as strange as it may seem, I will focus on ways of gathering materials from a single chord. And why would we do that, you may ask? - First, because it's fun! - Second, because this is a way of checking in with your musical knowledge and make the most out of …

Chords

     A chord is a group of three or more notes played simultaneously that form the basis for harmony. Such notes come from the scale material we are using, or to which the chord notes relate to. In order to form such chords the notes are usually stacked in intervals of the third, fourths/fifths or seconds. …

Scales and the Overtone Series

     A musical scale is basically a collection of notes that divide the octave in a certain number of scale steps. The reason why the pitches are organized within one octave is so we can proceed with the same notes or scale formation throughout the other octaves. In effect, this means that we can devise our …

The Harmonic Series

     The harmonic series is probably the most fundamental aspect upon which music can be understood. As we will see, it is the basis for an effective chord voicing, to understand chord tones and tensions, scale construction and also rhythm.     Briefly, the harmonic series, also referred to as the overtone series, occurs whenever you play a …