The first chord to look at is a symmetrical
Chord. You see symmetrical objects in music knowledge are where the other things come from. They are the pure form which when modified the others come from .

The Diminished 7th chord is built from stacking minor 3rds.

If we start from B

We get Bdiminished 7th

BDFG#

This chord is a dominant function.

Because it is 4 dominant 7th b9th ( rootless

G7b9. is GBDFG# take away root BDFG#
C#7b9 is C#FG#BD take away root FG#BD
E7b9. Is. EG#BDF take away root G#BDF
A#7b9. Is. A#DFG#B. Take away root DFG#B



There are 3 dim7 chords in the chromatic scale



The Diminished 7th chord can be slightly altered to become any other type of chord


A#C#E.G....
B..D..F..G#..
C..D#F#A...


BDFG#. Slide G# note up half-step BDFA
Creates a Bmin7b5 ( Dmin6 DFAB
(Slide any note up half-step becomes min7b5



BDFG#. Slide G# down half-step BDFG
Creates a G7 dominant chord
(Slide any note down half-step becomes dominant chord.



BDFG#. Slide the B up semitone and G# up semitone CDFA becomes F6 GACD
(Dmin7 DFAC
(Slide any two alternate note up semitone to create Major or minor chord.



BDFG#. Slide the B down semitone A# and slide the G# down semitone to G ,A#DFG to get A#6 or Gmin7 GA#DF
( Slide any to alternate notes down semitone to create Major or minor chord

 

There are 3 types of chord functions ( groups

Subdominant
Dominant
Tonic

Subdominant is slightly tense compared to the tonic ( some harmonic motion away from home

Dominant is very tense compared to the tonic
( Creates strong motion so that when you reach tonic the listener feels satisfied.)

Tonic is a relaxed still no motion Home resolved.



There a many chords but they all fit into those three categories. ( It's how to use any chord

Let's look at taking C major 7 chord
CEGB
This is a Major chord. Tonic but has little tension because of the B note which is shared by it's dominant.

CEGB is also a subdominant for G major key

CEGA. Cmajor6th chord or C6
This is major chord tonic with no tension .

CEGA# C dominant 7th or C7
This is a tense chord which resolved to F major or F minor.

CEF#A. Amin6 tonic
This is a tonic

CD#GA# Cmin7 is a subdominant for Bb A# major

ACEG Amin7. Is a tonic in Amin C major
Is a subdominant for Gmajor

ACD#G Amin7b5 is A subdominant for G minor
Or a dominant for Bb major

BDFG# is a diminished7 a very tense chord
Which resolves to C
or Cmin, D#maj or D# min
F#maj or F#min or Amaj or Amin.

CEG# is an augmented chord it is a dominant function which acts as C7 E7 or G#7 which resolves to their appropriate tonics.

Example GBD# resolves to C Maj or Cmin
BD#G resolves to Emaj or Emin
D#GB resolves to G#maj or G# min
(Ab Maj or Ab min

 

Chord extensions

In Key of C major we have.

C D E F G A B

Our chords are

1.CEGB. Tonic
2DFAC. Subdominant
3EGBD. Tonic
4FACE. Subdominant
5GBDF. Dominant
6ACEG. Tonic
7BDFA. Dominant

If we look at the extensions of the C major chord in this key we get

C....E....G....B....D....F ...A
R....3....5....7.....9..11...13

We can use the 9th and the 6th (A also 13th
On. Tonic major this gives us this chord
1CEGBDA. Cmaj6/9

In fact we can use the 9th on tonic subdominant or dominant.
In a c major cadence

Dmin9 G9 Cmaj9

DFACE dmin9
GBDFA. G9
CEGBD Cmaj9

For the 11th we can use a #11 on tonic and dominant functions.

In c major cadence
Dmin9 DFACE
G9#11 GBDFAC#
Cmaj#11 CEGBDF#

The dominant chord has the most usable extensions to find them , start by creating 13579
G B D F A
1 3 5 7 9

Now we can use
B5th C#
#5 D#
B9th G#
#9th A#
B13th D#
#11th C#
B3rd A#

So in conclusion you can use the 9th at any time on subdominant,dominant,tonic will sound great

The #11th used on tonic and dominant
The 13th used on tonic as a 6th
On a dominant can use b5th or #5th b9th or #9th plain 13th or b13th.

 

TRIADS

Are the foundation of chords and extremely important no matter what type music you want to create .

If we build from our C major full cadence with 9ths

Dmin9 G9 Cmaj9

DFACE, GBDFA, CEGBD

Now we break up those chords into triads

DFA,FAC,ACE,GBD,BDF,DFA,CEG,EGB,GBD

We can see the type of options it gives us.

 

When using TRIADS make sure to spread the notes out and go through the inversions
Ex

Key of C major

DFACE, GBDFAC#, ACEGBD

DFA, FAD, ADF
FAC,ACF,CFA
ACE,CEA,EAC
GBD,BDG,DGB
BDF,DFB,FBD
DFA,FAD,ADF
FAC#,AC#F,C#FA
ACE,CEA,EAC
CEG,EGC,GCE
EGB,GBE,BEG
GBD,BDG,DGB

Play these TRIADS and inversions spread out the inversions forwards and backwards.

Next we want to connect them from one function to the other

So from our ii chord to our V chord to our I chord

DFA, GDB,CEG
ADF,GBD,ECG
FDA,BDG,ACE
FAC,DFG,ACG
There so many things you can do changing directions up and down and spreading through octaves

 

Crazy how you know music theory...Thanks for sharing it with us.

 

C..D..E..F#.G..A..B..C....Lydian
C..D..E..F...G...A..B..C....Ionian
C..D..E..F...G...A.Bb..C..Mixolydian
C..D.Eb.F...G...A.Bb..C..Dorian
C..D.Eb.F...G..Ab.Bb.C..Aeolian
C.Db.Eb.F..G..Ab.Bb.C..Phrygian
C.Db.Eb.F.Gb.Ab.Bb.C..Locrian
B.Db.Eb.F.Gb.Ab.Bb.B..Lydian

 

At first I thought that was an odd comment - now I don't know. I wonder what the proportions are in this community?
I guess many know little and many know bucketloads.
Some think they know more than enough, some feel they can never have too much.

 

Looks like that's how it always is "in the community".

 

Last edited: Jun 23, 2019

I don't know

I don't know how someone can learn " too much " haha
My perspective let's say regarding music
A person knows a certain percentage . ( Less than 100 percent)
As they continue to learn it's just going to raise that percentage . Whatever amount they grow that have the totality of that percentage as part of them ( compared to having a lower percentage)
There no negative drawbacks I can see to raising that percentage.
(Except the sacrificing of other things in life that happens whenever you devote large amount time to certain area)
And that has more to do with what your musical goals are what do you want to do with music or get out of it?
If music is some secondary thing to make money with , get famous from , get laid with etc.
Then definitely is true the person should not spend any time worry about how much works .
Because those things have zero connection to music. That's a type of music prostitution.
Which may be fine in many peoples views.
To me music is my life. I accept it for what it is how it works and work toward bring more fluent with music all the time .I love music for itself .not as a tool to do something else with.
Just my take my friend thank you for your comments!

 

I know the music theory I need for my electronic music but I'm not a scientist of music theory neither.

I just wanted to say MMJ knows very well music theory,I wasn't sarcastic.

And It's cool to learn new things,in any domain.

 

Nicely said.

I just made comments about similar stuff over in another thread, so just a link here...

 

Last edited: Jun 24, 2019

My music has been a lot improved since I the day I learnt music theory,personnally.Even if I'm still not very good!

I don't think you can claim to make some serious music if you don't know anything in music theory.

Making music without knowing music theory is like a mechanic who fixes your car without any notion in mechanical.

 

I agree with the first sentence; i.e., you find music theory useful, and same for me - I find music theory useful.
But I have to disagree with your second sentence. Even if I wanted to believe it, the evidence is piled up against it.
Have you not personally encountered musicians that really do express their musical ideas beautifully while genuinely being not interested in music theory. I have met many, and in the history of music there are countless examples.
Some people learn to play like they learn to speak, they don't need to know how they do it.

I will still always prefer studying music theory - I just like it and I feel like it benefits me - a lot.

I won't judge a musician's music by how much music theory they know - any more than I would judge what people say by how much 'theory of language' they know.

 

https://www.looknohands.com/chordhouse/piano/

 

I doubt the greatest artist haven't any notion in music theory.

But I agree some people have a nice feeling with music without any knowledge.

 

Of course.

 

It's true that people make perfect music ignor by of how music works , it's rare but true.
This is because there are actually two components the knowledge portion , and the ear training portion.
Which is to say some have perfect pitch and photographic memory with sound from when they were a baby. That don't have the knowledge portion but their brain hears all 88 notes instantly as unique and then photographic memory snapshot of a Melody or harmony.
Yes of course they would be even 25 times better if they learned the knowledge portion .
But totally without that they demolish the average Joe out there due to what is being passed off as music today.

 

There some issues to bring up here lol

Just poking fun don't take offense .okay?

But electronic music so far as it's been presented in last 3 or 4 decades .
Does not have any music theory because it's an empty music. What I mean is it's based on drums and any other layers are just thicken the sound
Rock metal hip-hop all like this it's not technically music. We use that would music in slang terms these days.
I started off my first instrument was drums so don't take it wrong way . I love drums.
But these music styles are empty of music theory because music theory is about harmony.
Technically music Requires 3 things to be considered music.
Melody
Harmony
Rhythm
If you have 1 byitself or 1 missing
Sure it's a component of music but not music.
A drummer practicing on their kit by themselves is not music it's a component of music.
These modern genres
Rock
Metal
Pop
Edm
House
Industrial

They are do not include the harmony component of music.
Therefore they technically would be rhythm based
Sound art.
A art work where throwing soundwaves ignorantly is the expression.
And there a really nothing wrong with that.