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3rds - Part 1

Lesson 6 from: Music Theory for Electronic Producers

Tomas George

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Lesson Info

6. 3rds - Part 1

<b><p dir="ltr">In this lesson, I explain what 3rds are and how you can tell the difference between major 3rds and minor 3rds.&#160;</p><p dir="ltr">I also explain why you should use 3rds for writing your own music.</p><div><br></div></b>
Next Lesson: 3rds - Part 2

Lessons

Class Trailer
1

Introduction

00:58
2

Basic Music Theory Terms

08:07
3

Keyboard Layout and Octaves

06:19
4

Working out Major Scales

08:58
5

Perfect 5ths

06:42
6

3rds - Part 1

08:05
7

3rds - Part 2

07:39
8

Perfect 4ths

04:36
9

Chords and Inversions - Part 1

10:05
10

Chords and Inversions - Part 2

09:13
11

Chord Progressions - Part 1

10:22
12

Chord Progressions - Part 2

08:26
13

Inversions

08:53
14

7th Chords

09:48
15

Chord Extensions

08:09
16

Suspended Chords

02:40
17

The Circle of 5ths

04:30
18

Minor Scales

08:09
19

Chords in the Natural Minor scale

09:56
20

Harmonic and Melodic Minor

09:30
21

Write the Chords, then the Melody

09:03
22

Write the Melody, then the Chords

18:01
23

Arpeggios

08:00
24

Writing Bass Parts

11:35
25

Writing Bass Riffs and Adapting Melodies

14:10
26

Song Analysis - Chords, Part 1

10:17
27

Song Analysis - Chords, Part 2

05:58
28

Song Analysis - Melody

08:55
29

Song Analysis - Arrangement

07:30
30

Song 2 Analysis - Arrangement

05:04
31

Song 2 Analysis - Chords

08:55
32

Song 2 Analysis - Melodies

06:34
33

Song 3 Analysis - Chords

11:41
34

Song 3 Analysis - Melodies and Arrangement

06:55
35

Create a Song from a Drum Beat - Part 1

10:22
36

Create a Song from a Drum Beat - Part 2

18:47
37

Create a Song from a Drum Beat - Part 3

18:49
38

Create a Song from a Drum Beat - Part 4

08:21
39

Create a Song from a Chord Progression - Part 1

08:16
40

Create a Song from a Chord Progression - Part 2

08:07
41

Create a Song from a Melody - Part 1

07:27
42

Create a Song from a Melody - Part 2

09:05
43

Modes Intro

04:10
44

Ionian

00:43
45

Dorian

04:31
46

Phrygian

02:09
47

Lydian

01:35
48

Mixolydian

02:13
49

Aeolian

00:39
50

Locrian

01:50
51

Dorian Mode Example

09:12
52

Pentatonic Scales

12:27

Lesson Info

3rds - Part 1

OK. Now we're going to have a look at the third. So the third is really the most important thing that determines a chord, whether it's a major chord or a minor chord, the roots or the first note of the chord and the fifth can be the same in a major chord and a minor chord. But the third, depending what type of third it is, will really determine if it's a major chord or a minor chord. We do get minor thirds and major thirds. But let's go back to this pattern. We looked at previously which is tone tone semitone, tone, tone, tone semitone. And this is the easiest way to actually work out what our third is for the key that we're in. Remember that a tone is two notes and a semitone is just one note. So that includes the black notes, which means chromatically and chromatically basically means all the notes that there are in front of us. So in Western music chromatically, there's 12 notes. So C C# D flat DD sharp, E flat, E, et cetera. So all of these notes here, let's go into our digital aud...

io workstation and let's start on C and write out chromatically what there actually is. So we've got all these notes here. But if we want to use the pattern of town, town semitone, downtown town semitone, we will actually need to work this out in our digital audio workstation. So let's start on C and let's go up one tone. So 12, then another tone, 12, then a semitone, if you remember our pattern tone tone, semitone tone tone tone semitone. So the semitone gets us to f, then a tone to G A to 12 to A and then a tone to B and then a semi tone to C. So these are all the notes in C major. So we can drag this pattern to say D and this is all the notes in D major. This is great in our piano role to actually just drag the pattern around. If this was, I was actually playing this on the piano to transpose this, which basically means move to a different key, be a lot harder than just dragging it around. We have to know what notes are in the scale. This pattern here is quite similar to a guitar though, if you have the pattern or the shape on the guitar, you can basically just transpose it by moving it up or down. But some instruments you can't do this, especially some woodwind and brass, you really have to know your instrument back to front. But on the piano roll editor. It's really easy to do. Let's go back to C though. Ok. That sounds like a bit of a mess at the moment if you hear it because it's just playing all the notes at the same time. That wouldn't be a very good chord. It's just too muddy, too much going on. So let's actually draw in here ac major scale or C major chord. So we've got the root, which is the sea and the third. So we can just count up here. So 123, just the E and then the 5th, 45, which is the G, that's the easiest way to do it. It's just basically just counts up. Just remember a traditional chord has the root the third and the fifth. So just the first note, we miss out one note, the next note we miss out one note, the next note, it's quite simple to do and this is a major or a major third in the middle here. If we actually drop this by one semitone, we'll make it a minor. And if we put the minor up by one semitone, we'll make it a major. If it's a minor though, you'll notice it's this note D sharp or E flat and that's not in our scale here. So at the moment, let's just keep to our scale. So let's put it back to, hey, another way of finding out if our chord is major or minor is to just listen to it. But listening to this, does this sound happy or sad? It's a complete generalization. But major chords sound happy and minor chords sound sad. So let's hear this. So that is meant to sound happy. Let's just drag this over and let's turn this into minor. The easiest way we, we turn a major cord into a minor is to drop the third by one semi Toone. So this should sound happy and then should sound sad. Let's just slow this tempo down a bit. You hear, it gives a different mood. If you can't hear the difference at the moment, don't worry, with practice and time you'll be able to hear the difference. So one way you can just do it, it is just here. Is this a major or a minor? So that should sound reasonably happy and the second one should sound reasonably sad. You should be able to tell that that's a minor. But if you can't tell at the moment, don't worry, it will come to you eventually. There is another way of actually working out our major and minor chords and the major and minor third. And that is five and four for major and four and five for minor. That might not make any sense at the moment, but it basically means five semitones and then four semitones to write in a major chord and for minor writes in four semitones, then five semitones. So if we start on C if we go up 5 to 5 semitones, 12345, starting on the C one T 345, we come to the E and then including the E we go up 41234. It's A G. So 12345 as to say, then 1234 will take us to a G. So just remember to include the starting note. So one, let's delete these and delete these and I'm gonna draw it in a major code and a minor code. So one, 2345, then count four, 1234. That's our major card. And now for a minor cord, it's four and five. So let's count up 41, 234, 12345. And that's our minor chord. So whatever note we start on. So let's start on D. So now we're going to start on D and use the same pattern five and four to find a major chord or to write in a major chord and four and five for a minor chord. So these are the ways I've showed you so far, the one way is five and 44 and five. The other way is to just write in all the notes in the scale and you can work out which ones you need to put in. And the other way is just to hear it. So let's just do this R and D So five and 41 2345. Remember to count the first notes and then 41234 and then minor 1234 and major or the 57712345. So this should be major cordon. This should be a minor cord. So let's hear the major and then go into the minor, you can hear the second one does sound a lot sadder. You should be able to hear, it doesn't sound as happy. Should sound a bit moody. Compared to this one, you've probably heard major chords and minor chords. Hundreds thousands, maybe even millions of times in your life and not really realized it, but this is a major and a minor. OK. We do have something called an augmented and a diminished cord. I wouldn't really worry about it too much. Now, it's just a different type of cord. There is a pattern to work these out as well. I'll just show you quickly. So augmented basically means a bit bigger. So that's five and five and diminished means a bit smaller. So that's four and four. So I'll quickly put in a diminished and an augmented cord. Let's start with the uh augmented. Let's go back to c delete these. So augmented is five and 51, 2345 and then 512345. This will give a different kind of sound you might not be used to. And there are certain places we can actually use this type of chord. But for now, we're not really going to worry about augmented and diminished. But let's just hear this augmented chord, you can hear it doesn't sound as nice. So we really do have to know our theory to know where to put this cord. Now, now let's try the diminished. So that was four and 41, 234 and sounds a little bit odd. It can be used later on. But for now, let's just think about major and minor cords. So like I said earlier, to change a minor to a major, it's just gotta go up one semitone and to change a minor to a major, just gotta go there down to Seyton. So let me just explain that in our digital audio workstation. So we've got drag this over. Uh c let's make this a major. So 123451, 234. So this is major. If we want to make this a minor, all we have to do so to change the minor is go down a semitone on the third. So remember the third note just drops one semitone that will make it a minor. Now, this is a minor and if we want to make the minor a major to change the major, just go on semitone. So all we have to do is get the third and put it up semitone. Now, this is a major. So the difference between a major and a minor chord really is just the third, we can stack these notes as well. So we can put different octaves on. So we can put the C up here, I could put this G on top so we can have a bigger sounding cord. It's just the three notes just in different orders. I've added an octave that sounds a bit bigger than so we can create different sounds, especially in pop music and dance music. It really is just built around these free notes in jazz music or maybe R and B or music with kind of thicker harmonies. It does have more notes and more chords which we'll look at later. But generally, if you want it to sound a bit jazzy, add more notes in the chord. If you want it to sound more simple, more straightforward, more kind of pop music, dance music, I just stick with the three notes. So the root, the third and the fifth. So that's basically how you can work out a major chord or a minor chord. It's all based around this third. So if we go up, remember five and four major, so one, 2345. So ce 1234, ce and G is a major chord or a major triad triad just basically means three notes and a minor is 41234. So C and E flat 12345 and a G. So ce flat and G is minor. So a minor triad or a minor chord, that's basically how we can work out major chords and minor chords.

Class Materials

Bonus Materials

Music_Theory_for_Electronic_Producers_PDF_Guidebook.pdf

Ratings and Reviews

Sabrina John
 

This class by Jared Platt is incredibly comprehensive and invaluable for both beginners and advanced users of Lightroom Classic. His insights into organizing and editing are game-changing. Speaking of organization, for those looking to streamline their utility bill management, especially MEPCO bills, I highly recommend checking out the MEPCO Bill Payment service. It makes tracking and paying bills straightforward and efficient.

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