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Chord Progressions - Part 1

Lesson 11 from: Music Theory for Electronic Producers

Tomas George

Chord Progressions - Part 1

Lesson 11 from: Music Theory for Electronic Producers

Tomas George

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Lesson Info

11. Chord Progressions - Part 1

<b><p dir="ltr">In this lesson, I explain what chord progressions are and how to write your own.</p><p dir="ltr">I also show you some of the most common chord progressions used in music today!</p><div><br></div></b>

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

Chord Progressions - Part 1

Hello. In this lecture, we're going to be looking at chord progressions. So chord progressions are basically just a load of chords we put together in our song, we can use different chord progressions for different parts of the song or we can just use the same chords or chord progressions on a loop throughout the whole song. If you're making electronic dance music, a lot of the time, it is quite repetitive, but you can put different core progressions throughout the song just to mix it up and to make it a bit more interesting. So let's go back to tone tone, semitone, tone, tone, tone semitone. This is really important just so we can actually work out the notes we need for our major scale. So let's go back into our digital audio workstation. And soon enough, you'll realize why this is important for core progressions. So this time let's start R and D and it's tone so up to E tone up to this black one F sharp, semi toone to G tone to a tone, to be tone to this black one C# and then semitone...

to D. So this is our major scale in D major. So it's def sharp, G ABC sharp D and now we can work out which cause we can actually write in this key. So we had D EF sharp, G ABC sharp D. And if you, and if you remember the pattern from before major, minor, minor, major, major, minor diminished, major, we just link it up. So the first one, D major E minus, the second one, the third one is minor, F sharp, minor, fourth major, minor, minor, major, G major, major. A major minor. Cheers B minor diminished just C# diminished. We only really use this as a passing chord unless you want to create something purposely angry or moody, but generally in kind of pop or dance music, we don't really use a diminished quad that much. And then back to the first one which is major. So these are all the chords we can actually use in our song s in the key of D major. So we can use D major, E minor, F sharp, minor, G major. A major B minor, C# diminished maybe. And then of course, back to D major. So there's loads of different options we can use. But which order should you put these in? It really does depend there's no golden rule, but there are a few different common core progressions we can use. So let's just look at this core pattern in a different way. So we have major, which is the one minor which is the second. So E minor, which is the two F sharp, which is the three. Remember the lower case is minor, the capitals is major and the little circle means diminished. So a lot of the time when we talk about core progressions, we do use Roman numerals. So obviously, when it has the little Roman numerals, it means it's minor. And the capital which means it's major. There's a load of common core progressions that are written. Most songs really, a lot of songs do follow formulas and I've just put together some of the most common ones and we'll go through a few of these in our digital audio workstation soon. So the first one is from, Don't Stop Believing by Journey. It's 1564. So it's major one. So in that key major one is D and then five which is a major. So it's D and then A and then six. So it's D A B minor. So it's dab minor and then four which is a major because it's capital. So we've got D A, let's go back. So we got D A B minor and then G. So we have dab minor GDAB minor G. So we can put that into our digital audio workstation. Dab minor G, really common one. So let's just write this in. So we have D start on D so we could just miss one out that will give uh route 3rd and 5th or we can use the pattern five and four. So it's 123451234. So D let's go back. It was D A B Minor G. We know this because it is 1564. So one D five A six B minor four G. So D major, A major B minor G major. So let's write this in D major. A major BMG major. Really simple. Let's put another one here. A major. So let's start on a skip one out. So it's C# and then we can add on town town semitone. So we have another octave as well. So I just added tone tone semitone, tone tone tone semitone in D major. So it's two octaves. So remember to skip one out. So we have the D and then the E or we can go back. Remember it's a major 123451234. OK. So let's go back to this. So it was 15 we've written in now and then we want six which is 123456 B minor. We need to put in now. So let's start on B JZ one above here. And remember we can just skip one out for the third and then for the fifth which is an F sharp or we can use the pattern four and five. You can see here. It's a minor because the major's got more space there and less space this has less space here and more space. But let's just count it as well. 1234, 12345. So this is a B minor, just extend this out. OK? And then let's put in the last one. So it's 1564. So let's put in the fourth. Going back to this, we know fourth is a G. So that's a G major. So once you know this pattern, you can write out loads of core progressions, you can use other people's core progressions as long as you change the melodies and the style of it. But a good exercise is to write out a load of these common core progressions just so you know what they really sound like and then you can rearrange, move them about and just create your own. So the last one was a G. So let's go to G here. Skip one out. Let's add on the town, town, semi town, town, town, town, semi town. So we have the t let's look at these here, town, town, semi town, town, town, town, semi town, just gonna zoom out a bit. So we can see this here. So remember to miss one. So we have a B and then we have ad you can see here, there's a bigger space here and a smaller space. It's 123451234. So that's a major. So we've got ad major. A major. A B minor and a G major. Let's just play this and I'm just gonna stop all the loops and let's just play this one. OK. We can spread this out. Obviously, we don't need it like that close together. So let's just spread these cords out a bit. So move these two. Yeah. And move these along. Of course, we can drag all of these. OK? And just drag this over. OK. OK. So sounds fine. It's not the most interesting thing in the world, but it works. It's in key, it's in tune. It's a very, very common core progression. So you can use this 1154, sorry, 1564. So it's major one major five minor six and minor four. So what you can do is take a screenshot of some of these if you wanna print them out, put them on your wall if you're just starting out. So 1564 really come one, the next one is 1645 pretty much the same, but we're just swapping these around a bit. So 16 45. So in D major 1645. So one is D six is B minor four is G and five is A. So DB minor G A. So that's going to our digital audio workstation, DB, Minor G A. So we could just swap them around here if you want, we know the patterns, you know A goes at the end. So just move this around. So it's so it's GD major, B minor G major A major which is same co as stand by me. So it's 1645. So let's hear this back. This is just another really common core progression you can use. So I just made a bit of a rhythm there just so you can hear this works. This could be played in a dance song. You could imagine this sounds very generic. Very common. Yeah. It's not the most interesting thing in the world, but it will work just gonna delete some of these.

Class Materials

Bonus Materials

Music_Theory_for_Electronic_Producers_PDF_Guidebook.pdf

Ratings and Reviews

Sabrina John
 

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