By Patricia Lomako

If you have read all our posts on music theory you have learned quite a lot about chords - which you can use in your compositions - but we haven’t talked so much about scales. If you think that there are only 2 scales - Major and Minor – then this is really far from the truth. There are actually many different scales in music! You’re not exposed to them on an average day as modern mainstream music mostly sticks to Major and Minor, but there are other scales that are used as well. In this post we will have a closer look at some of them.

If you have been reading our posts on music theory, you already know we’ve covered quite some ground. For example, you've learned about triads, 7th chords, 6th chords and sus chords. In this post we will talk about another group of chords, the so-called inverted chords. After reading this post you will know what inverted chords are, how to write them down and the most important thing - how to use them. Let’s begin shall we?

In our previous posts, we talked a lot about scales and we learned about chords like triads, 7th chords, 6th chords and sus chords. I am assuming that you have read all our posts on this topic. And I am pretty sure you by now understand how to create the Major and Minor scale and how to create any chord from those scales. Remember that you can create any chord by simply relying on “chord spelling” and intervals. And you know what the good things is? This knowledge is absolutely sufficient to compose really good sounding music. What we are going to do today is use this knowledge in real life. Not by composing our own full track, but by composing a chord progression around a melody.

In our previous post we mostly spoke about composition techniques and tricks using the Major and Minor scale as a contrast in a musical piece. In this post we will talk a bit more about theory again, but with some composing techniques too. So don’t worry! You already  know what triads and 7th chords are. You also know how to use those chords wisely to create beautiful chord progressions. Today we will learn about 6th chords  and so-called “sus” chords.

In last two posts we’ve learned a lot about chords. Now we know what triads and 7th chords are and how to construct them without creating a scale first. Also, in the previous post you’ve been introduced to intervals and “chord spelling”, which helps you to determine chords like minor, major, dominant and minor 7 flat 5. In this post we are going to learn a little bit more about composition itself rather than theory.

In our previous post we’ve learned about chord pattern for the Minor key, which can actually be applied to any Minor key. We also learned what 7th chords are and how to construct them. Finally, I introduced “chord spelling”.  Today we are going to look at chords from another angle and continue to learn more about them. Also, we will learn how to compose cool chord progressions for your own tracks. Let’s start shall we?

In our previous post we’ve learned how to construct 3 note chords – so called triads. We also found out that there is a specific pattern of chords in the major key, which actually applies to any Major scale.  In this post we will have a closer look at what is referred to as 7th.

In our previous tutorials we have learned how to create Major and Minor scales and how to compose cool melodies by sticking to our scale.  In this post we are going to introduce the concept of “harmony” – chords.

In our first post we introduced some initial concepts of music theory – for instance what a Major scale is and how you can construct them. In this post we are going to discuss how to construct a Minor scale and have a closer look at scales in general as well as the concept of "scale spelling". We will also briefly discuss the creation of cool melodies using what we’ve learned about Major and Minor scales.  Let’s start our engines!

If you have a passion for music and want to express your ideas, thoughts and feelings, it is not always quite enough to be an expert in "music technology" (anything related to your DAW, different plug-ins, how to create cool effects, etc.). If you really want to express your ideas and be able to create cool tracks, it is extremely helpful to understand the basics of music theory. For many people “Music Theory” sounds scary and complicated, but in a reality it isn't, depending on the way it is explained of course. We will do an attempt here on Midichords to explain the subject and help those of you who have no or little knowledge of music theory, but are looking for improving their composing/music production skills. So let’s start our musical journey, shall we?