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Reading Chord Symbols: The Language of Commercial Music
A chord symbol is a compact notation — sometimes just two or three characters — that communicates a complete harmonic instruction to a performer.
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Comping and Improvisation: Harmony in Real Time
In a jazz or commercial music ensemble, the rhythm section — piano, guitar, bass — does not simply play the written notes. They comp.
Read MoreSeventh Chords: Adding Color to the Harmony
A triad is a three-note chord. Add one more note — a seventh above the root — and you enter the world of seventh chords: richer, more complex, and more…
Read MoreChord Quality: Why Some Chords Sound Happy and Others Don’t
There are four triad qualities in Western music, and each has a distinct acoustic character — a personality, really — that the ear recognizes immediately.
Read MoreThe Triad: Western Harmony’s Core Unit
If rhythm is the time dimension of music and melody is the pitch dimension, then harmony is the depth dimension — the vertical stacking of pitches that gives…
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