The chord is the common element so that the
various instruments play together in a harmonious way. We will
learn in more details how they are created and how you can
sequence them. This lesson does not claim to teach harmony but
constitutes a set of principles you can use to understand and
create chords progressions.
We can define a chord in a general way as a context of notes
(2, 3, 4 or even more) heard simultaneously. The relations
existing between these notes is what characterizes the sound
colour of a chord (see the lesson on Composing
music (1)).
By using this definition, any group of notes can be a chord.
Nevertheless, if a chord must be harmonious, the notes in it must
have related elements, otherwise the chord will sound like an
aggregate of dispersed notes rather than a harmonious set of
notes.
The common element must be found in how notes are transmitted
from the instrument to your ears. We have seen that the sound is
made of an air vibration. By playing two notes simultaneously, we
thus have two different vibrations propagated to the auditor and
interfering one with the other. By playing for example two C
notes separated by an octave, the vibrations have a ratio of 2.
By playing for example a C note and a G note, the vibrations are
in a 3/2 ratio. C and E have approximately a 5/4 ratio, etc.
In addition, by listening to various chords and groups of
notes, one can notice that some give a very harmonious impression
while others are more unpleasant or more dissonant. Is there a
rule to measure this degree of harmony? Yes, it is the degree of
the mathematical relationship complexity between the sounds of a
chord which determines the dissonance degree of this chord. In
other words, the notes in a ratio of 2 will appear more "in
agreement" that notes in a 15/13 ratio. This rule is
empirical and is just a basic guide. The preferences of the
composer, in connection with what he wants to express, will
determine if he wants to use such or such chord in his
composition, the concepts of harmony or discordance being
themselves rather subjective.
You can conceive the musical keyboard as a series of 12 keys
(7 white and 5 blacks) repeated several times. Music composition
then consists in simply determining which notes will be played
and how they will be linked in time. By taking the problem in
this manner, the number of possibilities is so enormous that the
beginner will be completely lost and will compose nothing at all.
Thus let us use the principle of "divide to reign
better" and divide the notes in contexts called Tonalities.
The simplest tonality is the C Major tonality.
It is a subset of keyboard notes containing only the white keys.
A piece of music (or part of it) written in C Major will use in
theory only the white notes of the musical keyboard. All
instruments of the score agree on a series of notes to use. It is
the first way to divide notes in order to harmonize the
relationship between the instruments. We thus lay down our first
working rule:
In the series of all
possible notes, let us select a subset of notes with which we
will compose. This subset becomes our context of notes to use
and is called the tonality.
The 12 major and minor tonalities (see the
lesson on key signatures) form contexts of notes. We advise you
to use them at the beginning, because these contexts are rather
well codified from the chords point of view. Most classical music
and light music is written by using almost exclusively these
contexts. For this reason they sound very natural and familiar
because it is what most people is accustomed to hear. You only
need to open the radio to hear music based on tonalities. Nothing
prevents you from defining new contexts of notes or laying down
your working rules.
With a context of notes, we have notes the
instruments can use in a musical passage. This passage can last
one measure, 20 measures or even 200 measures, it is the composer
who decides. Then it may change context for the next musical
passage. This first division does not specify yet which notes
will sound well together. Let us take the tonality of C Major.
Our context of notes consists of the following notes:

We displayed only the notes of one octave, but
consider that all notes of the higher and lower octaves are also
included (all white keys of the piano).
We have seen that the notes of the scale are
numbered as degrees, based on the scale starting note (here C for
the C major tonality). We use Roman numerals from I to VII and
start again from I for the next.
Inside a tonality, there are still lots of
possibilities. Experiment will show you that by playing only the
white keys, it is difficult for a beginner to create multiple
melodies which harmonize with each other (for example a bass and
a song, the two hands of a piano
). Too much possibilities
still exist and no directing rules exist. We will again divide
the tonality into sub-groups of notes called chords.
A chord consists of 3 or 4 (or even more) notes
heard simultaneously. They form sub-groups inside the tonality
context. Let us start with the groups of three notes and build on
each degree of the scale a chord formed by consecutive thirds
(you take one note out of two using the white keys). We get the
following chords:

The black keys are not distributed equally
(there is no black key between each white key), thus the
relationship between the notes of the chords are not the same on
each degree of the scale. By analyzing the distribution of each
chord, you will find 3 different types (see the Composing music
(1)). By counting the intervals between the black and the white
keys, you will get:
- Degrees I, IV and V: 4 + 3, it is a
Major chord
- Degrees II, III and VI: 3 + 4, it is a
Minor chord
- Degree VII: 3 + 3, it is a Diminished
chord
Our second rule of work will be stated as
follows:
Inside a tonality (context of
notes) and at every moment of the score, the instruments will
play mainly the notes which belong to the same chord, this
chord being selected among those of the tonality (degrees I
to VII).
The two stated rules are based on the same
principle: to select a set of notes among a larger number. The
application of this principle is initially done for a context of
notes (valid for a variable number of measures) and then inside
this context itself to determine the combinations of simultaneous
notes.
By laying down rules of composition, let us
remember that those are there only to help you structure music.
They should in no case become a constraint to respect in an
absolute way. They do not constitute an end in themselves. They
form a guide, a practical method which gives fast results to sort
out possible sound combinations. If your inspiration specifies a
sound combination you like and which communicates what you want,
use it without hesitation, even if this combination does not
respect the stated rules. This remains valid for all lessons
about composition.
By establishing chords of 4 notes on the
degrees of the scale, we get other sub-contexts of notes, these
notes belonging to the main context of C Major:

By analyzing the intervals separating the notes
from each chord, you will find 4 types of chords:
- Degrees I and IV: 4 + 3 + 4, a chord
of seventh major (Maj 7)
- Degrees II, III and VI: 3 + 4 + 3, a
chord of seventh minor (min 7)
- Degree V: 4 + 3 + 3, a chord of
seventh dominant (7)
- Degree VII: 3 + 3 + 4, a chord of
seventh sensible (min 7 B 5)
With each major tonality there is an associated
minor tonality. By taking the sixth degree (VI) of the major
scale, you can build a new scale on this note. The minor scale
associated with C Major is the scale built on A (degree VI of C
Major) and is called A Minor. It contains the same context of
notes but has other sound characteristics. Here is the A Minor
scale:

The degrees are numbered starting from A. As
you may notice, degrees VI and especially VII are sometimes
raised in a minor scale. It is a characteristic specific to minor
scales. These accidentals are especially found when a melody
plays the scale upwards. By going down, the melody will again use
the non accidental notes. This aspect contributes to give its
colour to a minor scale. Besides that, we can see that the
context of notes is the same than for C Major. It is possible to
build chords in the same way than with the major scale. Those
however will be distributed in a different way, because the
intervals are laid out differently.
By working with a scale, all degrees do not
have the same importance. Degree I is the most significant
because it is the degree on which the scale is built. The next
important degree is the V, because its speed of sound vibration
is in a ratio of 3/2 in relation to the first degree. Then it is
degree IV, which has a ratio of 4/3. Then the degrees II, III, VI
and VII with a ratio more and more distant from the first degree.
The relative importance of the scale degrees
will influence the use of these degrees. The musical speech will
be oriented mainly around the most significant degrees (I, V and
IV). These degrees could be used as points of support for melody
and rhythm. The less significant degrees will be used more like a
transition. Again, these rules are more tendencies than immutable
laws.
We now will do some practical exercises so that
you can hear the sound result of chords.
We have seen that the Chords library -
1.piz and Chords library - 2.piz documents contain
chords classified by types, with for each one of them the chords
built on all white and black keys. As we explained, chords may be
regarded as subdivisions of tonality. By composing a musical
passage in a tonality, it would thus be more logical to classify
chords by their membership to a tonality. It is what the Chords
by tonality.piz document provides for 5 major tonalities and
the 5 corresponding minor tonalities. Open this document in the Music
folder (inside DataEN). Its main view appears as
follows:

The 5 simplest tonalities were selected. The
central column contains C Major (no accidentals on the key
signature) and A Minor which is associated with it. The column on
the left is F Major (1 flat on the key signature) associated with
D Minor. On the left, B flat Major (2 flats on the key signature)
and G Minor. The fourth column contains G Major (1 sharp on the
key signature) and E Minor. Lastly, the fifth column contains D
Major (2 sharps on the key signature) and B Minor.
Each column contains 4 different folders. The
first contains the chords with 3 notes built on the 7 degrees of
the major scale. The following contains the chords of 4 notes
built on the 7 degrees of the major scale. The two following are
similar but built on the degrees of the minor scale.
For each tonality (5 major and 5 minor), you
thus have two folders respectively containing the chords of 3 and
4 notes.
Double-click on Score 1. The score
view appears in the bottom of the screen. The first measure
contains a rhythmic library element (invisible) of an ad
infinitum repeated whole note. You just need to drag a chords
folder so that the 7 measures are automatically filled with the
chords of the 7 degrees of the scale.
Drag one of the folders into measure 1 and
observe the notes which compose the chords. Listen to the sound
result and use the keyboard window to visualize the keys. Do the
same with the other folders and observe each time the following
facts:
- The 7 chords are built on the notes of the
7 degrees of the scale,
- Each chord consists of 3 or 4 superimposed
notes. They form a succession of thirds. In other words,
to form the chord, you take one note out of two in the
scale, by starting on the first note which is called the
chord fundamental or root note. All notes of the chord
are thus either in a space between the lines or on a line
(at least in the present case). You will find some chords
laid out differently for the minor chords, but this is
due to the way in which Pizzicato treats accidentals (C #
= Db
). Do not take that into account for the
example.
Close the score and open the Score 2.
Here is how the score appears:

Warning
! You now will start to compose !
The purpose of the following
exercise is to show you in practice that by creating a melody
with the notes of a chord, this melody always sounds harmoniously
with the chord.
Do the following steps with
several of the chords folders (major or minor, 3 or 4 sounds),
until you can do it easily and understand what we explained just
before.
- Select one of the folders
and drag it into the first measure of the lower staff,
named Chords. The 7 chords corresponding to the
selected tonality appear in the lower measures.
- With half notes only and
by using the notes encoding tools (tools palette),
complete the 7 upper measures (2 half notes per measure).
Use only the notes which belong to the chord located in
the lower measure. You can also use notes which bear the
same name. In other words, if the chord contains a lower
C, you can either use this C or the upper one or even
higher. This leaves you already a lot of choices. For the
moment, select the notes as you want, so long as they
belong to the chord located just below.
- Listen to the sound result
and notice that the notes of the melody give the
impression to be in harmony with the chord that is
played.
- Erase the upper staff only
and start again the exercise with quarter notes (4 per
measure). Vary the notes and possibly modify them
according to what you hear. You can also repeat notes.
- Erase the upper staff and
start again these steps with another folder.
In the course of a score, the instruments are coordinated by a
chord progression. It is the main direction which guides them.
The chords progression specifies how chords will follow each
other and for how long each chord will be played.
By going from a chord to another, it is thus the notes context
that changes (even if you remain in the same tonality). The
melody will follow by taking its reference points on the chords.
The two preceding exercises used the scale degrees in the
scale order. Here are some rules which can be used as a basis to
establish more interesting chords progressions. We will use them
with practical exercises.
- By composing a musical score, one of the essential points
consists in doing a coherent work. In other words, you
need to mould the raw musical matter and to channel it so
that it forms an organized set rather than a chaos formed
by various parts having nothing to do with each other.
You need to create and to maintain links between each
part of your composition (instruments, chords, melodies,
rhythms, sound effects
). For the chords sequences,
this rule becomes:
Sequence chords having characteristics
in common
This common characteristic can be for example:
- one or more notes shared by the two chords,
- the chord type (major or minor),
- the same tonality (C major, G major
).
This common characteristic will help the transition
between two successive chords and will give the impression to
the auditor that these two chords are really made to be
sequenced, even if the auditor cannot really explain where
the link comes from.
To structure a musical work, it is a little like building
a sentence. You have a great number of words and you must
arrange them so that they form a direction which communicates
what you want. To randomly place chords, without taking into
account a note context and the links to connect them would be
like building a sentence randomly by taking words in the
dictionary. The sentence would not have any coherence.
- We have seen that all degrees of a scale do not have the
same importance. Use the most significant degrees (I, V
and IV) at the key points of a work, such as for example
at the beginning and on the end point of the melodies (I
and V), for the conclusion of the chorus and verses
(especially I), on the melody support points (I, V and
IV),
These degrees tend to confirm the tonality you
are in. Use the other degrees (II, III, VI and VII) as
bridges to go between the main degrees (pillars of the
tonality).
- Several sequences of degrees are very current and are
abundantly used in almost all music styles. Each one of
them satisfies at least two of the criteria given above.
Here are some of them:
V |
I |
|
|
G => C in C Major |
|
|
|
|
E => A in A minor |
|
|
|
|
|
IV |
V |
I |
|
F = > G = > C in C Major |
|
|
|
|
D = > E = > A in A minor |
|
|
|
|
|
II |
V |
I |
|
D = > G = > C in C Major |
|
|
|
|
B = > E = > A in A minor |
|
|
|
|
|
VI |
IV |
V |
I |
A = > F = > G = > C in C Major |
|
|
|
|
F = > D = > E = > A in A minor |
|
|
|
|
|
II |
IV |
V |
I |
D = > F = > G = > C in C Major |
|
|
|
|
B = > D = > E = > A in A minor |
|
|
|
|
|
These chords sequences are called cadences. They tend to
affirm the tonality. Notice that most of the degrees used are
important degrees of the scale.
- When you change tonality (this is called
modulation), the same principle applies. Establish a link
between the two chords which form the transition. By
observing the contents of each tonality folder, you will
be able to realize that some chords are found in several
different tonalities. You can thus use them as
transition.
Let us take a simple example. You do a IV -
V - I sequence in C Major, which gives chords built on F - G-
C. To continue the progression, you can observe that the C
Maj chord is also present in the tonality of G major where it
is placed on degree IV. You can thus again start a cadence IV
- V - I in G major, which would give :
|
F |
G |
C |
D |
G |
C Major
tonality |
IV |
V |
I |
|
|
G Major
tonality |
|
|
IV |
V |
I |
The chord built on C is the transition
between the two tonalities.
You can use only one chord of a tonality
and then directly return to the original tonality. One speaks
about a chord "borrowed" from another tonality. You
can also do a complete change and remain in the new tonality.
It is called a modulation.
Nothing prevents you to go often from one
tonality to the other. If you wish to affirm a tonality, you
will have to use more than only one chord of it. For that, it
is easier to use one of the cadences, the minimum being the
transition V - I because it is the best to establish a
tonality.
Let us make some exercises to create chords
progressions.
- Here are the steps to create and listen to
a new chord progression:
- In the Edit menu, select the New
element
New Chord
item.
- Name it as you want and check the Chords
progression choice as well as the check
box Duration associated in multiples of whole
notes.
- Click OK and open this folder.
- Open a folder that contains chords and
drag some of them inside the new folder, in the
desired order. If you need it, move the folder
windows so that they are laid out in a practical way
to work.
- Close the folders and open the Score
1. Drag your new folder in measure 1. The chords
appear. (Notice that if you placed less chords than
the number of measures, the last measures will be
filled with the last chord).
- Use the space bar to listen to the
result.
- We will first work with only one tonality,
which corresponds to the elements contained in only one
folder. You will create chords progressions as specified
above, by selecting a folder and by using only the
elements of this tonality. Here are the directives for
the first exercise:
- Create progressions which contain from
4 to 7 chords,
- Finish each progression with a V - I
cadence,
- Use only the 3 notes chords of a
tonality,
- Sequence only chords having 2 notes in
common (except for the end V - I cadence).
Create between 5 to 10 folders of this
kind, with various tonalities. Listen each time to the sound
result and locate the passages which you find particularly
harmonious. For this exercise and the next, we recommend to
save these folders in a separate document. Therefore, you
just need to:
- Create a new document with the New
item of the File menu,
- Drag one by one the chords folders in
its main view,
- Save this document.
These chords progressions will be useful
for the continuation of the exercises, when you will add
melodies and rhythms to them.
In order to locate the chords which have
notes in common, we advise you to print Score 1 on
paper with the folder of the selected tonality chords.
- Do the same exercise with chords of 4
notes (4 to 7 chords finished by V - I, with two notes in
common except for the V-I).
- Same exercise, but this time you can mix 3
notes and 4 notes chords (coming from the same tonality).
- We now will work with two tonalities. Add
5 measures to Score 1. Here are the directives:
- Select the two tonalities you will
sequence. The most natural and easy modulations are:
- between the major tonality and the
associated minor tonality,
- between two successive columns (in
this case the tonalities have only one note which
differentiate them and thus 6 notes in common and
several chords also).
- Start the exercise with 4 to 6 chords
of the first tonality. Place then from 4 to 6 chords
of the second tonality.
- As well in the tonality as when
changing tonality, sequence only chords having at
least 2 related notes.
- You can use 3 and/or 4 notes chords.
- Finish with a V- I cadence.
- Same exercise, but you can use sequences
where chords have at least one note in common.
- Add 6 measures more to Score 1.
You now will return to the starting tonality to have in
the order:
- 4 to 6 measures with tonality 1
- 4 to 6 measures with tonality 2
- 4 to 6 measures with tonality 1.
- Once you can easily create scores of some
measures, you can lengthen the exercise freely and create
16 or 32 chords progressions. You can go from one
tonality to the other and use the 3 and 4 notes chords.
Use and try out all the aspects seen in this lesson and
give free access to your imagination.
The exercises suggested here relate only to the
aspect of sequencing various types of chords. We will see in the
next lesson that you can modify the position of a chord, i.e. the
way in which the notes of the chord are distributed. This
possibility will help you create more pleasant progressions and
to enrich the sound effects. Do not hesitate to spend time over
these exercises because only intensive practice will bring you to
better locate and use the most adequate sequences of chords to
express what you want.