Music Theory for Electronic Musicians 6: Advanced Harmony

Explore ninth chords and how they extend triads and sevenths to six kinds of ninth chords. Learn octave relationships and the bright major nine sound.

Build a minor ninth chord from a minor triad by lowering the third, adding a minor seventh, and a ninth, exemplified by C minor nine.

Learn how to form a major nine chord from a C major triad by adding the seventh and ninth, explore minor nine and dominant nine variants, and note naming changes.

Explore the dominant ninth, aka C9, a major chord with a minor seventh plus a ninth, brightening the dominant sound and resolving down a fifth like a dominant chord.

Explore the dominant minor ninth, a dominant seven chord with a flat nine, including the C7 flat nine and its dark, dissonant minor two feel against D flat.

Explore dominant seventh sharp nine chords, their function as ninth chords, and how raising the nine creates crunch by pairing major and minor triads, including the Hendrix chord.

Explore major and minor six nine chords, forming C69 by adding a six and a ninth, and learn to replace the tonic with these jazzy harmonies.

Discover how major and minor add9 chords work, like C add9 without a seventh. Compare add9 with add2 and minor variants, and note the subtle dissonance of E-flat and D.

Learn to read chord names to identify notes and tensions, not memorize every chord, then explore add nine and 11th and 13th extensions for tracks.

Explore the 11th chord as the fourth octave displaced, creating crunch with the third, and stack triad, seventh, ninth, and eleventh for a thicker minor ninth and eleventh sound.

Explore the minor 11th chord with an E minor 11 voicing that uses the seventh and 11th, omits the ninth, and uses open guitar strings.

Create a major 11th chord by adding ninth and eleventh to a major triad. The 11th clashes with the third, creating a crunchy sound, then explore dominant 11th.

Construct a C dominant 11 by adding D as the ninth, F as the eleventh, and B-flat to the chord, then compare its crunch to a C dominant nine.

Build a dominant sharp 11 chord from a C9 base, adding the sharp 11 (F#) and addressing its clash with G. Compare it to C7 sharp 9 and C9 11.

Explain what a 13th chord is, including the triad and seventh, octave equivalence, and counting ninth through thirteenth tones, plus how inversions blur the chord yet suit jazz.

Learn how to form a C minor 13th by altering a C minor seven: lower the third and the seventh, keep the rest, and compare with a major 13th chord.

Construct a major 13th chord diatonically by raising E flat to E natural and B flat to B natural, yielding C major 13, and then address the dominant.

Learn how to form a dominant 13th chord from a major triad with a minor seventh, using C13 as the example, and explore seven-note variations and alterations.

Explore variations of 13th chords, from minor and dominant 13th chords to sus and flat-nine flavors, and learn voicing and inversions to omit notes for spice.

Explore fifteenths, seventeenths, and nineteenth chords, showing that the 13th contains all scale notes, higher extensions reset at the octave, and chromatic additions complicate the harmony.

Explore chord progressions in Ableton using follow actions to randomly select chords, hear C minor 13, C major 11, and C13 sus4, and sharpen ear training with legato unlinked voicings.

Explore voicings, voice leading, and inversions, showing why root-position chords sound off and how moving one note at a time creates smooth connections between chords.

Compare root-position chords with alternative voicings that emphasize half steps, using a C major 13 and a major 11 voicing to show boldness versus subtlety.

Experiment with eight randomly generated chords in any key, using voicings and voice leading to make them flow together like a normal song.

Explore real-time voicings from g major seven sharp nine to f thirteen flat thirteen, shape smooth progressions, and use looping, leading-tone emphasis, and velocity tweaks for jazzy textures.

Explore a collection of unconventional chords that defy rules, from the Petrushka and Hendrix chords to diminished, six nine, and the French, German, and Italian chord families, with usage tips.

Discover fractional chords, where the bass note is the bottom of the chord. Reveal how voicings like C over G or B diminished seven over E show bass-driven color.

Practice playing two chords at once, like G major with D major, but hear them as a single sonic color—often heard as a G major ninth chord.

Explore how half-diminished seventh chords turn diminished triads into powerful transition devices, resolving down a fifth or up a half step, with notes acting as leading tones or common tones.

Explore the fully diminished seventh chord, its perfectly symmetrical minor-third structure, a movable three-note set with only three transpositions, and its powerful leading-tone role in advanced harmony.

Explore the Neapolitan chord, a flat two major chord in first inversion, and how it replaces the four chord and resolves to the one chord in minor keys.

Explore the Italian six, a type of augmented sixth chord, and its quirky resolution toward the five and tonic, with comparisons to the Neapolitan chord.

Explore french six chord by adding second scale degree, improving voice leading with a common tone and crunch, and analyze fr six, italian six, and german six with roman numerals.

Explore the German six chord, raising the note to a minor third from tonic and creating outward seventh, as part of augmented sixth chords with Italian and French variants.

Explore the Elektra chord, a two-chord sonority from Strauss's Elektra heard as one electric chord, blending E major and C# major with characteristic dissonances.

Discover Stravinsky's Rite of Spring chord, built as an e-flat chord over an f-flat chord with an e-flat seven on top, and explore its gnarly voicing and transposition.

Discover the Petrushka chord, two major triads a tritone apart—C major and F-sharp major—transposable and famously dissonant from Stravinsky's Petrushka ballet.

Explore the bridge chord, named after Frank Bridge, by stacking a C minor triad over a D major triad for a bell-like dissonance, similar to Petrushka.

Explore the Hendrix chord, a four-note voicing from two stacked triads—major bottom with a minor top—famously heard in Foxy Lady, a seventh with a raised ninth.

Discover the vast world of chords beyond basics, including guitar-themed and composer-named harmonies. Any combination of notes can form a chord, and you might even have one named after you.

Explore when to use sevenths, ninths, and thirteenths by comparing chords to spices in a soup, moving from triads to richer harmony.

Explore voice leading when moving from seventh chords to triads, showing smooth note movement, which notes stay, and how doubling can enhance fullness before addressing density in a later video.

Explore chord density, comparing thick major 13th chords with thinner chords, and learn fixes: double notes, add extensions like 9/11/13, or thin out thick chord by removing notes.

Learn how transition chords and pivot chords create tension and resolution, using Petrushka chords to pivot back to the tonic through dissonance and consonance in a loop.

Explore how outer voices define chord progressions and how inner voices shape melodies, with suspensions and bass line techniques to craft expressive harmony.

Experiment with chord rhythm by varying chord durations and progressions to create excitement and motion in harmony.

Reinvent your harmony by prioritizing what sounds best over theory. Train your ear and use chords that fit your piece, not labels.

Explore how to continue in music theory for electronic musicians with a six-part traditional course, reading notes and notation, and a suggested start at the beginning for context.

Thank you for watching this course on music theory for electronic musicians, focusing on advanced harmony. Join the student communities, get involved, and see you in the next class.