Module 1: Harmony and Chord Progressions – Francois

Module 1: Harmony and Chord Progressions – Francois

What you’ll learn in this course:

What you will learn:

Principles of western harmony
Foundations and theory of chord progressions
Applying this knowledge and finding better chord progressions in your own productions
We will show you how to come up with interesting and fresh chord progressions for various types of musical genres like house, pop, rock, rnb, blues, classic, future bass, deep house, progressive house and many more
We are going to show you many nice sound examples – offering a practical application of our theoretical frameworks
We are going to deeply analyze chord progressions and find out

why some chord progressions simply work and others don’t
rules and codes for “hit song” progressions

How this course is structured

In the first part of this course you are going to learn the basics of harmony and chord progressions.
In the second part you will learn how to come up with great sounding harmonies and chord progressions and how to find voicings “that work” in your own compositions and make them sound more interesting.
Along the way, we are going to share a lot of our specific composition knowledge and experience.
You will get around 5 hours of studio sessions with Francois.

Who is it made for?

This course is designed for electronic music producers – we are going to take the perspective of someone working inside a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation – like Cubase, Logic Pro, Ableton Live, FL Studio).
The course is designed for beginners but its also suitable for advanced learners of the subject as we go into great detail after our first “basics” block is covered.

Course Curriculum

Introduction: Harmony & Chord Progressions

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1 – Introduction to the Course / Downloads (2:00)

Western Harmony Basics Part 1

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2 – Overview and Definition of a Chord (3:19)

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3 – Example: Chords vs. Melodies – Its about the Instruments! (2:13)

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4 – Intervals (7:01)

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5 – What is a Scale? C Major Scale (9:56)

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6 – Triads – Thirds & Fifths, Minor vs Major, Being in “Key” (7:48)

Western Harmony Basics Part 2

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7 – The Diatonic Chords of C Major (6:24)

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8 – Roman Numerals and Scale Degrees (6:53)

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9 – Inversions (11:54)

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10 – Transposing (5:38)

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11 – The Natural Minor Scale (2:04)

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12 – Relative Minor, Circle of Fifths (3:19)

 

Types of Chords

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13 – Sevenths Chords (7:43)

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14 – Added Tone Chords (8:59)

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15 – Sus Chords (4:19)

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16 – Example: Sus Chords (4:18)

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17 – Chord “Finder” (1:44)

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18 – Power Chords (5:32)

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19 – Arpeggios (3:12)

Chord Progressions

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20 – Chord Substitution (7:16)

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21 – Example: Chord Substitution (5:26)

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22 – Voicing (9:36)

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23 – What makes a “good” Chord Progression? (6:21)

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24 – Analysis of a “good” Chord Progression (7:09)

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25 – Borrowed Chords (2:21)

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26 – Parallel Minor – Chord Borrowing (2:26)

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27 – Parallel Major/Minor Scales – More Chord Borrowing (5:21)

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28 – Secondary Dominants (6:01)

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29 – Diatonic Passing Chords (3:47)

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30 – Chromatic Passing Chords (4:24)

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31 – Modulation (2:32)

Examples: Chord “Magic”

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32 – Chord Magic (1) – Analysis and Examples (8:00)

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33 – Chord Magics – Sound Example 1 (1:42)

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34 – Chord Magics – Sound Example 2 (0:35)

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35 – Chord Magics – Sound Example 3 (0:49)

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36 – Chord Magics – Sound Example 4 (0:34)

Bonus – Writing Sessions – Part 1

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37 – Writing a Melody with the C Major Scale (Francois) (23:07)

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38 – Writing a EDM-ish Melody with the A-Minor Scale (Francois) (11:30)

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39 – Creating an EDM Chord Progression and Melody (Tom) (22:33)

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40 – Writing Tropical Summer House Chords and Melody in Amin (Tom) (29:19)

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41 – Writing a Future Bass Track from Scratch (Tom) (39:10)

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42 – Writing Progressive House Chords and Melody from Scratch (Tom) (27:34)

Bonus – Writing Sessions – Part 2

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43 – Bonus Session: Writing Chords & Melody in the Style of “Snake” (16:49)

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44 – Writing Session #1 – Chords and Melody – Melodic Deep / Techno (30:16)

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45 – Writing Session #2 – Chords and Melody – Melodic Deep / Techno with Moog Bass (22:56)

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46 – Writing Session #3 – Hirajoshi Scale (7:59)

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47 – Writing Session #4 – EDM Progressive House “Dramatic” Progression in F-Minor (8:23)

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48 – Writing Session #5 – Melodic Deep in Style of Caribou, Clawz SG, Anjunadeep (G# Minor) (33:15)

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49 – Writing Session #6 – Chords & Melody in the Style of Blomqvist, Bohmer, Melodic Deep (14:49)

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50 – Writing Session #7 – Chords & Melody using the Approach of Deadmau5 (9:42)

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51 – Turning “Havana” Into A New Chord Progression And Melody – (Session with Alex) (16:12)

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52 – Writing Session (No Comment) – Chords in the style of Armas, Dinka, EDX, Nore En Pure (9:28)

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54 – Writing Session #8 – Writing 6 Chord Progressions (by ear) with Francois (31:04)

Acknowledgements & Thank You

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55 – Thank You! (0:32)