this video is about chords

Added: 2026-05-04

[00:00:00]Guess how it goes. Now, I'm going to talk about chords a little bit. One of the things with music theory, to be honest, is you can't teach everybody the same concepts in the same ways because we all play different music, we're all moved by different music, and we all have different frames of reference. The chords are a good example, in my opinion, cuz there's a million different ways you can use them. So, hopefully this is of some use to you. So, the point of learning chords, or one of them, I think is to train your ear to be able to hear the gravity within notes. To be able to hear a combination of notes, which is what a chord is, and to be able to distinctly hear the role and the behavior of every note within that combination. So, I've seen a lot, especially on like producer YouTube, uh this side that explains chords, like basic ones, like major and minor chords, in this very like MIDI way of visualizing it. Like thinking about a major chord as 0 4 7. Like you pick a note, that's your root, you go 1 2 3 4, use that note, 5 6 7, use that note, there's your chord, 0 4 7. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7.

[00:01:14]And likewise, minor chord 0 3 7. There is a little bit more detail that I would go into that I haven't seen as much without it getting to full music theory.

[00:01:27]I'll try to keep this explanation in the language of like 0 4 7. So, this numerical way of thinking about it, fret numbers even, that is a useful jumping off point for learning about the structures of chords. But, 0 4 7 and 0 3 7 are basically just summaries of chords. They are a list of ingredients and in a way like a blueprint. So, theoretically, if you had your MIDI open, you could take that same 0 4 7 structure, copy and paste it and drag it up and down, and yes, you would have a series of major chords on different notes.

[00:02:06]Nothing would be wrong in that regard, but you would be restricting yourself unnecessarily uh from the full capabilities of what chords can do. And if we're being honest, like what historically they've meant to do. 0 4 7 delineates for you the three notes that are necessary to make your basic major chord. Typically, you need three notes to make a chord. And if you were to adjust even one of them, a different chord would result. So, the 0 4 7 of your basic major chord, you can imagine 0 4 7 as existing on a grid in which 0 4 7 continues theoretically in either direction. As long as you stick to those same three notes, you can use them any way you like, and it would be the same chord. Like an A minor chord is A C E.

[00:02:52]0 3 7. But, that configuration continues in either direction. So, A C E A C E and likewise down A E C A E C A, etc. And as long as it's a configuration of those three notes, it's the same chord. So, everything I'm about to play is an A minor chord.

[00:03:23]It also doesn't matter which note is on the bottom, the harmony does not change.

[00:03:28]This is why I maintain that if you make music, if you're a songwriter, if you make beats, you ought to have access to a keyboard and have like a few octaves at least to play around with. I promise you this is worth it because it will help you visualize the relationships. It makes it way easier. Like chords were not originally meant to be seen and designed on MIDI piano rolls. MIDI can be used effectively, but maybe it's not as intuitive as it should be. I do actually think that it can complicate things annoyingly. But, say you wanted an E flat major chord, my MIDI in my DAW would always call two of those notes D sharp and A sharp instead of E flat and B flat. And reading sheet music is increasingly thought of as a useless skill, but on paper, it would lay out this chord so much more simply. Seeing the shape of the lines of MIDI in your DAW, that's ultimately less helpful than actually seeing what your hand does playing it on the keyboard. What's actually happening musically is a lot more clear that way. So, you have this 0 3 7 structure, which like I've said, is just a list of ingredients. You can decorate the musical space all you want, as long as all three notes are there somewhere and nothing else, it's the same minor chord. So, the note that we've been calling 0 is our root.

[00:04:48]When using chords, sometimes you're going to have a note on the bottom that is actually not your root, so not 0.

[00:04:55]It's possible to play a minor chord 3 7 0 and also 7 0 3. We call these inversions of the same chord because the order is inverted. Again, same chord, but you would use different inversions depending on the scenario. There are ultimately three options. Your 0's on the bottom, your 3's on the bottom, your 7's on the bottom. I should mention that the chord is the most stable when the 0 is on the bottom. I am going to explain this by bringing in the famous Dr. Dre beat, which illustrates chords and what they can do in the simplest, most memorable fragment that we love and have heard a million times. There are two basic chords in this loop, and they are both minor chords. Chords that in their simplest form you could call 0 3 7's.

[00:05:43]Except they are both presented in an inversion, so no 0's on the bottom. The A minor is presented with the root on top, so it looks like 3 7 0. 3 7 0.

[00:05:54]And the E minor has the fifth on the bottom, so it looks like 7 0 3. 7 0 3.

[00:06:02]These are all just nudged three-note combinations on this theoretically endless grid of 0 3 7 0 3 7 0 3 7. But, the specific reasons why you would use one inversion rather than another are the behavior of the notes within the chord. And like I said at the beginning, really the important thing in learning chords is to be able to hear the behavior of the individual notes, the different roles that notes have, what this note could do, what this note should do. There's always huge consequences that result depending on if a melody goes up or down. So, we are so accustomed to hearing minor chords and major chords as stable musical structures that if we hear a chord which is close to a major or minor chord, say you have a stable two notes, but a third note is slightly off, we as listeners can hear and recognize that lack of stability. And likewise, when the music moves from there to regain stability, we recognize that as well. And typically, we're satisfied by it. This is what happens in Still D.R.E. with a suspension. So, the first chord goes C E A.

[00:07:07]So, mine So, an A minor with the A on top.

[00:07:12]The second chord is an E minor chord B E G >> [music] >> with the fifth on the bottom and the third on top.

[00:07:21]So, from the first chord to the second chord, all three of these notes move downwards.

[00:07:28]Well, actually this one stays on the same note, but But, in the actual song, the notes of the chord don't all move down together at the same time. The defining characteristic of this beat is that the high A is held for a second above the new chord before going down. We call this a suspension because we originally hear that A as stable and part of the first chord, but when the chord changes, the A is still ringing out, and it sounds like it's suspended in air. The needs of the melody almost dictate that this A has to go down. It will go down.

[00:08:07]It must go down. It wouldn't be right if it didn't go down. So, what you hear there with the second chord is a delayed reveal of a 7 0 3. So, if you treat this as 0 3 7 instead of the 7 up here, you move the 7 down, so 7 0 3.

[00:08:27]In order to be a proper E minor chord, the note on top has to be a G, a 3. But, for four repetitions, it is initially too high, and what you hear is 7 0 5.

[00:08:39]The three, this is what the note should be, but if you were to make this a five, So, now you have 7 0 5.

[00:08:50]Since we heard this note with the first chord, it doesn't seem so strange that it's there when it when the chord underneath moves. So, now you have But, now that we're here, this one wants to move down. So, you hear it as out of place at first.

[00:09:07]>> [music] >> You'd call it a five because that note, given the context that we've already established, that note is meant to be at three and fill that role. The seven and the zero, they anchor the chord, and they almost force the five to come down and join. So, this misbehavior of the high A, which is essentially wrong for a second, ironically, this is the most satisfying part of the whole beat. The whole beat works so well as a loop because there's a process that's always occurring. I guess in the song, the actual rhythm is >> [music] >> or with the little, you know, the little that thing. You hear the top note as right until it's not, and then it moves and it's right again. The beat is completely different if you take the suspension out.

[00:10:01]>> [music] >> One more detail, though. Note the huge importance that inversions play in the success of this beat. A, which is the note on the top that gets held, derives all of its power by the fact that it's on the top. Say you rigidly stuck to the 037 shape for the chord. What that would mean is the A would have to be on the bottom. So, therefore, it would have to remain on the bottom for the suspension.

[00:10:30]And there is a difference in the effect that it has.

[00:10:32]>> [music] [music] [music] >> Sometimes you just have to use a different note for the bottom. You can configure it how you like if you know what notes you need. The magic of chords is being able to play with these relationships. And the more you do this, the deeper your intuition for musical structure will result. So, basically, yeah, use 037, 047, but visualize it bigger on a larger keyboard. You're allowed to move them around. You're allowed to make it as big as you want, as small as you want, and pay attention to what you could do with each note or each part as a distinct melody. If you made it this far, thank you for watching. Give me a follow on my socials and more soon.