Creating suspense in music can be achieved in a number of different ways, but for instant suspense gratification, there's nothing quite like a diminished chord. It's a fairly safe bet to suggest that ...

Artists “It's a sad song because it's all about the unattainable”: The ballad that sparked the breakup of The Beatles Artists “It was a challenge to myself: ‘I’m not gonna have a chorus in this song’” ...

It inevitable that, pretty soon into your music production journey, you’ll be using chords. That’s to say that you’ll be playing multiple notes simultaneously - either on a MIDI keyboard or by ...

After working with major, minor, dominant, and half-diminished chords, it’s time to explore fully diminished 7ths and augmented triads. These chord types offer unique harmonic possibilities and ...

Vivek Maddala is an Emmy-winning composer and a regular participant in The Number Ones Comment Section. After reading his takes on the music theory behind several historic hits, we invited him to turn ...

Dwang. Dwang. Dwang. Dwang. Dwang. Dwang. Six dwangs. Four seconds. It's an A minor chord that sounds slightly out of tune and thinly metallic. It's a primitive, janky sound voiced in open D tuning, ...