Phil, Bruce, Nicole, Neel, and Frank
Phil, Bruce, Nicole, Neel, and Frank

All About Chords with Frank Horvat

Songwriter, composer, and music teacher Frank Horvat joined us to talk about scales, the different kinds and colours of chords, and using chords as a palette for your songwriting.

We covered:

  • Intervals (2 notes) and triads (chords with 3 notes)
  • Major and minor triads and their different tonal colours
  • The hardly-ever-used diminished (or seven) chord
  • The Nashville chord numbering system
  • The tonic (I) and dominant (V) chord relationship
  • A typical blues chord progression (I-IV-I-V-IV-I)
  • Chord extensions (7th’s and 9th’s)
  • Writing from the head vs. the heart

Listen to the full show:

Useful resources while you listen to the show:

major_1st_posn
Major scale in F# (raise one fret for G major scale)
Minor scale in F# (raise one fret for G minor scale)
Minor scale in F# (raise one fret for G minor scale)
barrechordshapes
Typical chords shapes

 

chords-on-piano
Common chord types on piano
image showing the circle of 5ths
The Circle of Fifths
guitarists-picture-chord-encyclopedia
The Guitarist’s Picture Chord Encyclopedia

 

 

 

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