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This is a little off topic but here's a little tip when it comes to sampling chords. When you sample the chord, sample it being played using the higher octave range, then play it back on your sampler at the correct octave range. Sampling at the higher octaves then playing at the correct octave once sampled will create some nice lofi artifacts and grit in the chord. Back in the day people did this because of the limited sample time available on samplers and the work around was to sample at higher octaves which created a shorter overall sample time length thus saving them vital storage space. They would also do this when sampling from record, if the record was 33 they would sample it at the 45 speed, then play it back at the correct speed once sampled. If you're trying to recreate those "good life" type chord stabs, using this method of sampling makes a huge difference and gives a much more "era authentic" feel to the chords. Sometimes truncating a little of the start of the chord helps so it's triggering slightly into the waveform, this is nice if you want a more of a sharper sound as you are also extending the original ADSR parameters when pitching the sample back down. This technique also works really well for pad sounds that have some kind of modulation as it stretches out things like lfo lengths to odd timings or lengths beyond what the original synthesizer was capable of. It takes a little bit more time to do, but if you sample a chord using both methods and then compare the two you will hear the difference. The higher up the octave you play the original chord before sampling, the more lofi the sampled sound will be, so there is a bit of experimenting to find the sweet spot.

I know that this video is 2 years old, but the message is so important. Theory is a tool, not the law.

Some of the gatekeeping around music theory reminds me of linguistics. Actual linguistics is the descriptive study of language. There's very few things that are linguistically wrong. It's always about trying to explain why people might be speaking a certain way and how concepts are connected between languages. But that's not the view of it you'd get in some corners of the internet. With music theory it feels very similar: music theory is the descriptive study of music. There's very few things that are music theoretically wrong. It's about trying to explain why certain kinds of music sound a certain way, and to compare concepts. Maybe that's a comparison you can use too. Feels like a lot of people look at music theory as this beast that's telling them what to do when it's really just an analytical framework

You are a gifted, exceptional teacher.

Always saw things like the "chord memory" on something like a juno and thought 'why, it isn't in key?' now I understand!

"the tool dictates" - thats why i love to use the TB-303/TD-3 sequencer: the "fuzzyness" while you basicly program in your mind without a display, the outcome is always very refreshing and it gives a feeling of "we both playing/creating together" instead of its just me who program the sequences

Oscar you are an excellent teacher.

1st video that i can begin to understand the theory... 2 thumbs up... big fan of this channel!!!

You have the greatest music production channel. Please keep up the great work! And thank you!

This video is amazing for noobs. I had to watch it twice to catch most things, but it answers a lot of questions.

"Once you free your mind about the concept of harmony and of music being correct, you can do whatever you want". Amazing Video!

Thanks Oscars for your kind sharing!

I love to just try adding a major instead of the minor of a chord (or vice versa obviously) to see if it's more interesting! Very much agree "if it sounds good, it is good!" No rules needed

thank you man! you helping young producers to not stick their head so much into theory and do what they like to do!!!

Thank you, suddenly music theory makes sense now

Awesome, thanks for this. I get bogged down in the theory a lot and it slows down my process, this has been useful to remind me to play around with sound more

WOW! thank you soooo much for this video. I have been into electronic music for 30+ years as a dj, producer, dancer, and fan. You have unveiled some heavy, masterful secrets with this video. Thank you so much.

Extra 👍for referencing The Pixies!

Very interesting! I do play the guitar so I already knew the concept without knowing it has a name, but I never made the transfer of how it would apply it to electronic music. One thing I'd like to add is that when you play open Chords on a guitar in that way you transpose the notes on the strings that your left and presses, while the open strings maintain the same note. This can lead to some very interesting harmonics.

What's amazing about this channel is the breadth of insight it provides.

Oscar, I really like your teaching. You are always calm and explain very well. I learned so much from your channel. Other channels are too much hyper in their presentation. Hopefully your channel grows big 👍

The impact this video just had on me in incalculable. Chord planing is not talked about in my music theory travels as a baby producer, and I wonder if that has to do with the fact that most entities that champion Music Theory are really pushing a very specific outlook towards music, which a lot of modern music genres and creation methods eschews. I will definitely be playing with chord planing in my future productions. Thank you SO MUCH for putting this video out.

I am loving these videos and your overall approach to teaching! And I really love "let's try not to gatekeep this topic too much" -- wow! What great framing that really points to how music theory can be exclusionary, but also being very western oriented it denies other approaches and paradigms around what music can be.

definitely a good approach to avoid this "fear to touch" the piano roll when we are uncomfortable with the music theory structure we want to make for the track

Thanks maatje your a great teacher! Keep up the great work. Love from Somalia, one day inshallah I will make Somalian techno thanks to your YT channel. Bismillah

WICKED!!! Thank you for Sharing. Greetings from Cabo Verde Islands. Cheers

fun fact for novation launchkey users: you can do all this through hitting the "fixed chord" button, entering the shape of the chord through the keys, and then playing that chord on any key you want.

It's common to make the iii grade of the scale into major in order to modulate to the minor vi grade of the scale

This chord shift to me musically signifies that they gave the melody a Spanish nuance at this spot, it can be either a result of such an intention or like you say result of shifting a chord shape down on the guitar - in any case, these Spanish progressions are played just like that: sliding the same chord shape up a semitone, a whole tone, then same reverse down. I can think of a song El Diablo by Grace Slick (is on KZfaq) that has this lovely vibe! Thanks for your amazing videos! If you have time, make one day one about vocal line phrases composition in techno and trance, they are not long but hit the target usually!

Really cool approach to creating chords and melodies and wonderfully explained. It really has this ostinato effect to it where repetition and patterns really help when using notes that would be in an unusual or nonexistent key. This technique also really frees you up when you are stuck in music theory! ^^

Good words,if it sounds good it's good

Interesting lesson: Forget theory, if it sounds good! I just recently listened to some lessons of a film score composer and she told the same, that she sometimes uses chord planning especially in transitions. And she has no technical restrictions, uses classical instruments.

Oscar, that was a really nice message on keeping the communication kind! Your videos rock and we are all getting better because of you. Education at its best. Dank u well!

A lovely video that almost makes me want to travel to Belgium to get some one-on-one education. Thank you for spending your time on teaching others.

Needed to hear this.. I am not musically trained and naturally was chord planing... then started thinking about chord theory... started to get very restricted.. now I know I was doing it right for my house and rave music.. ty

Going through all the videos! This one‘s super useful

Great video! I think it's useful to point out that if you play a C major triad sample over an A, then you're hearing an A minor 7 chord, so at some level you can change the major sample to a minor sample -- it's just no longer the entire chord.

Yes this was very helpful, thank you very much!

Incredibly insightful. This is so cool.

I'm more a prog/jazz guy with the head full of theory, able to improvise (at a modest level) and struggling to be creative. "Let your tools guide you" is such an interesting tip and the example you share illustrate it perfectly. Theory brain: "mmmh interesting choice of chord, how did they come to that!?". Music brain: "use a sequencer/sampler, I don't care, it sounds!". Quite a contrast for me. I'm training myself using synth and tools around, I appreciate the tips on the sampling! Reminds me electro/dance of the 90's I listened to with my brothers and from old PlayStation games back in the day. Thanks for the nostalgia. ;) And to add something about theory with positivity: using a III major instead of minor is one of the choice of _Chromatic Mediants_. Chromatic mediants are often used in contemporary scores and if someone reading this does not know it, I think Ryan Leach made a good video about it. :) Enjoy!

Hey Oscar! Great video brother. Honestly, I think I like this one the most as it's depth goes beyond just teaching how to do something. It is in my opinion that far too many people learn how to do "this" and don't understand the fundamentals of how or even why. This video really helps with both of those. I also like how eloquently you pre-emptived the nerds :)

excellent. u helped me to understand what tricks they use to create hits escaping the music theory

This is something i've been thinking about a lot but could never put it into words.. thanks.. this really really helped me a lot

Great stuff Oscar gonna try those principles

Love this. Just found this channel and love the style and delivery. Not too slow, not too basic but really human. Nice work!

the chord in the pixies songs you can also look at it as its in the key of #f its just inverted. The 7ths are usually the notes in the scale to help move the key in the song. In the key of f# it would be a major chord but since were in G it would sound diminished.

Great to see someone talking about his. I had no theory when I started and always worked by ear. Planing was second nature. Always interesting content

omg i honestly thought the same that i must have missunderstoof music theory. I find it so frustrating that i have had to dig this deep to solve unwarranted confusion ive had for years.

The theme of this video once again confirms that you need to allow yourself to do what you like and even a little above the rules. Quite usefull stuff good job!

Thank you Oscar, is always a pleasure :)

You can also think of it as a "Borrowed Chord", and yes, as long as it sounds good you don't have to ask any questions, you only start asking further question when you try to fit a melody over it, or adjust the bass, and that one chord seems to cause chaos if you're following basic diatonic theory.

I'm sitting by myself saying "Chord Planing".... Your voice is kinda iconic

Awesome, thank you Oscar

Absolutely brilliant! Thanks for taking the time to make this video, Underdog :)

That was so informative. Thank you once again Oscar!

I've really gotten in some music theory over the past few years (where this is my favorite channel) and now that I know that stuff it is delicious to see how to break away from that stuff again also! I think this is your best movie so far, especially with the diverse examples!

I think when a lot of musicians start looking at progressions or creating their own they quickly realize that diatonic harmony is just one kind of harmony, or that it can contain loads of exceptions and departures from the simple rules of deriving chords strictly from the scale. Or you can adjust the scale to fit into the diatonic paradigm. For instance if you got a "natural" minor with a flat 6 then the IV chord will be minor but if you want to play the major IV chord, which sounds awesome in minor then switch to the so call "Dorian" minor scale with a sharp 6 to accommodate that and you're still adhering strictly to diatonic playing. But then you don't have to and passing tones or chromatic playing might sound awesome. My impression is that strictly diatonic stuff is what a lot of classical music is made of, but then harmony becomes more complicated with jazz and pop forms. Anyway a lot of the Romantic composers used dissonance and I'm sure their progressions digressed from the diatonic stuff

Can't thank you enough Oscar. Thank you for bringing nuance and artistry to electronic music. ❤️

Another quality tutorial Oscar. The best on KZfaq.

lol parallel harmony is so fun

I love videos like this, sent this to a student of mine who has a masters of classical music but is just getting started in Ableton Live / Electronic music production. You explain the concepts very well for a wide range of skill levels and backgrounds, eg. people with not a lot of music theory background but are delving deeper into electronic tools and helping them understand some ideas behind what they are doing. or people who actually have a lot of music theory background but are starting out with electronic music tools and the differing approaches they can have to your music (along with an over view of historical context!) Any many people in between! One other example I don't think you mentioned that I think also applies, (alongside resampling chords / rave stabs and sequencer/programmable arp tricks) is tuning oscillators of a synth to a fixed interval. I think this is how I first came across this idea on some presets for a Korg MS2000 I had in the 2000's, and probably Native Instruments old Pro-53 Vst. Just tuning osc 1 to normal and osc 2 to +7, +4 or +3 semitones (the 5th, major 3rd or minor 3rd) I found you can get some very prodigy sounding lead lines really easily with this!

I've always struggled with the theory, thank you for showing this video, I now sort of understand my own mind and the processes it goes through to create.

always such good videos! thanks for your knowledge

Excellent video!! Love this channel!

As a guitar player, I can also attest to the “shape theory”. Many 90’s grunge or alt would take a standard chord shape and simply slide it up around the neck, letting the open strings continue to ring out. The chord names would look like the craziest thing ever, but it’s actually very easy to play on a guitar. The ringing open strings would really fill out a sound and give it a distinctive sound. I used to think guitar players knew all these chords, but quickly realized that they just played around with chord shapes and what sounded good. Same thing with repeating pedal tones. Great videos, I’m learning a ton and really enjoying it.

Thanks Oscar i really love your channel. Composing is always challenging for me, now i'm a lot more inspired

I am using that trick ralatively often and always wanted to understand that, thank you so much!

This was super helpful! Thanks, your videos are awesome

Love your videos. You explain everything so well

Great Video Oscar! Thanks for constantly teaching me new stuff in a great and understanable way

Great video! I love that you emphasise 'when it sounds good, it *is* good'. Music theory is extremely useful but the most important thing is using your ears and your gut feeling to make music. Groetjes uit Nederland!

Maravilloso tutorías oscar, muchas gracias por ayudarme a soltar el miedo a jugar con los parámetros de mis máquinas y dejarme guiar por ellos :) Un abrazo desde Valencia, España

A well known example of using a parallel minor is the chord progress of the song " Creep " of radiohead. Key of G majeur, it goes Gmaj-Bmaj-Cmaj-Cminor. Notice the 3th as a major chord and the 4th goes from major to minor. Just wanted to share this with this awesome community, have a nice day.

Finally you explained the principle of house music. Love it 🎧

Great video. I’ve been using these techniques for ages but have never seen them explained this simply. When it comes to hip hop and dance music the techniques and the features of the gear used to make them always went hand in hand. “Chord mode” on certain synths and sampled chords made this music feel fresh and surprising compared to the “by the rules” chord theoretical or classical approach. So fun!

you are one of the best teachers on youtube.

Amazing man, great content, thank you very much.

another good one! Thank u Oscar!

I’m an expert in the art of music where you break rules!

Single-handedly learn more from this channel than anywhere else. Great job as always

Nice video. For the Pixies, I believe that the fact that the B Major is the V of the G relative minor (E minor) and it resolves to a chord (C major) that belong to both scale (VI of E minor and IV of G major) also helps to glue the two scales together. That create a nice tension/release in a short 4 chords sequence.

ive always thought bout how they created those house chords and i discovered it myself after doing some experimental stuff...but i never found a video addressing those stuff....now i finally got a detailed explanation thank you man,u r the best there is

beautiful man! your videos really go to the heartof music, giving so much inspiration. And your way of seeing music theory in my opinion matches also with Giorgio Moroder himself..when he says: once you free your mind about the concept of art and music being CORRECT, you can do whatever you want. Keep it up man, and thanks! :)

Ok so this topic is near and dear to me. I had never heard of chord planing til today, but its clearly used all over music, particularly guitar music. I think it may be worth for your viewers to explore the related topic of parallel harmony or “borrowed chords”. There are perfect examples of this in the book The Songwriting Secrets of The Beatles by Dominic Pedler (get the kindle edition....everyone should read this book even if they find the beatles boring, you will learn something about chord progressions). You’ll also hear this prominently in the French band AIR (they love to use flat III, the move from C to Eb major for surprise (Eb maj is the third degree chord from the C minor scale) This means chords from the parallel minor or borrowed from other modes. For example the major III, VI, or most famously from Radiohead’s Creep, the move from IV to iv (F major to F minor) Yes thats more theory heavy but once you hear the effects of these borrowed chords in popular songs you can easily create these harmonic effects in your songs. You can discover some basic borrowed chord effects by doing the following. Write down all the chords in C major, and all the chords in C minor. Now mix chords from these keys and you may discover some of the interesting harmonies that result from using “parallel chords.”. Its not as easy as moving shapes freely around your instrument, but I only add this here to provide more options for your viewers. And as always, be true to your ear (:

Awesome tutorial Oscar. Thank you.

love your explaining, man!

Same goes for visual art. There is color theory, perspective, proportion and lighting... And yet most artist produced timeless art exactly by breaking these rules. Theory is just the foundation of any practice, and tell you how and why something works well. Then there is creativity and discovery, which is what art is about.

I love this video in how you explained chord planning in a way that wasn’t over the top in music therapy. extremely helpful in my work planning and production progression. Please keep making videos for beginner like myself. Cheers.

Thank you for this! You have solved a riddle that has gone on in my mind since beginning production. I couldn't understand it. So well explained!

Great vid! I learned quite a few things. Thanks!

Fascinating and inspiring! 💫 Thx Oscar!

I had a quick listen to the Pixies track and noticed they used the word "strange" alongside that weird-sounding non-diatonic chord. This is a great example of working the lyrics and music together to emphasise an idea or feeling. For example, imagine holding back on major chords and only playing minor chords for a whole verse, then kicking off the chorus with a major chord over a positive-sounding word like "Freedom", "Love" or "Release" (as a trivial example.) I've heard this called "Prosody".

This was really REALLY useful and informative, thank you!!!

Really nice video about chords , and it is nice to always have a better understanding why things work the way they do in music

Thanks - This was just the level I needed to learn this at.

honestly this channel should be illegal; you are unveiling all of the secrets it's crazy. great job man. I was also stunned that you are a fellow bruxelloise. Would love to meet you at some point

Very informative and well presented. Though I'm amazed you can touch this subject, without mentioning the chord-memory functions often found on the polyphonic synths, used by 80's and 90's electronic artists. Also an all round theory tip for those using sampled chords. While it's true you can't change a sampled chord. Playing a major triad sample 3 semitones over a bass note, will in effect create a minor 7th. The same works with playing a minor triad sample 4 semitones over the bass to create a major 7th. Or a diminished chord 4 semitones over bass to create a dominant 7 chord. This is called a rootless chord voicing (or something in those lines).

Great vid. Reminds me that it can be good to learn the rules to break the rules.

I loved that tip for sampling chords! As always great content