Step 3: To show how these formulae work in any key, let’s program a typical pop progression of minor and major chords, beginning with A major. Our root note is A, and we want to make a major chord, so ...

Using just three chords (E, A and B major, with the odd 7th thrown in) in the simplest of structures, it squeezed-out a catchy-as-hell hook and a couple of fizzing solos.

Terms such as ‘altered’ and ‘extended’ chords are relatively simple to explain. Extended chords add other notes from the scale to the existing root-3rd-5th triad (for example, C-E-G), so if we add a ...

They are so commonplace that we take the theory behind them for granted. Here are five 7th chords, the theory underpinning them, and some ideas for modifying them ...