Today we try to break down the puzzling mathematics of Noname’s unquantized, Dilla-esque beat in “Sunny Duet” (Nerds unite!)
How D’Angelo Uses Funky Dominant Sevenths in “Sugah Daddy”
In this short analysis, we break down the source of D’Angelo’s funky sound, his impeccable use of dominant sevenths in spread voicings.
How Secondary Dominants Can Make Your Chord Progressions Less Boring
It’s not hard to break out of predictable chord patterns with a new mindset on harmony, and a bit of easy help from secondary dominants, too.
How to Make Chords from Scales
Learning to read or write music? Here’s a quick guide to making chords within the various scales and modes you might encounter in music theory.
How Do Key Signatures Work?
Learning to read or write music? Here’s a quick-yet-deep primer on how key signatures work across major, minor, modal, blues and other tonalities.
How Portishead Uses Chromatic Voice Leading in “Glory Box”
In this lesson plucked from Soundfly’s The Creative Power of Advanced Harmony course, we go over the chromatic device in Portishead’s melodic writing.
The Amen Break of Snobbery
Which obscure piece from the classical music canon has become so engrained and intertwined with cinematic snobbery that we’d all recognize it within seconds?
Syncopation in Chopin
What happens when you remix a Chopin piano étude with the Amen Break? A ton of interesting glitched out syncopations! Let’s explore…
Announcing NYU MusED Lab’s Theory aQWERTYon
NYU MusED Lab’s famed web-based music toy, the aQWERTYon, just got a reboot. Now you can play with it and learn theory and chords. Enjoy!
Why Can’t You Tune Your Guitar?
15 minutes of math and learning about frequency divisions can help you understand for good why your guitar may never fundamentally be in tune.