7ths & 9ths

Half the time I don’t even know what key my OWN songs are in – that’s not true 90% of the time I don’t know what key my songs are in and have to rely on my producer, Justin (aka Dunna) to figure it out for me. I don’t know if that’s scary (being a musician) or risky or both! But what I do know is that I use a lot of 7th and 9th chords – I will explain. In my very first blog post I mentioned that I studied classical music in all its practicality and theory (failed one exam and didn’t finish 2 other courses) so that should mean I am an expert on music theory right? NO. In that very same blog I also mentioned that R&B/Neo Soul/hip-hop are up my alley because I don’t need to follow structure or rules found in classical music. For me it’s all based on how the chords, voicing and chord progressions SOUND and MAKE ME FEEL. Quite frankly how I write my songs are sometimes by accident as I tinker around on my piano – spontaneity! (I’ll have another blog that shows behind the scenes of my song writing process!! I’m excited for this one!).

I didn’t have any formal study background in R&B/Neo Soul as I did in classical music but what drew me directly to that genre initially was how it SOUNDED. The “soulful” sounds are embedded within the 7th and 9th chords and then to take it further are the extended minor chords. For you musicians out there this will immediately make sense – for those of you who don’t know what this means but appreciate music will learn what makes the songs of Maxwell, Brian McKnight, Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu, Alicia Keys, D’Angelo, Mary J Blige and so many more sound soooooo damn frickin good! Can ya'll sense my enthusiasm?!

I will attempt to sound like I am an expert in music theory (which I'm NOT – again just ask my producer just how true this is) and explain the basics – it will be very abstract and confusing to understand but I think it’d be pretty interesting to know what the fundamental ingredients are behind those soulful music.

Every song revolves around either a major or minor key. There are 12 major (or happy) keys and likewise there are 12 minor (sad) keys. There are 7 notes in the musical alphabet from A – G. The laid-back groove and jazz feel rests mainly in the minor keys with some major keys. For simplicity sake I will use the key of A minor (no sharps/flats ie. black keys). A song written in the key of A minor will be comprised of of the following notes: Note #1 = A, #2 = B, #3 = C, #4 = D, #5 = E, #6 = F, #7 = G.

1) 1-5-4 Chord Progression (one of the most common chord progression found in Neo Soul) – the numbers refer to the notes in the bass line (ie. what a pianist will play in the left hand)

1 = A, 5 = E, 4 =D.

From here we build our 7th chords – 7 because the last note is the 7th note from the first note:

For our 1 Chord: the notes on the piano are = A, C, E, G, B

For our 5 Chord: the notes on the piano are = E, G, B, D (D is the 7th note up from E) F

For our 4 Chord: the notes on the piano are = D, F, A, C (C is the 7th note up from D) E

Then to take it a step further, we can add the 9th notes in as depicted in bold red above if you choose. As a musician gets better and develop their own style, they can choose to INVERT the chords differently. Chord INVERSION means the order that the notes are arranged when played and then we get into something else called VOICING which involves the same idea of ordering notes but also involves spacing or how far or how close the notes are from each other. This creates VERSATILITY and allows the musician to use many different sounds and create a certain mood. Interesting fact: R&B and Neo Soul evolved from jazz and so uses a lot of jazz chords!

2) Chromatic - these help in creating the jazz sounds that we hear. The key is to play the same chord voicing a half step up or down from your "home" chord.

3) To create the groove and the rhythms that make our heads bob is known as syncopation.

Yes I do use all of this in my music writing process HOWEVER i am finding that I get trapped in using the same chords, the same inversions and also even the same rhythm. I'm still developing my musical style and I'm still new to this music thing. It's always going to be a learning process for me - each song that I write should, in theory, get better as I understand the basics then apply them to my OWN musicality. It's a challenge but that's how I thrive and I'm excited to write more songs for ya'll!

There it is! A crash course on what makes my soul feel so....soulful! :)

A prime example that uses the ingredients to write that PERFECT R&B/Neo Soul sound is of course, the one and only, Ms. Alicia Keys, "If I Ain't Got you".