Triads are three-note chords made up of the lowest note (known as the root note), a middle note, (the third), and the top note (the fifth). But when you play a set of diatonic chords like this, built ...

Give your chord progressions colour and flair by introducing a handful of ‘out of key’ notes. We’ve previously looked at diatonic chords, ie, chords belonging to a scale or key. As their name suggests ...

In a prior study (Temperley & Tan, 2013), participants rated the “happiness” of melodies in different diatonic modes. A strong pattern was found, with happiness decreasing as scale steps were lowered.