SeeChord is the name of a project I am working on that can display chord progressions and harmony in music. The idea just landed on me in its complete form while I was teaching piano, and refused to go away. I was convinced that the idea must already be “out there” so spent a few days researching and found that nobody had ever done this before. A US Patent, registered design and website ( seechord.co.uk ) later and now seechord is taking on a life of its own. Here is my youtube tutorial.
My aim with SeeChord is to enable students, teachers, song-writers and musicians to access the complicated world of chords and harmony at a much higher level than is currently available. With a very small amount of training, SeeChord can be a very powerful tool, x-raying a piece of music and revealing the often beautiful structure of the harmony. Here is an animated extract from Bohemian Rhapsody that shows how to interpret a chart.
I am a Musical Director specialising in comedy and improvisation. I also teach piano, Music Technology and theory. I am developing my system of music analysis called
You should really release a tool for arranging seechord charts as open source….
Appreciate it for helping out, wonderful information.
Dear Joe
I thought i would contact you to say how much I enjoyed your site and
to share something with you that i use in the classroom to teach
harmony and writing of chord sequences that you might have heard of or
be interested in. I call it the chord class system ( circle of fifths
in disguise),. This is how it works.
3rd class (chords divisible by 3) 2nd class ( chords divisible
by 2) first class and Tonic Class
vi iii
ii and IV V & vii I
in C am em dm
F G bdim C
Rule is that chord I can go anywhere but then the chords should stay
in their class then follow in order of the class system not jump over
classes- the exception being that chord IV which can jump over first
class ( plagal cadence)
ie I IV I ii V I iii vi ii vii V I etc This works
extremely well when working out which chords should harmonise a Bach
chorale – write down possible chords with each note – ie tonic = I IV
& vi etc and then plot the Bach route through the chords using the
class system
Once students are able to compose a chord sequence using the class
system they can then create the surprises – like you suggest I IV
V IV (breaks rule) V vi ( breaks rule – interrupted) or repeating
part of a sequence and delaying the cadence – making the ii to II
(major version) can then help modulate to dominant or iii become III (
major ) to help go to relative minor ( which then becomes the new I)
ie: I ii V ii (breaks rule) V ii V I
I like your sidewise moves too through tritones falling chromatic
Dm Db7 C
Paul