Guitar lessons: You’d be forgiven for thinking that you’d use the minor scale to construct minor 7th chords, but that’s not quite how it works. All scales and chords are compared to the major scale, ...

A study suggests that minor and major seventh chords are the happiest sounds in music, but today’s songwriters are ditching them in favour of simple minor chords. But why does this matter? We all love ...

When it comes to guitar chords, it all begins with basic ones that are called either major (use just the letter of the chord, eg E for E major) or minor (reduced to the letter plus m, eg Em for E ...

Artists “The most expensive bit of drumming in history”: When stars of Duran Duran and Chic formed a decadent ’80s supergroup Artists “I remember saying to Clapton, ‘You try playing that one riff for ...

A lot of the elements that make pop music successful relate to it being catchy and familiar. As a songwriter, there are many ways to engender this feeling in listeners, to do with song structure, ...

The following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation, an online publication covering the latest research. In the BBC radio comedy show I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue, panellists are ...

When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Credit: mjunior/Getty Images Jazz and blues musicians often personify the very art of being cool, ...

Harmonic minor keys are used when writing chords. There is another version of the minor key known as the melodic minor. This is used when writing a melody. Each key signature has two possible keys.