The EMOTIONAL Meaning Of Chords [Music Theory]

Tommaso Zillio

Many musicians think of music theory as a kind of un-emotional mathematics that tell you what chord come after another chord, or what scale goes on that chord, and so on.

While this is definitely an aspect of music theory, it is not the most important part of it.

(and BTW, there is nothing wrong about math per se!)

After all, most of us do not play music just because it resembles math - we play music because it transmit emotions and feelings.

So it only makes sense that a theory of music should have something to say about how music connects to emotions; and how a composer/songwriter can create some very specific feeling in their audience.

And yet, if you open any book of music theory, or even take a college course on it, barely a mention is made about emotions. It's like they only teach you the grammar of music, and completely neglect what you can say with it.

In this video we see together how to connect anything you know about music theory to actual emotions and feeling - and how a composer/songwriter can use this knowledge to write more expressive music:

Did you follow along with the video above? Great!

Now, I want you to also watch the video below, and follow along with that too. The practices explained in the video below are different than the ones in the previous video, but they are complementary.

If you practice the exercises given in both videos, you will see that your playing will drastically change - for the better. You will also become more sensitive to the emotions in music.

Fair warning: this also means that you will cry more often while you listen to music. But that's a small price to pay :)

It goes without saying that a strong knowledge of harmony ON THE GUITAR is a prerequisite to write any kind of original and interesting music (beyond the trial-and-error approach).

To finally understand how chords and progressions work on your guitar fretboard, and how to transform a mere chord progression into something beautiful, have a look at the Complete Chord Mastery guitar course that explains all this in an easy-to-digest format.

Just have a look at the reviews that my students have left (click on the link above and scroll down to see them), and see if Complete Chord Mastery can be the course for you too.