Name: 7 Understanding Chords
Uploaded: 2021-07-12T07:33:40.000Z
Duration: 11 min 17 s
Description: This video provides an in-depth overview of chords: where they come from, how to learn them systematically, and how to use them to write great songs.

This video provides an in-depth overview of chords: where they come from, how to learn them systematically, and how to use them to write great songs.

Songwriting

Whether you are either a total beginner or a professional musician with a recording contract, if want the absolute best music training available I can save you years of struggle and help you reach your goals 10x faster. My students have been accepted to the best music schools in the world, performed for judges on the American Idol and other music competitions, and had successful careers as professional musicians. If you want to learn how to compose incredible music or write awesome songs, play instruments like a pro, or sing your best, I have found that I can help anyone improve very rapidly as long as they have a strong desire.
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Kevin T. is a music professor at MIU, Vice president of the San Diego Songwriters guild, and CEO of Songwriting Planet. He is an instructor of guitar, bass, voice, piano, songwriting, composition, orchestration, jazz arranging, music theory, ear training, production and engineering, and music business and career development.  He graduated from Musicians Institute with a performance certificate, received his BA degree with honors from Berklee College of Music with a dual major in Songwriting and Performance, and received his Masters degree in Music Composition from the University of Miami's Frost School of Music.  

Kevin has written and performed myriad and diverse styles of music which include everything from jazz, rock, funk, country, blues, fusion, R&B, and classical, to world music and avant-garde.  Kevin has recorded CDs and has been the songwriter, arranger, and bandleader for several original music groups.  Stress Factor Zero combines rock with funk and jazz.  Cloud Ex is an acoustic group combining Afro Cuban and Peruvian percussion with folk rock songs.  His most recent band Stratosphere is a modern rock and funk band for artistic rockers and visionaries.  They blend diverse styles of rock music with a fiery blaze of Latin percussion, sensuous saxophones, and poetic melodies with a message.  Their first album received radio airplay on stations all across the U.S. and Canada. And the Kevin's Band is currently working on their second album. 

*** Lesson Details ***
Well structured lesson plan covering all aspects of music, specifically designed to help you reach your individual goals.

*** Studio Equipment ***
Acoustic piano, full keyboard, 4 guitars, bass, amps, microphones, Pro Tools recording equipment, and seating for parents

*** Styles ***
Rock, funk, jazz, country, blues, fusion, folk, R&B, and classical

7 Understanding Chords 

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Singing

Composition

Acoustic Guitar

Guitar

Bass Guitar

Piano

Arrangement and Composition

Music Recording

Music Theory

Speaking Voice

Ukulele

Music Performance

Life Coaching

Beginner

Intermediate

Advanced

The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) is a membership association of more than 480,000 US composers, songwriters, lyricists and music publishers. The ASCAP is committed to nurturing music makers throughout their careers. 

Specializing as a Songwriting and Music Composition teacher

Professor of Music

Chinese (Mandarin)

English

I specialize in beginner to very advanced training in Songwriting and Music Composition.

Very knowledgeable, broad area of knowledge. Very articulate, explains things well.

Mr. Thomas is very knowledgeable in songwriting. He shares some excellent techniques and customized programs just for you. He is happy to answer any questions you may have.

So I usually don’t leave reviews. But God has used Kevin to help improve my skills in keyboard playing. In less than 3 months with and average of an hour lesson a week. I went from only feeling comfortable in playing in 2 scales to playing in 5 of the 7 scales. Also I didn’t realize how bad my rhythm was but once Kevin began working with me I made major improvements. I’ve also learned to play fundamental chord progressions on the major scale. Kevin listens to what you want to accomplish and works alongside you to accomplish this. He is also kind and very well skilled. Needless to say God has used Kevin to help me and will continue to use him to help me. So what are you waiting for? Please book worth every penny

I have been taking singing lessons from Kevin for 5 weeks. He appears to possess a legitimate love for music as well as the understanding that I am looking for someone who can teach me the fundamental elements of music. I don’t just want someone to tell me how to rearrange a song. I am looking for someone who will offer me the “how to” from the bottom up. I suspect I am one of his more difficult students. I am older, never done anything musical but have always wanted to sing without frightening people off. He is patient, an excellent communicator and seems to understand my quest. I always enjoy my hour with him and walk away wishing I could afford more lessons. I highly recommend you give him a shot. 
 Cory

I’ve been taking lessons from Kevin for about 2 months.  Before that I’d been kind of aimlessly playing around with guitar. I was playing by myself for about 20 years and basically had no timing and rhythm.  I’m not a funk master yet but Kevin has given me tools that have greatly improved my timing and for the first time actually believing that I’m going to do this. Thanks

I started taking lessons with Kevin about a month ago  I took lessons when I was a kid, and remember some things, but my hands do not yet so what my head is telling them. Kevin has been great, adjusting to what I already know and adding a lot of music theory, which I never had learned before. Highly recommend Kevin.

I have been involved in singing for many years now and I can tell you that Kevin knows what he is doing with his special skills teaching voice and guitar. I feel lucky to have found him and I hope to continue learning from him for a long time.

I started learning Ukulele with Kevin and then picked up Guitar lately, Kevin has a systematic way of teaching, instead of covering each and every chords, he summarizes them by different shapes, and also their variations, so you can memorize the basics and find their "relative" chords easier.  He also taught music theories, how each chord is formed, and if you want to play a specific song, he's also glad to help on finding the exact chord and transfer them into different notes that suits you. Definitely have your notebook ready since there's a lot to learn.  The harder thing for myself is with the online class, it's not as efficient as a face-to-face one, I also tend to be less motivated to practise but you ought to just find your own motivation!

Kevin offers helpful advice and insight. An instructor with a deep understanding of music, he demonstrates a great ability to guide new students. He brought clarity to problems I experienced as a new guitar player. I highly recommend inviting Kevin into your music journey.

We covered a lot today! I think we're going to work well together

I have very much enjoyed my classes with Kevin. We have made great progress and the classes have been a good mix of focusing on the important fundamentals and exploring things specific to my interests. I think Kevin has the knowledge and ability to teach you anything you would want to know about music!

Kevin is an incredible teacher. He is exceedingly patient and he is a warm and kind human being. I could never asked to find a better teacher than Kevin. He is humble, smart, and amazingly knowledgeable

Kevin was very helpful and helped me understand concepts of music theory very clearly. Thanks!!

Great Lesson and very comfortable setting. Kevin was very good at taking it step by step and laying down the bricks for a good foundation in learning.

There is definitely more than one way to write a song. This video explores the three most common ways to write, as well as presenting tips for how to progress as a songwriter with each of them.

13 Three Ways To Write Awesome Songs

The most commonly used song structure today is by far the Verse-Chorus form, along with its many variations. This video clears up common confusions about this form, and goes into great detail explaining all the various ways you can use it to write amazing songs.

12 Mastering the Verse-Chorus Song Structure

This video describes the main song structures that songwriters use today, and have used over the last century or so. It also explains how they work, and why we might choose one over the other. Additionally, there are exercises suggested to help you set a song to several different structures, so that you can choose the best one for your song.

11 Song Structure

This video brings great clarity to the topic of rhythm and groove. It covers ways to create a number of different types of rhythms for your songs. Furthermore, it explores the ways we can do this differently while using either the piano or guitar.

10 How To Use Rhythm In Your Songs

This video explores and often overlooked way of quickly and easily turning one song into many, all having entirely different moods. 

9 Changing Moods And Emotion With Tempo

This video teaches the best ways to take chords that you already know and turn them into dozens of brand new chord progressions. Understanding Harmonic Rhythm will provide a huge amount of variety to the chords that you use.

8 Harmonic Rhythm

This video goes in-depth into some of the most helpful melodic development techniques that you can use right away to begin writing awesome melodies for your songs.

6 How To Write Awesome Melodies

Do melodies just come from thin air for inspired people only, or can anyone learn how to write awesome melodies for their songs? This video answers that question and shows you how to get started.

5 Where Do Great Melodies Come From?

This video goes into concepts of applying sense-bound writing to bring lyrics to life, making them vivid, picturesque, and poetic. The concepts are then further expanded into methods of using metaphors in your songs, which add multiple layers of depth to your songwriting.

4 Using the Senses and Metaphors to Write Poetic Lyrics 

This video delivers some great methods to ensure that all the verses of your songs develop in a way that makes sense from one to the next. It also discusses how to take a personal experiences and transform them into universal concepts, so that others can relate to them as well.

3 Developing Your Verses

This video shares ways to find titles for your songs, and how they can bring focus to the entire development of your songwriting process.

Kevin T.