The sound of New Age music can be divided into the 3 parts melody, harmony, and rhythm. The harmony aspect can be thought of simply as chords. Now New Age music does use certain piano chords more than others.

One chord I’m fond of is the 9th chord. All this means is that the ninth note of the scale is used to create the chord with. For example, a triad built from the C Major scale is spelled - c-e-g. If we add the seventh note in the scale (b) we get a seventh chord - C Major 7. It’s spelled - c-e-g-b. Simple enough.

Now if we continue up the scale we will hit the octave C. The next note after this is the 9th note (d). It’s also the 2nd note in the scale. This can get confusing but it’s just a system of counting. The C Major 9 chord is spelled c-e-g-b-d. This chord has a very rich sound and is used often in New Age music. It can be used as an ostinato, or as broken chord or arpeggio.

A typical New Age chord progression is simple and usually stays within the scale it came from. We can play C Maj. - F Maj. and G Maj. and by using just these 3 piano chords, improvise and create in the New Age style.

In fact, in the online lesson “Ocean Dreams,” this is exactly what is done. Except in this lesson, I eliminate the seventh tone from the chord and play an octave in the left hand.

By eliminating the seventh tone, I’m creating a more folksy or New Age sound. The seventh tone is used mainly in Jazz music but can be used in New Age music as well.

Once the left hand is “down” I add in tones from the C Major scale, especially the ninth tone (d) and the New Age sound is apparent. Other piano chords used in New Age music will be detailed in other articles later on.

Ah, the blues. One of the most well known forms of music. There’s no other music style quite like it, that has carried such an influence on other music styles and that has such a rich heritage. Surprisingly, though, the Blues isn’t that difficult to play.

The Blues as an oral tradition can be traced back to the mid 1800s, and finds its roots from Europe and Africa. However, the Blues as we know it today is purely an American style of music. It first began to be popularized in the early 1900s, with guys like WC Handy writing songs such as “Memphis Blues” & “St. Louis Blues.”

In the 1920s and 1930s, guitarists used slides from broken bottle necks to create the slide sound (which is something any guitarist should learn when wanting to play the Blues) and in the 1940s Big Band began to take over. This meant that guitars moved primarily into the rhythm section. Then, the 1950s arrived, where piano blues and guitar blues began to develop into rock and roll and other forms of music. This is also when amplifiers and electrified guitar music became more and more common.

The Blues is primarily guitar and piano focused, but it can be played on other instruments too. To play the Blues, there are a few tips and tricks that can get you started quickly. Firstly, the Blues must be played with FEELING. It’s a very less technical style, which you will especially find once you get used to a few progressions, chords and scales. Secondly, get comfy with a Blues rhythm when practicing (most blues is in 4/4 time signature.) Then, learn to play the Blues Scale and a Blues Progression, and you’ll find yourself soon able to play the Blues with feeling and ease.

Let’s look at the Blues Scale. It’s actually quite easy to play and works off the major scale. All it is, really, is the major scale with an added flattened 3rd, 5th and 7th. So, if you were playing in the key of C, the Blue Scale would look like this : C D Eb E F Gb G A Bb C. That’s it. The scale is ideal for improvising over a blues progression, which you should also practice and learn to play.

Typically, Blues progressions are done over 12 measures (bars) - which is why it is known as 12 bar blues. If you were playing in the key of C, for instance, you would play the first 4 bars in the root chord (C), the 5th and 6th bars in the 4th interval (F), the 7th and 8th bars back to the root note (C), the 9th and 10th bars in the 5th interval (G) and end off the last two bars in the root note again (C.) If you wanted to play chords over this progression, you would stick to dominant 7th chords- and to improvise you would just play the Blues Scale as above. Guitarists can add a few tricks - using a slide, or “wriggling” notes for some extra feeling.