A great tool for adding a different color in a chord progression is to include one or more half-diminished seventh chords (sometimes just called half-diminished chords).
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How to Write Interesting Chord Progressions: Suspended Fourth Chords
Another common way to create more interesting chords by altering the notes of the basic triad is to form what are called suspended fourth chords.
Music Theory Basics for Guitarists
It is entirely possible to have a long, successful guitar career without much musical theory knowledge. But, theory is great to know for a variety of guitar-related tasks and activities, such as songwriting, teaching, and accompanimental playing.
How to Learn Note Names Easily
When first learning piano, or any instrument for that matter, you want to learn the names of the notes on the staff. Knowing the note names will allow you to further your skills with music theory, sight reading, analysis, and so on.
How To Write Interesting Chord Progressions: Chord Extensions
The most common and most useful of these chords is the seventh, which you can use pretty much anywhere just to add a slightly different color to a chord, or in some types of progression to give the sequence of chords some extra thrust, because the added seventh is a mild dissonance, or clash, that makes the chord sound like it wants to move somewhere.
How to Write Interesting Chord Progressions: Chromatic Alterations
Chromatic alterations, such as sharps and flats, can be used to help create a more interesting chord progression in a piece of music. Ed Bell explains how to use these alterations effectively.
Music Modes: How to Enrich Your Music with Modal Color
Musical modes constitute a form of scale complete with their own distinctive melodic traits. The seven modes have their roots in some of western music’s oldest forms.
How to Write Interesting Chord Progressions: Pedal Notes
Another great way to create more interesting chord progressions is to use a pedal note or pedal point. A pedal note is a static bass note that sticks around for a few measures while the chords change over the top.
How to Make Music Theory Stick
For a majority of younger students, however, music theory is less familiar, though it is still important. Why is it so important, and how can you help your students remember what they have learned?
How To Write Interesting Chord Progressions: Inversions
One of the simplest and most effective ways to enrich your chord progressions is through the use of inversions. Depending which note you put in the bass, you end up with chords in first inversion or second inversion: