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Hi, I'm Pedro. 
Have you ever struggled to 

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create ambient chords that truly
capture an ethereal and 

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atmospheric vibe? 
Maybe you felt stuck in 

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traditional progressions, or 
your voicings feel too 

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mechanical or uninspired. 
In today's video, I'll share 

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four key techniques to help you 
craft ambient harmonies that 

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feel expensive and emotional. 
We'll explore different chord 

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voicings and how to connect 
them, creating chord extensions,

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the use of pedal notes, and ways
to add subtle movements to your 

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chords. 
If this sounds interesting to 

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you, then let's get into it. 
I'm just going to say this right

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out of the gate. 
You need to know how the 

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different chords sound so that 
when you hear them, at least you

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have a good feel for what you 
are hearing in your head now. 

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Each chord might make you feel 
in a certain way or take you to 

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a certain place, but you also 
have to consider the harmonic 

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context in which it lives. 
This means paying attention to 

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how a chord sequence makes you 
feel, or how going from chord A 

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to B moved you, not just a 
specific chord. 

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So pay attention to that. 
To gain more experience, 

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definitely look at what's 
happening in the music you like,

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the moments that move you, and 
then make sense of what's 

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happening. 
What chords are they using? 

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Are those extended chords? 
How are they voiced? 

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And that brings us to the next 
section. 

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You can have nice ambient 
harmony with chords that are not

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complicated, like with simple 
triads and 7th chords, 

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especially if they are used 
thoughtfully. 

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And the first thing we're going 
to look at is how to put down 

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the notes of such chords. 
In other words, how are you 

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going to voice your chords? 
You'll be hearing the same 2 

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chords in close and open voicing
throughout the different 

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registers in this example. 
The. 

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Notice how different it is if 
you choose different chord 

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voicings and the effect it has 
throughout the register. 

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This too has an emotional weight
that you should consider because

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the way you choose to voice your
chords effects their resonance 

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which will then be carried 
throughout the music. 

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Needless to say, you need to let
the chords ring out using long 

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sustained sounds. 
This means that we are not 

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looking at fast changing chords.
Let them breathe, use some delay

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reverb to enhance the sense of 
space and sustain like this. 

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As you might have noticed, there
were no big jumps from the notes

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of one chord to the other. 
What I did was to arrange the 

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notes of the next chord in a way
that the notes of the previous 

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chord would be either maintained
because they were sharing a 

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common note, or would move in 
the smallest interval possible, 

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a stepwise movement. 
This will definitely make your 

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chord succession sound smoother,
so the least you move your 

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notes, the smoother the 
transition will be. 

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We will be making use of this 
aspect in the following section.

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We are going to look at two ways
to add chord extensions to your 

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ambient chords. 
One is by hinging and the other 

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is by thinking of anticipations 
or suspensions as a way to help 

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us connect with the following 
chord. 

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So what is hinging? 
It consists of simply moving one

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of the notes of a chord up or 
down in stepwise movement. 

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As an example, let's say you 
have AC major 7th chord with the

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notes C, e.g., and B. 
And let's keep the bass in C and

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if you hinge C to D, now you 
have AC major 9 chords. 

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And if you now do the same with 
B to A, now you have AC-69 

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chord. 
This is a way of adding extended

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notes to your chords. 
But the main reason why we are 

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looking at this is because it is
a nice way of connecting chords 

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through voice movement. 
Let's hear this technique used 

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in a chord progression. 
This time I chose not to change 

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the base notes and just focus on
the upper harmonic structure, 

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but you definitely can as a way 
to prepare a smoother movement 

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to the next chord. 
The other way of creating chord 

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extensions that we are going to 
look at is by using anticipation

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and suspension. 
Arguably, in a way this can be 

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seen as a form of hinging, as 
you will see. 

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As far as anticipations go, it 
is when you introduce a note of 

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the next chord in the preceding 
chords. 

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It's like adding a common note 
with the next chord if there 

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isn't 1 already. 
And suspension is where you 

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extend the note from the 
previous chord to the next and 

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then resolve it to a note of the
arrival chord. 

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All in all, these are just a 
couple of suggestions for adding

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extended notes to your chords. 
Don't be afraid to use 

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dissonances and add extra notes 
to the simple chords you started

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out with, as these can add more 
emotional depth to your music. 

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Incidentally, now that we have 
created these new chords, why 

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not try to figure out a way to 
use those? 

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Since we are only working with 
chord colors and are not worried

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about functionality, I'm going 
to encourage you to play around 

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with the order in which you play
the chords you came up with, 

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like in this example. 
Another way of connecting chords

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and explore different harmonic 
landscapes and vibes is by using

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pedal notes. 
It is a sustained note that 

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stays constant while chords 
change around it. 

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This is a great solution if your
chords feel disconnected or lack

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emotional depth. 
And mind you that you can place 

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pedal notes on the bottom, mid 
or top of the chord. 

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In the next examples, you will 
first hear the chord succession 

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we already used, and then how 
using this technique can affect 

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the harmonic color and mood of 
that chord progression. 

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The first example of pedal note 
is with a pedal note on the 

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bass, 
Now the same but with the 

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hanging note on the top. 
And finally, the pedal notes in 

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the middle register. 
I only adjusted the chord 

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voicings in this last example to
carve space for the two pedal 

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notes I ended up using. 
Overall, pedal notes create the 

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thread that tie everything 
together, even when some 

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dissonances occur. 
But again, don't shy away from 

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letting the pedal notes clash 
with the chords. 

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It often resolves beautifully 
and adds tension that feels 

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naturally in ambient music. 
And finally, let's add subtle 

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textures to keep your ambient 
chords evolving over time. 

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If your chords feel stagnant, 
blocky, or rigid, these ideas 

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can add life and expression to 
them. 

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As you may have noticed here and
there, I've used some percussion

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loops that definitely help the 
slow chord progressions move 

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forward. 
And with that said, let's get 

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into other things that you may 
consider doing. 

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So the first one is to 
arpeggiate slowly. 

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Instead of playing the chord all
at once, you can roll through 

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the notes and find ways of 
presenting it in a different 

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order. 
You can also use small melodic 

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fragments where you can add very
short and slow moving melodies 

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to enhance the overall harmonic 
colors and establish character. 

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Hinging. 
We've already went through this 

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one. 
Just move or replace the 3rd or 

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the 5th of a chord to a second, 
4th or 6th to create an airy, 

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unresolved feel. 
That way you can also explore 

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the melodic movements between 
chords. 

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And adding extra layers for 
depth and texture. 

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Try to combine different types 
of sounds, use arpeggiators, do 

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swells in different instruments 
or use non musical soundscapes 

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underneath your harmonies. 
These subtle variations can make

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even static harmonies feel alive
and evolving. 

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Perfect for creating immersive 
soundscapes. 

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And by the way, feel free to 
combine them. 

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So there you have it, 4 
approaches for you to consider 

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while creating ambient and 
atmospheric chords. 

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Try these techniques in your 
compositions and see how they 

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add depth and emotion to your 
music. 

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If you enjoyed this video, don't
forget to like subscribe and let

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me know in the comments how you 
approach create ambient 

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harmonies. 
As always, check the links in 

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the description and the Beyond 
Music Theory blog where you'll 

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find lots of useful information,
courses, online lessons and the 

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Beyond Music Theory book. 
That's it for today. 

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Thank you and until next time.