Product Description

A comprehensive approach to understanding contemporary chord structures and progressions through solid drills in suggested study questions, keyboard drills, and ear-training exercises. A step by step approach to the study of triads, seventh chords, and their extensions. Additional chapters on chord progression through area studies of the pre-dominant, dominant, and tonic spheres of influence: chord derivation, substitution, interchangeability, tendency, harmonic pulse, and function. Chord qualities are also presented for study. Table of contents, examples, keyboard drills, assignments, ear-training exercises, addendum, suggested study drills, and index. 120 pages LC: 88-24571

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #710449 in Books
• Published on: 1988-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 120 pages

Review
(Testimonials) I really 'dig' All About Chords. I find it very concise and logical. I use it as a performer, and I find it to be a perfect reference book and a fine teaching tool. It removes a lot of the mystery about chords and how progressions work. -- John Coppola: Performer - Trumpet, Teacher, & Nationally Recognized Recording Artist

All About Chords! What can I say? It must be the best book on chords. It is comprehensive, thorough, and definitive, a real 'turn-on' for piano students, piano teachers, horn players, and professional musicians alike. Everyone has a favorite book to turn to for reference and knowledge. All About Chords is mine. It's a necessity for the thoughtful, serious, and performing musician. I recommend it to all of my students, professional colleagues, and all those just plain interested in how triads, sevenths, ninths, elevenths, thirteenths and even altered chords are spelled as well as how they all work. -- Ed Kelly: College Instructor, Performer, & Jazz Pianist Extraordinaire

All About Chords is a fine book. One that should be in every musician's library; I highly recommend it. -- John Handy: Performer - Alto Saxophone, Teacher, & Nationally Recognized Recording Artist

All About Chords is a thorough method for the study of harmony, not just jazz, but for all musical idioms. I'm delighted to have something of this quality to recommend to my students. -- Mel Martin: Performer - All woodwinds, Teacher, & Nationally Acclaimed Recording Artist

All About Chords is superb! Definitely, the most comprehensive and well-organized book on this subject. -- Bruce Forman: Performer - Guitar, Teacher, & Nationally Recognized Recording Artist

The materials in All About Chords are thoughtfully conceived and clearly presented. This book ought to be required reading for all music instructors. I use it and recommend it to all of my students. The chord spelling sections on triads, sevenths and extensions are outstanding. I especially like the use of chord analysis as an approach to understanding how chords work. -- Dr. Lawrence Anderson: Educator, Former member of the Department of Music, University of California at Davis

From the Back Cover
...A logically arranged format and chock-full of solid, concise, and meaningful materials on chords...I like it!...Really expands your ability to hear and understand chords through very creative exercises...Great suggestions and activities for improving your ear...The only book you'll ever need on chords!...Just the book I've been searching for!...

This truly comprehensive and remarkable book helps you to quickly understand chord structures and the in-depth essentials of chord progressions and how they work. It develops your understanding of triads, seventh chords, and their extensions (9th, 11ths, and 13ths.) It provides chord sets for ear-training drills and exercises.

It contains creative study questions to strengthen and develop understanding It includes studies in musical analysis through theory and keyboard drills. and presents valuable insights on chordal progressions. Whether you're a young, promising musician, or an amateur or a professional musician in the field, this clearly written, proactical guide for understanding chord alignments will help insure musical literacy and the pursuit of musical excellence.

About the Author
The author, Elvo S. D'Amante, is the former department chairperson of Music at Laney College in Oakland, California and the author of other books on music theory that include the acclaimed college and university music major textbook entiltled, Music Fundamentals, published by Ardsley House Publications, Inc. of New York.

Customer Reviews

Review on : All About Chords - Elvo S. D'Amante
An excellent book that helps the improvising instrumentalist or any other musicians understand chord structures, how they're formed, and how chord progressions work. If you're looking to create new 'sounds' on your instrument, this is definitely the book for you. Note: this book is not recommended for beginners, if you're a beginner, you might want to check out 'Music Fundamentals' also by Elvo S. D'Amante to get your basics down.

a welcome text that explains the mysteries of chords
'All About Chords' by Elvo D'Amante is a welcome text for musicians that in a progression, how they can be altered and substituted, and more. As a guitar player, I grew up thinking of chords only as diagrams on a fretboard. 'All About Chords' delves deep into the theories of music to showed me the symmetry of the system and how chords relate to scales, keys, and to one another. This book gave me a far greater understanding of the in and outs of chord and music theory and I highly recommend it. Dix Bruce, musician and author of over 30 instructional books, CDs, and videos for Mel Bay Publication

Interesting But Not Overly Applicable
I read this book cover to cover and liked it so much I even bought a second copy to give to my singing teacher. However I must say in hindsight that despite the fun I had reading it, I have never yet been able to actually apply anything I read in the book to my piano playing. It's a very cerebral book and is great mental excercise to follow his logic. It provides a good background to music harmony, but I think it's imperative to realize that there are a lot of books available on music voicings and harmony that are much, much more applicable to real, actual playing of a musical instrument. By the way, one of the user reviews recommends reading "PENTATONIC SCALES FOR THE JAZZ-ROCK KEYBOARDIST". I am deeply suspicious of that recomendation because I have read this person's reviews of other music books, and he always throws in that recomendation out of context, yet he has never bothered to write a user review for the actual book itself.