{"id":2910,"date":"2026-11-05T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-11-05T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zapiano.com\/?p=242480"},"modified":"2026-10-25T20:40:24","modified_gmt":"2026-10-25T19:40:24","slug":"new-sounds-chord-progressions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zapiano.com\/en\/new-sounds-chord-progressions\/","title":{"rendered":"Creating New Sounds \u2013 Exploring Fresh Chord Progressions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Today I&#8217;ll show you how to get chords under your fingers in a really creative way \u2013 and how to discover sounds you would probably never have found otherwise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-usual-approach-moving-a-voicing-chromatically\">The usual approach: moving a voicing chromatically<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Most students practice chords like this: they take a maj7 voicing and simply move it up chromatically, one semitone at a time. That works, but it isn&#8217;t especially creative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-cycle-of-minor-thirds-c-eb-f-and-a\">The cycle of minor thirds: C, Eb, F# and A<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Let&#8217;s say you start on C and want to build a cycle from it. Move up a minor third at a time and you get <strong>C, Eb, F# and A<\/strong>. Because the distance is always a minor third, completely new possibilities suddenly open up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-a-maj7-voicing-on-every-note-of-the-cycle\">A maj7 voicing on every note of the cycle<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now use each note of the cycle as a root and play a maj7 voicing on it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Cmaj7<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Ebmaj7<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>F#<\/strong>, this time with the second (G#) on top<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Amaj7<\/strong>, with the seventh (G#) on top<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">From there, let the whole progression resolve \u2013 one more minor third up brings you back to C, where the cycle started. Suddenly you get wonderfully beautiful sounds that you would never have come up with otherwise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-try-it-yourself\">Try it yourself<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Play the chords slowly, one after another, and let each one ring before you move on. Listen to how fresh every new chord sounds, even though it is the same chord type each time \u2013 only the root moves by a minor third. Have fun trying it out!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In part 2, I&#8217;ll show you the same idea with a cycle of major thirds: <a href=\"https:\/\/zapiano.com\/en\/new-sounds-chord-progressions-part-2\/\">Creating New Sounds \u2013 Exploring Fresh Chord Progressions \u2013 Part 2<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-order-your-free-piano-starter-1-trial-lesson\" class=\"wp-block-heading has-white-background-color has-text-color has-background\" style=\"color:#d4aa60\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/app.monstercampaigns.com\/c\/iv8skhevcts1btvysmsh\/\">Order your free Piano Starter 1 trial lesson here!<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today I&#8217;ll show you how to get chords under your fingers in a really creative way \u2013 and how to discover sounds you would probably never have found otherwise. The&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/zapiano.com\/en\/new-sounds-chord-progressions\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Creating New Sounds \u2013 Exploring Fresh Chord Progressions<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2934,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,29,15,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-seo-blog-english","category-short-piano-tips","category-theory-and-sheetmusic","category-theory-and-sheetmusic-advanced","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.3 (Yoast SEO v28.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Creating New Sounds \u2013 Creative Chord Progressions<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Creating new sounds on the piano: Sven shows you how to find creative chord progressions with maj7 voicings on a cycle of minor thirds.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/zapiano.com\/en\/new-sounds-chord-progressions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Creating New Sounds \u2013 Exploring Fresh Chord Progressions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Creating new sounds on the piano: Sven shows you how to find creative chord progressions with maj7 voicings on a cycle of minor thirds.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/zapiano.com\/en\/new-sounds-chord-progressions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"EN Zapiano\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-11-05T08:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/zapiano.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2023\/03\/new-sounds-chord-progressions.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1281\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"721\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sven Haefliger\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sven Haefliger\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zapiano.com\\\/en\\\/new-sounds-chord-progressions\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zapiano.com\\\/en\\\/new-sounds-chord-progressions\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sven Haefliger\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zapiano.com\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d166e03fb8d88063fe39f363bd47c4b6\"},\"headline\":\"Creating New Sounds \u2013 Exploring Fresh Chord Progressions\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-11-05T08:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zapiano.com\\\/en\\\/new-sounds-chord-progressions\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":289,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zapiano.com\\\/en\\\/new-sounds-chord-progressions\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zapiano.com\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/5\\\/2023\\\/03\\\/new-sounds-chord-progressions.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"SEO Blog english\",\"Short Piano Tips\",\"Theory and Sheet Music\",\"Theory and Sheet Music Advanced\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2026\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zapiano.com\\\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zapiano.com\\\/en\\\/new-sounds-chord-progressions\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zapiano.com\\\/en\\\/new-sounds-chord-progressions\\\/\",\"name\":\"Creating New Sounds \u2013 Creative Chord Progressions\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zapiano.com\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zapiano.com\\\/en\\\/new-sounds-chord-progressions\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zapiano.com\\\/en\\\/new-sounds-chord-progressions\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zapiano.com\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/5\\\/2023\\\/03\\\/new-sounds-chord-progressions.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-11-05T08:00:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zapiano.com\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d166e03fb8d88063fe39f363bd47c4b6\"},\"description\":\"Creating new sounds on the piano: Sven shows you how to find creative chord progressions with maj7 voicings on a cycle of minor thirds.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zapiano.com\\\/en\\\/new-sounds-chord-progressions\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/zapiano.com\\\/en\\\/new-sounds-chord-progressions\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zapiano.com\\\/en\\\/new-sounds-chord-progressions\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zapiano.com\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/5\\\/2023\\\/03\\\/new-sounds-chord-progressions.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zapiano.com\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/5\\\/2023\\\/03\\\/new-sounds-chord-progressions.webp\",\"width\":1281,\"height\":721,\"caption\":\"Short Piano Tips: Creating new sounds \u2013 exploring fresh chord progressions with Sven Haefliger\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zapiano.com\\\/en\\\/new-sounds-chord-progressions\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zapiano.com\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Creating New Sounds \u2013 Exploring Fresh Chord Progressions\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zapiano.com\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zapiano.com\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"EN Zapiano\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zapiano.com\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zapiano.com\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d166e03fb8d88063fe39f363bd47c4b6\",\"name\":\"Sven Haefliger\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f0e3dd46e54532628d3cf72ad21e17c2b9926ecd90d2eadde163fcb09c251994?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f0e3dd46e54532628d3cf72ad21e17c2b9926ecd90d2eadde163fcb09c251994?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f0e3dd46e54532628d3cf72ad21e17c2b9926ecd90d2eadde163fcb09c251994?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Sven Haefliger\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zapiano.com\\\/en\\\/author\\\/sven\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Creating New Sounds \u2013 Creative Chord Progressions","description":"Creating new sounds on the piano: Sven shows you how to find creative chord progressions with maj7 voicings on a cycle of minor thirds.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/zapiano.com\/en\/new-sounds-chord-progressions\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Creating New Sounds \u2013 Exploring Fresh Chord Progressions","og_description":"Creating new sounds on the piano: Sven shows you how to find creative chord progressions with maj7 voicings on a cycle of minor thirds.","og_url":"https:\/\/zapiano.com\/en\/new-sounds-chord-progressions\/","og_site_name":"EN Zapiano","article_published_time":"2026-11-05T08:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1281,"height":721,"url":"https:\/\/zapiano.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2023\/03\/new-sounds-chord-progressions.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"author":"Sven Haefliger","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sven Haefliger","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/zapiano.com\/en\/new-sounds-chord-progressions\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/zapiano.com\/en\/new-sounds-chord-progressions\/"},"author":{"name":"Sven Haefliger","@id":"https:\/\/zapiano.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/d166e03fb8d88063fe39f363bd47c4b6"},"headline":"Creating New Sounds \u2013 Exploring Fresh Chord Progressions","datePublished":"2026-11-05T08:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/zapiano.com\/en\/new-sounds-chord-progressions\/"},"wordCount":289,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/zapiano.com\/en\/new-sounds-chord-progressions\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/zapiano.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2023\/03\/new-sounds-chord-progressions.webp","articleSection":["SEO Blog english","Short Piano Tips","Theory and Sheet Music","Theory and Sheet Music Advanced"],"inLanguage":"en-US","copyrightYear":"2026","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/zapiano.com\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/zapiano.com\/en\/new-sounds-chord-progressions\/","url":"https:\/\/zapiano.com\/en\/new-sounds-chord-progressions\/","name":"Creating New Sounds \u2013 Creative Chord Progressions","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/zapiano.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/zapiano.com\/en\/new-sounds-chord-progressions\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/zapiano.com\/en\/new-sounds-chord-progressions\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/zapiano.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2023\/03\/new-sounds-chord-progressions.webp","datePublished":"2026-11-05T08:00:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/zapiano.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/d166e03fb8d88063fe39f363bd47c4b6"},"description":"Creating new sounds on the piano: Sven shows you how to find creative chord progressions with maj7 voicings on a cycle of minor thirds.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/zapiano.com\/en\/new-sounds-chord-progressions\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/zapiano.com\/en\/new-sounds-chord-progressions\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/zapiano.com\/en\/new-sounds-chord-progressions\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/zapiano.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2023\/03\/new-sounds-chord-progressions.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/zapiano.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2023\/03\/new-sounds-chord-progressions.webp","width":1281,"height":721,"caption":"Short Piano Tips: Creating new sounds \u2013 exploring fresh chord progressions with Sven Haefliger"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/zapiano.com\/en\/new-sounds-chord-progressions\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/zapiano.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Creating New Sounds \u2013 Exploring Fresh Chord Progressions"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/zapiano.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/zapiano.com\/en\/","name":"EN Zapiano","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/zapiano.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/zapiano.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/d166e03fb8d88063fe39f363bd47c4b6","name":"Sven Haefliger","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f0e3dd46e54532628d3cf72ad21e17c2b9926ecd90d2eadde163fcb09c251994?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f0e3dd46e54532628d3cf72ad21e17c2b9926ecd90d2eadde163fcb09c251994?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f0e3dd46e54532628d3cf72ad21e17c2b9926ecd90d2eadde163fcb09c251994?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Sven Haefliger"},"url":"https:\/\/zapiano.com\/en\/author\/sven\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zapiano.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zapiano.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zapiano.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zapiano.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zapiano.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2910"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/zapiano.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2910\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2936,"href":"https:\/\/zapiano.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2910\/revisions\/2936"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zapiano.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zapiano.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zapiano.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zapiano.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}