I got carried away making notes for a video and decided to clean it up to post it as a supplement to the video (whenever it’s done)
Please add more ideas and chord shapes. And please correct me, ask questions, suggest better explanations, etc! I’d like to make this thread as helpful as possible.
When using the pads on the KO II it’s pretty easy to make a decent-sounding chord progression by mashing buttons. You don’t have to take a fully deliberate approach, but hopefully this gives you ideas of some chord shapes, how to use them to create progressions, and how they can sound different between different modes.
The Number Pad
By default the KO II’s scale is set to 12T, which I find very helpful for editing but not playing.
7-9: Gb G Ab
4-6: Eb E F
1-3: C Db D
.-E: A Bb B
These examples and explanations start with the pads set to C major.
In the C major scale, C is our tonic note and is set to the 1 pad by default. This is very helpful as it allows us to identify scale degrees by number.
In C major, our scale on the KOII looks like this:
7-9: B C D
4-6: F G A
1-3: C D E
.-E: G A B
Major & Minor Chords
Major and minor chords have 3 notes: the root, the third, and the fifth. This means that, when making a major or minor chord, you’ll play every other pad after the root note.
To make a C major chord, play pads 1, 3, and 5:
7-9: B C D
4-6: F (G) A
1-3: (C) D (E)
.-E: G A B
The Three Basic Shapes
If we use the same approach of skipping every other pad we can make other chords in the key of C major.
It’s common to write down a chord progression using numbers relative to the key, starting with C as the 1. Upper-case Roman numerals indicate a major chord while lower-case indicate a minor chord.
If we apply the same every-other-key approach, we see the three basic shapes for major/minor chords on the KO II:
I: C major (C)
7-9: B C D
4-6: F (G) A
1-3: (C) D (E)
.-E: G A B
ii: D minor (Dm)
7-9: B C D
4-6: (F) G (A)
1-3: C (D) E
.-E: G A B
iii: E minor (Em)
7-9: (B) C D
4-6: F (G) A
1-3: C D (E)
.-E: G A B
Wait, if we’re in C major why are we using minor chords for D and E!?
Major and minor chords (again)
I’m glad you asked! It’s because we’re in the key of C major, so we’re making the chords we can make from those notes using our pattern of skipping every other pad.
When we use our pattern to get a chord starting from D, we end up playing D, F, and A.
There are two keys on a piano between D and F (D# and E) while there are three keys between C and G (C# D D#). The smaller jump is a minor third, while the bigger jump is called a major third, hence D minor and E minor fit into the key of C major.
More chord shapes
The chords we made starting from 1, 2, and 3 were C, Dm, and Em. We can repeat our pattern to make chords for F and G:
IV: F major (F)
7-9: B (C) D
4-6: (F) G (A)
1-3: C D E
.-E: G A B
V: G major (G)
7-9: (B) C (D)
4-6: F (G) A
1-3: C D E
.-E: G A B
But if we start from A, we run out of room.
Inversions
Let’s go back to our C major chord:
7-9: B C D
4-6: F (G) A
1-3: (C) D (E)
.-E: G A B
If we play our G on the . pad instead of the 5 pad, we get different shape for our C major:
7-9: B C D
4-6: F G A
1-3: (C) D (E)
.-E: (G) A B
It’s still a C major, but since the notes are in a different order it’s called an inversion.
On the KO II, you can play the 5th of a pad’s chord by playing the pad immediately below it. If we use this substitution for Dm and Em we get these shapes:
Dm inversion
7-9: B C D
4-6: (F) G A
1-3: C (D) E
.-E: G (A) B
Em inversion
7-9: B C D
4-6: F (G) A
1-3: C D (E)
.-E: G A (B)
Note that when you play an inversion it’s good to remember which pad is the root note.
More chord shapes
Now that we know how inversions work, we can get our 6 chord:
vi: A minor (Am)
7-9: B (C) D
4-6: F G (A)
1-3: C D (E)
.-E: G A B
But we run out of space again for our 7 chord. Thankfully there are more inversions available to us.
When we played inversions before, we played the fifth of the chord on the pad below the root note. If we play the pad to the bottom-right of that pad, we’ll get a different inversion which will allow us to play our 7 chord:
viio: B diminished (Bdim)
7-9: (B) C D
4-6: (F) G A
1-3: C (D) E
.-E: G A B
Wait, DIMINISHED!?
Diminished Chords
Every major chord is a major third and a minor third. For example, C major has a major third between C and E but a minor third between E and G.
Every minor chord consists of a minor third and a major third. D minor has a minor third between D and F but a major third between F and A.
Diminished chords are even smaller than minor, since they’re two minor thirds put together. B to D is a minor third (C C# between them) and D to F is a minor third (D# E between them). They’re often used to create tension in a chord progression.
Other chord types
A suspended chord has no 3rd. Instead you play the 4th or 2nd. These chord types can also be inverted.
Csus4:
7-9: B C D
4-6: (F)(G) A
1-3: (C) D E
.-E: G A B
Csus2 (controversial chord name):
7-9: B C D
4-6: F (G) A
1-3: (C)(D) E
.-E: G A B
7th chords have four notes: a root, third, fifth, and seventh. In other words you only need to add one more note to get a 7th chord:
Cmaj7
7-9: (B) C D
4-6: F (G) A
1-3: (C) D (E)
.-E: G A B
There are lots of inversions and ways you can move the notes around (including dropping the fifth) but here’s just one other example:
Cmaj7
7-9: B C D
4-6: F G A
1-3: (C) D (E)
.-E: (G) A (B)
Chord progressions
To make a chord progression in the key of C major, we can just use the different shapes above and see what sounds good through trial and error. Generally, starting or ending with the 1 is a good idea, and it’s common to play the 5 chord before the 1. These aren’t rules, though–just ideas to consider.
Practicing chord progressions
Now that you know shapes in the major scale, you might want to spend some time working out different chord progressions on the KO II’s pads, including inversions & sometimes substituting a different chord type.
Here are some progressions you could try:
1 6 4 5
1 3 4 5
1 4 1 5
5 4 1 1
2 5 3 1
The cool part: other keys & modes
If you change the KO II’s key from C major to F# major (System code 326; 320 changes back to C), the progressions will sound different but work just the same. No need to memorize which keys have sharps etc.
If you change the scale from C major to C minor (System code 312), the above progressions will sound drastically different… but they’ll probably still work!
This is a super oversimplified version of looking at modes:
- If a progression sounds good in C major, try changing to C Mixolydian (316) or C Lydian (315). Each of those only change one note in the major scale.
- If a progression sounds good in C minor, try changing to C Dorian (313) or C Phrygian (314)
There’s also Locrian mode but if you have to debate whether something can be used musically, I’m just gonna plan to not use it at all.
Pentatonic major/minor has a different layout than the modes of the major scale, so these shapes won’t work. Plus you probably don’t want to just make chords out of a pentatonic scale anyway.
Tangent about modes
The minor scale is technically a mode of the major scale, but I like to them of them as totally separate.
From this view, the Mixolydian scale is “C major but with a Bb instead of a B” and Lydian is “C major but with an F# instead of an F.” These do change which notes are played and change the name of some chords used, but they don’t differ as dramatically as changing from C major to C minor.
Similarly, Dorian in my mind is “C minor but with a major 6” and Phrygian is “C minor but with a minor 2”
Holy crap that was more than I intended to write.
