Creating suspense in music can be achieved in a number of different ways, but for instant suspense gratification, there's nothing quite like a diminished chord. It's a fairly safe bet to suggest that ...

Unless you happen to be making the most minimal techno, it’s inevitable that, pretty soon into your music production journey, you’ll be using chords. That’s to say that you’ll be using playing ...

Editor's note: This segment was rebroadcast on Dec. 25, 2025. Find that audio here. Among the most cherished elements of the holiday season is Christmas music. It’s perhaps the only holiday that comes ...

Artists “It's a sad song because it's all about the unattainable”: The ballad that sparked the breakup of The Beatles Artists “It was a challenge to myself: ‘I’m not gonna have a chorus in this song’” ...

Mariah Carey is not having a very merry Christmas. Her in-progress divorce from Nick Cannon has turned both ugly and time-consuming, a fact that People reports led directly to the other big ...

Performances in N.Y.C. Advertisement Supported by A moment in “O Come, All Ye Faithful” is so popular, it’s printed on T-shirts. But it’s also symbolic, and important to music history. By Hugh Morris ...

Dwang. Dwang. Dwang. Dwang. Dwang. Dwang. Six dwangs. Four seconds. It's an A minor chord that sounds slightly out of tune and thinly metallic. It's a primitive, janky sound voiced in open D tuning, ...