Trevor Wong Music

Chords For That Shoegaze Tone

My best attempt at a My Bloody Valentine impression. This progression contains a lot of nice jazzy chords that meander from one to another using subtle movement and voice leading

Easy, Must Know 7th Chord Shapes In DAEAC#E

In this video, I demonstrate some chord shapes that can work well as a "power chord" for DAEAC#E. These are 7th chords that are comprised of a 1-5-7 structure. They sound great for Math Rock, Midwest Emo, and Post Hardcore. It really just depends how you arrange and use the sounds.

Attempting Some Shoegaze Tones (Chord Diagrams)

Hey everyone, here are the chord diagrams to a recent video I posted that attempts to emulate the tone / style of My Bloody Valentine. I'm still working on that tone, but its a tricky blend of timing out the tremolo bar dives while strumming chords and also getting the right kind of fuzz set up. If you haven't seen the video, check it out here: https://youtu.be/svGLAuyC3Lg

7 Licks That Teach You Midwest Emo In Standard

In these exercises, I demonstrate some short licks that will teach you some of the rudimentary movements of midwest emo. For example, some of the licks will isolate key techniques like pull-offs into open notes, slides, and hammer-on's. Also, key rhythmic concepts are demonstrated as well. Notably, the classic 16th note flow.

Chords For Heavy Emo Riffs In CGDGBD

In this video I explore chords in the fantastic C-G-D-G-B-D tuning. The low C sound creates some very intimidating aesthetics. Furthermore, if you've ever played in D-A-E-A-C#-E, then you should find transitioning to this tuning extremely easy as they are essentially exactly the same. The open chord is just transposed from D, to C.

Chords To Prove I'm Still Alive (Beautiful Standard Tuning Chords)

This one goes out to anyone who's been wondering where I've been at for the past week! I've been out of town on vacation. I'm back now and am excited to get back on the guitar grind!

Chords For Contemplating Your Existence

A short etude that uses some nice Math Rock sounds, combined with inverted triads. The sounds are relatively simple to play, but they've been organized into a pleasant progression that utilizes some smooth voice leading and melody. As always, happy practicing!

Chords For Adventurous Emo Pop

A colourful series of chords that would sound nice for emo tracks that are looking to introduce a little more chromatic harmony. I tried to keep the voicing styles in the ballpark of the genre while creating changes that modulate between different keys.

Some Nice Math Rock Chords In Standard

Some of my favourite chords and movements in Standard Tuning. This riff is basically a collection of great intermediate to advanced shapes for Math Rock and Midwest Emo in Standard. Hope you have fun learning it!

How To Play Whole Tone Scales On Guitar

Here's a look at my favourite fingering for playing the Whole Tone sound. It's a pretty crazy sounding scale with a lot of potential for some pretty interesting and ethereal ideas. As always, when you learn the scale, be sure to try and make some music with it rather than just running it up and down.

Chords To Make You Feel Something (Diagrams + Tab)

My first foray into C-G-D-G-A-C tuning. Overall, I'd say this is a really nice one to try writing in. I find that ideas come pretty easily due to the inspirational sus2 sounds in the upper structure of the open chord. As a general tip, whenever you're trying out a new tuning, it's always a good idea to experiment with harmony first!

Sometime to note: This PDF also includes the tabbed out arrangement of the chords. It's at the bottom of the 2nd page! 

Chords For That Studio Ghibli Vibe

Playing around with some chord ideas in the vein of Joe Hisaishi. I was absolutely obsessed with his sound tracks a few years ago. This video attempts to capture some of his aesthetic through the usage of quartal and quintal harmony, parallelism, and simple spacey sounds.

Chords To Flex At A House Party

In this video, I play around with the stereotype of the dude at a house party who picks up a guitar and plays 4 basic open chords. Essentially, the video begins by playing a basic I-V-ii-IV progression, and after each 4 bars, I move into a new set of chord shapes that have a different aesthetic. For instance, I explore the progression as basic open chords, barre chords, spread triads, extended jazz chords, inversions, and open emo chords. Hope you have fun learning these!

Chords For When You Feel SUS

A cool riff / chord progression that leans heavily on sus2 voicings. This is hopefully a solid example of what you can do with the Sus2 sound in a rock / math rock context. This video also features a new tuning for me (E-A-E-G#-B-E); an open Amaj9/E sound. It's got a very American Football esq vibe! 

Chords For Your Tom Misch Phase

Some cool chords in the vein of the Tom Misch. From what I hear, Misch uses a lot of ideas with chromatic passing chords and voicings using a lot of 4ths. His music is pretty nice and I would definitely recommend checking it out. 

"Chords For When You're Sad About Girls"

Some very Uchu Conbini style math rock / emo chords in an open Dmiadd9 tuning. This one utilizes a lot of #11's, 9ths, and 5ths to create a very open effect. Also, I focus heavily on my bass motion in order to create some nice movement. The piece is in D minor.

Chords To Destroy Your Roommates

An exploration of a new tuning (FAbCGCEb). This tuning is a byproduct of a cool trick where we take a tuning based off of a chord (in this case, Fmaj9) and we alter the 3rds and 7ths in order to change our quality from major to minor. In this case, I started with the popular tuning FACGCE. I changed the A to Ab, (since the relationship of F to A is a major 3rd, which we don't want!) to create a minor 3rd interval. I also changed the E to Eb (since the relationship of F to E was a major 7th in...

Chords For When You Write A Broadway Musical

Another experiment in harmony! In this progression I try using more conventional chord changes, secondary dominants, and barre triad shapes. The goal was to try and write something that sounds like pop. I think the result here was a bit cliche but it was fun to try and write something in this style. It definitely has a different colour to it. 

Chords For When You Feel Angry

An attempt to write a darker chord progression. This time, in D Phrygian. I've basically never written anything in this mode before so this was pretty fun and challenging to work with. The main issue was dealing with increasing brightness in the harmony. I found there's a certain gravity that either moves towards the tonic, or towards the root of the parent key. Meaning, the main challenge was all about trying to balance this gravity by keeping my chords from progressively becoming more major...

Delay Chords

Here's an interesting progression / idea written with a delay pedal effect in mind. This one goes a little harder into the sus chord sounds in order to create a more spacey effect. 

Chords For Your Next Lo-Fi Hip Hop Beat

A closer look at the harmony / chords from a chord melody that I wrote last year. This was one of my favourite short compositions as it utilizes a nice string of emo-y jazz chords that are tied together with short melodic lines. Overall, the composition is driven more by melody than harmony so pay attention to that as you are learning this piece. See below for two PDF's, one with just chord diagrams and another with the full guitar tab / notation.

Folky Emo Progression In DAEAC#E

Another string of chords in DAEAC#E  featuring some new shapes! This one focuses on a more clear A-major sound and, stylistically, it has a little bit a folk tinge to it. That being said, a lot of shapes here would be great for Math Rock and Midwest Emo. Hope you have fun expanding your vocabulary through learning the chords!

Chords For The End Of Summer

Some American Football style chords to commemorate the end of the summer season. This song utilizes some rubato feel, and is in E major. It focuses on a lot of twinkly open chords. 

Big DAEAC#E Progression (Chords For Ages 18-34)

Apparently over 90% of my audience lies between the ages of 18 to 34. To celebrate that, I've created an intense Math Rock and Midwest Emo chord progression in DAEAC#E tuning. Hope you have fun learning it! 

Chords To Annoy Your Roommates (Melodic Minor)

Some unsettling Jazz chords written in C-Melodic Minor. I thought it would be fun to continue using these short chord videos as a personal writing challenge. In this case, I explore unfamiliar harmony. In my experience with Jazz Melodic Minor, I've found that it's pretty hard to create anything that I really enjoy listening to. I think it might just be the nature of the scale, but I'd be curious to hear about your experience with this sound. Any success?

Chords For When You Feel Lucky "Mixolydian-ish Progression"

An attempt to write a progression that starts off with some Mixolydian vibes. I usually don't write stuff with that kind of sound so this was an interesting challenge. I found that I could make it work if I used an add9 aesthetic. 

Chords For The Boomers

Another exploration of harmony in Drop-D Tuning! This time we're writing in the key of D-Dorian. The voicings in this video get quite complex in terms of the fingerings, but I like the end result!

Chords That Make You Go Wtf (Colourful Chromatic Progression)

Here's a crazy chord progression that uses a tonne of modern chromatic harmony. This idea constantly uses chords from unrelated keys, instead focusing on the individual aesthetics of each chord, voice leading, and common tones as the glue to make it work. If you're looking explore chromatic harmony, learning this might be good for you. That being said, some of the voicings are quite a physical stretch...

Chords For Hope And Despair

A very moody chord progression written in Drop D, D minor. This one focuses on keeping the harmony moving by cycling through a lot of chords in a short span of time. I tend to write more often in major keys so this was some nice practice at minor harmony. Have fun learning it!

Trevor

Chords For The Comfortably Numb

A string of pretty chords arranged into a chord melody. These chords are mostly easy to play / semi common. The main thing that makes them interesting is how I've used them together. I focused mostly on creating melody between my sounds. Hope you like it!