A Beginner's Guide to Four-Part Harmony - Music Theory 

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I’ve been an untrained songwriter and musician arranging harmonies by ear and brute force since the ‘80s, but I got halfway smart a few years ago and started learning theory; I can’t believe it’s taken this long to stumble across a harmony primer as clearly, succinctly and elegantly presented as this. Thank you so much.

Took 4 semesters of music theory in college - and this course really puts it in wonderfully easy to understand form. Thank you!

‘Oh...a bit of a surprise on that one’ 😃 I’ve always loved an interrupted cadence.

To be honest you're teaching better than all my music teachers. The way you're teaching is so easy to understand. Thank u very much.❤️‍🔥

Positively, The Best, Most Sequential Music Theory Course, I have seen, and I have watched many of them, not to mention during two Music Education Degrees.

One of the most understandable and usefull harmony lessons I have is this. Thank You for this wonderfull and practical harmony lesson!

Well, I’m kinda speechless. That was a great opening tutorial to Harmony lessons. I’m a bit jealous of your skill in playing those four-part chords smoothly. You get a thumbs up from me.❤️

These are best music lessons I have come across on RU-vid . You are a great teacher , no gimmicks very easy to understand and apply ,Thank you very much

This is incredibly helpful! I wrote a piece more than 10 years ago, orchestrated it for beginning wind band, but I didn't really understand 4-part harmony - I just knew the chords I wanted and filled in notes with not much reasoning behind it. I'm revisiting it now, and this video is helping me to make decisions _on purpose_ !

I've played the piano for over 10 years now but I have never thought about the theory of harmonising too much. It's cool to learn something new every day!

Thank you so much for this lesson. I didn't know about consecutive fifths and cadences. Music is not as easy as thought, but teachers like you help a great deal. You are awesome.

Maestro, I have watched this video and it took awhile (I am an amateur) but it is quite lovely to have someone who takes the time to teach and NOT preach. With respect and gratitude, please, please never stop. R

Thank you very much for this! Your content really helps us, especially those who would like to learn the technicalities of music. This specific lesson really helps me in my choral endeavors!

You sir, are a gift to humanity.

Gareth, GREAT job!!! I am learning so much! Thank you for making such a subtle, emotional and potentially extremely complex subject as music, and turn the fundamentals into something I can digest.

I love your channel! You make each concept so easy to understand. This is a good review for me, thank you!

I take your classes regularly. My big compliments to you explanation. I see many simple lessons on the internet. Your lessons are number 1 in terms of content. From the Netherlands

kinda makes me wish I had music teachers like you growing up. super-comprehensive lesson, thank you.

Some of the best composition videos on RU-vid. Thank you

I knew most of the theory behind this but seeing it applied blew my mind. Thank you so much!

That was a brilliant video and found at just the right time!!! I don't think I've ever learned so much in just half an hour!!! Perfectly explained!!!

Just popped up in my feed, thank you, wonderful lesson that I really needed. Subbed and Liked 👍

I believe starting in the Key of C Major makes all the difference for beginners

Wow! Thank you for your time and consideration and created your own Melody for the piano.

This is excellent. A great approach to basic harmony. I will use this today with my GCSE musicians who have been struggling to grasp the basics. Thank you.

Another great lesson. And elegant example!

One of the best composition lessons I have ever seen. Thank you very much.

awesome stuff!! thank you v much. will be rewatching this and taking notes :)

You're wonderful sir, it was really helpful to the concept of four parts harmony, thank you so much, God bless you 👏👏👏👏👏🙏

Learning about four part harmony can be a bit intimidating, this guy makes it super accessible and approachable. There are lot of "rules" but it's better they be unpacked in the process of writing the harmony. Really good reference, thank you.

Thanks! A whole lot of stuff in this great video. I was able to understand everything although I recognize this a big and complex topic.

Excellent instruction. Clear delivery. This guide is the perfect starting point for me. Thank you for posting!

Very helpful and nice!! Thank you!🙂❤

This video is gold. I've come back to it for a refresher. Thank you.

This is such a brilliant video, thank you. You cover so much, so simply, in such a short space of time. I did grade 5 theory, but it’s only years later, watching this video, that things have clicked! I love it and have super thanked you, as I’m sure I will return to this video. :)

So great, as usual! Thanks so much!

Awesome tutorial! thank you for this

Brilliant video. Absolutely wonderful. Thank you!

This is exactly what I have been searching for. I've been tasked (self-tasked, actually) to write the vocal arrangements for my Country Rock band. I don't read music but have a good ear. I can always figure out the melody and first harmony easily, but the 2nd harmony is sometimes a challenge, and a 3rd harmony? Well that's no man's land to a guy with limited musical acumen. Heck, I may actually start to learn to read music and play some basic piano; two things that are on my bucket list. Thanks so much.

I can't thank you enough. I've been looking for something like this for years. ❤

Thank you Sir for your knowledge, I found this already incredibly rewarding. I started my music theory over 50 years ago but never found the right harmony link so to speak. I can't wait until the next lesson. Keep safe you and all yours and thank you again. Singem. PS I did a very similar experiment just the other day with Frère Jacques, it sounded fine but I did use consecutive 5th's as I didn't know the 5th rule, I suppose you could say I did a parallel harmony, I have heard of the such a musical expression! Thanks for any info. Thanks again. I remember an acquaintance of mine mentioned not using consecutive 5th's about 20 years ago as we were talking about CH Kitson's book of Harmony but I could never seem to obtain a copy!

thank you sir that is amazing I liked the way you explain each point .you have a great approach to teach harmony

Absolutely brilliant. Have a jolly good day!

Fantastic Garreth, I am focusing in on this video and may soon be able to subscribe to your course:)

just Love it!!

Amazing lesson, thank you so much!

Thank you that was amazing to watch still soaking that in but very interesting..

Thank you! That was very helpful!

This was so good!

Thank you so much, sir, for this beautiful video! Incredibly useful and very well explained!

Excellent instruction. The visual guidance is really helpful and a better approach to music theory than some of us might have had as begninners. A really good pair of ears (maybe much rarer) may pick these points up quickly anyway.

Sensational lesson! Thanks.

I was amazed at how much of the song was written before playing a note. The logic of how the notes fit together is no less beautiful than the sounds they produce. Thank you!

Thank you. The best delivery of this topic I have come across.

Amazing Lesson! Thank you!!

Amazing, thank you very much!

So succinct and easy to understand... I love your way of teaching!

mind blown ..... brilliant lesson!!

Hi Gareth. I haven't had any knowledge of inversions apart from where they start 3rd or 5th and follow on in the ascending order. In C 1st inversion E-G-C, this is what I concluded but not learned. So I wasn't aware that one can put the 3rd in the bass and then arrange the others in any order one likes. Never stop learning! That's why I'm here. Thanks again.

Watched again today. Extremely insightful. Amazing teacher. Thank you sir. 🙏

Arguably the best description I have seen Thank you

Thank you so much. I really enjoy this videos

This was a very insightful video. I found it easy to follow, and explained well. Thanks.

Very helpful,thanks.

Awesome tutor! God bless your work!

This was truly amazing, super easy to follow, and I can see it seemed he really enjoys music

Thank you for this wonderful and practical harmony lesson :)

Outstanding content, thank you Gareth.

This episode needs to be revisited many times, thank you!!!

SO HELPFUL!!!!

Helps me soooooo much, thanks!!!!

Thank you for your teaching sir. So easy to understand

I have been studying the basics and this covered an area that interested me.

Nice process! I like these organized, step-by-step ways to compose an arragement, it's very common being so overwhelmed that we fall into a writer's block sorta thing. This will fix those moments for me

Thank you for the tips, guys It's really help anyone who will compose harmony

That was really well presented and demonstrated

incredibly helpful !!!!!!!!!

Thank you so much!

Brilliantly explained in so few minutes. I'm a subscriber. :)

You are amazing. You explain things so well !

Very helpful!

This help me a lot to arranging a chorus for my faculty-song, thank you so much ❤❤❤❤

Fantastic lesson. Worth the watch. I'm reviewing harmony as a jazz pianist who hasn't looked at it in a few years and this was very helpful, though in my opinion, the chord choices were a bit dry, but that's up to preference. A few things stood out to me as not very beginner-friendly, such as the undefined four parts (Bass, Tenor, Alto, Soprano), and the discussion of chord inversions without any visual examples. I think also the Ia / Ib / Ic system is a bit disorienting but I've never liked figured bass or anything like it. Thank you so much!

Brilliant I love your lessons

What an excellent beginner's guide. Wonderful instructor. Extremely helpful.

keep up the good work sir one of the best if not the best music lesson to date

Thank you. I have the opportunity to publish a hymn I wrote, and your video gave me the best introduction to harmonization.

You are a wonderful teacher Sir!

Probably one of the best! ☺️ I really wonder why it only has 198k views after three years. Thanks and keep up the good work!

I have enjoyed it, thank you sir. you are a good teacher

THIS I NEEDED MY WHOLE LIFE. Thank you, sir!!!

this is so well and simply explained, Nice lesson

‘In 4-part vocal writing You may not approach a Perfect Consonance (unison, octave, 5th or 4th) by Direct Motion : all other options of motus are allowable’ - Thus W.A.Mozart taught the young 21-year old Englishman Thomas Attwood in Vienna (between Monday 1 August 1785 thro’ Sunday 4 March 1787) Thankfully we still have extant Attwood’s student harmony notebook (K. 506a) consisting of 242 extant sheets (about 50-75 sheets seem to have gone missing over time for various reasons) - the first 35 sheets or so were dedicated to ‘Toni a Modi’ where M. would provide the Canto part (upper-soprano part) for e.g, 16-32 bars where Attwood was given ‘as homework’ to provide the 3 additional notes (a note written by M. in broken English dated 25 August 1785 says : ‘Tis Allways better to Use Full Cords’ [sic] ) = a very useful rule of thumb for beginners in Composition … Conversely Attwood would be given a bass-line (16-32 bars) where he had to add the upper voices ‘for homework’ which was usually due the next day (e.g, ‘For Tuesday’ &c.) Attwood’s initial attempts [beginning around 19 August 1785] to provide the ‘full chords’ met with some stern censure by M. who wrote on one sheet ‘Ther are many Faults in this Exempl - atentive’ [sic] and scribbl’d on several of the following pages ‘You are an Ass’ [!] whenever Attwood turn’d in any homework assignment with more than 2 errors… At the bottom of one particular ‘fully corrected’ homework assignment Attwood prefac’d his clean-copy (on his 3rd attempt) with : ‘Tuesday 23 August 1785 - Mr Thos Attwood sends his Regards to W.A. Mozart & hopes that he will find No Room for Correction with this Exercise.’ M. was apparently very particular about how all 4 voices appear’d on the sheet in front of him & offer’d dozens of corrected examples by means of footnotes indicated by sigils (+, NB:, X, & a host of alchemical symbols probably out of one of Leopold Mozart’s library to mark which bar is being corrected at the bottom of the page …) Attwood’s work seem’d to have improved in his Toni a Modi examples over time judging by the contents of the extant pages in the autograph MS so that by 30 September 1785 he had cover’d all the basics of figur’d bass (‘thorough-bass’ or ‘Bezifferung’) with all the concomitant inversions of intervals so that M. was satisfied that Attwood could begin his Fuxian Counterpoint studies in earnest (starting with Fux’ Gradus ad Parnassum (1725) pages 41 through 99) but the point is M. dedicated 2 whole months to Attwood ev’ry afternoon to cover thoroughly all the various chord sequences common in 4-part harmony - Long story short - this very helpful video gives us a clever 40,000 foot overview ‘cheat-sheet’ of adding ‘full chords’ to any given Melody -all of which should make this very delicate task a little more ‘intelligible’ !! LoL

Very interesting, thank you.

fantastic; thanks so much :)

I LOVE YOU!!!!😩😩😩

Thanks from Spain. Excelent job!

Thank You for all your lessons, I have really learned a lot from them, I am finally starting to compose music after 20 plus years of playing by ear.

This is số helpful thankyou for your work