If you’re into Japanese music and want to learn more as a musician, this website, Chromatic Dreamers, will give you all the resources you need!
I’m a big J-music fan myself. I’ve been an anime fan since childhood and discovered Japanese music since middle school in 2006. I played other instruments as a kid, but there were no resources back then as to why Japanese music sounded the way I did.
Now that I’m learning guitar, I’ve been on a mission to learn more and share my discoveries with other learners. I know enough Japanese to check out their side of the internet and I’m learning more about music theory in the process!
I’ve collected (and I’m still collecting) and Japanese music theory videos that I find on Youtube. You can find them in this playlist. I’ve included a few supplementary videos, such as borrowed and diminished chord lessons. Check it out! Be sure to check out my other playlists as well on my channel.
I have noticed though, that most will only cover the Royal Road progression, or they aren’t serious fans themselves so they don’t explore other Japanese music genres or other tricks that are used by their songwriters, but don’t worry, I’ve done the research and anayzing!
I’ve written a lot of articles regarding Japanese and Anime music, and you can find all of them on my Japanese Music Resources page. But here’s some direct articles you may be interested in:
- Why Does Japanese Music Sound So Different?
- Japanese Song Structure Insights & Examples
- Common Words In Japanese Music Lyrics
- Breaking Down 15 Anime Chord Progressions
- Anime Songs With Modulation (Key Changes)
And if you’re serious about digging deeper and want to have various Japanese progressions in your hands to work with, I have also written an e-Book! It includes 10 Common Japanese Progressions, along with other chord tricks they use. It’s very detailed and easy to understand, so you can start using them within a day or two 🙂 Trust me, I wished I had the same thing 10 years ago! I hope you’ll check it out!
Finally, I have a group for people who want to study Japanese music and lyrics more. Join my Facebook group “Let’s Study Japanese Music” if you’re interested! ^_^ Hope to see you there!