Music Theory - Class is in session, have a seat. (Page 3 of 3)
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Originally Posted By Hemi-Cuda:
Let's start with the good old 12 Bar Blues Chord Progression which looks like this: I - I - I - I IV - IV - I - I <- All three lines, will take 16 quarter notes which would be a 4 x 4 setup (4 bars / 4 beats), thus making it 12 bars and 48 beats for the entire progression. V - IV - I - I Originally Posted By Hemi-Cuda:
Let's start with the good old 12 Bar Blues Chord Progression which looks like this: I - I - I - I IV - IV - I - I <- All three lines, will take 16 quarter notes which would be a 4 x 4 setup (4 bars / 4 beats), thus making it 12 bars and 48 beats for the entire progression. V - IV - I - I I - IV - I - I <- here IV - IV - I - I V - IV - I - I There are other variations, of course. Now for Roman Numeral I, this is known as a Tonal Chord. |
I wish I understood this theory, I played guitar for well over 30 years. I don't suck at it by any means, though I don't know a thing about it. I lost the passion a few years ago and have not picked it up since sadly. I think I will plug my guitar in right now 
If I find anything then I will come back and ask for some direction. Thanks!!! |
Team Ranstad
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More variation, and bluesier.
I - IV7 - I - I7 IV7 - IV7 - I - I V7 - IV7 - I - I To denote beats, use the / mark. The vertical | is a bar line. ||: and :|| are repeats, that is, you repeat everything between these markings. It would look a little better, be easier to read, if you make the | (bar lines) a little taller than the ///. ||: I / / / | IV7 / / / | I / / / | I7 / / / | IV7 / / / | IV7 / / / | I / / / | / / / / | V7 / / Vb7* | IV7 / / / | I / / / | / / / / :|| * For example, if playing in C, you would play a barred G7, then on the 4th beat a Gb7, that is, just slide down a half step, and then down another half step to the IV7. So you could write it like this. How about G, a good key for guitar. ||: G / / / | C7 / / / | G / / / | G7 / / / | C7 / / / | C7 / / / | G / / / | / / / / | D7 / / Db7 | C7 / / / | G / / / | / / / / :|| While the bass line will pick up the IV a higher instrument can drop a Im over the IV7 in the first and second 4-bar phrases. That will in effect be a IV9, and a good blues effect. ||: G / / / | C7(Gm) / / / | G / / / | G7 / / / | C7(Gm) / / / | C7 / / / | G / / / | / / / / | D7 / / Db7 | C7(Gm) / / / | G / / / | / / / / :|| |
| Someone just shared this course in another forum. I signed up but haven't taken any of the course yet. Just thought I'd share. |
"The answer to crime is always cows." -Cheesebeast
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Kinda bummed that after all these years I didn't click on this thread until this week. Some really good info in here.
As a young lad I had learned how to read, write, and play music...then summarily forgot all that 'formal' stuff in favor of 'teaching myself guitar' in my teens 
After pursuing real lessons, then music school, then more lessons, I had accumulated (and remembered) enough theory to at least pass as a guitarist. Now...decades later I've found myself trying to complete my training....like Luke going back to Yoda 
I put up a local ad trying to give lessons for beginners...trying to make some side cash. Got a student pretty quickly and as I was preparing lessons I realized both how much I actually did kinda know, yet at the same time, how much I didn't. It was already said in a way in this thread...understanding the theory behind how chords are built and how certain tones resolve them really is the secret sauce behind playing....like learning a new language. As a young guitarist, as much as I wanted to solo, I couldn't ever seem to find notes that made any sense. Learning scales was like finding a key to a locked door...and I stayed with that for many years. Now I find myself tackling more of the jazzy type progressions and chords...expanding the complexity and trying to take my playing up a notch. I hope more folks will chime in with thoughts, lessons, and offerings. What I'd love to see are thoughts on which modes to use over what chordal tones. There are tons of instructions out there for how to learn and memorize the modes, but very little that is useful in terms of how they ought to be used. I play over tracks when I practice scales and have found little application for many of the modes....I assume because of the progressions and voicings I am playing. I use Ionian as my base, and have found some application for Dorian and Lydian. I have found almost no way to musically apply the Locrian mode to my music (which is mostly hard rock, edgy bluesy, and psychedelic rock). I kinda get the taste of the Phyrgian mode, but just kinda feel like the harmonic minor scale does that theme better....at least for the music I tend to play. I tend to use Ionian and pentatonic for damn near everything....with some harmonic minor riffs thrown in at times. Trying to find some other scales / modes that will introduce new flavors. Any suggested chord progressions and pairings for scales would be very appreciated.
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One bourbon, one scotch, one beer.
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Originally Posted By DangerJ:
Whoa, boy did that catch my attention when I saw Hemi-Cuda appear as a thread author in active topics. I had no idea this existed. Tag! |
One bourbon, one scotch, one beer.
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Originally Posted By Hemi-Cuda: Music is a language much like English except it's built up off of many formulas. The understanding of music theory, is similar to understanding English. Most people don't have to take classes to learn English, but those who do are much more eloquent. I've been a composer for 40 years. Piano is my main instrument, but I also own and program synthesizers. Lots of fun. But this opening statement by this guy is actually wrong. Music is not a language. Music is an art form consisting of sounds comprised of 4 elements: 1) Beat 2) Rhythm 3) Melody 4) Harmony A language means that people can communicate with one another and understand what is said. If I play an 8-bar chord progression, or a 12-bar melody, could anybody say they knew what was said? It would be utter foolishness to speak as such. The term "Music is a language" is something people throw around all the time without really understanding the words they are saying, and the meaning of those words. We all know what is implied, but technically music is not a language. It does not have verbs and nouns, adjectives and adverbs, etc. |
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Originally Posted By Quintin: Good thread. I remember how to read "normal" sheet music, from my band days back in middle and high school, but guitar stuff is like trying to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphics. I've been picking up Guitar World mags and the way the sheet music is written in the back of the book is totally alien to me, but I'm sure it's second hand to a guitarist. Wanna break it down for me? Notation might help illustrate some concepts on paper better, maybe, but it definitely is not a must. To the average musician who wants to play rock, blues, folk, or pop, and do some writing, basic theory is important; reading is not. If you get into mainstream jazz or classical, then you better know your squiggles, but otherwise a well developed ear and an understanding of the relationship of notes and keys is the key. Uh, no pun intended. |
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Cool thread, I've picked around on guitars for 25 years but I've decided to learn more about music theory. I was in band for many years and music isn't foreign to me but it's also been a while too, so in a way it's like starting all over again, well mostly. Been watching some guys on YT and playing with triads which has got me wanting to go further. Guitar is an enjoyable instrument for sure, challenging for sure at times but also rewarding. It gives you plenty of stuff to learn so it really never gets boring, depending on your mindset. |
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I never dipped into this thread because I honestly never look at stickies on this forum, but thought I might add a bit of what I remember from my jazz days and try to answer a few questions at once. Originally Posted By Gone_Shootin:I guess my biggest problem is knowing what scales to play over a given chord. Do you just play the scale with the same name as the chord? I've also heard something about playing the scale that is the major this or the minor that, but I don't understand that either. Originally Posted By Gone_Shootin:I guess my biggest problem is knowing what scales to play over a given chord. Do you just play the scale with the same name as the chord? I've also heard something about playing the scale that is the major this or the minor that, but I don't understand that either. Originally Posted By ColdboreDreamer: Can you give an explanation of what a musical key is? I keep hearing my instructor talking about chords "resolving" but it would be great to really understand what is happening musically. There are a few ways to approach this, but it (generally) all starts with looking at the chords of the progression, and determining your tonic. This gets way out in the weeds with key changes, borrowed chords, etc., but for most rock, blues, and pop, this works. It all starts with learning/memorizing what the different chord characters are for a major scale, and then going from there. This has already been touched on and shown with the Roman numeral representations so look back at the thread and I won't rehash it here. Let's look at a song I wrote recently: Intro: DMaj GMaj (2 times, then resolves to A7) Verse: Emin DMaj A7 (2 times) GMaj Gm DMaj GMaj Gm A7 Chorus: DMaj CMaj GMaj (2 times) Gmin DMaj Gmin A7 So my first instinct is to look at that dominant chord (the A7; when you see X7 it is the Xdom chord and should not be confused with the XMaj7 or Xmin7 it is simply shorthand) and start by assuming that is the V of the mode we are using. Okay, so our tonic is probably D. So our intro is a I - IV progression that resolves to the V. Common enough, the I - IV - V is probably the most common progression in all of pop and rock. So now we look at that Emin. Okay the two chord of a few scales/modes in D will be minor, so we are good there. Hmmm... what about having the Major and minor four chord in the same progression? No big deal, the borrowed minor four is crazy common because it resolves* well to both the tonic/one and the five (dominant). Okay so our verse starts with a repeating ii - I - V. Common enough variation on the jazz standard ii - V - I (this is actually a punk rock song BTW). Then a prechorus of IV - iv - I - IV - iv - V. So there is that borrowed minor four being use to resolve* first to the tonic and then strongly to the dominant five. Cool, still good. Now the chorus. Well, if we were in DMaj as a key (that would be D Ionian mode) then we would have an C# instead of a C natural (and further, the chord built on that would be diminished and not Major). Okay what do we do with that? Well this is the flat seven which can directly indicate what mode we are using, but let's go a step further. So instead of my chords being built on I ii iii IV V vi VII(dim), I have a flat seven where my diminished should be. Okay while we don't find an F in the progression, we know that every scale has one of each letter, and in D this would be an F# (that would be the iii). Well if I glance at a cheat sheet or the circle of fifths, I can see that assuming an F#, I'm using the notes from GMaj or G Ionian. If I am using the notes of the major (Ionian) scale that contains my tonic as its fifth, that is Mixolydian mode. That is incredibly common in rock and blues so I think we've figured it out. You could also just shortcut this and know that if you drop the diminished seven a half step and use I - ii - iii - IV - V - vi - bVII that you are in Mixolydian. There are charts all over the internet for this but a good reference is here: https://muted.io/modal-scales/ So for a jazz player, I am going to use D as my tonic or tonal center, and play the notes of the GMaj scale. On guitar this means you are using the scale form and location for GMaj but leaning on the notes that you would when playing in D. Easier to hear than to explain for sure. *Okay a brief pitstop to explain what resolution/resolving is, since I've shown you an example. Bottom line is some chords when played in series create tension, and when you move to certain other chords from them, it creates a satisfying "resolution" of the tension. There are a bunch of rules and such but for me this has always been a "you know it when you hear it" thing. So just play the chords above in order and listen; pay attention to the "feel" of going from the IV to the iv. The IV - iv - I loosens some tension, and the IV - iv - V is super satisfying to the ear. Now, we go a step further and lightly touch on arpeggios and chord leading for "what to play over X." So you have your tonic and your mode, and you can just hang out in that mode using the scale forms you already know and just feel your way around. If it sounds good it is good! The better way is to know the notes of the individual chords and make sure to use them as tonal centers while that chord is being played which leads to arpeggios. I'm going to figure out the notes in each of the chords above (and if necessary in a more complex progression, the 7/9/11/whatever chords) and then look for them in the modal scale. I'm going to try to target resolutions as the chords change by creating the tension/resolution. I should do this using theory but I tend to just do it by ear and experience. So we have Emin DMaj A7 Emin: E, G, B DMaj: D, F#, A A7: A, C#, G, E Already I'm looking at that C# in the A7 chord and since it isn't in the D Mixolydian mode (it isn't one of the notes of the GMaj scale), it isn't going to be in our guitar scale form, and also is probably gonna be a good way to lead into or out of that dominant five chord by creating tension and resolution. I'm going to try to land on the chord roots on changes, or lead the chord by using the root a bit early sometimes, or may a little late. Clear as mud, right? For a great example, trying playing in Dorian or Mixolydian over the 12-bar Blues patterns. Just find the scale that will have the b3 and b7 (Dorian) or just the b7 (Mixolydian) and use that form to play around. After that start to try to target specific notes as the chords changes. Play with leading and with tension/resolution. I hope that helps I had to send the brain cells to the archives for this one and will have to come back later to proofread since this was rather stream of consciousness and I'm well past my normal lunch break LOL. |