Follow my process as I freshen up on some music theory in order to combine elements from three songs of differing genres into a cohesive composition.
KEYS | SCALES | CHORDS
B & E don't have sharps.
Major chord has 4 semitones between first and second note, follow by 3 semitones to the third to complete the tried. Minor chord reverses this. Listen for the closer second note to distinguish.
Diminished chord is equidistant: 3 semitones separate all notes.
First 6 triads of the major scale are maj min min maj maj min; otherwise written as I ii iii IV V vi.
IV can convey yearning.
Inversions are created by taking the third of the chord, or second note, and using it as the bass note. Second inversion of a chord starts on the chord's fifth.
It is totally possible to maintain notes in the chord, but move them to other locations. Can be useful for slight mood alteration, or to play it easier without having to move around the keyboard as much.
Tension can be built in a melody by playing notes not in the accompanying chord. To resolve a song will typically end on a note in the chord, if not the root note.
Remove the 4th and 7th of a scale to make a pentatonic major scale.
7th chords add a seventh note from the root (a fourth actual note in the chord). When not otherwise specified, typically it refers to a dominant seventh chord: a major triad with a minor seventh, though there are other options.
Suspended chords are when the chords third is omitted - usually replaced by the major second or more often the perfect fourth, though again there are other options.
CIRCLE OF FIFTHS
Carol Gets Drunk And Eats Butter Flies
Carol Finds BEADs
# on the bottom
b on the left
Each step is a perfect fifth
Helpful to quickly figure out third note of a triad
The closer they are, the more notes they share, and consequently will be digested more easily. Move through keys more fluidly. Eg. C & F# are "opposite".
Works for chords, scales, and song keys.
Every step clockwise from C is the number of sharps it will have:
A is 3 steps away with 3 sharps
Starting with F, then adding C, and then G
Similarly for E, there are 4 sharps - on F, C, G, add D
Every step anticlockwise from C is the number of flats it will have:
On this side, Ab is 4 steps away, with 4 flats
Starting with F, then adding B, E, and A
Similarly for Bb, it has 2 flats, obviously itself, and F
GUITAR
0 0 0 0 0 0 pattern
3 2 2 2 3 3
Pointer is minor - Pinkey is major (apply to song key to figure out which scale to use)
Add notes two frets above 2 3 3 for extended range
D string plus two frets from the root note will be an octave, followed by the third octave on the top E string.
CAGED - starting at the first form of open C, the second form of C uses an A shape one note up the fretboard, third form uses a G shape etc..
CAGED is the sequential order for the circle of fifths?
Also a D chord is made up of D f# A ___ E chord is E g# B_circle of fifths again?
KEYS
THREE SONG CHOICES
Love Joys - Jah Light
Reggae 1981
| Bassline |
The Soul Searchers - Ashley's Roachclip
Funk 1974
| Rhythm |
The Zombies - Time Of The Season
Psychedelic Rock 1968
| Melody | Harmony |
COMPOSITION
BASSLINE
Jah Light is in the key of E♭minor.
The circle of fifths dictates this has 6 flats: E♭, F, G♭, A♭, B♭, C♭, and D♭
Also known as D# minor.
As it's reggae, there is a lot of groove on note placement, but I have tightened it up a touch for the purposes of this arrangement.
Once adding in the Time Of The Season solo, I realised that the two songs would not work together, so I moved some of the notes around to better fit this new key of E minor. This is the equivalent of a G major, which means it has 1 sharp on the F. Here is what it became (notice a little timing difference to fit the groove of the song):
RHYTHM
Ashley's Roachclip is a 4/4 song with a tempo of 96bpm. To create a 90's breakbeat style track I will need to increase the speed of this to around 120bpm. It sounded right at around the 124bpm mark to my ear (though technically 62 in the above image).
The break I am sampling includes a swung tambourine over the top of the hi hat pattern, including those responding open hats on the &'s. Snares on the third beat of each bar. Classic syncopated kick pattern, with a subtle flare and double tap.
I enhanced this rhythmic pattern with a range of sounds to taste.
MELODY
Time Of The Season is in the key of E minor, relatively G major, which includes one sharp on the F. Though this solo contains a couple of notes outside of the scale.
After writing this in, I recorded it into an audio file, and took samples from this audio file to create some harmonies coming in at the beginning of the song. At the end of the composition, the distorted melody being played in the background is actually a line from the bass hand, slowed down to double length notes, and manipulated sonically for effect.
I also learned to play the song on guitar, which I recorded and sampled in the composition. I chose contain the recognisable C6 with an E resolve to provide some consistent context, and positioned them at the change of each phrase to provide a continuous fluid motion. My aim was to suck the listener into the groove, with a hint of where it came from, and then smack them in the face with the recognisable organ solo, followed by a crescendo peak of the track where all elements come together.
Here is the final result:
REFLECTIONS
WEEK 2
As a late addition to this class I dedicated the first week to overviewing the upcoming work and organising my time. I aim to tackle this module with a collection of good habits I'm hoping to have formed by now, and this has been useful previously. Similarly, once I understood the course content, I set some personal goals and began wonderfully wasting time:
regularly practice guitar again
learn keys
understand music theory
WEEK 3
EarMaster has required me to recall a lot of my music theory, which is quite fundamental thus far, but reminded me that I want to have a really good grasp of it. Once upon a guitar playing session I never learnt how to solo properly because I never learnt scales; or rather I learned the patterns vaguely, but never felt like I had connected all the dots.
It was good to refresh my memory of the basics via some YouTube tutes: things like B & E don't have sharps, or the semitone difference to listen for between a major and minor chord. But extending that knowledge to include dim, sus, add7, add9, will be useful for a lifetime of composition. These were the first expressions I was unsure of that came to mind, but looking forward I have created a list to be filled out whenever I come across, or recall, something that I am yet to understand. I'm hoping over the course of the next twelve weeks I will be able to make a decent dent in better understanding theory, even just so I can completely ignore the rules ...but intentionally. Anyhow thats enough rambling for now.
WEEK 4
I knew there was something about a fifth that I thought was special. Whenever I compose I usually first try the fifth when figuring out a progression or harmony. This week I spent some time digging into the circle of fifths, a concept that was once explained to me but went straight over my head. Besides reinforcing my suspicion of the fifth, it definitely begun to make a little more sense. In fact, it seemed to connect a few different elements into one concept. By remembering this circle it will allow me to quickly have access to information such as the notes in a chord, or the key of a song from the pattern of sharps or flats on the staff. Overall it helped me to recognise how poor my musical understanding is, but I'm fairly sure I felt a cog move in place. I look forward to drawing on it like words in the english language, but am feeling motivated by the start.
WEEK 5
EarMaster by name, EarMaster by nature. Besides a surprisingly bad ear for recognising intervals, and an awful environment for picking up my voice, I think I have completed that task. I found that quite interesting, I thought I had a great understanding of intervals when I was younger; almost perfect pitch. Perhaps I'm glorifying my youth, but combining that with (now two years of) regularly critically listening for frequencies I thought that would have been of assistance. Perhaps it is to the contrary - I can't seem to find any knowledgable people discussing this. I endeavour to continue with this course, extending my knowledge further rather than reinforcing it, because, derrr, let's make better music.
WEEK 6
Boomtown, finished the composition. As it neared the end of the project I realised there was perhaps a better option than Time Of The Season, but it was a great way of fine-tuning my ability to recreate detail in MIDI. It also helped to reinforce my understanding of scales and conceptually how to solo in/on key/s. Triplet notes helped me to think with groove for this process, but I would have to go back through with a fine-toothed comb to really give it the true feel. Also I attempted some automation to bring out an equivalent of the expression pedal, but without significant time dedicated I would not be able to get it to perfection. This experience definitely helped me to think in more detail - but mostly just made me want to be able to play keyboard already. Meanwhile I'm still trying to straighten my hands and use the correct fingers. Overall I was reasonably happy with the result, but I would like some more time to mix/master it properly. Though since this was not the objective I thought with some more time to modulate some sounds, and automate some more expression into the song, it could be quite nifty.
REFERENCES
Huang, A. (2019). Learn music theory in half an hour. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgaTLrZGlk0
Ross the Music Teacher. (2017). Understanding Music Theory. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvGYl8SQBJ0
New, M. (2015). Circle of Fifths. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1aJ6HixSe0
Johnson, S. P. (2019). How to use the CAGED system. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Qp26KcDrGw
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