music theory
Minor dominants
Typical pop and folk songs in the major mode use major chords for the tonic (T), subdominant (S), and dominant (D). Hence, Loui Loui: TTT-SS-DDD-SS-… etc. Minor chords are used for the relative minors. Nevertheless, some pop songs employ a minor dominant, with dramatic effects. Someone’s gonna break your heart, by Fountains of Wayne. Dramatic [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Redundant chords
To play a powerful guitar chord one can choose to include as many notes as possible… or double the ones that are played. An example of the former would be (in tablature): C: 3-3-2-0-1-0 (an unorthodox thumb may be used for the low G An example of the later: C: x-3-5-0-5-0 (x means muted) Notice [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 2 so far )Substitute dominant – an explanation
This is a summary of what I understood about the substitute dominant from a conversation with my colleague Rafael Delgado Buscalioni, who is proficient in music theory. The idea is how to build “another” dominant chord. Say we have a regular, major C chord: C-E-G. The dominant is G major: G-B-D. A typical choice is [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Band in a Box
“The depressing thing about tennis is that no matter how good I get, I’ll never be as good as a wall.” (Mitch Hedberg) Now, I could say similarly: no matter how good I play an instrument, there’s this computer program that does it better. Seriously, I don’t know what kind of AI they use in [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Modes of the diatonic scale
Just a reminder to myself of these nice names Ionian (I). “Natural” major mode. Dorian (II). Quite standard minor, specially in Celtic music. E.g. “Drunken Sailor“ Phrygian (III). Intriging minor, flamenco-like. E.g. Jefferson Airplane‘s “White Rabbit“ Lydian (IV). Strange major. “Man on the Moon” by R.E.M. Mixolydian (V). Major, with a H instead of a [...]
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