So I have over time developed a love/hate relationship with music theory. The more I know, the less mystical music feels to me and the more I start to hate anything on the top charts for the sheer fact that almost every popular artist is doing the same damn thing over and over(as always). I also love theory though because I now rarely get stuck when thinking of a chord progression and can more easily turn my ideas into music. I also find that I'm getting better over all at playing the keyboard and able improvise better. Overall, I'm happy with it and will continue to learn theory and develop 1337 muzik skillz111. Also I'm curious to know, what are some favorite chords and chord progressions of yours???
Some of my favorite chords are Gminor 6 add 9, D minor7 #5, CMaj7 add 2.
In terms of chord progressions I like highly embellished ones with copious substitutions and chromatic mediants to change the scale.
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Electronic Music discussion: Favorite chords and love/hate theory
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Written May 21 2010 , Tags: theory, chords, harmony, knowledge
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lately i feel like treasuring my musical illeteracy. i'm kind of glad that things like "Gminor 6 add 9, D minor7 #5, CMaj7 add 2" mean nothing to me, because coming up with simple chord progressions & melodies feels like discovering them
 i like to play scales, but if I had to pick a key it would either be c, f, d,a or bb,maj or min
I love to use secondary dominants and chromatic mediants in order to give some interest to the music.
I also appreciate modal interchanges and the neapolitan chord. They often help me getting way with stuck situations, revealing a bunch of progressions possibilities like modulations and cadences. However, the indefined usage of these fancy resources have the incredible hability to turn something from audible to boring. Indeed, it is much more necessary to have a nice simple chord progression than to just spill dozens of complex ornaments and harmony functions into it. Of course that complexity can turn water into wine, but the opposite is also feasible. I would rather start a composition with basic progressions and then add embellishment into it. In other words, if your song is not at least enjoyable when played only with triads and maybe a few sevenths then it probably will suck. I gave up on traditional music theory a while ago...
Not that I'm discarding the wisdom that's there, it's just that communicating to other musicians exactly what notes I'm playing isn't a part of my music making process. I went the way of doing everything by ear and not bothering to name anything. I have no idea what keys, chords or progressions I'm playing, but I do know that they fit what I'm trying to do with the song. That said, lately I've been using different scales for different parts simultaneously, using modal changes in place of chord changes, and using key changes to expose different resonances in the instruments I've sampled. I also like long slow progressions that make subtle changes sound much more dynamic. Not that I know exactly what notes I'm using, but I do know I programmed my Reaktor patch correctly. I just verify that my ears like the patch's output, and change the patch's input if my ears think it's a good idea. I suppose I'm an ardent relativist when it comes to music theory. There is no good or bad. Most any chord can be good given the right progression, and most any chord can be terrible in the wrong progression. The same goes for key selection, I'm sure there's more than one instrument that will absolutely butcher a G minor 6 add 9, but will make an E flat minor 6 add 9 feel like my whole body is resonating in perfect consonance. i roll a 2d6 for a key change.
jogn said: "i roll a 2d6 for a key change." You and Mozart: Musikalisches Würfelspiel - also a kick ass name for a record. Also, Google turned up some new gear for you: link @eyesnine theory will never fully substitute for me at least of what my ears like. Also on chord progressions, finding the right chords to make a progressions that sounds good a large portion of theory. I'm mainly studying jazz harmony at the moment because i find it really helps expand how one can go about making more original/unique progressions. I do feel it kinda hiders my creativity sometimes because I have a tendency to want to take it as if it where a set of rules but other times i find it helps me creatively to put my ideas out there more easily.
the song "wichita lineman"
no i'm not kidding music should be numbers not letters
bla said: "music should be numbers not letters" I don't know anymore. I mean, I've been a pretty staunch advocate of math and logic in music, but I've recently begun to really dissect melody. The grammar/shape aspect of it is probably the cleanest and easiest way to show the structure. Form is similarly linguistic, in places where you can't meaningfully establish a primacy from one object to another. Even schenkerian analysis ends up relying on showing the actual motives- and it's up to you to deduce the shape. For some reason I've got a soft spot for any add9 or sus2 chord, plus plenty of 7s. Loves me those 2nds. I stay clear of those 6s and tend not to # or b things too much, lest it gets too jazzy.
I can sympathise about losing a certain element of magic about music as you gradually learn more, but I suspect you could say that about anything in life as you experience more and generally grow up. I'd love to be able to love music the way I did when I first heard that Orb CD or Alberto Balsam or whatever, but I don't think my lack of a similar epiphanic experiences since is necessarily down to gaining a bit of music theory. More general adaptation perhaps. @Ochre oh man, # and b are great though especially with add9 and sus4 i.e. E add9 sus4 #5 (adding the 7 is nice too)sounds like magic to my ears
@ChaoXor Especially if it's a major one (even if it's not the leading tone)! I simply love that minor second dissonance!!
i think music theory is great. i wish i knew more of it. i think it is just another helpful tool to conceptualize the sounds we hear. ultimately, it is just another kind of abstraction (like any language) in that it helps describe various phenomena, in this case those related to the artistic organization of sound. of course, like any language it has its shortcomings. but whatever it is, as long as it facilitates musical expression it can't be a bad thing.
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