parallel motion chords - music theory question

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AK
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Post by AK »

Re: Parallel motion chords, I was trying to think of some tunes where they are featured and to hear if they sound cheezy in context.

Here's some that I immediately thought of - some cheezy, some not:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4bqHOgtcRQ ( John Tejada - Chorgs ) ( which to me sounds like a succession of minor 9th chords )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omfiVkkJ1OU
( Inner city - Big Fun ) 1 finger minor chord ( and Good Life )

And then you have the obvious I-IV-V in a minor key with the likes of 'Pump Up The Jam' by Technotronic and 'Move Your Body' by Marshall Jefferson.

I'm having a hard time thinking of any others but there's probably loads that have used sampled chords ( which obviously will result in unchanging intervals ), esp. during the Rave era!

How effective have they been used? Tough one, on a commercial level quite a bit but then some are not my cup of tea at all. I quite like that Chorgs track though.

I know this is not any benefit to the thread but I got thinking about it and wondered how many tracks are out there ( good one's ) where this is featured.
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Post by steevio »

yeah there must be loads, especially from back in the day.

also anything with a monosynth with detunable oscillators on it

maybe it was the lack of chord progression that defined the early sound of some techno to some extent.
i remember when i started, chord progression was an outdated concept to me, infact so were recognisable chords as such amongst my techno producing mates.

i love the rawness.

got lots more to say on this, but instudio at present
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Post by tone-def »

steevio wrote:maybe it was the lack of chord progression that defined the early sound of some techno to some extent.
i remember when i started, chord progression was an outdated concept to me, infact so were recognisable chords as such amongst my techno producing mates.
the lack of chord progressions goes all the way back to James Brown, it's one of the things that defines funk music. a lot of dub music also has very simple or no chord progressions.
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Post by coldfuture »

Lovely thread here. I have little to contribute, but am learning a lot so thanks!
"Why does this process have to be SO complex" -- Ritardo Montalban
steevio
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Re: parallel motion chords - music theory question

Post by steevio »

thought i'd add a bit here.

one strange phenomena ive found is that chords that seem to work well in parallel motion quite often dont include the notes of the scale, or at least not the definitive notes. (apart from the root)
for instance, in the half/whole diminished scale in C, (C C# D# E F# G A A# ) the definitive notes are C D# F# A, in other words the minor thirds.
one of the best chords that ive found that work moving parallel through the scale is C maj 7 minus the 5th - C E B.
also stacked 4ths, C F A#
both of these contain the root, a non-definitive scale note and a non scale note.

why is that ?

got to be some theory behind that
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Re: parallel motion chords - music theory question

Post by Casanova808 »

Steevio, those are called shell chords. You use the 3rd and 7th on the left hand, and concentrate on playing with the extensions on the right. They are a tool in jazz to open up your playing and allow you to have more fun with complex harmony.
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Re: parallel motion chords - music theory question

Post by steevio »

Casanova808 wrote:Steevio, those are called shell chords. You use the 3rd and 7th on the left hand, and concentrate on playing with the extensions on the right. They are a tool in jazz to open up your playing and allow you to have more fun with complex harmony.
thanks i'd never heard of them.

why do the shell chords omit the 5th ?

that takes care of the CEB, what about other combinations of tones that work ? that dont include the 3rd and 7th
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Re: parallel motion chords - music theory question

Post by Casanova808 »

without getting too deep into theory, if you think of a jazz sextet you are looking at a singer, a bassist, a drummer, two horns and piano. In that entire line-up, there is only one polyphonic instrument. Piano is the only instrument that deals with chord harmony outside of the horns coming together to play a theme .

With that much instrumentation going on, it is easy for the instruments to step on each others toes. The piano player does not need to hammer on the tonic, the bass player plays that and it is his job in the band to determine the root of the key at a given point in time. The horns and the singer are going to be playing melodic phrases that are going to resolve on the tonic and the 5th. That leaves the piano player free to create harmony and dissonance by playing a mixture of the obvious intervals and the ones that don't sound quite right.

IOW if you are playing a 13th (1-3-5-b7-9-13) You don't need to worry about 1 and 5 because the bass player and horns have it. You break that chord up across both hands and you worry about the b7-9-13

then shift over to voicing an 9th(1-3-5-7-9) and the play isn't from moving from chord to chord to chord, and worrying about the 1-3-5, but the harmonic interplay between moving from one set of extensions to then next.

This doesn't help you with setting up a set of intervals that you can modulate with a single note on your modular, but it is a good way to create interesting chord harmonies without having to modulate the root chord.
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