Chords and single notes

[Brankis]

learning scales/chords was probably the most important step i ever took after years of trying to make music without that knowledge. I think if you've been already making tracks for awhile, you will pick up on the scale thing very very quickly as over time you pick up a sense of harmony naturally by playing around...

applying this to techno music is incredible since you can use the scale to layer a bunch of sonic timbres to get your harmony rather than writing uber-complex melodies. Instead the complexity comes through using an array of sounds (including percussion) to fit the scale and it will make the whole track sound cohesive and like its going somewhere. even those wild effects and foundsounds can be tuned or emphasized to the key of the track.

this should also change the way you use the EQ as you can start thinking about it in terms of scales/notes/octaves and you will get the most natural and musical results... there is a reason the spectrum analyzers tell you the notes along with frequencies

one other thing i like to do is form the main chord im using with my kick/snare/perc/hat. so the kick would be tuned to the lowest fundamental of the chord and so on up the specturm. this goes a very very long way in to the way a track is perceived. you will get much deeper musical impressions by taking the theory of the masters into a modern context and application

of course there are plenty of techno artists (i think?) who dont know or care about this stuff which is cool and everything. but usually those tracks dont evoke a whole lot of feeling in me, the human brain/emotions respond much more vividly to things based in classical theory IMHO

[AK]

I have some musical training and a basic understanding of chords/scales etc., but when it comes to producing melodic electronic music where I'm incorporating basslines with keys/pads/stabs etc, I've come up with a method that makes it a bit easier: program the chords first, and then the bassline.

I find it easier to come up with a monophonic bassline that matches a chord progression than trying to figure out chords that match the notes in a bassline (especially if the bassline consists of many different notes).

I call that just a writing process, you constantly change and rearrange things as you find the basic idea, then build on that. Some people assume a chord ontop of a particular bass note has to include that note. ie: if a bass used a C and Eb, a natural assumption might be to play a Cm chord but there are a lot of other possibilities. Playing a Gm chord with that bass gives a Cm9 sound, playing a Csusb9 gives the Phrygian feel because of the flattened 2nd. A GMaj chord over that would give a m/Maj9 diss feel.

My point is in relation to the bass first/chord problem issue you mentioned. There's a lot more possibilities if you think harmonically rather than thinking statically about the notes in a bass and assuming those notes have to be in the chord.

Look up things like counterpoint, you can create a sense of chords from monophonic elements in your track too, just with careful programming and an awareness of what harmonies are being created.

[Dave Martin]

Learn scales. That helps.

As much as I kind of agree with this I think a lot of jazz heads would freak out of the idea to this being a solution.

The benefit I found about learning various scales was that I kind of stopped worrying about them anymore. Before I knew any music theory it used to concern me now I know a very small amount of theory it's freed me up to stop worrying about it.

I think finding out your/your ears likes and dislikes is more important and an understanding of consonance and dissonance (and different people like different amounts of C & D).

Spend time playing around the keyboard and seeing what you like the sound of every time you come to write a part.

Just my opinion...

[Maiyal]

Learn scales. That helps.

As much as I kind of agree with this I think a lot of jazz heads would freak out of the idea to this being a solution.

The benefit I found about learning various scales was that I kind of stopped worrying about them anymore. Before I knew any music theory it used to concern me now I know a very small amount of theory it's freed me up to stop worrying about it.

Precisely why learning scales is the solution. You have to know the rules before you can break them. Otherwise you will just seem ignorant, or even worse, lacking in talent or ability.

[Dave Martin]

Learn scales. That helps.

As much as I kind of agree with this I think a lot of jazz heads would freak out of the idea to this being a solution.

The benefit I found about learning various scales was that I kind of stopped worrying about them anymore. Before I knew any music theory it used to concern me now I know a very small amount of theory it's freed me up to stop worrying about it.

Precisely why learning scales is the solution. You have to know the rules before you can break them. Otherwise you will just seem ignorant, or even worse, lacking in talent or ability.

The point I was trying to make is that it's not because I know scales and necessarily use 'scale theory' to write that I'm more relaxed about it, it's that I realise I don't 'need' to know it to write now...if that makes any sense whatsoever?! Anyway, we might well be saying the same thing here...

[oblioblioblio]

i think scale theory is bullshit but that's just me and in some ways it's useless to have this discussion becuase everyone just ends up defending their point of view. and every point of view will work for somebody.

I'm sure for some people it works better for their brain/ musical approach to apply someone elses theory of tonality, but for me I find that we have an inner sense of note relationships that are easliy explored by pressing combinations of different buttons or twisting knobs. Plus I find that method much more interesting and rewarding to me personally. And also I find it more valid in techno where our instruments are often completely detached from tradtional theory and it's limitations.

'you got to learn the rules to break them' to me sounds like a hand me down quote that sounds good out loud but has no actual substance to it.

I've deliberately ignored a lot of tradional theory after some bad experiences as a kid... and I have no sense of regret and feel that I achieved a good personal method for exploring tonality in my music.

[AK]

I don't think theory is going to make you write better music. I also don't see why some are against learning it either though. It's just knowledge at the end of the day, there's this irrational fear of 'if I learn theory, I'm musically trapped'. that's just complete nonesense, you just aquired some knowledge not a set of rules to stick to.

[AK]

double post ( Edit )