Hi there guys.

Can anyone recommend books and courses where I Can learn the modes, chords, and chord progressions used to create different moods?

For example fantasy, adventure, heroic, epic, mystical, tension, mysterious, victory, sci-fi, dream etc..

I remember I had a very nice chart in another computer that had all those different moods and the chords/modes examples of how to achieve them, unfortunately I lost it.

Best regards

 

That video is kinda funny but it also helps.

 

@webhead

Yep I got the videos from this guy at youtube, very nice. They are good, but too short, I wanted more examples. I am looking for more material, similar to this one.

 

Man I´m really pissed off about losing that chart for creating moods... There was a lot of them.

 

Shit, I thought we gonna talk about moods...

 

I get enough of those from the kids

 

"Looking For Advice For Creating Moods"
just try to get my last girlfriend's attention

a bit of precursory searching & this had some of those keywords
https://ledgernote.com/blog/interesting/musical-key-characteristics-emotions/

 

@kintozero

Thanks, one more source.

 

This is no longer valid, if I remember correctly, as tuning worked slightly differently in the 18th century.

Nowadays, major scales sound highly similar to each other, except lower/higher in the registry of course. Same goes for minor scales, etc.

There are articles out there that explain this better than I have, I urge you to research it as it’s an interesting topic.

 

https://www.youtube.com/c/PianoteOfficial/search?query=mood

is a good staring point

 

If you manage to find that chart again please share.

 

Listen carefully.
Play one key.
How does it feel ?

Add a second and go through all intervals.
Play only white keys.
How do they feel ?

That method also lets you explore the main scales, depending on which key you start:



etc...

 

Any chance finding that mood chart back? Would love having such a tool!

 

Did anybody find that chart? Sounds interesting!

 

Possible. It's also about tempo, arrangement, all sorts.

A fallacy! If you know music you just write pieces that evoke that!
I too have seen these charts and videos, and of course they all differ because it's subjective.
Although some of them now have just copied each other.

I doubt it is really. But again, this is subjective.

 

i get the feeling the mood scoring stuff is a well kept secret. there really is not much on it, i tried a few times over the years to find information.
i ended up finding this book that half the people praised the other half was annoyed that the author apparently kept drifting off into explaining how much he loves atheism.
which is too funny, they will give you that music science info but force you to read some brainiacs thoughts on god nobody asked for

2 interesting clips i found on the matter:

 

I think it is in general not always easy to particularily pinpoint one scale or interval to a certain mood.
It depends strongly on the chord progression , scale and the context that you are using it.
You could make a major chord progression sound sad if you know what you are doing.
Scales often have a slight tendency to sound a specific way but it depends on which intervals you emphasize to get a specific sound.

Play a Major seventh interval by itself.
Sounds horrible right ?
Now add a Root ,major third and fifth.
Pretty good huh?
Music is often about tension and release

Here are some basic common "Moods" that you could create with scales if you experiment:

Scales:
Lydian - Try to build an Major chord with an 11#/4# in it to get that spacey feel that it creates
Hirajoshi - Experiment with phrases and different chords this scale has the tendency to sound "asian" but can also be quite dark
Minor - Pretty self explanatory, mainly emphasize the minor third to get a sad sound.
Phrygian Dominant - Basicly the fifth Mode of the harmonic minor scale it has an egyptian/slightly evil sound to it and a lot of metal uses it.
Diminished Scale - Can sound really evil and deranged try to use the tritones to get that sound.
Harmonic Minor - Has also an egyptian vibe to it and it's basicly the minor scale where the minor seven get's changed to an major seven.
whole tone scale- A symmetrical scale that is basicly having a dreamy / outworldish sound
Mixolydian - Has a bluesy / southern rock vibe due to the Dom7 Chord.

Chord progressions:
IV-V-iii-vi 王道進行 (royal road progression ) - Basically anime anime opening ever, has a very japanese feeling
i–VII–VI–V Andalusian Cadence - Has a latin sound to it but can also be strongly varied to sound different
II-V-I Jazz progression - Mainly used in jazz music usually the V get's replaced with a tritone substitution to get that extra jazz sound
I-IV-V Basic chord progression - In my opinion an overused chord progression but it get's the job done
Aminor - C minor - B Minor - G# Minor (i-iii-ii-vii) - Basic Horror/ Black metal progression just try moving around minor chords to get that feel.
I-V-vi-IV Pop chord progression - The formula that is mostly used in modern pop music
I–V–vi–iii–IV–I–IV–V Pachelbel canon - Mainly used in classical music so people associate it with a classical sound
i-III-VII-VI Minor chord progression- A basic minor chord progression that has a melancholic feeling to it, I like to use it quite often

There are so many more options I think a lot of these concepts are a good starting point but I would recommend to experiment a lot with it.

 

Last edited: Aug 25, 2022

If you send me your mail, I can send you a book called Advancing Guitarist by Mick Goodrick. I do not know if you play guitar, but this is really outlining the modes is a best way. If you want, you can buy it as well, but I have it in pdf.

 

Modal chords/scales?