- That is the sensible answer and what most would think, but on this site, not true enough. If it was a site where everyone had to use their real names and no handles were allowed I would agree with you wholeheartedly, but not on this site.

 

@The Freq Yes, it's interesting.
For me, I can tell who knows their stuff because I've been doing it for so long.
And the anonymity adds to the fact that people are freely helping others, people with actual sound-engineering and recording experience. Or gigging experience.
Yet I suppose there are members that use their anonymity in a negative way too, but I haven't pondered on that.
I think helping as an anon being speaks volumes about the ethics of all this.
It's because we believe in the bigger picture, imo.

 

There is truth in what you have said but the flip side which comes down to the confidence (not hubris) of a person, being that theoretically if someone knows their trade intimately, and believes in what they do, they stand by it and do so by name. Hearing someone say "Have you heard the latest tune by anon?" does not really work.
While what I just said is perfectly true, like you who lived and witnessed a decent evolving portion of the 20th Century, people are faced with the 21st Century online enigma that by giving out your real name, if someone either takes a dislike or just wishes to target someone, the real name is a level of discomfort most people tend to never risk. We'd all like to believe in the better nature of human beings, but with 7.7 billion people on the planet, there are an abundance of horror stories.

 

You're right. I hadn't thought of that.
Yet, music is music...

Again, this is true.
I heard a story from the son of an MI5 agent about the sort of people they are trying to catch on the dark/deep web.
It actually has scarred me still, what I was told.
So yes, the good are very good. Yet there is the exact opposite in existence.

The thing is though, I have chats in Inbox and in threads with people and we've just got along because we have met the same people/colleagues along our life path.
So I know they are legit without hearing any musical proof, and just hearing how they talk!
I know what you're saying, but as they say, YMMV.
i would say that if one knows one's self, then you know others instantly too.
And if you know your trade, the same applies.
But you're right. It can be hard to confirm certain things. If that's what you need.

But that is what we've done in our careers prior to being anon on AS!
And probably the only reason we have the time to help others.
And hey, isn't it great knowing you're hanging out with people who are like-minded and musical?
That means a lot to me personally. Especially during all this Covid stuff.

 

Hello,

I will try to oversimplify some basics -> what makes it minor or major is the 2nd note of a root position chord (called the third). Example Cmaj chord -> C E G and
Cmin chord -> C Eb G

The third being E and Eb

In any given major scale you will naturally have minor chords in it and vice versa. Example Cmaj scale:
C d E F G a b
I ii III IV V vi vii
Hence the 2nd degree of the Cmaj scale is a Dmin chord


In modern music you will rarely hear *only* simple triads chord (eg C E G) but rather 7th and 9th chords and of course inverting the chords to make the transition between chords as smooth as possible.
Example assuming you are using piano keys, going from I to V you will use C E G then B D G instead of jumping from C E G to the above G B D
Now start to add 7th note to your chords it will become more colorful, for example C E G B will be Cmaj7 and D F A C will be a Dmin7 and so on...


You can experiment with any degree of the scale and any chords.

 

Last edited: Jan 4, 2021

Accenting means also lingering longer on certain notes or playing them higher in pitch. Someone with 30+ years of work should know this, don't you think?

Also, imagine mentioning you have 30 years of experience in your every single post and shitting on everyone right from the start, because you think so highly of yourself. Now, that is laughable.

Yes, context is important, but notes have different intervallic functions in different situations. That's why, I underlined that it's very dangerous to think that C major = A minor. Take your head out of your ass sometimes and stop assuming that everyone is dumb except you.

 

Here's a question, say you're given a piece of music with no key signature and I ask you to identify if its in C major scale or A minor scale. How does one identify the scale? what are the clues you look for, the chord progression? the melody? (also no presence of G#)

 

You have to identify the root note, I answered a in a pair of threads somewhere here in AS with practical exanples.
Found:
https://audiosex.pro/threads/i-need...scale-chords-of-a-specific-piece.52882/page-2
BTW the missing video is blade runner end credits theme.

Another one:
https://audiosex.pro/threads/recreating-melody-by-ear.45195/page-2

 

Last edited: Jan 5, 2021

It's easy to work both ways if you transpose the keyboard to the white keys when composing and view the chords as I ii iii IV V vi vii.dim, with the melody consisting of the tonic (1), dominant (5), mediant (3), subdominant (4), submediant (6), supertonic (2), and the leading note (7).

So basically you only need to master the key of C major and A minor and learn all the chord variations and inversions, etc. Scaler VST will even automate the transposing for you.

I also recommend the Hooktheory website to see how melody and harmony interact in the real world.

https://www.hooktheory.com/

PS if it takes longer than 3 minutes to outline a basic melody and chord progression, then I know I am doing something wrong!

 

Last edited: Jan 5, 2021

Music can be broken down into mathematical patterns:

C maj ........ c d e f g a b c .. (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1)
A min .. a b c d e f g a ........ (6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6)

 

Last edited: Jan 5, 2021

Yes, you can form a set and collect the keys that define the chord. do:
Cmaj = {c,e,g}, Amin = {a,c,e}. And you can conclude that the two sets are not equal because their elements are not equal. But I believe smoove was referring to the Scale not the chords

 

Yes, but once you understand the relationships between I ii iii IV V vi vii dim (chords) & 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 (scale) for C major, you can churn out an endless stream of song ideas in any key with very little effort using transposition, and you can start with the melody or the chord progression.

Formal music theory is overly complicated, so I stripped it down to the basic building blocks.

 

Last edited: Jan 5, 2021

Interesting. Unless there were any bending between notes as I said, these things will still not necessarily imply anything regards major or relative minor.
Amazing I've got through the last 30 years of a pro life without knowing anything about what you are saying.
And strange that it hasn't had any repurcussions at all. I guess it's irrelevant.
Your negative projection on me and your offensive language is also laughable. Chill out.

 

Maybe you don't see it, but your reply was rude in the first place. That's why, I responded in similar fashion. Also, you did it again... Mentioning your "30 years of experience" over and over doesn't make you any more credible. If anything, it makes you look like a teen bragging that he "definitely gets laid all the time".

Also, this part is simply wrong:

Depending on which notes you accent, melody itself can suggest C major or A minor. That's why, when you improvise on a guitar you don't mindlessly go through scales, but learn the functions of notes in specific situations and play around these key notes.

For example, you can play a melody using CDEFGAB notes and do the following:

• start and finish melody on C,
• avoid using A,
  
• accent C and E to underline the major third,
• use B --> C tension/release trick to emphasize that C note is "home".

If you do this, the melody will naturally suggest C major over A minor.

 

This is the important bit, and also understanding the role of the non-chord tones in the melody if you want to avoid nursery rhyme syndrome.

 

Exactly, that's also why modes are not just a major scale played on another chord.

 

In context with what I was responding to ("accenting"), it's not really. But, whatever.

I get all that, apart from the usage of the word "accent" in the third one. Surely you just mean use those notes in a particular way e.g. to pedal them in the melody, or deliberately use them one after the other, such that they imply we may be in a major key.
Again, your use of the word "accent" is what I have been questioning since the beginning.
In the context of that 3rd point above, how exactly do you mean "accent", please?
I am nearly 48, you are 29. There may be a slight difference in usage of words, me thinks. And US/UK terms are a thing!
And actually, avoiding A seems irrelevant too.
A melody that goes G, A, C, or G, A, G, A, C definitely sounds like it resolves as major to me.

 

try not using a lot of the 4th and 5th chord of the major scale, that's what makes the scale sound more like a child's song, or use them but change their 3rd notes from major to minor

 

What? We will then be another key.