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jamesbridges
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Post subject: Help - Changing mood with chords and scales
 Posted: Aug 06, 2005 - 11:04 AM
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Joined: Aug 06, 2005
Posts: 32
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Hi. I know, of course, that you can make a song sound happy/sad by using major/minor chords, scales, and ontervals. However, I was wondering if there are any chords, scales or intervals that can make a song (without lyrics) sound agreesive/angry or clam and peacful, or is it purely to do with dynamics?
Thanks a lot. Any help would be appreciated.
jamesbridges2000@hotmail.com[/color] |
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bhuether
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 06, 2005 - 02:17 PM
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Joined: Mar 09, 2003
Posts: 232
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I would imagine that power chords and minor chords with aggressive gain would lend themselves to an agressive angry sound. You should find the transcriptions to some songs you consider aggressive, peaceful, etc and see what the players are doing. Learning by example is a great way to get your mind and fingers used to modal playing. It is like learning a language. You can spend a lot of time learning all the grammar, syntax, etc, but when you are speaking the language, you don't want to think about all that stuff. The more you speak the language, the more you will surprise yourself by finding that you have uttered something correct without even thinking. That is why I don't try and explain modal playing. I think the complexities are very simiular to that of language structure, and most people achieve fluency in a second language by simply trying to speak it, and mimicing what they hear, as opposed to reading volumes on grammar.
later,
brian |
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jamesbridges
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 06, 2005 - 06:35 PM
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Joined: Aug 06, 2005
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Thanks a lot. I understand what you mean about seeing what people do to make theoir music sound aggressive, but I don't think this can be said about modal playing in general. You wouldn't go to a foreign country and speak the language purely by copying, or you would only learn set phrases, and not how to say what you want for yourself. If I learn a song and find that it hasa certain harmonicquality I can use, sure, I can probably adapt it for myself, but without having some notion of the correct theory, etc, there is no way I would be able tounderstand why it sounds like this, and therefore be able to use it to its full potential and alter it to convey different feelings. I also wouldn't be able to change the key, etc, as I wouldn't know the roots... It's like teaching people all the chords, major and minor, but not telling them which is which and what the names of the chords are - purely how to play them. Without a lot of experimenting, they wouldn't beable to compose/move shapes around to different roots... They would be able to play them, but they wouldn't be able to use them in their own composition...
I have found that when I learn advanced songs that clearly use the sort of theory in composition... that I want to learn, I find I learn less than when I learn songs that I can see instantly how the songwas composed, what harmonies are used, as in these simpler songs, I can see how the song was written and how I could use this idea for myself, where as with the advanced songs, I can learn them, and they sound amazing, but I wouldn't be able to compose something of that sort or use the song to help my compositions as I would not have aclue where he ideas came from, what harmony they use, and for all I know, they could be a set of random notes that just happen to sound good. Therefore, I wouldn't be able to compose a piece of similarly complex harmony just because I learned how to play this one. Therefore, I think that learning the modes and other theory is very important. |
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bhuether
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 06, 2005 - 09:09 PM
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Joined: Mar 09, 2003
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Well, I think you definately need to learn the modes and the basic theory, but what I was really trying to say is that you don't have to take it to the extreme (i.e. to the point where you consciously are thinking about the very scale you will play over a dom9b7 chord, and the reasons why certain scales would sound good).
And regarding language, you will hear more than basic set phrases. You will grasp how they use the language, which is important since languages don't translate well to one another (i.e. many idioms, etc). Up until recently, I had a pretty methodic style to learning German, but now I just read books and German and listen to a lot of German and it is making me a more authentic speaker. I really do think a similar approach is best with music. German verb subleties and declension of adjectives, articles, etc, etc are just too complex to get staright in the head by plain old memorization and studying. So you take the basic and intermediate knowledge of grammar, etc and fill in the gaps that take you to an advanced level by just jumping in and using the knowledge. I treat guitar playing that way. I can pretty much create whatever mood I want, and have a pretty large chord vocab too, but I never studied modal theory beyond the basics.
Anyway, everyone has a different learning style. If my advice doesn't harmonize with your style, then definately do what you know will work for you.
later,
brian |
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jamesbridges
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 07, 2005 - 10:22 AM
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Joined: Aug 06, 2005
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Thanks a lot - I think you're probably right with most of that.
James |
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