In his progressive bass concepts video tutorial, John Myung runs through 14 patterns for Maj7, Min7, Dominant7 and Dim7 chords.

At the beginning he says he will run through a circle of fifths progression. Starting each exercise he says for example "Root To Root", "Root to third" etc.

I will appreciate if someone can explain what he means? I tried to figure out from what he is playing but couldn't exactly got it.

Here is the video for reference.

Thanks!

This is the beginning of the Db major Nocturne. I'm watching a YouTube video analyzing it and Its making me feel crazy. Is this not a respelled half diminished ii chord(on that note, can I just analyze it as ii∅4/2 despite the a natural?)? How can an Eb chord be the leading tone chord of Eb? Also in measure 7 for those who know the piece, this happens again almost the same.

The comments of this video have nothing but praise I'm questioning my sanity.

As I study Holst's "The Planets," particularly the second movement, I'm struck by a beautiful chord that ushers in the second theme. This piano reduction suggest a Bmaj9 in its fourth inversion. This raises an interesting question: is it beneficial to interpret impressionist harmonies through the lens of named chords? Often, it seems more fitting to view chords as clusters derived from a mode. The decision to begin a new section with a fourth inversion harmony is puzzling unless I consider it merely as an interesting voicing of notes from the underlying mode. It's plausible that Holst, like many early 20th-century composers, moved away from traditional Common Practice Period principles, no longer seeing chords as distinct entities like B major or Ebmin9, but rather as concurrent voices within a mode.

Thoughts on this? It would save me a lot of mental gymnastics if I could take the above approach instead of trying to shoehorn some of the harmonies into a CPP model.

https://imgur.com/7YqzLi8

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

The whole "there are no rules" thing gets parroted around here a lot, especially in response to beginner questions. And it's never helpful. Sure, it's technically true in a sense - music is art not science and there are no strict rules you have to follow all the time. But there are genre conventions, and defining elements of particular styles, and traditional usages of specific concepts that if you know about them and understand them allow you to either use them in the expected and familiar way or intentionally break free of them in a controlled way for a specific effect. There's a huge difference between breaking a convention you understand with intention to create an effect and failing to interface with that convention at all because you don't know about it in the first place.

Just because a newbie says the word "rules" in their question, don't fall back on that tired trope and pat yourself on the back for answering correctly. Get at the heart of what they are trying to actually learn and help them on their musical journey. Sometimes the answer will be complicated and depend on things like genre or style. That's ok! It's an opportunity for a bigger discussion.

I seem to fundamentally misunderstand something here, because B seems like the 6 of the scale.

edit: Excuse my error in the title, D7 is indeed D F# A C, I swear I looked at it for a good minute making sure I wrote what I meant lol

Hi all, I’m thinking of learning the modes, mainly so I can experiment with different chord progressions. How should I start learning them?

Also, I actively practice the major and minor scales up and down the fret board, as well as the CAGED pentatonic scales and shapes. I’m working on memorizing all the notes on the fretboard as well as practicing being able to play a major or minor scale from any spot on a string (not just memorizing a scale by playing it up or down, in an attempt to be more fluent when I’m using scale shapes)

My question is, would it be alright if I start learning the modes, or should I focus on being 100% fluent in all the CAGED pentatonic, major and minor scales, and notes in the fretboard first?

What are the chords in this https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMMCHQKb8/ song from 0:25-0:55? I’d like to learn it but don’t know much about playing guitar.

What scales and modes can one play on a minor 5 in a major key ?

In the attached image, would you analyze the circled cadence as PAC in D major, or HC in G major with applied cadential 64?

Im more lean over PAC in D major, because the use of cadential 64 really emphasizes the D major tonality, almost too strong for a half cadence. If it's a HC in G major the melody would probably go like G-F# or B-A. But I just wanna make sure.

https://preview.redd.it/hvlghk9nnpuc1.png?width=1399&format=png&auto=webp&s=9097396fa34178b1a3662e9059bdcc7939fe15b2

The attached picture is a Bach chorale eercise (soprano and bass are given). Is it correct to analyze the circled beat as IV-V65/vi?

The ascending bass line C#-D# comes from the E melodic minor scale, so I think these 2 chords are applied pre-dominant and dominant of vi. But usually there's only one applied chord before a tonicized chord, and it's also dominant functioning chord, like V65/vi - vi, or viio7/vi - V65/vi - vi. But I've never used IV and V65/ vi.

Also the E minor-sounding part is only 2-beats long so Im pretty sure this is an applied chord, not modulation.

https://preview.redd.it/8eubj3zelpuc1.png?width=1146&format=png&auto=webp&s=630acc1c7a2ef7c81403edefff32d40a21f87c07

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Wl4CbmWHO4 - Limit Break x Survivor

For some strange reason I can't identify which instruments are which in this song, which utterly confuses me. The sounds are familiar and feel obvious, but for some reason I just can't identify what instruments are used.

I would be grateful for any help!

I'm starting to learn the keyboard and I think learning to listen better will help me a lot

Hey folks, I have recently been playing around with two ideas, and I'd like to present them to you all for feedback.

I hosted them on github here:

https://github.com/CLeJack/alternative-music-notation/blob/main/README.md

And I'll paste the readme, so you can determine whether it peaks your interest or not.

This repo contains documents that demonstrate two alternatives to western music notations

The alternatives are saved as svgs, and they can be viewed full screen by clicking the raw button in the top right hand corner of the github preview window.

Octave-staff.svg is very close to traditional western notation, and it only slightly modifies the current concepts associated with staves and clefs to, hopefully, make sight reading easier. Its core benefits include: notes always being on the same line or space, the removal of all other staves, and easier reading of ledger lines due to a new type of line called a "break line."

Alpha-notation.svg is a much more radical change that was meant to replace tracker software (Proto DAWs such as LSDJ), not western notation, but as I was writing the idea down on paper, I realized it would be a good transcription tool. I include it as an "alternative to western music notation," but I think it would be used in tandem with staff based notation if it is used at all.

The Alpha notation concept is incomplete. I chose not to formalize how harmony is represented, and there are currently a few ways to do it. For example:

• Notes could be stacked directly on top of each other in a simple block chord like manner with little room for variation in duration
• Individual lines could be written to represent complex harmonic motion, polphony or voices; and when these lines are "stacked" on top of each other, they represent a complete musical thought
• A separate line could be established with jazz-like chord-melody annotations, with chord roots and slash chords representing the bass line and harmony of a piece

In the above scenarios either efficiency of space is sacrificed, or explicitness is sacrificed when compared with traditional notation.

What do you all think? Am I on to something, or am I just on something?

Edit:

I updated the links to include the raw, so they go directly to the documents now.

Hi everyone! Not sure if this is the right place to post this, but I'm hoping someone might be able to help. If this isn't appropriate for this sub, please delete (I'd also really appreciate if you could let me know where I should post instead!).

I'm wondering if there's a term for a specific musical aspect that I really enjoy. It's when the lyrics have a direct effect on the music itself. I've included some examples to demonstrate.

"VBS" by Lucy Dacus – lyrics are "playing Slayer at full volume helps to drown it out" and then there's this fantastic metal riff. https://youtu.be/9GvvBotHnIg?si=_43U1RIw006-hz4o

"Cabaret" by Penelope Scott – lyrics are "I think he told me your songs lean a little more towards pop", and that line is autotuned and more "pop-like". https://youtu.be/DsgvnzPxyHM?si=2Fzym7S_qwvD_VmS

The Amazing Devil has quite a few examples of this, including: • "The Old Witch Sleep and the Good Man Grace" – lyrics are "and I'll take my fucking time", and the second time that line is sung, it's drawn out very slowly. https://youtu.be/XiCXEgC6Y3I?si=LTXz_rA0W0N0lRiu • "Inkpot Gods" – lyrics are "and what you hear is not silence", and that line is immediately followed by a brief but complete pause in the music. https://youtu.be/SFOxFOItYcg?si=LextIqz8TE4rDRB6

Is there a particular term for this kind of musical sound symbolism/lyrical reflection? Thank you so much in advance!

Edit: SOLVED, thank you so much!

is there any book which tells about harmonising at every period in music history, may be shortly but with examples and explanation?

I have my first jam session next week as a singer
when jamming how do I come up with a vocal melody? Do i listen and hum trying to come up with notes that sounds good and not off pitch or is there is another way to do it?

I can kind of eyeball it but if it says G for example, I could't really tell you what that sounds like, I just know how to play it and where it is on the sheetm music

This may not be the exact right place to ask this, but I've recently started trying to write music. I've been playing Guitar for 15 years now and the band that I'm in recently decided to start writing original music. I'd used musescore a few times in the past but it never really clicked with me, it's the same with writing on paper. It just doesn't get the compositional juices flowing like actually playing my guitar does. I've also tried writing down the ideas that I come up with on my guitar, but constantly stopping and restarting pulls me out of the flow. Is it just a case of practice makes perfect? If so how would you recommend I start writing. (Just as a note I do need written music as all of my band mates prefer it to be written out)

Background Info: This piece is for marimba, which reads both treble aand bass clef, and will occasionally have two staff lines, similar to a piano.

Playing marimba for a marching ensemble, and I noticed that this section has a change from treble to bass clef. Normally, when we have a clef change, it is notated at the end of the line before (as you would with a meter change)

However, this time it isnt. Would it be necessary to add a "courtesy clef" at the end of the line before it, or is that simply, as the name implies, a courtesy? It was a bit confusing and when learning this section, I accidentally learned it in treble clef, because there wasnt any obvious clef change. Could it also be that the composer entered the music into a two-staff system, meaning the clef change wouldnt be necessary, as the reader would just be switching between the two staves, and the composer just forgot to add the clef change back in?

TLDR; Line 3 into Line 4, changes clefs without courtesy clef, is this incorrect notation?

Are there any music theory games for PC or mobile? I've found a few on mobile that help with identifying notes on guitar but I'm shocked there isn't a whole section of gamafide music learning tools.

Listen/read The Brumley Brae, and hear the 6-note CDAFDD phrase that ends the first measure and starts the second. This pattern is sort of a hook for the tune, repeated elsewhere. Does this kind of pattern have a name?

Another example is the first two measures of the Maple Leaf Rag.

I understand how important it is for practicing musicians playing any instrument to learn and comprehend the modes, yet it happens that I never actually get to see it in popular music (no necessarily ultra pop music like AJR, T Swift, Ed Sheehan, just music with anything above 600,000 monthly listeners that was released AFTER the 2010s). It might happen that I just really can't tell but also just generally don't see it talked about, there are there exceptions like jazz, classical, and rock, but other than the producer of Phoebe Bridgers I rlly haven't heard about it.

Dm | F#m | C#m | D E

F#m | Bbm | Fm | Gb Ab

Bbm | Dm | Am | Bb C -> chorus starts from F chord in the key of D minor

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I came up with this yesterday, and it worked well for the song concept. I have not enough theoretical knowledge to analyse it at all other than that it is basically the same chord progression and keeps going up in major thirds until it loops back to D minor. Any help would be appreciated.

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If you want to listen to that progression in action it is possible from this link (sorry for shitty demo :D):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkulaxreUYg

​

Was not sure which flair I should use, this or the songwriting one

I'm trying to transpose this music from Eb (baritone sax) to Bb (bass clarinet) for my friend, how does the key signature affect that?

Dm - Am7 - Gm - Gmaj - Bbmaj - C7

My initial thought is i - v7 - iv - IV - vi - vii°7, but i'm not sure if that's quite right. Is Gmaj a secondary dominant or is it a modal interchange, using the major version of the iv? and is C7 even vii°7? sorry, i'm not exactly new to musix theory but functional analysis isn't my strong suit so any help is appreciated deciphering this.

for example in recently been messing around with a[ I iii iv v7]chord progression. now to my question. when writing a song should I stick to following the chord progression throughout the whole song? or can I use the whole progression for the verse and then [ I and iii] of the progression for the chorus. how can progression be used? sorry the question doesn't make much sense I'm new to learning th is stuff.

edit : why did I get down voted? lol