From Chopin’s prelude in E minor.

Is it possible to get from b minor to C sharp minor using a diminished 7th chord to V7(G#) chord to C sharp minor(1) ?

For reference I am writing a piece and I already modulated from C sharp minor to B minor but want a quick easy way back.

Okay. I'm relatively new to music theory (7 years of piano and 3 years of theory practice), but I've noticed that people say it's taken them years and years to simply understand how simple chords work together. Theory is treated like this black magic thats impossible to learn, and honestly I'm just confused by it. I understand that there is truly complex music theory that takes a long, long time to be able to understand, but I want to know why people who have much more music theory experience than me think of simple theory and chord progressions as very difficult things to understand.

Hey all! I’m learning violin currently and also doing piano the tiniest bit on the side. To my great dismay, I discovered that bass clef is an octave + 1/3 lower than treble clef (I think). I thought it was -2 octaves. Anyway, this obviously means the notes are not in the same “spot.” Ie, what I call a C on treble clef is an E(?) on bass clef, but down an octave.

Anyway, this is absolutely messing with my head whenever I try to either slowly work on a piano piece for fun or try to read a bass clef part from an orchestra member so I can understand the part they’re playing.

I have no idea how to separate them out in my head. My question is basically this… how do I learn bass clef without ruining treble clef in my head? Is there any reason why all clefs aren’t written with the “same” notes in the “same” spots but different octaves? (Ie alto clef would be -1 octave from treble, bass -2 from treble, etc)?

Thank you! :)

I have been trying to find a complete hardcover copy of the jazz theory book by levine, but don’t seem to have any luck. Does a hardcover printing even exist, or even a full paperback version? The only versions I can find are all spiral-bound. There’s a listing for it on Amazon but I’m pretty sure whoever set it up did something wrong; Hardcover is priced around $49, Paperback around $65, and Spiral-bound around $95. Yet I’ve bought the Hardcover option twice and both times I received a spiral-bound copy with paper cover and backing. I’m not sure if somebody just made a typo and the prices for Hardcover and Spiral are supposed to be flipped, and I’m also unsure if any paperback or hardcover copies even exist because I can’t find anything other than the spiral copies online. I despise spiral-bound books, they’re too flimsy and fragile, ESPECIALLY for a book of over 500 pages. Who even decided it was a good idea to bind a 500 page book with no spine???? If anyone knows of hardcover or paperback versions that exist and where I can buy them, please let me know. Or if anyone knows what’s up with the Amazon listing saying Hardcover and the book is literally not hardcover. Thanks in advance!!

https://youtu.be/giEjK9X_Suc?si=x6bTKnBMW9VLaRqk

Hi friends, I am thinking about arranging this for choir but I am struggling to identify the meter! The melody seems to be in 4/4 but the hand claps are all over the place. The first few measures seem extra fussy. Any help would be appreciated, thank you :)

The chord progression is Ab B Gb Ab then for the chorus it changes to E, B, E, B. (Im not good at music theory please help)

I want to start to be able to play songs by ear and was just wanting to see if there was an app that could help me learn how to do so

I'm obsessed with the final note of this section, and to my non-music-theory-knowing ear doesn't sound like a simple major chord. It's driving me nuts, but not nuts enough to go through the score and transpose everything to find out.

In every written version I could find for a single instrument like piano, it gives it as a major chord. But the symphony version sounds almost suspended or something, unless it's just the instrumentation that's giving it that EXTRA something? I must know, this final chord is god-tier to me

When using the major scale you are supposed to use the fifth degree to construct a dom7 chord that will nicely create tension and lead to the next part of the song. In a minor scale the dominant doesn’t carry as much tension so it is advised to use the #7, but on which scale degree do I use this #7 to lead back to the tonic?

I just finished my music degree and I want to continue acquiring knowledge and above all because I want to be a composer.

Hi! So i have this song, it's my favorite song, but I can't figure out the time signatures (there's a couple time switches) can you guys help me?

Coelacanth by Glass Beach

I feel like it's probably something simple and i'm trying to look to far into it, but either way i'm stumped. Thanks!

I've written a jazz tune and a lead sheet to go along with it, but I'm totally new to lead sheets as I usually play by ear. I've gone for a format where the simplified chords for the solos are "default" and the more embellished chords that go with the head are in brackets.

Here is the sheet, and a performance of the tune:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Pd3WqCdMUB9esmUQNPA47YWeCyL6Z6n4/view

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YULHP8xiJHU

I've been conflicted on how specific I should make the chord symbols, so I thought this was a pretty good compromise, but I'm not sure how useful or clear it comes across as. I wanted the soloist to be able to follow the changes at a glance which is why I put them as the default changes, even thoughit seems more common to put the head's changes as the default and the solo changes in brackets.

Please let me know your thoughts, and let me know if I've used any incorrect or unclear symbols, repeat signs, key signatures or whatever.

I'm not exactly sure what the progression is or if it has a name, but an example would be like if a song was in C major, but had sections where the chords were Dm - G - Dm - G. Sometimes it could be Dm7 - G7 etc. For some reason I find it very satisfying to listen to.

Some examples of songs that contain the progression:

- Frank Sinatra "Somethin Stupid" (e.g. the chords after "spend an evening with me")

- Harry Nilson "Everybody's Talkin"

- Olivia Newton John "Please Mr. Please"

- Supertramp "Easy Does It"

- Juan Gabriel "Amor Eterno"

Mostly trying to find more songs that use this, and curious as to why it sounds good. I know that it has to do with the perfect cadence, G is the fifth of C and D is the fifth of G, so it is satisfying to listen to. Essentially the key would start in C but then quickly modulate to G for a line then go back to C, so the variation is nice to listen to. Often we don't hear modulations unless it's a bridge or second chorus, so it is refreshing to hear it so early. That is my thoughts at least.

EDIT:

Thanks for your help, here are some other songs that came up that definitely match what I was hearing:

- Tea For Two

- Honeysuckle Rose

- Small Town Talk

- Lots of mariachi band music

Hello,

Due to something that popped up on the guitar sub, I am toying with a song idea based on 24601 (Jean Valjean's prison number from Les Miserables).

On a guitar chord site I plugged that in and it gives me F#sus2(addb9,#11) And Bsus2(add#11) Depending on if I use the lower five strings or the higher. I kind of like the chords, and like it more for how it fits my idea of a prison kind of song.

While I was browsing this reddit I saw that sus chords need to be resolved, but I honestly don't know what the resolutions would be? I think once I have the resolution chords I would have four chords to go on with for starting something.

Would it be F# and B ? Major or minor?

All the best.

i want to use the rythm of a melody in 4/4 on a 6/8 time signature but it doesn't sound like it fits, i saw a youtube video of a guy that kind of made it with these 2 melodies but im unable to do it myself with another melody, i'll give you the image

Top left is the YouTuber's melody 4/4 and top right is his 6/8 version, i exported both at 5 seconds and sounds good bottom left is the rythm in 4/4 i want to put in 6/8 and bottom right is my sad attempt, im all ears guys

I'm a music student looking to broaden my knowledge on jazz theory. Does anyone recommend any books / other recources to assist me in this?

Well . . . I've been a bad, bad boy.

I've just now turned 60 and as you age, you don't pick up new things quite as quickly as you used to. Especially languages. And music & the theory that goes with it is definitely a language while the theory is kind of the grammar that goes with it.

I spent 30 years doing musical theatre as a singer. The short story is that I abandoned that because I realized my son didn't need a raging narcissist for a father, and took up learning keyboard as a way to fill that creative hole.

But I vowed to myself. . . "I'm not gonna do any of those stupid scales! I'm not gonna waste my time, cause I don't need to site read!!!"

I tried to join two bands after that as a singer/keyboardist. I discovered that while I could sing effortlessly, I never stopped to consider how much work I put into phrasing and pitching my voice in the right space when I did it. I just DID it. And I discovered I absolutely could not play the keyboard well, stay with the band, and sing well at the same time. I'd learn about 10 songs, and then they would just sort of push out the other side of my brain. I figured out the key is to have the muscle movement down without having to think about it and to know enough theory in the back of your brain to intuit what notes you can hit within a given key or chord to sound good. Not about religiously following the written music. I can't do that. And worse? Thinking about where my fingers need to go and notes would screw up my vocal phrasing. Badly. And forget the lyrics.

I also discovered the point of site reading wasn't to site read in real-time (although that's nice), but to remind yourself what's coming up as you glance at the music.

So, I have this hodgepodge of music theory floating around in my head, I can get around transposing music, and I can play some licks, but I feel like I've gotten nowhere really fast in the last 10 years.

I can't afford a music teacher and I need a very structured approach that doesn't do nursery rhymes to get me on track to where I can be an effective musician. For instance, I can do major and minor scales. With my RIGHT hand. Don't ask me to try to do it with my left.

I know the notes and the clefs, but I have to count up and down from one line to figure out what the next note is.

Does anyone have any practical ideas about how I can approach this without starting from scratch? (The starting from scratch thing won't work anyway, because I have ADHD and I couldn't if I wanted to. LOL)

I have no money. Which means I can't get structured help from a music teacher. The primary way I've really learned anything about the mechanics of music is through the transposition of songs that don't have sheet music for.

I will tell you this. I LOVE science. And the more I look at music as a whole, the more I see the interconnectedness between it, physics, science, math, language, and everything. it is perfection and it awes me.

So, without being glib and saying "suck it up dude", what would you do? Trust me? You really don't start to appreciate the memory thing until you actually hit the late 50's and 60's. It's a huge shock to the system.

Thanks

The most obvious example I can think of being Meshuggah's Bleed. The song is a series of bizarre nightmarish polymeters with one of the 'base units' being this 2 beat phrase containing 3 notes, 2 32nd notes followed by a 16th note.

It's not a triplet, but the instinct to call it that is so strong lol because the '3ness' of it is so in your face.

I know the drum rudiment that corresponds to the exact 3 beat phrase around which Bleed is built (2 32nd notes followed by 2 16th notes) is called a herta, but I'm more interested in just the 2 32nd notes followed by a 16th note sequence.

Calling it a 'drag' or some sort of 'flam' heavily implies the 32nd notes are ornamental but in the context I'm talking about they're fundamental to the rhythm. Plus, I'm curious if there's a way to convey this information to non-drummers.

So how would you intuitively describe a 2 32nd note + 1 16th note phrase to someone? Is there a way that comes to mind?

Sorry if I used improper terminology or if this kind of post isnt allowed, I'm fairly new here and to music theory in general.

I was messing around on my keyboard earlier and ended up playing the main repeating chord riff of the song but I couldn't remember what song it was so I eventually went through a few songs until I found it, and then realized what I was playing and what the song actually sounds like are slightly different. I changed around a few keys and I still couldn't find it, so I was wondering if it used microtones, and if so, what hertz was it tuned to?

I find this stuff so interesting, I never really knew or understood written music until about a year ago and now I'm taking AP music theory at my high school and it's mind blowing. Thanks guys!

My club's bandmates and i sometimes get mixed up when i say for example, "4 3 6 in C" (F - Em - Am). Then they'll response "C major or C minor?". In minor, i would call that "4 b3 b6" (Fm - Eb - Ab).

And when i say the 6 chord of F, i mean Dm not Db (that i'd call b6 of F). What about you?

For example, can I use harmonic minor for my chord progression and melodic minor for my melody? Does it have to be the same type as well? Eg Minor scale for chord progression and major scale for melody, also do they both have to be the same type ie aeolian or can they be something like melodic major and harmonic minor?

I want to learn music theory so bad (starting from 0)but I have no time and as time passes I will have even less.

Note I am specifically specifically to learning how to read the treble and bass clef.

Is there any programs or apps that help you learn? I have a midi 61 key midi keyboard.

Please let me know

Wouldn’t a minor triad with A sharp as the root note have a C natural as its third?

Hi guys i hope you are having a good day ! I need book advices for improving my music theory knowledge . In technique wise i am an advance Level guitarist i can play anything i want even you know malmsteen or john petrucci stuff but my lack of knowledge of music theory is frusturating me ! So i need your valuable advices

Does anyone know where/how I can learn theory to use for songwriting? A lot of resources that teach music theory focus on composition for orchestras and such, I’d like to find resources that teach theory that I can utilize for songwriting. I like the concept of David Bennet Piano YouTube videos but I find that he doesn’t really go into detail which makes it hard to follow along with. Any comment on this post would be greatly appreciated 🙏

hi, i'm looking to find a comprehensive ear training course for independent study..

ie something like these text books:

Ear Training: A Technique for Listening

Music For Ear Training

Aural Skills: Ear Training

According to the book reviews, the problem is that apparently only teachers can get access to the audio files/questions (ie for dictation exercises)

I've investigated a bunch of ear training app alternatives, but found them to be meh: the questions aren't musical/graduated/comprehensive, there's no material from the literature, none that i've found have harmonic dictation exercises, etc

thanks for any help or suggestions