TSJMajesty
Rock Star
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I'm not all that great at theory. I'm probably "mid-level" in my understanding of it.
I know the steps one would take to determine which chords you could use to write a song in a certain key, but I don't "get" why certain chords still sound correct, even though they have notes within the chord that aren't from that particular key. And those chords are usually the ones that really make a chord progression sound amazing.
And I do understand that the "key" of a song can change within the song..., and that even though in music there are "rules" per se, there are many ways we can go about creating chord progressions that, on the surface may seem like they shouldn't work, but they do. And, they can also have certain effects on the listener.
Things like: Making you feel like the song is temporarily pausing, like you're briefly left hanging, or this thing I've heard in these types of discussions called 'voice-leading.' Which, in my limited understanding of theory is: Chords intentionally chosen in a certain manner to almost make you "feel" where the music is heading, before it gets there. Maybe not a perfect, "university definition", but good enough for what I want this thread to be about.
A simple example:
So the basics:
Starting on any note, you construct a major scale simply by playing that 1st note, then using this interval pattern: Whole Step, Whole Step, Half Step, then Whole, Whole, Whole, Half step. Then you end on your starting note, just 1 octave higher.
So in the key of C, if you were on a piano, using that pattern simply means you only play all the white keys. CDEFGABC. Basic theory of how to construct a major scale.
Start those same set of notes on the 6th note, and you have its Minor scale equivalent. (I won't go into modes, because I don't completely understand them, and for now it's outside my idea of this topic.)
Now, to get the chords that would work in that key, you again start on the C, and make a 1-3-5 chord, using only those notes from the scale, which would be: C, E, G. It's the 1st note of the scale, usually called the 'root', the 3rd note, and the 5th note.
To get the remaining chords that you could use in the key of C, just take that root/3rd/5th that you're playing on the piano or keyboard, and move it up 1 note at a time. 2-4-6, 3-5-7, 4-6-8, and so on. All those chords are either Major or Minor chords, and the last one is a Diminished chord. It's major, if the interval between the root and 3rd is 2 whole steps (called a 'major 3rd' interval); it's minor if it's 1-1/2 steps between them (minor 3rd). The interval between the root and the 5th is always the same, except in the Dim chord, in which the intervals between the root & 3rd, and between the 3rd & 5th are both a minor 3rd.
Ok, so getting all that basic stuff out of the way...., oh wait. We can add more flavor to all the chords we could choose to use in a certain key by creating seventh chords. Again, to illustrate, using all white keys if on a piano, C being #1, D #2, etc., you just make chords starting with 1-3-5-7, then 2-4-6-8, etc., and you'll have all the possible 7th chords. And of course there are more chords you could construct (Csus2, e.g.) that would also be in your home key.
Now I say all that, because I want to look at Rikki Don't Loose That Number, specifically the chords under the solo. I was watching Tim Pierce and thought it was really cool how they wrote a completely different progression for the solo, but there's a couple things in that progression that have me baffled as to how/why they work.
I'm always curious as to why there can be 2 of the same chords in a progression near each other, but one is a major, and the other is minor. It's not very common, but when it occurs in a song, it always leaves me thinking, what is actually going on, theory-wise, that makes that able to work like that?
Maybe it's some type of voice-leading, in preparation for a key change, or modulation of some sort.
So the chords go:
I know the steps one would take to determine which chords you could use to write a song in a certain key, but I don't "get" why certain chords still sound correct, even though they have notes within the chord that aren't from that particular key. And those chords are usually the ones that really make a chord progression sound amazing.
And I do understand that the "key" of a song can change within the song..., and that even though in music there are "rules" per se, there are many ways we can go about creating chord progressions that, on the surface may seem like they shouldn't work, but they do. And, they can also have certain effects on the listener.
Things like: Making you feel like the song is temporarily pausing, like you're briefly left hanging, or this thing I've heard in these types of discussions called 'voice-leading.' Which, in my limited understanding of theory is: Chords intentionally chosen in a certain manner to almost make you "feel" where the music is heading, before it gets there. Maybe not a perfect, "university definition", but good enough for what I want this thread to be about.
A simple example:
Play an Asus4, followed by an A, and let your ear focus on the note that changes between those 2 chords: the D and C#.
What I hear, and even, feel, at that point, is that C# is "leading" my ear back to the D. Like it wants to resolve. But not simply back to the Asus4...
Play a D chord, and you hear it. Sounds like it's finished.
So the basics:
Starting on any note, you construct a major scale simply by playing that 1st note, then using this interval pattern: Whole Step, Whole Step, Half Step, then Whole, Whole, Whole, Half step. Then you end on your starting note, just 1 octave higher.
So in the key of C, if you were on a piano, using that pattern simply means you only play all the white keys. CDEFGABC. Basic theory of how to construct a major scale.
Start those same set of notes on the 6th note, and you have its Minor scale equivalent. (I won't go into modes, because I don't completely understand them, and for now it's outside my idea of this topic.)
Now, to get the chords that would work in that key, you again start on the C, and make a 1-3-5 chord, using only those notes from the scale, which would be: C, E, G. It's the 1st note of the scale, usually called the 'root', the 3rd note, and the 5th note.
To get the remaining chords that you could use in the key of C, just take that root/3rd/5th that you're playing on the piano or keyboard, and move it up 1 note at a time. 2-4-6, 3-5-7, 4-6-8, and so on. All those chords are either Major or Minor chords, and the last one is a Diminished chord. It's major, if the interval between the root and 3rd is 2 whole steps (called a 'major 3rd' interval); it's minor if it's 1-1/2 steps between them (minor 3rd). The interval between the root and the 5th is always the same, except in the Dim chord, in which the intervals between the root & 3rd, and between the 3rd & 5th are both a minor 3rd.
Ok, so getting all that basic stuff out of the way...., oh wait. We can add more flavor to all the chords we could choose to use in a certain key by creating seventh chords. Again, to illustrate, using all white keys if on a piano, C being #1, D #2, etc., you just make chords starting with 1-3-5-7, then 2-4-6-8, etc., and you'll have all the possible 7th chords. And of course there are more chords you could construct (Csus2, e.g.) that would also be in your home key.
Now I say all that, because I want to look at Rikki Don't Loose That Number, specifically the chords under the solo. I was watching Tim Pierce and thought it was really cool how they wrote a completely different progression for the solo, but there's a couple things in that progression that have me baffled as to how/why they work.
I'm always curious as to why there can be 2 of the same chords in a progression near each other, but one is a major, and the other is minor. It's not very common, but when it occurs in a song, it always leaves me thinking, what is actually going on, theory-wise, that makes that able to work like that?
Maybe it's some type of voice-leading, in preparation for a key change, or modulation of some sort.
So the chords go:
Dsus2
Asus2
E
Dsus2
A
G (ok, right there, with that G, I can hear something happening, or about to happen!)
FMaj7
GMaj7
FMaj7
Em7 (there's that minor chord, not that far away from the E major. 
D
A
E And we're back to playing E major!
It all works. That Em7 sounds fine within that progression, but I have no idea why it does.
If I had to take an educated guess, since the first 5 chords put you squarely in the key of A, but the next one, G, is not..., I'm thinking that G is weaving the progression into something different at that point, that the Maj7 chords and the Em7 chords all work in. And then the progression works its way back to the key of A.
Thoughts?
And regardless of what's going on, this is a big reason why this music is so timeless, imo! And I'm not even getting into where the song goes once it comes out of the solo progression! Or that very cool twist on the "Hendrix Chord!"
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