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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
OT: Sort of... music theory in Katy Perry and Ozzy
OT: Sort of... music theory in Katy Perry and Ozzy
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nacoran
7653 posts
Mar 25, 2014
10:36 AM
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I had an interesting discussion a couple weeks back with my bass player about meter in lyrics. I tend to write lyrics that are very hard for other people to sing syllabically, and he was bringing some standard meter stuff to my attention, I think maybe he thought I didn't know how to count the meter or whatever. I do have some rhythmic issues from time to time in my music; I think it's because I tend to write complicated rhythmic lines by ear and have a hard time explaining the syncopation to the players who are trying to learn their parts based on what I sing. Several times, I've written a lyric that one of the other guys ends up singing, and they chop out syllables and I find it leaves the melody kind of lifeless. That's when I wish I had more music theory most. I fell back on my English lit. to explain the meter thing, but I don't think I translated it well into a musically digestible piece of information.
Today I stumbled on this article. It touches on syncopation, but it also touches on interesting chord changes, and it does it with concrete pop music examples. I wish more articles, and more theory lessons, started off like this. Frequently music theory focuses on lessons that will only be useful later, or when it does focus on a specific example it's not explained in laymans terms. Ideally, I think the example should be played first, get the person excited to learn it, and then, wham, hit them with the learning. So, okay, this is pop, but I think it's a great explanation of a concept, and is really useful for anyone trying to learn how to make melodies and harmonies.
Skin Tight Jeans and Syncopation
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Nate
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nacoran
7654 posts
Mar 25, 2014
10:39 AM
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(Some of the comments in the comment suggestion suggest the author may be off on the analysis... still, it's interesting, and when you start reading the comments, you learn why...)
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Nate
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Honkin On Bobo
1199 posts
Mar 25, 2014
11:51 AM
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I got about 20 comments in and then my head started to hurt. I know, I know...harmonica players need to learn theory lest our little instrument be relegated to the toy heap of history blah, blah, blah.
What can I say?
Hey, someone pass the bottle of Jack my way, eh??
In the (semi-paraphrased) words of one of the commenters on the article:
I'm just a hobby harmonica player, not really qualified to go full nerd.
Last Edited by Honkin On Bobo on Mar 25, 2014 12:15 PM
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Gnarly
965 posts
Mar 25, 2014
12:29 PM
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Plagal cadence?
Amen!
(It's a harmonica joke--you could look it up)
Here, I saved you the trouble.
http://www.modernbluesharmonica.com/board/board_topic/5560960/478574.htm
"A "plagal cadence" is the IV chord followed by the I chord (it sounds like hymn music, but also the Beatles used it quite a lot). Play something in 2nd position to accustomise your ear to the key, then play the 123 blow followed by the 123 draw to find out what a plagal cadence sounds like. If you've been playing first position on a C harp, your ears might not hear it, although it's one of the classic ways to achieve a key change in the middle of a piece of music, so you may hear it. Maybe you should switch to a low F harp to get a plagal cadence in C. Or if you don't have a low F, start with a D harp in first position for the perfect cadence, then use a G harp for the plagal."
Last Edited by Gnarly on Mar 25, 2014 12:32 PM
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