Have two instruments play exact same (wonky) melody / riff at same
time, repeatedly:
Saxophone & Guitar
Two Guitars
Two Voices
Voice and Guitar
Voice and Violin
Voice and Sax
etc.
Same, but with 1 instrument a 5th above
Have melody repeating then have base note (or notes) change to
recontextualize it into a different key
Melody high up on bass, muted guitar chords
bass and drums exactly matching, rythmically
Common Chord Progressions:
ii V I (Jazz)
ii V I vi (or VI: secondary dominant of ii) (Jazz)
ii V I minor (i.e of the harmonic minor scale) (Jazz)
I IV (x3), V IV I (Blues, Bluegrass, etc.)
I V vi IV (Western Pop)
V IV iii vi (Royal Road)
VI, VII, v, i (Royal Road from Minor/Aeolian perspective)
I V vi IV (Western Pop)
I IV (x3), V -> IV I (Blues, Bluegrass, etc.)
Any of the above with secondary dominants added before each
chord
Any of the above with any chord or chord-pair reharmonized to its
own ii V I
Harmonic Techniques
Secondary Dominants: Play the dominant 7 of the next chord’s 5 prior
to the next chord (or something harmonically equivalent to that dominant
7) e.g insert A7 before d7, D7 before G7, G7 before CM7, etc.
Tritone Substitution: Play the dominant of the #4/b5 of any dominant
chord instead of that chord. E.g. if G7 is the V, play Db7/C#7 (tritone
of V = bII of I, so progression goes: ii bII I instead of ii V I)
or with 9ths: ii9 bII9(or 13) IM9 instead of ii9 V13(or 9) IM9)
IΔ IVΔ bVIIΔ bVIΔ bIIIΔ IVΔ, then modulate to the bVII:
CΔ FΔ BbΔ AbΔ EbΔ FΔ, to
BbΔ EbΔ AbΔ GbΔ DbΔ EbΔ, to
(keep modulating)…
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BH4AuClW9Jc
Functionally Harmony
Tonic - Totally stable: don’t want to move anywhere
Dominant - Unstable: want to move to another chord
Predominant - Set up an unstable/dominant chord, neither fieling
tense nor resolved
Cycle:
predominant, dominant, tonic
set up tension, create tension, release tension
Functional Harmony cycle from root to octave:
tonic
supertonic
mediant
subdominant
dominant
submediant
leading note / leading tone
tonic
Misc
2 > 1 (Resolution)
6 > 5
4 > 3
7 > 1
5: can feel resolved or jump up/down to 1, especially in the
bass-line
Resolved notes all found in tonic 1 chord
Unresolved notes mostly found in dominant 5 chord
Antecedent (Question)
Consequent (not sure on this one)
Period (Answer)
Scales
Playing over ii V I
progressions
ii: Dorian or Phrygian
V : Mixolydian or Lydian-Dominant (#4 b7)
I : Ionian or Lydian
2-Chord Trick with Modes
Melodies and Chords get a modal feel from using the specific notes
that are different in that mode. For example Dorian is exactly like
minor but with a raised (natural) 6th, so to play in D Dorian, try
Dm (1 b3 5)
Em (1 b3 5 where 5 of E is the natural 6 of D) OR
G (1 3 5 where 3 of G is the natural 6 of D)
Vamping: Alternating between two chords. Better with
bass note that stays the same and is common to both
Negative Harmony/Melody
I -> V
ii -> IV
iii -> ???
IV -> ii
V -> I
vi -> ???
vii b5 -> ???
George Russel - The Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal
Organization
Terms
cross-relational
enharmonically equivalent
chromatic mediant
predominant
dominant
tonic
tritone
functional harmony
nonfunctional harmony
diatonic seven chords
harmonic rythm -> how fast the chords move in a song
diatonic vs chromatic
4:3 apajatura
upper extension triad
motivic transormations
rythmic diminution
lietmotif
sus2 vs add11 or whatever
finding relationship between chords and modes e.g.:
Dmaj7#11 -> D Lydian
F#/E -> E Lydian
pedaltones
Tonality
compute cents from ratio:
log_2(x) = ln(x)/ln(2)
(press n in calc to get natural log)
c = 1200 log2(b/a) where interval is a to b and c is cents
c = 1200(ln(b/a)/ln(2))
c = 1200 * ln(b/a) / 0.69314718055994530941723212145818
c = ln(b/a) * 1731.2340490667560888319096172023
Idea from hyperlight drifter song: Play same 4-bar sequence but
second time wait a full measure of silence then cut out half the rests
from the last two measures.
Billy Holiday but with Synth Arpeggios
catwave - new music genre
full album sourced only from Paul Ryan speeches. Must be very
caustic and intense.
Jazz piano, but with low-volume wall of distorted, reverby
black-metal guitar or noise-fuzz, and maybe blastbeats, in the
background. It almost sounds like this at the beginning of -
Kjetil A Mulelid - Point of view.