How well do you know this stuff? Can you sit down without an instrument and think about and/or "hear" chord structures? If so, how much of your songwriting comes from theory ideas (i.e. "hmm, it'd be interesting to do diminished substitutions on the iv") versus just playing stuff out? What do you think is a good way to get more conversant with this stuff? (It seems like it'd be easier to learn to conceptualize this stuff on a piano keyboard than on guitar.) Who knows this stuff from the jazz perspective -- and exactly how many years does it take to accomplish that? (I keep sitting down with like a Guaraldi tune, a printout of all the changes, and a guitar, and I still haven't found a way in to really see what's happening.)
Part of what interests me is how people who know this stuff inside and out actually use it -- like how much you think in these terms when writing songs, and where in particular it winds being useful.
― nabisco (nabisco), Saturday, 26 November 2005 00:35 (eighteen years ago) link
― nabisco (nabisco), Saturday, 26 November 2005 00:48 (eighteen years ago) link
― Abbadabba Berman (Hurting), Saturday, 26 November 2005 02:22 (eighteen years ago) link
― Abbadabba Berman (Hurting), Saturday, 26 November 2005 02:25 (eighteen years ago) link
― n/a (Nick A.), Saturday, 26 November 2005 02:32 (eighteen years ago) link
― Abbadabba Berman (Hurting), Saturday, 26 November 2005 02:36 (eighteen years ago) link
― Jordan (Jordan), Saturday, 26 November 2005 03:35 (eighteen years ago) link
― k/l (Ken L), Saturday, 26 November 2005 03:38 (eighteen years ago) link
― nabisco (nabisco), Saturday, 26 November 2005 04:48 (eighteen years ago) link
i couldn't tell you offhand though exactly which notes are in a given chord without thinking about it for a minute. the way it ends up in my songwriting is when I'm trying to do something weird, like more from one chord to another clashing chord, then trying to make a melody that fits over them to make the structure "work" for my ears.
i've got a ton of respect for the jazz approach. kind of incredible what they do.
― AaronK (AaronK), Saturday, 26 November 2005 14:18 (eighteen years ago) link
I'm very biased since I can barely play the keyboard with both hands at the same time, but I've always thought that intervals and chord structures were easier to visualize on a guitar. There's no equivalent of the black keys, so no matter where you move a shape on the guitar, you've always got the same relationship between chords except for the open strings...
― martin m. (mushrush), Saturday, 26 November 2005 19:05 (eighteen years ago) link
― Casuistry (Chris P), Saturday, 26 November 2005 21:24 (eighteen years ago) link
― Abbadabba Berman (Hurting), Sunday, 27 November 2005 01:50 (eighteen years ago) link
― nabiscothingy, Sunday, 27 November 2005 04:51 (eighteen years ago) link
Whenever I try to write or figure something out it's a lot of trial and error on the keyboard. My shit's basic, and there's a lot of stuff that I should know but don't.
― Jordan (Jordan), Sunday, 27 November 2005 06:26 (eighteen years ago) link
― darin (darin), Monday, 28 November 2005 20:05 (eighteen years ago) link
― nabisco (nabisco), Monday, 28 November 2005 20:55 (eighteen years ago) link
"There is no theory, you only have to listen."-Claude Debussy
― steve ketchup, Thursday, 1 December 2005 16:32 (eighteen years ago) link
― Abbadabba Berman (Hurting), Friday, 2 December 2005 17:55 (eighteen years ago) link
Any texts you could recommend?
also, Hurting: I think it's a bit easier to undervalue theory once you've already learned it. Like, "you can't break the rules until you know them." Etc.
― gbx (skowly), Wednesday, 4 January 2006 22:56 (eighteen years ago) link
― Confounded (Confounded), Monday, 9 January 2006 22:42 (eighteen years ago) link
― Confounded (Confounded), Monday, 9 January 2006 22:43 (eighteen years ago) link
― Pablo (Pablo A), Monday, 9 January 2006 23:13 (eighteen years ago) link
― Redd Harvest (Ken L), Tuesday, 10 January 2006 00:08 (eighteen years ago) link
― martin m. (mushrush), Tuesday, 10 January 2006 02:05 (eighteen years ago) link
― Confounded (Confounded), Tuesday, 10 January 2006 18:24 (eighteen years ago) link
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/063400638X/qid=1136927760/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-0254997-0415904?n=507846&s=books&v=glance
― AaronK (AaronK), Tuesday, 10 January 2006 21:16 (eighteen years ago) link
― Redd Harvest (Ken L), Tuesday, 10 January 2006 22:42 (eighteen years ago) link
I think George Van Eps (jazz guy) has a good book on harmonic motion on the guitar. I don't know what it's called but a teacher used to xerox stuff for me. Helps you break out of that "move the chord shape from here to there" box.
― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 01:24 (eighteen years ago) link
― Pablo (Pablo A), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 02:20 (eighteen years ago) link
― martin m. (mushrush), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 02:29 (eighteen years ago) link
― Redd Harvest (Ken L), Friday, 20 January 2006 03:10 (eighteen years ago) link
― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Saturday, 21 January 2006 01:12 (eighteen years ago) link
― ***, Thursday, 27 April 2006 20:52 (eighteen years ago) link
― pablo (Pablo A), Friday, 28 April 2006 03:48 (eighteen years ago) link
sometimes i download modal scales off the internet just to break my fingers out of old habits...but i'm terrible w/theory.
― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Friday, 28 April 2006 17:08 (eighteen years ago) link