Major vs. Minor

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(Actually, it's the most recent [January] issue, and the fellow's name is Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart.)

jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 7 January 2005 19:24 (nineteen years ago) link

Slightly apropos, Nabokov made a big deal about his own synesthesia, and noted that the colors his son associated with letters were a blend of his wife's and his own.

The Mad Puffin, Friday, 7 January 2005 19:26 (nineteen years ago) link

How do you feel about Amaj7?

Maj7 chords are inherently round, no matter what the color is. By the same token, 7 chords (like A7) are inherently angular. So, A maj7 is like a round nebula (or cloud or bubble) of pale red (A), deep orangish (C#) and pale blue (E). As a chord, sounds red with darker edges, purple perhaps, sometimes dark orange, depending on what comes aftetwards.

Dominique, did you see the thing in Harper's a month or so back where some dude in the 1700s did an analysis exactly like that??

I did not. In fact, I've never actually done this myself until now - I was surprised to see that my conception of the colors of notes from chord to chord doesn't change that much!

Dominique (dleone), Friday, 7 January 2005 19:26 (nineteen years ago) link

D major: bright, smart but heavy
Man, I wish I could play the piano. Could play the classical music.

Ken L (Ken L), Friday, 7 January 2005 19:27 (nineteen years ago) link

I think Robbie Basho did something similar in the liner notes to one of his records, albeit with heavy new-ageness.

LSTD (answer) (sexyDancer), Friday, 7 January 2005 19:28 (nineteen years ago) link

I have to say, I agree with you on a lot of 'em. Except for F minor, which I'm not really picking anything up from, but well done (esp. on D major).

jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 7 January 2005 19:29 (nineteen years ago) link

I can get how Bb minor is really dark. But I'm going to have to reevaluate E major, because I don't see how you get Easternness out of it. (It's so commonplace on the guitar that I may have stopped hearing it; possibly if I go play it on a piano I'll hear it fresh.)

The Mad Puffin, Friday, 7 January 2005 19:35 (nineteen years ago) link

Mad Puffin:

I think that's part of it - I think of chords in terms of how they appear on piano. Were I guitar player, I might think of them differently. However, I do suspect that the chords I believe I know the least about tend to be darker. Ab, Bb, Db - for my fingers, it is more difficult to play in these keys on piano, so I have written less in them than others like C, F, D, G - perhaps Bb minor is also kind of impractical on guitar. I have something of a fetish for F#, and perhaps I view E as something of a hybrid of F# and C, which in my mind are somehow like yin and yang. This is getting into stuff that even I don't have the patience to elaborate on, but I guess I'm saying I can see why my descriptions would necessarily not always translate.

Dominique (dleone), Friday, 7 January 2005 19:45 (nineteen years ago) link

I think any major chord that has a black key in it makes it a little darker. (As for those that don't: C major is bright, G major is pretty but not sparkling, and F major is probably the darkest of these three.)

jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 7 January 2005 19:57 (nineteen years ago) link

perhaps Bb minor is also kind of impractical on guitar

One nice thing about the guitar is that if a moveable chord shape is practicable, then pretty much any position for it is practicable. So Bb minor isn't any more or less difficult than B minor, C minor, A minor, etc. (presuming you're using a barre shape and moving it up and down the neck).

A standard-tuned guitar loves the key of E partly because it's the guitar's lowest note (which makes it easy to use as a drone and gives you a convenient starting and ending note) and partly because the open strings suggest E. But in a loose sense, all keys are equally easy (or, if you prefer, equally hard) assuming you ignore open strings and focus on moveable shapes. This is not so on a keyboard.

The Mad Puffin, Friday, 7 January 2005 20:11 (nineteen years ago) link

also, of course, you can use a capo. or tune the strings up or down.

which, come to think of it, any electronic keyboardist can do, too. and which, come to think of it, irving berlin, who only knew how to play in one key, also did, way back in the day.

fact checking cuz (fcc), Friday, 7 January 2005 20:15 (nineteen years ago) link

Minor key...unless you produce something as gorgeous as Kitchens of Distinction's "Drive That Fast".

The #1 Stunnah Ian Moraine (Eastern Mantra), Sunday, 9 January 2005 05:37 (nineteen years ago) link

xpost:
yeah, I heard they had a special keyboard made for him, with a lever in it for shifting keys. I think Otis Blackwell only played in one key too- he said something like "I play the flats."

Ken L (Ken L), Sunday, 9 January 2005 06:12 (nineteen years ago) link

http://www.geocities.com/dodgeqdart/star.gif

zappi (joni), Sunday, 9 January 2005 07:00 (nineteen years ago) link

Another great story from No Minor Chords
A bunch of showbiz types, maybe producers of an upcoming musical, stood around Irving Berlin's piano while he played them his latest composition. It sounded like a chaotic shambling mess. They exchanged pained expressions for a while until finally one of them said: "Irving, could you play 'Blue Skies' for us?" It sounded exactly the same as the previous number, causing them this time to exchange relieved smiles.

Ken L (Ken L), Sunday, 9 January 2005 07:18 (nineteen years ago) link


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