JaffaCakeMexica wrote:Fair enough. They are real chords. Big, huge piano chords...Lol. Some of them are not possible in tracker arp commands because they go above 3 or 4 notes (depending on which trackers arp commands you use). Some of them go beyond F semitones but I'll write the intervals in hex anyway for brevity and relevance to tracking.
This is wrong. What Protodome gave you is likely a reduction of the chords. These notes could appear at any time in any combination so long as it still feels like one chord is being played.
And here's my background - I'm about to get my degree in music composition and go to gradschool for it. So let me try to break this down since I have a lot of tracker experience as well as jazz composition and arranging experience.
JaffaCakeMexica wrote:C6/9 - C, E, A, D - 0, 4, 9, E
C13 - C, A#, E, A - 0, A, 10, 9
FMaj9#11 - F, G, B, C - 0, 2, 6, 7
Bb11 - A#, D, F, G#, C, D# - 0, 4, 7, A, E, 11
Fm13 - F, G#, C, D, D# - 0, 3, 7, 9, A (for this one I don't see how "/Bb" applies).
Okay. This is where stuff starts to get wrong. Already. Omitting chord tones from your breakdown of each chord is unfair and shows a lack of care for the original composition (if there was one). If this was straight from, say, a Protodome track, these notes would be present across any of the voices (bass, pads, leads, embellishments and arp flourishes). Not condensed to one fat arp in Milkytracker or whatever. Some of these notes would be merely in passing at first glance, but the emphasis and/or repetition of them establishes that they are indeed part of the chord in a tune. Of course, this is still a chord progression you are wanting to pick apart, not a full easy-to-refer-to song.
As for the last chord, Bb11 (A#11 for those of you in tracker land) functioning as a Fm13/Bb (or A#), that is correct. You actually spelled it out for us. I'm gonna rearrange the pitch classes a bit in your breakdown here.
JaffaCakeMexica wrote:Bb11 - A#, F, G#, C, D, D#
Fm13 - F, G#, C, D, D#
"(Bb11 is performing the role of an Fm13/Bb)." As said by Protodome in the previous thread.
JaffaCakeMexica wrote:I don't ever write any flats. I only use sharps.
Also I dont use the roman numeral scale degrees.
Yeah, cant be bothered with that. I'm a tracker guy, not a pianist.
That was a nice exercise.
Okay. Problem number 2. The whole western world is still using scale degrees and the Roman numeral system. It works just fine with trackers too. That's part of why using a transposition macro/effect works. The other part is the interpretation of pitch as interval sizes based on a given note (tonic). It's extremely common in atonal music and some music by living composers in the classical world. When you tried to break down the chord tones you assumed the voicing and intervals between the tones. Roman numerals and lead sheet style chords do not make such assumptions unless it's explicitly spelled, you often have to refer to the notated music itself to see if there's something funny going on. Fearofdark's breakdown in his post is great.
JaffaCakeMexica wrote:Now what scales / key signatures!!! do each of those chords fit into?:
C6/9 - C, E, A, D - 0, 4, 9, E...
(C Major C, D, E, F, G, A, B : YES)
(C Lydian C, D, E, F#, G, A, B : YES)
(C Pentatonic Major C, D, E, G, A : YES)
C13 - C, A#, E, A - 0, A, 10, 9...
(C Major C, D, E, F, G, A, B : NO)
(C Mixolydian C, D, E, F, G, A, A# : YES)
(G Dorian G, A, A#, C, D, E, F : YES)
FMaj9#11 - F, G, B, C - 0, 2, 6, 7
(C Major C, D, E, F, G, A, B : YES)
(F Lydian F, G, A, B, C, D, E : YES)
(F Pentatonic Major F, G, A, C, D : NO)
Bb11 - A#, D, F, G#, C, D# - 0, 4, 7, A, E, 11
(C Major C, D, E, F, G, A, B : NO)
(F Dorian F, G, G#, A#, C, D, D# : YES)
(F Pentatonic minor F, G#, A#, C, D# : NO)
(Bb / A# Lydian A#, C, D, E, F, G, A : NO)
Fm13(/Bb???) - F, G#, C, D, D# - 0, 3, 7, 9, A
(Bb / A# Lydian A#, C, D, E, F, G, A : NO)
Here you assume that these few scales are the only ones that fit. In jazz, different scales can work with the same chord, acting as a sort of "best fit line", and even when the "line" doesn't quite "fit" you're still able to make a rad pattern across them that is uniquely yours based off of scales you (un)knowingly play. These happy accidents are why some young jazzers get their start, or folks can sit at a piano and slay it from a theory perspective.
Also, as you add notes in jazz, you can twist a chord into something it wasn't originally.
So, to deal with your breakdown above:
JaffaCakeMexica wrote:C13 - C, A#, E, A - 0, A, 10, 9...
(C Major C, D, E, F, G, A, B : NO)
C major scale works in a C13 because the lowered 7th (Bb or A# to tracker folks) can easily be used in passing between A and B, or to go Bb -> B -> C. Also, the C major scale works because with C13 you can also omit the Bb/graze past it and rock the A natural minor scale since it shares the same pitch classes as C major. The A is often very present in the C13 in most situations, and if it isn't, throwing it in the bass can make your C13 some sort of Am13(and then some).
JaffaCakeMexica wrote:FMaj9#11 - F, G, B, C - 0, 2, 6, 7
(F Pentatonic Major F, G, A, C, D : NO)
If you feel the need to dispute the functionality of pentatonic scales in a this chord, I think I know where the rest of this is going. The A and the D in the pentatonic scale are important because they fill the roles of a 13th (D) and the 3rd (A) in the Fmaj9#11 chord, even though one may naturally omit those notes. This gives extra room for enforcing the F major/aspect of it all, contrary to the raised 11. And that's just for this particular suggested scale.
JaffaCakeMexica wrote:Bb11 - A#, D, F, G#, C, D# - 0, 4, 7, A, E, 11
(C Major C, D, E, F, G, A, B : NO)
(F Pentatonic minor F, G#, A#, C, D# : NO)
(Bb / A# Lydian A#, C, D, E, F, G, A : NO)
C major and Bb Lydian work because they embody the pitches from the previous chord and generally stick to the "key" of the chord progression. They only differ from the Bb11's pitch collection by 1 or 2 accidentals. You really put yourself in a corner with saying F pentatonic minor doesn't fit. Tell me, which pitch classes are different? I'll even rearrange them for you.
JaffaCakeMexica wrote:Bb11 - F, G#, A#, C, D#, D
(F Pentatonic minor F, G#, A#, C, D# : NO)
All of the pitches in the F pentatonic minor scale are present in Bb11, but not all the pitches in the Bb11 chord are present in the F pentatonic minor scale.
JaffaCakeMexica wrote:Fm13(/Bb???) - F, G#, C, D, D# - 0, 3, 7, 9, A
(Bb / A# Lydian A#, C, D, E, F, G, A : NO)
Ah. We don't have to discuss this since you botched the understanding of it the first time. There's no great need to dissect this since Fm13 is the implied sort of value, but the chord is just Bb11.
JaffaCakeMexica wrote:In the end, out of 14, you got 8 correct and 6 incorrect.
You were still 57.14% correct.
I'd imagine you may want to make your rebuttal based on the fact that you used the word 'emphatically' in one of your examples...but a few of these were quite far off, and so you are 'emphatically' WRONG. haha...
Actually, out of the suggested scales he suggested all work. 14/14, 100% correct. Because he knows what he's talking about. Also, when you said he was 57.14% correct, does that account for every note in every chord versus the scale, or just your reductions? I'm trying to follow here, but every scale he listed works fine for the chord in an applied composition or performance.
JaffaCakeMexica wrote:Another thing.
In response to your declaration:
"C13: ... (you can treat this as a Gmin7)."
C13 = C, A#, D, F, A
Gm7 = G, A#, D, F
Why would you treat C13 as Gm7? It makes no sense, sorry.
Nevertheless, you chose some very interesting chords here.
Uh it works because the A# and D in the C13 chord are dissonant and somewhat removed from C, the F and A being less dissonant. The Gm7+9 can harmonically contain all of this "non-C" content, so omitting the A because it's whatever, you are left with the Gm7 chord, a dominant. This is why in jazz you see [TONIC PITCH CLASS HERE]13 used as a dominant. It's the easiest substitute - add the 5th if it isn't in the voicing, drop the tonic (which is implied throughout tonal music anyways since everything is measured intervalically from the tonic), and you have a true minor 7 chord.
Protodome wrote: "Seriously dude, go learn some music theory" - protodome
I couldn't agree more. There are many perspectives to music, many backgrounds. You can't slap a few scales on a chord and say what does or doesn't line up. It's not about that, especially trying to apply classical analysis to jazz. It's not that you can't do it, but that it's not fair to either school of thought. In addition, check your own work. Keys are near-meaningless in tracker music - it's computed like atonal music is - arps are all relative to 0 (base note), sharps are always, flats are omitted, etc. Trying to force tracker format into the foundation for your argument about what scales fit what chord is baseless - it's not in a musical context at all, it's an abstraction or reduction.
Try playing an instrument, even your qwerty keyboard in something like Famitracker or Ableton, and noodle over some chord progressions. You don't have to be a musician to understand this. It's not about BEING a musician or a tracker guy or whatever. Understand that music is based on how things are related to each other. The possibilities for that are almost endless. You don't have to go to music school to figure it out, either. You could buy a toy piano, a busted trumpet, or actively listen to and transcribe music. But comparing scales to chords and trying to win an argument on the internet will not further your knowledge, just hold you back from it.